Rebar (Car bumpers)

We have been using #5 size rebar and 14" in length What lenght of rebar are ya'll using? The people were I get my rebar said I could by with just 12" of rebar is this wrong? -Dean

12'',5/8 THICK

See I figured with the rebar stick already coming in at a lenght of 20' it would make more sense because you could get more cut at 12" -Dean

12" long 5/8 " thick, why waste?

I've never installed them before but an opportunity has just presented itself....so the question is do you pound them in with a sledge hammer or do you pre-drill holes in pavement then pound them in? Thanks Frank

I prefer to predrill the holes with a hammer drill then I use an air hammer to put them in. With the air hammer it is easy to set the top of the 5/8 rebar just below the top of the stop.

We just use the drilling method and then drop them in the hole and if need be we just tap them with a sledge hammer -Dean

FINELINE,WHAT KIND OF AIR HAMMER DO YOU USE,THANKS

same as Dean here.. we installed 100's last year.. get a good hammer drill. line wheel stops drill holes drop pegs in hammer the rest of the way. We just about install only the rubber ones now. So easy to work with and the profit is a lot better.

oh I forgot you can get a little fancy and do a great job, after you have installed pins get some liquid cement and fill in holes where pegs were installed. Hammer pin a little below wheel stop hole and fill it with concrete.

definitely pre-drill I tried pounding them on one of my first jobs and it didn't work out to well when I got though the asphalt and hit the subbase it was like concrete the bars were bending, we hit the top of the block chipping it which had to be replaced. Had to go back and get the drill anyway. So now we always drill. Al

I use the hammer drill then a air powered hammer that is just a cheap air chisel with a chisel that is just flat on the end, it beats swinging a hammer to do a lot. I was doing 108 stops by myself that day. I am sure there are heavier duty air hammers out there, that cheap one just moves it as fast as a 2 1/2 lbs. hammer would. I was not as tired at the end of the day.

Tru-tac- To prevent chipping the tops of the concrete wheel stops if you are ever pounding again, you may want to make a little protector. Get hold of a piece of 3/8ths or so thick steel plate that is about 6" x 6". Burn or drill a hole in the middle just big enough to allow your rebar to fit through. You could even make it better by attaching a thick piece of closed cell foam rubber to the bottom of the metal to help limit the damage. Slide the protector over the rebar and pound away. If you miss, you should be able to keep the damage to the wheel stop to a minimun. I would sell you one for $50.00 (that doesn't include s&h) but you can probably do better on your own.

I use a Hilti hammer drill Model TE 16-C with a generator. It drills, hammers, and chisels. If you have to do core drilling in concrete and do not have a bit that will take you deep enough to get to the dirt you can use the chisel to bust out the concrete and resume drilling. As for concrete bumpers; I use a 5/8 inch drill and just drop the pin in after drilling. I've done the sledge hammer and I don't like it. Our bumpers are 200 lbs. Does anyone have an opinion on the best way to unload these suckers without a forklift?

At 3 office buidings that were all new. Each one had 30-40 parking spaces, the front building was the smallest. They built the one closest to the street the smallest and the other 2 were the same size that went farther back. All 3 were done at once and paved then I striped and did the wheel stops. The wheel stops protected the front porch support poles. It made the best January I ever had as I had a nice day in the 60's when I striped and it was in the 30s the day I did the wheel stops. The place I bought them delivered them with a boom truck and unloaded them. I used a Dingo with forks, bars to pull off the forks to set to the chalk line then hammer drilled holes and drove the pins, a nice profit for that day.

See I wish our car bumpers had spaces were you could put forks under them. We are stuck using a hand cart and under some that don't allow us to just slid right under them I just put a piece of rebar in them and turn them over just enough to pull the cart under them. We have one coming up in that is going to require 100 bumpers down and before you we start we have to remove the old ones first. Which is going to save us some time when we are cutting in for sealcoating. -Dean

Dean- You may already be doing this, but if you use a 5' piece of rebar to turn the wheel stops, it saves a little wear and tear on the back and knees by allowing you to stand up and support the wheel stop with your foot. Also, I don't know how you load them, but it sure helps if you can put a shim under them on the trailer so you can slip the hand truck lip under them to lift them off in one easy step.

Ware-ever thanks I am going to have to try that. Its sounds like it may make the jobs alittle easier. -Dean

I you live in oil field country like I do, you should find a dealer in used oilfield pipe. They usually have used sucker rod. It's high tensile steel, 25' long, and perfect for cutting into pins. I buy 5/8" rod, 3/4" is also available. Sucker rod is tough and springy, not annealed like re bar, so it won't bend when you drive it or when cars hit the curb. It's about the same price or a little cheaper than re bar if you can get rejects. Use a chop saw to cut into pins.

Everyone that has left post seem to be using the cement wheel stops.. Does anyone use the rubber ones? A company in Canada makes them. I think they weigh under 50lbs. We have probably put down about a thousand of them.. The color last very well.. The only thing I know hard about putting them down is they have four holes instead of two. The black and white ones are the best looking. We had too many people starting to get hurt ( backs, hands, fingers with cement ones). And was getting hard to get them and when we did most of the time cement colors did not match and if one place was out other place was not same shape... just my thoughts....