AJ bumper mounts are here.... time to design

So my AJ front bumper mounts showed up the other day and I'm now in the mental design phase.

The list of wants out of this bumper:
- Tow mounts. I tow the jeep at times so I want to incorporate the mounts on the bottom/under side to help lower the tow points. Thinking of making them strong enough to be recover points as well.
- Center Reciever mount. I have to squeeze a trailer into a tight spot. Pushing it in would be nice. This could also serve as my recovery point.
- No plans for a winch at this point - besides if I get one I'd prefer to go with a receiver mount one as I have a few vehicles so mobility of one would be nice.


So any pictures or links to bumper builds that you guys have would be highly appreciated. I need to get the creative juices flowing.

Right now I'm toying with simple square/rectangle tube design. Place a receiver hitch in middle and four tabs underneath for the tow bar mounts. At the points where the bumper mounts hit the square tube I'd cut and angle back to match the contour of the front grill. I have not cut the front side fenders yet, not sure I'm going to either so the ends would just be caped and maybe a little plate steel to fill in gaps where needed. Nothing overkill. Just simple and clean.

Here is a bumper I built for my YJ one Saturday. I guess I'm leaning towards something similar but I'm looking for more ideas before I settle on it.

I guess something like this is what I have in mind except I wouldn't do the wrap around on the sides as well I'm not sure I'd taper it any as it works over to the sides. I only have a 3.5" RE on my 96 XJ with 31's so I'm already clearing factory parts now and not looking at making any changes soon. If I do, I'll factor another bumper into that build.



I've seen some other bumpers made more with tubing and would like to see a few more of those and if folks have built their own that way. I'd like it to clean and simple but one of a kind as square tube bumpers seem to be a norm.

The tow bar mounts that would drop low I guess are something I'm struggling with and incorporating into the underside of the bumper but still allow for it to look clean but be strong mounts?

Then again I've also thought about welding up two of the smaller class 3 receivers underneath the bumper that I can slide in two mounts with tabs welded on them that the tow bar then secures to. When I don't need the tow bar I can remove. Little cleaner, maybe. Easy to mount and brace.