Made me a Stubby bumper

This is my first attempt at making a bumper. Wanted to make a stubby for a while, finally got around to it.

I cut the front section off of a roll over xj to use as my template / fixture. Made my tie in plates then went to work on the bumper. I dont have any real "prep" pics but I measured 100 times before I got started. My basic idea is what I did end up with.

All 1/4 HR Plate.

Depending on where you live & conditions you wheel in this may not be an ideal design. I've had this on less than 24 hours and already "tested" my front clip in the woods... I may do something to take the pressure off the corners... but I'm in no hurry. It'll buff out. heh

Interesting. I like your paint job. Is it just rattle can olive drab?

Why bolted when it could have been welded?BTW:the hood treatment is gay!

Great job! I'm currently planning something very similar for mine, however i plan on adding tube to the sides, kinder prerunner ish. Where did you get the bolt ton d shackles?

_R700_ said:

Great job! I'm currently planning something very similar for mine, however i plan on adding tube to the sides, kinder prerunner ish. Where did you get the bolt ton d shackles?

Click to expand...

You should check out my high clearance bumpers listed in the link in my sig... They are very similar and add a winch mount into the mix. I should have a nice pre-runner bar available next month too. They only weigh about 35lbs so shipping to Ausi. wouldn't be to bad eather.

tie in both sides further along the uni-rails... i like these stubby xj bumpers coming out recently...

RCP Phx said:

Why bolted when it could have been welded?BTW:the hood treatment is gay!

Click to expand...

The bumper is bolted (1/2 G8 Fine thread / Steel lock nuts) so I can easily remove / modify it. Its much the same way most aftermarket xj bumpers are made. Most use 2 or 3 bolts per side, this has 4 so strength is not an issue.

And for what its worth, 99.99% of the hot air you post on naxja are these one line boohoo posts. I would expect nothing less from you.

RCP Phx said:

Why bolted when it could have been welded?BTW:the hood treatment is gay!

Click to expand...

We are all here, because of a common love of XJ's. I don't see why we have to bash others' rigs. Just because it isnt your taste doesnt mean that it is "gay". I was raised with the philosophy "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

RCP Phx said:

Why bolted when it could have been welded?BTW:the hood treatment is gay!

Click to expand...

:doh:

why the XXXX would you weld a bumper on?...:twak:

you must never have to do any engine work, or want to change anything....

also, you are a douche.



OP I would add tie-in plates along the unibody where it mounts so that you could have 6 or 7 bolts per side, 4 is not enough. also, you may want to consider trimming the factory crossmember so that you can tuck the bumper up closer and gain some more clearance.

because that bumper is basically a reinforced front crossmember? it wouldnt get in the way of anything you mentioned, not anymore so than the front crossmember.

im not saying its the best idea, but its not a stupid idea if you liked it. i would prefer bolt on, and this one looks great!

I thought he was referring to the shackle mounts being bolted to the front.

shackles are a purchace item and designed to bolt on. 4 Metric 12mm Fine thread Grade 10 bolts on each

Dude, I dig the hood I may have to copy that, if you don't mind..

ebay, search 2 3/4 tree spikes... If you dont mind drilling theyre bolted through the hood.

hubs97xj said:

I thought he was referring to the shackle mounts being bolted to the front.

Click to expand...

I was refering to the mounting brackets being welded to/thru the bumper itself,like Action Fab's pic.

Hammered said:

ebay, search 2 3/4 tree spikes... If you dont mind drilling theyre bolted through the hood.

Click to expand...

I don't mind one bit. Thank you.

I've used bolt on shackle mounts on a few projects... there is nothing wrong with that desighn. And if you look at any comercial aplication they all use bolt on recovery mounts. Military verhicles, Fire Trucks/rescure vehicles, Jeep TJ,YJ,JK. most equipment (some are cast into major housings).

Now what I will say is change your hardwear. That is just to britle of a blot for the application. You need to use Grade 5 or 8 hardwear. GR9 and GR10 is for high compression applicaions, and will shear easyer than GR5 and GR8. I would use GR8.

ok well what about me swapping the tie-in bracket mount bolts (1/2 G8 Fine thread) with the grade 10? so each tie in plate would use 4 of the G10 then the shackes would get the G8 in trade...

I was shooting for safety so if this is a more dangerous bolt to use in this situation I will grab some G8s to swap in. Thank you.

Thats even worse! Then you would have a straight sheer point with the two side plates working just like a bolt cutter to "cut" the bolts. G10 has a super high carbon content that can't take any side loading... They are for high stress aplications that pull on the bolt... like cyl. heads, case halfs in equipment, pinch clamps Ext. Not for places that will see side loads.

I went through this with some suspension bolts on my old one ton ZJ... kept breaking GR8 9/16, so I swaped to GR9... which broke even easyier. Thats when I learned that the higher the number the higher the carbon content and the easyer it will be to sheer. ended up having to go 5/8 GR8.

In your application just suck it up go to the hardwear stoor and buy four more bolts.

Here is the way it works...

-GR5 is soft and will deform when side loaded but wont brake because it is capable of more "bend".

-GR8 is harder and wont pull threads off, will still bend a little but not as far as GR5 before sheering.

-GR9 will bend VERY little before sheering but and will not stretch over time like GR8-GR5...

-GR10 is very special stuff and is almost as bad as chromium... It will not stretch or bend it will just snap... (ver tried to bend a "quality" wrench or punch, it just snaps)

This is bad because when you jerk your tow point at an angle and the metal gives (it does even when super tight... the metal compresses under extreme pressue since it's mild low carbon steel) This will "slack" the bolt pressure allowing small amounts of movement and allowing an impact effect which sheers the bolt. This is why you see most suspension companies include GR5 bolts in their kits. It's less likely to sheer and cause a total failure, it may bend or deform but wont normaly break.

Little tech for you.