Tube Bumper Build - Focus on Functional Stinger

I'm sure a few of you saw the tube bender station thread I did a few weeks back. That's my buddies shop HLCfab.com and typically he produces Land Rover offroad parts, but we finally got around to making a bumper for the XJ. The idea here was to focus on a functional stinger so I thought why not tie it directly to the frame mounts and bring it from the bottom up. That's just what we did. The main tubing is 1.75" x 0.120" wall DOM with the support tubes for the stinger using 1.50" x 0.188" DOM. The frame mounts and recovery boxes are all 1/4" plate with 1" x 2" recovery points supporting the back plate. The grand total weight is 90.8lbs and uses 6 Gr.8 bolts on each side. The back plate will get a winch behind the cross member shortly, but I've got a pretty serious car project I'm working on so it's gonna have to wait for the moment. The main thing is that I can recover from the front finally and it looks sweet :head:

Every good build starts with a beer, ha.











Still missing tube end caps, the cross tube, the box plates, and recovery points. The stinger main hoop is sleeved inside with 1.50" x 0.188" DOM





I only snapped a couple pictures tonight b/c I was pressed for time, so I'll post more detailed ones tomorrow.

wow, havent seen the stinger tube tuck down into the bracket before.... looks awesome. great attention to details.

looks good, I like how you brought the stinger down into the frame tie in..

Yeah I hadn't either, I figured that's gotta be a good way to support it though. I'm really happy with it. We'll see how it does next, next weekend; got a wheelin trip that really required I had some means for forward recovery. I'll post up some more detailed pictures shortly. Thanks!

i like it its differnt

:shocked:.. frockin sexy... that thing should be more than capable of adding a winch mount, huh?

xj^REMY said:

:shocked:.. frockin sexy... that thing should be more than capable of adding a winch mount, huh?

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Ya, the back plate will eventually get drilled and slotted for a behind the cross member winch mount. I didn't drill the holes or anything b/c the winch position will be tight, so I can't afford to be a little off. Not to mention not all winches will fit back there. Once I mount my winch and fairlead, I'll have it powder coated. The main thing was recovery points for my trip to Uwharrie next weekend; I'm so pumped!

Here are the close ups I promised, sorry for the dew, took these this morning before work.

Very cool.

Thanks for the detailed pics! Now I have some ideas for how I want to do my front bumper

Good thing your in the east...something sticking that far out here in the West could easily prevent you from even getting started on an obstacle

^haha, ya. Slightly different environment. I'll have to keep off those straight up walls, lol. Love the buggy in your avatar.

That looks pretty nice - not obnoxious like a lot of other stingers.

freerider15 said:

Good thing your in the east...something sticking that far out here in the West could easily prevent you from even getting started on an obstacle

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Any obstacle a full body XJ on 33s-35s is likely to encounter will be fine for his bumper. It doesn't seem to stick out any further than my winch bumper and I haven't hit it yet. We can't all have sweet buggies (even if we wish we could)

Nice lookin bumper, I'd be willing to pay for that if you ever decided to make another...

s14unimog said:

^haha, ya. Slightly different environment. I'll have to keep off those straight up walls, lol. Love the buggy in your avatar.

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Thanks, yeah sliiiightly different environments...but purpose built is purpose built. If its built for the purpose, and built well...then :thumbsup from me.

Darky said:

Any obstacle a full body XJ on 33s-35s is likely to encounter will be fine for his bumper. It doesn't seem to stick out any further than my winch bumper and I haven't hit it yet. We can't all have sweet buggies (even if we wish we could)

Nice lookin bumper, I'd be willing to pay for that if you ever decided to make another...

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Uhhhh yeah no

I can think of numerous spot where my "self clearanced" stock bumper got pushed up rack faces since it still stuck out to far...and the stock bumper doesn't stick out much

But then again...I was doing things in a full body a very on here would even want to attempt...since body damage was not optional....is was guaranteed

bigalpha said:

That looks pretty nice - not obnoxious like a lot of other stingers.

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Thanks! I can't stand a bumper that just gets a stinger tacked on top.

Darky said:

Any obstacle a full body XJ on 33s-35s is likely to encounter will be fine for his bumper. It doesn't seem to stick out any further than my winch bumper and I haven't hit it yet. We can't all have sweet buggies (even if we wish we could)

Nice lookin bumper, I'd be willing to pay for that if you ever decided to make another...

Click to expand...

Thanks! I tried it against a pretty steep hill tonight and couldn't get it to touch. Besides, if it hits I should just droop a little and shove right up it. that's the idea at least. No since and making it strong if I'm not going use it against something. Ya I bet he'll quote one for ya, give Denny a shout 706-248-2758

freerider15 said:

Thanks, yeah sliiiightly different environments...but purpose built is purpose built. If its built for the purpose, and built well...then :thumbsup from me.

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Well I'm confident its built well so thanks! I'll let you know how it holds up after Uwharri.

Uwharrie is a riot. If you live in tolerable driving range to that place, it's worth going. I had such a blast. The bumper snagged once but didn't stop forward motion. Never needed it for recovery either, so no great story about that.

couple pictures... Dropping off "Daniel"