Bumper Material

So I bought my Lincoln welder a month back and used it to weld up my tierod mount that I broke off and it's been sitting for a while and I need to do something consturctive. So I've decided on bumpers. My question is... What is the best material to use when making one. I know that for cages people use DOM and HREW and bikes use stuff like reynolds 853 and 4130 chromoly, but thats mainly tubing. I will be using plate steel for the main part and then tubing for a small stinger type piece. I have it drawn up on CAD and will be working on the cardboard version tomorrow after work. So what material would be best? I would like to use 3/16" throughout. Any thoughts? THanks

mine will be the scrap piece of 3-1/2" x 3-1/2" x 1/4" that i found in a dumpster...
but i dont give a sheite what mine looks like, as long as it will hold the reciver and teh multimount...

you can buy many different kinds of steel in sheets or strap for a project like that, but plain old mild steel will do just fine. Cold rolled is a little better than hot rolled, but either will do just fine with a good design. 3/16 is a good size for a lot of the "panels" of the bumper, but the main structure for tow-points and/or winch mounts should be at least 1/4" IMO.

For the main section of it I've got an old trailer hitch that I'm going to narrow and use the mounting plates from that which I believe is 1/4"...I think as well as the center hitch mount. I will have to double check that I'm going to be able to work that today.

There are two general ways most bumpers are built. Use flat plate to form a shell with the backside open or using structural steel. 95% of the time I use structural steel because it allows you to use lighter wall material without losing strength. For instance most of the bumpers I build are based on 2x6 with 1/8" wall, even the winch bumpers. Yeah yeah yeah, someone is going to pipe in blabbing about "1/8" isn't heavy enough" which is complete BS, it is. BUT it's all about the design/structure of the bumper. The mounts I use 1/4" and use a boxed design. Just keep in mind weight does NOT equal strength.