Rookie bumper fab - all the advice I can get!

I know this isn't advanced fab by any means, but this is where the best fab advice on here would come from eh?

So I bought the steel I needed to build a front bumper.

2 plates of 1/4" for bumper brackets, some 3/16 2x4" tube, a couple of caps for the ends.

I want all the advice I can get for mounting the bumper to the brackets, weighing my options of towhooks on the brackets or D-ring tabs run through slots in the 2x4 and tied to the brackets...

I plan on putting a reciever in the middle for my bike rack, the hooks/rings for recovery purposes, the brackets are 17" long and will bolt into as many places as possible.

Hooks bolted directly to the brackets or to an angled piece of 3/8"? D-rings and shackles and forget hooks?

I know I need a crossmember to tie the 2 brackets together, that shouldn't be hard.


Thanks in advance, I've made some simple tools in the shop and welded simple stuff like teeth on backhoe buckets, hinges on our dumpbed, LOTS of random scrap joined together for practice, etc but this will be my largest fabrication project yet. Seems pretty straightforward but advice can't hurt.

Make your brackets first and then hold your steel up to them to fiqure out the rest. I think i would drill holes in the brackets for a d-ring. You can double up the steel to add strenth. Just think simple and functional but get your mounting brackets all fabed up so you know what you have to work with for the rest. Get a wood 2x4 to hold up to you brackets to help visualize what you want. Remember half of fabbing stuff up is having fun so go slow and admire your work.

on my rear bumper I extended the mounts all the way through the bumper, and then drilled those for the d-rings. That way my crappy welds don't take any stress, they're just holding the bumper on there. All the force from recovery just goes straight to the frame.

Here's my bumper I built. It's built without any plans, I just started with the winch tray and built from there. One of these days I'll be able to afford a winch. It will fit up to a 9500 series Warn winch. The fog lights are behind the expanded metal below the winch plate and the driving lights are mounted on top. It will be having some floodlights added to it and the driving lights will be replaced with better ones. The MJ has a factory front skid which works out great since the bumper angles back at the same angle the skid does.

It works great to slide up on ledges that would stop me dead without the added approach angle and hieght this design offers.

Now it's on the MJ.


It matches great with the wildly raised '95 XJ flares relocation getting done to the MJ.


It was built originally for the XJ.


Side view on the XJ with the mildly raised flares.


Without the grill guard on the XJ shortly being built.


It does a great job of protecting the front end when hitting deer at speed too.

Nice TNT!!! That is almost what I had in mind for my home fab.

Thanks for the the tips and pics, I got my crossmember about finished last night and one of my brackets drilled out, its coming together!

Mine:


How I did it:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=929730

Its most of the way there, got a couple of questions for anyone who cares to answer.

Best way to tie the hitch reciever to the bumper? Just passing it through the tube and welding the outer seams doesn't seem like it'd be strong enough, particularly to hold up a bike rack with 2-4 big bikes on front. Continue it through and join it to the crossmember?

I was planning on using 1/2" grade 8 bolts, but the 1/4" angle I used for the crossmember is too thick in the corner. 7/16" grade 8 okay or should I just clearance the angle for the bigger bolthead? (think I already know the answer to this one)


finally, it seems that most tie the bumper to the frame mounts but what about the x-member? If I have to weld the reciever to the x-member then effectively all of my parts will be welded together.

Not that this is a huge deal, just makes install a bit more of a bitch and if they're all going to be a package deal I might as well tie the bumper to the x-member in a way that adds strength, not just to the reciever.

I have a question for you fine folks how tough are those bumper mounting points. I ask this becuase I will be pulling my front and rear bumpers off of my Bronco II I built and putting them onthe XJ I just picked up.

my front bumper with winch comes in close to 230 lbs so being my first jeep and it being a uni body I thought i would ask

I really appreciate that the mods moved this thread, now its where it "belongs" and I can't get a non-hijacking response to my questions...


After looking at it for a while I think I've figure out that gusseting the reciever might be better than joining it to the x-member, anyone got any advice on this?

Starboard M said:

Mine:

How I did it:
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=929730

Click to expand...

This Bump turned out really nice how much was you into it $ wise?