why bumper costs?

This is not a complaint, so bear with me! I'm wondering what generates the cost of a swing-away tire carrier on the rear bumpers I've been looking at? I see a bumper that costs between $250 and $300 and the tire carrier option will cost as much as the bumper to begin with. Does this have to do with parts or is it particularly difficult to do the welds? I don't have any problem paying for good parts, I guess I just don't completely understand what goes into fabbing one of these bumpers. Any education on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.

I might be selling my rear aftermarket bumper with tire swing out since I'm moving up to 37's and 35's are heavy enough for it and I cannot lose anymore visibility back there. I live in Sacramento and could sell it for $425 it has 2 D rings on it. These pics suck, but they are all I have till I get a digital camera. That is a 35"tire on there.

The parts to build a swingout bumper cost quite a bit. The tubing is about $2.50 a foot, so you've got maybe 9-10 feet, the spindles generally cost $50 or so, and De-sta-co latches cost around $35 shipped. I have my carrier plates machined out of quarter inch plate, depending on your source those might cost up to $20. You've already got $130 material into a swingaway tire carrier. Compare that with about $50-60 you'd have into a bumper, and this is why swingouts cost so much.

Why do bumpers in general cost so damn much for a cherokee??? I mean the wheelbase challenged tjs and yjs and cjs have it easy with half the price we pay for our bumpers. Same with the rockrails. I guess its the unibody.========Kyle

offroadman83 said:

Why do bumpers in general cost so damn much for a cherokee??? I mean the wheelbase challenged tjs and yjs and cjs have it easy with half the price we pay for our bumpers. Same with the rockrails. I guess its the unibody.========Kyle

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Have you looked at a SWB bumper? There's nothing to them. One piece of rectangular tube.
You can't begin to compare the work that goes into an XJ bumper to a SWB.

it costs so much because they can sell them at that price...

small pederson said:

it costs so much because they can sell them at that price...

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yes. basic economics.. the supply of these bumpers is low.. and the demand is high,, which makes the price high

small pederson said:

it costs so much because they can sell them at that price...

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rangerjoe2001 said:

yes. basic economics.. the supply of these bumpers is low.. and the demand is high,, which makes the price high

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Both of you guys are wrong. First of all there are way too many companies making XJ bumpers. The supply is actually keeping prices down. XJ bumpers are very labor intensive to build. The mounting is complicated to do right and all the angles required for a strong, good looking, fitted bumper make for an expensive product to build.
There is absolutely no comparison to SWB bumpers. SWB bumpers are, for the most part, just a piece of straight tube with a simple frame mount.
Building an XJ bumper for $400-$600 is difficult, especially with steel prices these days.
Nobody's getting rich building XJ bumpers.

I think alot of the time people forget what it takes to run a buisiness, utilities and phone cost more than personal, there is advertising, comercial building rent or mortgage, bigger more expensive equipment,and I don't even want to talk about the IRS, when you buy a retail item you have higher expectations than when you build it in your garage out of scrap metal, and believe me people have high expectations in the off road industry as our products are severly abused, manufacturers that cut corners don't last long, bottom line quality costs money, I hope this sheds some light on the subject.
Steve, owner CBI off road fab.

kid4lyf said:

Both of you guys are wrong. First of all there are way too many companies making XJ bumpers. The supply is actually keeping prices down. XJ bumpers are very labor intensive to build. The mounting is complicated to do right and all the angles required for a strong, good looking, fitted bumper make for an expensive product to build.
There is absolutely no comparison to SWB bumpers. SWB bumpers are, for the most part, just a piece of straight tube with a simple frame mount.
Building an XJ bumper for $400-$600 is difficult, especially with steel prices these days.
Nobody's getting rich building XJ bumpers.

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Amen to that! SWB bumpers are cake compared to an XJ bumper. I could build 5-6 of them in the time it takes to make one XJ bumper. Now try and offer custom XJ bumpers at a price that is competitive with mass produced bumpers...impossible. It's labor that eats up more than anything for a quality bumper.

Have the right tools and a good jig, and XJ bumpers are cake. When I'm alone in the shop I can do an XJ bumper with three piece brush guard in 2-3 hours. This is with the brackets and D-Ring tabs already made up. Full wrap around for 1997-2001, about 3-4 hours tops. The miter cuts are a snap on a cheap ($800) 7x12 band saw, and take about 5 extra minutes of prep and welding, and 5 minutes of sanding and finishing. Get a quality MIG welder and enough practice making these, you can do them in your sleep for not much more than SWB Bumper. That's why Nates4x4 front bumpers start at $159 for the base model. That's the same price as our SWB bumpers with tweaked back ends.

The point is, I guess I'd have to agree on the supply and demand thing. Because any competent fabricator with enough practice can make these fast and cheaply.

That all makes sense. Like I said before, I don't mind paying for parts when I understand what goes into them. I just wouldn't want to buy a bumper for half the price and think I got a good deal only to find out that it was put together with a soldering iron.

Nates4x4: How come you guys don't have any rear xj bumpers on your site?

nates4x4 said:

Have the right tools and a good jig, and XJ bumpers are cake. When I'm alone in the shop I can do an XJ bumper with three piece brush guard in 2-3 hours. This is with the brackets and D-Ring tabs already made up. Full wrap around for 1997-2001, about 3-4 hours tops. The miter cuts are a snap on a cheap ($800) 7x12 band saw, and take about 5 extra minutes of prep and welding, and 5 minutes of sanding and finishing. Get a quality MIG welder and enough practice making these, you can do them in your sleep for not much more than SWB Bumper. That's why Nates4x4 front bumpers start at $159 for the base model. That's the same price as our SWB bumpers with tweaked back ends.

The point is, I guess I'd have to agree on the supply and demand thing. Because any competent fabricator with enough practice can make these fast and cheaply.

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Let me retort.
While normally I would never put down someone elses fab work (we all start somewhere) you basically opened this can of worms by inferring that people are getting screwed by paying what they do for XJ bumpers.
I just looked at the post about your bumper and yes, I could probably build that in 2-3 hrs.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=353087#post353087
It is exactly what we would build for a SWB jeep. One simple tube with frame brackets (actually not frame brackets, yours uses only the factory mounts).
Yes, it is a bumper but it's not exactly a work of art. Again, I'm sorry if I'm offending but it's true. In that post you even answer peoples fears of it not being up to the task of recovery with, "Believe it or not, not everyone who buys Nates4x4 bumpers intend them for recovery".
Comparing this design with one from AJ, Rigid, CRoc, or even one of mine is rediculous. I'm sorry but it's true. These bumpers cost 3Xs what yours does and they SHOULD.
Trust me, the extra money went in the bumper, not the builder's pocket.

kid4lyf said:

Let me retort.
While normally I would never put down someone elses fab work (we all start somewhere) you basically opened this can of worms by inferring that people are getting screwed by paying what they do for XJ bumpers.
I just looked at the post about your bumper and yes, I could probably build that in 2-3 hrs.
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?p=353087#post353087
It is exactly what we would build for a SWB jeep. One simple tube with frame brackets (actually not frame brackets, yours uses only the factory mounts).
Yes, it is a bumper but it's not exactly a work of art. Again, I'm sorry if I'm offending but it's true. In that post you even answer peoples fears of it not being up to the task of recovery with, "Believe it or not, not everyone who buys Nates4x4 bumpers intend them for recovery".
Comparing this design with one from AJ, Rigid, CRoc, or even one of mine is rediculous. I'm sorry but it's true. These bumpers cost 3Xs what yours does and they SHOULD.
Trust me, the extra money went in the bumper, not the builder's pocket.

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x2.

The design of the Nate's bumper is rather simplistic and I can understand why it's so much more inexpensive. Judging from the pics, with the lack of gusseting, I wouldn't trust it over my own design. It is very simple and pretty, but that's as far as I'd go with it. However, a nicer looking, more reenforced bumper would cost quite alot more.

One get's what they pay for. Such is life.

I've have to agree with Steve from CBI and kid4life on thier points.

Many of us have built our own armor for several reasons.....

we have the tools and fab skills
we want a particular style or option that is not available
we can more easily justify buying the tools if we build stuff with it
we have spare time (which always requires more than planned)
we're tightwads
(insert more "we" here)


I'm not gonna restate what kid and OT have already covered.....you do get what you pay for.

kid4lyf said:

Both of you guys are wrong. First of all there are way too many companies making XJ bumpers. The supply is actually keeping prices down. XJ bumpers are very labor intensive to build. The mounting is complicated to do right and all the angles required for a strong, good looking, fitted bumper make for an expensive product to build.
There is absolutely no comparison to SWB bumpers. SWB bumpers are, for the most part, just a piece of straight tube with a simple frame mount.
Building an XJ bumper for $400-$600 is difficult, especially with steel prices these days.
Nobody's getting rich building XJ bumpers.

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whoa ho. i said nothing about the economic principles here except that retail price is set where it is because people are willing to pay the money for them. which is true.

small pederson said:

whoa ho. i said nothing about the economic principles here except that retail price is set where it is because people are willing to pay the money for them. which is true.

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The same can be said about gas prices and the cost of milk. People pay that price out of necessity. Just as folks will pay $2.50 for a gallon of gas, and $4.00 for a gallon of milk, there is a price poeple will pay for aftermarket bumpers because the factory units don't cut it. Just because they will pay that price, doesn't mean they aren't getting ripped off. And just because they pay half as much, still doesn't mean they aren't getting ripped off.

Kudos to Nate for making a cheap bumper for folks to buy. it still leaves the fact that if you want a better bumper (or anything else for that matter) you gotta pay. If I went into production tomorrow, my bumpers would sell for no less than $500 a piece. While my overhead would be low, my skills are worth something as is the cost of materials.

Where am I going with this? Who the hell knows? All I know is, if you want a better anything there is a high price to be paid.

Damn the wine.

Who sets retail price? Really....who? The BIG boys such as Warn. Big names
not the small guys, the big guys draw the line, even though they may not
even produce thier own product, yet.....wears thier name.....
From there, smaller companies who have intrest in a similiar product and are
willing to promote it see the line drawn in the sand...............the smaller
companies do thier best to develope a product, test 'hopefully' & promote
thier product against the big names.....hopefully undercutting thier price and
turning a profit......If thier design looks fantastic in thier eyes but not the
publics...........it dies, there is an art to designing something that works for
the masses, form, function & the eye candy play major roles in sales along
with proper pricing, you can out price a part......but, what most dont think
about is that it can be out-priced for a reason.........quanity control, weeding
out the shoppers, control over shops ability.......
Advertising your product can be KILLER...........those who dont know, if you
advertise in a national magazine it can cost from 3-1800 bucks a month for a
small ad to promote your product..........now, after you buy the steel, put
fab time into it at shop rate...........how many lets say bumpers do you have
to sell to turn a profit? Again as Steve from CBI said ...dont forget about the
electric/rent:lease/overhead bills that guys who dont work out of thier
garage face...............its the hard truth that if you want a quality, consistant
product, ya gotta pay to to play.

Ok.......let the backlashing begin........ :rattle:


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