My Rear Bumper - 2nd Fab Attempt

Well after finishing my Front Bumper, I needed a rear…

And I’m Almost finished with my Back Bumper… It’s finished enough to use but I still want to finish the sides…

Here it is:

First I tapped out the existing bolts holes from the original bumper. They were metric but I tapped them out to 7/16


The rear bumper is made of 4 x 4 – ¼ inch square tube. With a 15 ton - Pintle Hook bolted with 4 – 1/2 x 5” grade 8 bolts




Underneath, I welded a 3/8 inch plate strips to reinforce the screws from the tow mounts.



This is everything all bolted up. I gained 6 inched of rear clearance since taking off the tow hitch even with the pintle hook… I am thinking about cutting off the bottom of the rear quarter panels, so I don’t know how it will finish off the sides yet…




Here is how everything attaches:
Red Arrow - 4 x 4 – ¼ inch square tube
Purple Arrow – 3 / 8 Plate 3” x 30”
Yellow arrows – Stock bolts from Original tow hitch
Light Blue Arrow – 1 / 2 inch Grade 8 bolt tapped through the 5/8 of bumper
Green Arrow – 7 / 16 x 5 ½” grade 8 Bolt




I think it should be strong enough to tug on... It should rip the back end of my Jeep off before it comes apart...

What do you think?


Ken

looks nice and beefy, you might want to extend it out to protect the lights, they get expensive to replace

what happened with the first fab attempt?

-Ranger

I wouldn't worry about tugging on that.....it's OVER beefy!

Instead of the strip on the bottom, maybe you could mount angle or rectangular tubing that slides inside the frame rail. Would be stronger for the side loads.

You'd have to open up the back of the frame to do that. You could also weld the angle/tube to the backside of the bumper as opposed to bolting it on.

FWIW

Looks nice!

Just a suggestions but you might want to find a military pintle hitch, say off of a 1/4 ton or M880 or whatever is handy, they are standard. They are not 'fixed' and will rotate 360Degrees. Much better solution when dragging a trailer back there and it changes camber, it will keep you from getting twisted up.

davidt said:

looks nice and beefy, you might want to extend it out to protect the lights, they get expensive to replace

Click to expand...

REally? Im on my 10th set

XJZ said:

Instead of the strip on the bottom, maybe you could mount angle or rectangular tubing that slides inside the frame rail. Would be stronger for the side loads.

You'd have to open up the back of the frame to do that. You could also weld the angle/tube to the backside of the bumper as opposed to bolting it on.

FWIW

Click to expand...

This is what I did with mine. Welded 3X2X.25 inch steel tubing to the bumper and ran it into the frame. Had to open it up like you said but this did two things for me...One it allowed me to use all the trailer hitch holes in the bottom of the frame. And even though this was a problem when I did it...The top shackle bolt runs into the frame. WE drilled a hole and slotted it in the tubing so the shackle bolt would go through...Even though its not tight it still offeres a little more strengh or at least a back up if the other bolts broke(which they wouldn't)

XJ_ranger said:

what happened with the first fab attempt?

-Ranger

Click to expand...

the first Fab attempt was my front bumper...

RichP said:

Just a suggestions but you might want to find a military pintle hitch, say off of a 1/4 ton or M880 or whatever is handy, they are standard. They are not 'fixed' and will rotate 360Degrees. Much better solution when dragging a trailer back there and it changes camber, it will keep you from getting twisted up.

Click to expand...

I dont ever plan on towing a trailer with it... it is for pulling and being pulled... If it gets twisty I always have a D-ring to couple to it...