Time for a new bumper...

Due to recent events my stock bumper is... damaged. I feel it is time to go for a nice strong front bumper. I don't have much money to spend, but I want a quality piece. If I had the money I would go with the JCR front and rear... but I don't.

Now I don't have experience with welding and fabbing up parts, but I found this on JF.com

http://jeep_n_john.tripod.com/bumperpage1.htm

It doesn't look half bad and it seems functional.
I think if I don't find any cheap prefabbed bumpers I will go with this one.

Anyone have other suggestions/ ideas. Doesn't matter if it is a DIY or Prefabbed.

www.nates4x4.com

not sure what your budget is, but their stuff is awesome...

Keep in touch with your local clubs and classifieds, I got my 4x4 Fab winch bumper for $150, check junkyards too, you never know whats around until you look.

JNickel101 said:

www.nates4x4.com

not sure what your budget is, but their stuff is awesome...

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Its not real good looking though!And I dont like the fact that the shackle mounts are not part of the main mounting brackets!
More pics:http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_hq51gQJZjgg3M13QnEnq0+NiOmzcB+jS

RCP Phx said:

Its not real good looking though!And I dont like the fact that the shackle mounts are not part of the main mounting brackets!

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Not good looking? wow....ok, well, i guess everyone has their own opinion....I'd take Nate's winch bumper over any other one on the market, past or present....

I'd kinda agree with RCP Phx. Nate's looks stout and functional, but the exterior styling of it leaves a bit to be desired.

Soooo....are either of you gonna help EvanH out, or are you just hijacking the thread to shoot down my suggestion? He asked for a reasonably priced bumper alternative to the one he linked to, and I gave him one.

JNickel101 said:

Soooo....are either of you gonna help EvanH out, or are you just hijacking the thread to shoot down my suggestion? He asked for a reasonably priced bumper alternative to the one he linked to, and I gave him one.

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Sure, to answer the original question about the bumper he posted. It looks light and like its strong enough to be yanked on with a towstrap, but doesn't offer much body protection, and probably wouldn't meet the bumper tallness requirements of many states.

I'd better suggest an Olympic or something like that which will actually offer some coverage and be better at protecting the body.

Also I didn't really see where that guy was really trying to sell those bumpers.

look at www.ajsoffroadarmor.com or www.rigidco.com as well as jcr's. rigid's site hasn't been updated in a while but here is their winch bumper on my jeep:



theres a cover plate for the fairlead hole, too.

Custom4x4's stuff is great. Still less than most namebrand stuff, and the approach angles are nice...





2 pictures of my front bumper...





The rough paint on mine is Herculiner. It's taken direct hits from rocks and just bounced off. Great stuff...

iratefla

EvanH.........You can have my old stock bumper if you will pay the shipping to you. Thats about as cheap as I can go, and it is in like new condition with the rubber end caps and everything. Just PM me if you want it.

I have a TJ rear bumper, stocker, sitting in the driveway. Free, you might be able to do something with that, don't know. Also joe attardo in blakeslee at endless mountain fab put them together, he might have some ideas. I'm about an hour south of you..

We do have a bumper on eBay that may be a little close to your price range?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/e...RK:MESE:IT&viewitem=&item=180123016376&rd=1,1

Nothing is different about it's construction or anything, we just use it and eBay for an advertising tool for other products on our site.

Hijack: "WHAT" bumper height laws? end Hijack.

I say that if you can wait to just search the for sale parts of forums to find a nice cheap used bumper. I waited for almost a year and was able to get the bumper I wanted (for real steal front bumper), in pretty much perfict condition, for $280. It was almost like I was stealing it from the guy. Just my $0.02

Chris

ren said:

Hijack: "WHAT" bumper height laws? end Hijack.

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Certain states require that bumpers vertical height from top to bottom meet a minimum.

Example: Washington State requires that the bumper be 5" tall top to bottom. Then of course there's that whole ground to bottom of bumper height limit in some states too.

EvanH said:

Anyone have other suggestions/ ideas. Doesn't matter if it is a DIY or Prefabbed.

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DIY is better because you can build what you want. I could not find a single front or rear bumper to do what I wanted. A local shop had a Warn front bumper and I would not have bolted that monstrosity on my jeep if they gave it too me. It's probably a great bumper for those that like the looks but I wanted a clean high clearance purly functional design. My bumpers actually turned out similar to the link you provided but I cheated. I used a Detours winch mount and welded square tubes to each side and for the rear Nates sells a rear bracket kit that will at least give you pre drilled mounting plates and is somthing to start with. Bumper steel will be thick enough that you can use a very cheap arc welder for excellent results. All you need is a welder and a 4 1/2" angle grinder and you can wip up some decent stuff. Most anybody that welds would love to come over and give you pointers and get you started because it's real fun to work with metal and weld. You can find front bumper frame plates and save a lot of cutting and drilling to make what you want. I've been to lots of 4X4 events years ago and I can tell you that if one jeep has 70k worth of bolt on goodies and it is parked nexted to a home brew jeep with stuff made out of all kinds of junk the crowd will allways be crawling around the home brew jeep and commenting on how cool the stuff the dude made is. You need bumpers and you need to learn to fool with a welder so this is a perfect time to play fabricator. You will save more than the tools cost on just the bumpers. I just have a lincoln AC arc welder and it's good for everthing but real thin sheetmetal.

Thanks a lot for all the helpful input. I think I will go with a DIY project. I found out last night that my cousin just graduated from Penn College (used to be Penn Tech) and is a Master Welder. Go figure. I also found out that my two half brothers that live in Michigan are welders. I have been wanting to take some classes on welding but money is tight.

Just so as to not start another thread... what would be a good welder to start off with? Brand/Model.

Thanks again, I really appreciate it!

From what I have read and researched you want two things, first, 220v is better then 110, also that it has the ability to have gas added if you don't already have it when you buy it. Lincoln makes good stuff, there is probably better out there but I'm not that knowledgeable about it. I do know one thing, the people who have welders that I know have never said 'Gee, I wish I had bought a smaller one', it's usually the opposite, the welder is useless if it wont' do the steel size you want to do.

Bumpers, I have one from Martin at Rock Lizard Fabrications, he is running a sale now too. I love it and boy is it strong.

Welders, I have a Hobart Handler 140. Its a nice little welder and 110vt that will do 1/4" and has done a good job on 5/8". Its has the gas and works for what I want to use it for. However if I had not gotten the deal I did on it I would have gotten the HH 180, the bigger 220vt but then I would have to had rewired the shop too.