Just another Budget Build...

[99SJ_Ex]

So I picked up the steel forms of my front and rear bumpers today... cameraphone pics to be posted tonight...

 

[99SJ_Ex]

So I have always been Ooogling over the bumpers I've seen on Jeeps and have known for quite some time that I needed these. I currently run the factory 2in receiver on the rear and HiCountry 4x4 Tow points up front. However, as some of you have seen, The H.C. 4x4 brackets left much want in a better towing point. So after doing some work at the school I'm student teaching at, I was offered the metal for both my bumpers as payment!

My schools technology metals/welding lab has a 4ft X 4ft Plasma cutting table, various welders, plasma cutters, etc...

I first started out by going to the Steel Supplier for our school to pick up two 60in x 12in sheets of 3/16in steel in which I was going to CnC out the bumpers...

After realizing I would save myself some time and $$, I decided to have the Tom and John make several bends in the sheets so my cutting and welding would be reduced...

For the Rear bumper, the face would be approx 5 1/4in (measured on the inside diameter) the top and bottom plates would be bent at 90 degree angles. The Front bumper's face would again be 5 1/4in I.D. and a 90 degree bend for the top. However, to make it look a little 'fancier' than a regular square tube bumper, I had the bottom plate only bend to a 45 degree angle.

My two 'bumper molds' loaded up and ready for the trip back to school...

I bought JCR's bumper tie in brackets for the front bumper as well as their D-ring weldable tabs... (pics later) And began setting up the front bumper. The plan is to have the ends tapered from the bottom up and also, if I can get the angles right, tapered from the front towards the back. Both these tapers will begin just outside of the d-ring tabs... (You can see the rough chalk lines in the picture)

I also picked up two 2in receiver tubes (6in long) from Fleet Farm for $8 a piece. One will go in each bumper. these will be used in the future to possibly hold a winch plate, and of course, pulling/pushing trailers...

Friday I hope to start cutting out the wedge pieces in the bumper so that I can bend the tapers and tack weld them... I'm hoping to have the front bumper done no later than the end of next week as I will only be working on it during my breaks in teaching...

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

sorry I did not get back with you sooner on the bumper dimensions you asked for. I honestly forgot. if you still need some let me know. I am excited to see how these turn out for ya. :thumbup:

 

[Sirus789]

looks good, reminds me of my old XJ, i did the same thing you did. That little XJ wasnt big or badass but it went everywhere. Keep up the good work! I had those coopers on my XJ also, tires make a difference.

 

[99SJ_Ex]

sorry I did not get back with you sooner on the bumper dimensions you asked for. I honestly forgot. if you still need some let me know. I am excited to see how these turn out for ya. :thumbup:

Actually if you could send me the dim for the width between the bumper mounts that would be great! I will be cutting slots through for the d ring tabs so that I can weld them to the mounts and then the mounts are bolted to the tie ins and everything is connected together all nice and tight. Was too busy today teaching the youngin's so I'll take a crack at them again Monday.

P.S. on the bumpers you make tyler, when mounting them to the jeep, does it go chassis jcr tie in, bumper mount? Or, chassis, bumper mount, jcr tie in? I got their redesigned tie ins to I also have that plate on the inner side of the chassis...

 

[XJ&CHZ4ME]

my mounts are the tie in plates. They are one long piece that has all the holes on it so I dont have to do the sandwiching like added tie in plates do. I will shoot you a PM or a text this weekend with the measurements. They are in the shop and I am on the road today. :thumbup:

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Progress Made!

So being a student teacher does have responsbilities... Like teaching class every now and then... However, my Cooperating teacher did give me Tuesday and Wednesday to get a good chunk done...

First off I took the stock bumper off, relocated the horns and tried to relocate the vacuum reserve but the line broke so I just tossed it in back and put a screw in the line till I can fix it later...

I then removed the old HiCountry 4x4 Brackets and upon doing so, realized I had stripped the bolt right behind the driver side sway bar mount bolts. I figure will all the other tie in bolts on the JCR brackets, I can afford to not install one...

One issue I did have was a loud clunk when I turned hard right or left... After close inspection (not so close) I realized that when I installed the Durango Steering gearbox, I over-tightened the box bolts and bent/cracked the steering box brace... So I made a new one!

I powder-coated the JCR tie in brackets before I installed them, was it necessary? Probably not, but they sure do look good!

After deciding on the taper I wanted for the ends of the bumper, I plasma cut off the 'folded' section...

I was just going to weld the piece back on at a 45 degree angle, but realized making it a 90 degree angle made the bumper look a lot more aggressive...

Tack-weding in the filler plate to connect the two angle sections.

Capping the ends in, I was thinking about 'wrapping' the sides, but decided that if I ever went hog-wild with fender cutting it wouldn't look good...

80% of the joints welded, 30% ground down, 2in receiver placed in hole cut with plasma torch.

Bracing for the receiver installed, bumper mounts tacked for proper placement.

Whats Left
Plot and drill bumper mount holes
Finnish welding bumper mounts on
Cut holes and weld in Shackle Tabs
Weld in a couple more gussets for reinforcement
Finnish grinding welds
Prime and Paint


SO SORRY for this post being sooooooo long!!!!

 

[Fore Wheeler]

Liking this a lot, nice work.

Can't wait to see it in march.

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Liking this a lot, nice work.

Can't wait to see it in march.

Thanks! Hopefully I will also have a matching Rear bumper by then as well... I've been so focused on the front that I haven't had much thoughts on the back other than incorporating a receiver in that one as well...

I am also debating if I should try and make a 'pre-runner' style hoop for it or leave it as is... I think adding the hoop might give it a 'too much going on' look, but at the same time, in this neck of the woods, would be beneficial against deer...

 

[962door]

It looks really good!

 

[Fore Wheeler]

I like the looks of hoops, and they have function of keeping deer off your paint as well as giving strength to the bumper. Just don't make a stinger, those are silly.

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Well no hoop for the time being... but easily added at a later date...

I promise there's more pics, of the bumper process as well as the huge build I did on the heep oh Monday, but they are all on my phone and I haven't had time to upload them yet...

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Finally I've had time to update the finished product, as well as throw in some photos of the 18hr project I completed during/after the bumper install! So here it goes!

**Note: All photos were taken with a cell camera and therefore lack super good details, but y'all can't see anyways so it shouldn't matter much... :gee:

Using the plasma torch, I cut out slots for the D-tabs right next to the bumper mounts that I had tacked in.

From the back you'll see that once I inserted the tabs, I will be able to weld the tabs to both the bumper and the mounts, this creates a super strong tow point by having everything tied together.

Mocking up the tabs so they are in the proper position before welding.

Here you can see the welds on the back side and how everything is tied together. Note the tabs are also welded 360 degrees on the front of the bumper as well, no chances taken here!

The final finished product before grinding, sanding, priming, and painting...

I used RustOleum Self-Etching Primer in 3 light coats, followed by Velspar Zinc Primer to make sure I had the best protection I could get for under $15... You can also see some goodies that I got

I used RustOleum Industrial strength Flat Black paint on the entire bumper because I figured it would be the easiest to touch up as well as it will fit the paint scheme my jeep will hopefully undergo later this year...

Lining everything up in the shop...

The final Product mounted up and ready to go!

And the front bumper is now complete! There will be several modifications in the future including: drill&tap hole for flag mount; drilling holes and/or welding on hoop for driving lights. But for now it is done and work will soon begin on the rear bumper!

 

[99SJ_Ex]

As seen in a picture above, I recently found that my upper control arms were badly bent causing my front axle to be not aligned and so on and so forth.

I decided to pick up new adjustable uppers from T&T Customs, as well as an adjustable track bar and track bar mount since I knew I would be raising my jeep a couple more inches in the future and still had the OE track bar that was also causing my some tracking issues. For that I purchased a R.E. adj track bar. All this I purchased through Phil at Max-Bilt along with some other misc stuff seeing as I planned on doing the whole project at his place.

Since I was doing so much on the front end, I figured I might as well work on the rear/gears that I had been planning and ocasionally buying parts for, so for the rear I picked up a Ford 8.8 out of a 2000 Ford Explorer that had disc brakes, a LSD diff and 4.10 gears. Picked it up at a local salvage yard for $125

I bought some d30 gears off a guy on ebay, but when they got to me low and behold they were standard cut and not reverse, but thats a story for another time... For now I am still on a lookout for reverse cut 4.10s for the d30...

Pulling my Heep in onto Phil's new hoist...

Instead of working on it in 3 different sections over 3 different days, it turned into 1, 18hr long project... Should have been shorter, but we had to run to the parts hut a few times to grab things we forgot about...

Now, for some reason I lost a bunch of pictures of the majority of the project, but the remainder are those of the rear axle...

Getting it lined up so we know where to weld the mounts on...

Driverside caliper we ened up using the passenger side stock brake hose, we simply welded the metal tab on it to the spring perch...

Passenger side brake hose we had to run to the parts hut for... We simply asked them for a rubber hose that had the ford banjo block on one side and 3/16in brake fitting on the other side. Again we mounted it to the spring perch.

We decided it would be a good idea to mount the shock mounts up flush with the axle instead of hanging down under the axle like the OE ones were... After the project we realized we didn't think that through as we were still using the shocks for a 3in lift and were bottoming out over every bump... Yesterday I purchased some stock rear shocks figuring that we removed about 3in of height by moving the shock mount...

That pretty much wrapped up the project as we couldn't do the front gears so I just left the front drive shaft off. Driving back to River Falls however, I began noticing a lot of noise when I was using the brakes, so the next day I checked the rears at school and realized they were metal on metal! The calipers were fine the rotors and pads were junk from sitting so long, so I replaced them...

That's all she wrote for the moment! More pics will arise as I find/take them of the little projects comping up. Planned so far are using an old rubber door mat to make some wheel well guards to protect the front door hinges, rear bumper, front gear install, and replacing the exhaust manifold.

 

[XJosh95]

What proportioning valve did you use? Stellar performance?

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Hah! Who needs proportioning valves?? Didn't touch a thing and they work better than stock.

 

[Fore Wheeler]

We decided it would be a good idea to mount the shock mounts up flush with the axle instead of hanging down under the axle like the OE ones were... After the project we realized we didn't think that through as we were still using the shocks for a 3in lift and were bottoming out over every bump... Yesterday I purchased some stock rear shocks figuring that we removed about 3in of height by moving the shock mount...

it looks like the shock mount is hanging below the axle tube. it looks like it would be a good spot to get hung up. :dunno:


I like the bumper, nice work.

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Its simply the way the picture was taken Dan, it is flush with the bottom...

And I have been looking into producing these bumpers as well as the rear once I have that one completed...

 

[Fore Wheeler]

i though that was the case, it looks like a hook in the pic.

can't wait to see it in person in March.

 

[99SJ_Ex]

Here's a little preview of what I've gotten done on the rear bumper so far... This is not solid mounts, just test fitted...