My DIY overkill bumper build.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
My DIY overkill bumper build.
Well I started this project by purchasing a 21 ft. section of 2" x 5" x 1/4" tube. I'm not used to working with metal like this and probably could have gotten by with 3/16" wall, but oh well. My original thought was to sandwich the frame mount with the outer bumper sections. Making the frame mount flush with the face of the bumper. Then I would weld my clevis mounts to the frame mounts and notch the tube around the clevis mount. Here's my pile of tube ready for fab.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
I wanted to trim down the end sections to make them to a 2" x 2" size on the end. I also wanted to go the extra step and keep the nice rounded edges from the mill. So, I pie cut the end sections, then bent the pieces together, and then welded them together.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Now it was time to pick out my mount material. My wife's uncle owns the shop that I've been working in and he told me that I could use any metal stock he had laying around. I started looking around for a piece of 1/4" x 5.5" or 6" flat bar to make my frame mounts out of. I was hoping that 5" would work, but it misses catching the highest or lowest bolts, depending on how you mount it. I couldn't find any 1/4", but did find a section of 3/8" x 6". I know this is kinda overkill, but hey, it's free. So, I had to go and rethink my design. What I came up with was to make the mount one piece from the big oval, sleeved hole all the way out to the tip of the clevis mount. I still sandwiched the mount between the tube but the clevis mount stuck out from in between the tube. I also added one piece of the 3/8" flat to each side of the clevis mount to make it stronger for pulling. The additional pieces were also trimmed smaller than the mount sticking out so there was area to weld it in real good.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Now it was time to sand it down, primer, and paint it with aerosol bedliner. Then I got to install it. Found out 2 things. #1 it's an extremely tight fit. # 2 is that 2 of the bolt holes on each side didn't line up to the existing holes in the frame. A little quality time with the air die grinder fixed that on the driver's side. Now I just need to do it to the pass. side.
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Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
This makes phase 1 of the build complete. Phase 2 will come when I buy my winch and buy some tube for the front.
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Year: 1997
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Bumper looks good... feel sorry for anyone or anything that ever gets hit by that thing... are you going to build a rear bumper along the same lines??