goalpost95

Alright well i'll start with a little history of the jeep . . .

One of the guys i worked with over the summer found a jeep that had been sitting for 4 years and was priced at $250 and only needed fuel injectors to run. Long story short the throttle was also stuck and when my friend put it in reverse the pedal went immediately to the floor and he hit the sellers truck. Then after some tinkering the jeep needed some other things

power steering hose
alternator
left tail light
spark plugs
distributor cap and rotor
spark plug wires

Anyway here it is stock






Then i added a 3inch lift kit from zone offroad





After that wondering why the brakes were acting really spongey come to find that the wheel cylinder cracked on the rear drum brake




Then along with this a buddy of mine was selling wrangler rims and tires for $250 so i picked them up and found the one lugnut had rusted onto the wheel stud which was awesome to get off



Heres the jeep rolling on the used rims ha



Then a big snow storm came and was loving my jeep and pulling people out of the snow and of course in my arrogance going about 15mph in a neighborhood i slide into a volvo and do this . . .





It was a depressing day but I called up the junkyard and got some replacement parts which included

Header panel
Fender
headlight assembly

Heres that process






And heres the finished multicolored end




Now obviously I didn't want this to happen again so went out got some metal and got some help from my friend to fab up a new bumper

here is the steel



1/2 inch steel plate
1/4 diamond plate
3/16 2x6 steel tubing

comparing the two brackets



Welding the bracket










Testing things out



I wanted to weld the brackets onto the bumper completely but we got 1/2 inch grade 8 bolts that should do the trick and would give me some play with putting the bumper on or taking it off.

goalpost95

Adding the sides



Testing again




welding the diamond plate ontop



Finished product for now



Planning on painting the bumper with some enamel to keep it from rusting and some other things, i'll post when things are done.

96Cherokee113

Not bad at all. I'd spray some bedliner on that bumper instead of paint though. It's $8.99 for a 16oz can from Pepboys. It comes in a blue can made by DupliColor and one can should cover it. My buddy painted his brush guard with it and it looks awesome and holds up great.

But, what's hanging off the back left corner of your Jeep in the first pic?

goalpost95

it was the towing light wires for a trailer if i'm hauling one but since i have no plans for that i took them off

c_kdna

cool bumper
will you add tow points?

goalpost95

yes i did and some paint, was waiting for the paint to dry to put up the finishing pictures

cutting out the holes for the tabs



adding primer to the brackets



tab is in place



seeing what it looks like



wiping it down



primer



added the black



in place





finished

Bimmer_2002

very nice!

goalpost95

thank you i've got plans to repaint it when it gets warmer out any ideas?

1jeepman

I really like that bumper and all the pics you took through the process of the build. Any plans for brush guard and lights?

goalpost95

yeah i wanted to do a brush guard but the facilities we were using didn't have access to a pipe bender and as far as lights i planned on getting some in february around my birthday

kurtdaniel

that was a nice fix..I really like that bumper and the headlight assembly pics you took..

lonewolf53

very nice i had to do the same kind of job when we bought my XJ at first when we got it the starter was shot but after we got the new starter we learned the alternator was out and it didnt have a passenger side fender or a grill and the radiator was from the wrong year of the cherokee we got thaat all fixed she runs great now but im planning on building a steel bumper like yours with a brush guard you have any pointers for me to make it any easier?

goalpost95

use the old bumper as a template and measure the bolt placements. with the wreck we angle grinded the new bumper off without fully measuring everything which caused more trail and error. also use cardboard to get an idea as well. we rushed through it because we found a way into the university metal shop and pulled an all nighter making the bumper. the most difficult part was lining everything up so we used bolts to connect the bumper and bracket to get more leway with it.

lonewolf53

thanks thats a big help ill put up pictures as i build it