i plan on making a winch bumper for my xj. i know i want d rings. not quite sure about a stinger yet. what thickness do you guys use for your bumpers, and about how much does it cost to make your own.all input is appreciated.

thanks,
xjman

 

I don't know what others use but I use 5/16" plate for the frame mounts that tie into all seven holes on the drivers side and five on the passenger side. I double it up starting at the two foremost holes (the original bumper mounting holes) and bring the combined thickness of .625" out to make my d-ring mount. 1/4" for the rest should be fine. Gusset the area around the winch mounting location.

Overkill is better than someone being killed. I have run stress tests on other thinner setups and while most scenarios they survived I have found certain angles that caused failures. You just might find yourself in a situation where you need to winch out at one of those angles.

 

alright, about how much do you estimate it would cost, im running on a tight budget but it can be done just might take longer.

 

I'm working on my front bumper also. The thickest plate I had was 1/4 for the mount brackets. I do plan on putting a backing plate on the back side of the rails to make it stronger. I would like know what some are using for bolt size.

 

If you did all the work including the welding then a rough estimate of materials would be around $200.00. You can ask around the metal depots for the remnants pile and if you're lucky you could score everything you need. That would bring the price down considerably.

$200 may be low. I buy materials through my work account so retail value is a guess for me.

 

Just replace the stock bolts with grade 8 equivalents. If you are backing both side you should weld some tube spacers inside the rails to prevent them from being crushed when you tighten everything down.

Use lock nuts. NOT nyloc nuts but true lock nuts. The nylon can degrade and leave you with a regular nut which is no good. Some people weld the nuts on one side and use loctite on the bolts. I still prefer the lock nuts over all other methods. Because a locking nut is out of round and mars the bolt threads you cannot reuse either if you take them apart.

 

When I built my winch bumper, I used 3/16th CRS. I had a CNC plasma table to cut it out an bend it into shape giving it a little more strength being it is one piece. My mounting brackets were 1/4in CRS and I just replaced the stock bolt size with grade8 bolts. My material cost was like, $167 for a 4x8 3/16th CRS flat stock, and I made 2 bumpers out of that whole sheet. But if JeepDeep says $200 for 1 then I don't know how I got a great deal...I got the tubing from a friend so that costed nothing.

This is what it looks like, I haven't tested it with the winch yet, I'm going to use huge washers underneath to help the strength. Hopely it doesn't fail on me but its pretty damn solid. I have like 3 Gussets on the backside under the winch area...

 

Ha. A plasma table. I can only dream about one of those. I have been cutting everything with a cut off wheel. But hey my arms are getting one heck of a work out.

This may be a dumb question but what does the CRS stand for? I'm horrible on know my metals.

 

Cold Rolled Steel

 

The only reason I have a CNC plasma is because I'm in a welding program for college. Other wise I'd be in the same boat as you

 

Thank you.

Use it while you can. Cut off wheels aren't much fun. LOL