JerrytheJeep

Damn those tabs are huge. Just make sure they tie in back to the steering brace at least. Also is that chrome coated or stainless? Weld prep!

Nakedginger

They are pretty thick, I just found some scrap metal laying around and decided it use it instead of going to the metal yard and paying for some. The bumper is 1/4" steel with chrome plating. Before welding I am grinding the chrome away so there is bare metal for the weld.

99grndcherkee

I'm plaining on doing this to my front and rear of my 99 grand Cherokee wj any ideas ?

v8eater

This is a bumper/tow bar combo I built for a TJ last year. Just to give you a few ideas.

Nakedginger

That's a really nice looking bumper! Its very similar to what I want to fabricate. I like how you took the drop down tongue and put tabs on it along with the brush guard. I'm looking to hopefully have the front of the brush guard and the drop down tongue be the same piece. I also like how you used two clevis's to attach the towing frame. I may steal that idea from you. Thanks for the impute and new ideas!

craig98

looks good

Nakedginger

Well its a good thing I am fabricating this new bumper! I went up to a mountain near by and got stuck in the snow and rain for around 5 hours. The front bumper was ripped half way off when I was rescued.

Nakedginger

For my mounting system I chose to incorporate some frame stiffeners to help make the frame up front more rigid. I copied a idea from a online company with their frame stiffeners and made my own. I took everything off in the front of my XJ and used cardboard to make a template. After that I traced and cut out the metal for the frame stiffeners. Make sure your template is right when you trace it! I had to do some trimming when I was fitting the metal. After I had fitted both pieces of metal I sprayed some weldable primer on the frame and the inside surface of the frame stiffener. This will hopefully keep the inner portion of the frame stiffener from rusting. It was an idea someone else on this form had when they did this project. Below are a picture of the frame once I had knocked off the undercoating and ground off the primer where I am going to weld. The second photo is one of the frame stiffeners once they were ready to be welded in

Lowrange2

LOL, I'm guess a couple brilliant individuals wrapped the strap around the top of that knarly brush guard.

The amount of people that are stupid enough to do that amazes me. I see it all the time.

Nakedginger

First of all, come on! People make mistakes. Its not like you do EVERYTHING right...I admit it wasn't smart to pull from the brush guard. When we were doing the recovery I had already been in the snow and rain for 5 hours and started to get hypothermia. So when we were pulling it out I wasn't thinking straight. I was actually having a hard time making decisions and my thought process was slow. when it did pull off I felt really stupid. I should have just wrapped a strap around the axle and pulled from there. But I'm making a new bumper, so it doesn't really matter anyways.

LoveHate

hmm im about to be making a new bumper as well. going to steal your idea because I have the same law in Maryland and you will get a huge fine for towing with anything other then a solid tow bar. was going to buy a premade one and keep it in the jeep but this works much better.

Nakedginger

Do it! I'm really excited about mine. Ill keep posting pictures as I continue the build.

Lowrange2

... I didn't say you did it.

Nakedginger

After doing a lot of welding I finally got the frame stiffeners on.



I then decided to take 1/4" thick angle iron and weld one to the bumper (lower end of the picture) and one to the frame stiffener(upper end of the picture). Along with this I decided to put 1/2" bolts through the angle iron on the frame using stock front two bumper bolt holes in the frame. There are two 1/2" bolts connecting the angle irons together where they meet. Sorry I don't have a better picture with the bolts, I forgot to take a picture of it at the stage.



And here is the bumper mocked up ready to weld the mounting system to it!



After all that is said and done, I dont think the bumper will be going anywhere.

offroadordnance

Very cool build!