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YJ rear bumper on XJ front

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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 11:48 AM
  #1  
blankdeluxe's Avatar
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From: Pagosa Springs, Colorado
Year: 88-ish
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Engine: 4.0 I6
Default YJ rear bumper on XJ front

I forgot to post this when I got it set up so here are some of the pictures that I have sitting around.

I was wheeling about a month ago and had a little flop and needed to pull my jeep back onto its wheels. In the process of doing this we ripped my front bumper off so I decided that its about time that I get a grown up bumper. The next weekend I was walking around the junk yard just looking for random parts that I would use and happened to run into a YJ that still had its rear bumper on it. Took some quick visual measurements and decided that it was worth a try to grab and see if I could fit it on my XJ. Walked out of the junk yard paying $23 dollars for it.

What it looked like when I got it home.



Ripped sheet metal bumper.



Another view of the YJ bumper. As you can see on the top, I cut the brackets flush with the top of the bumper.



I also had to cut the angle mounting location off from where it used to mount on the wrangler. I forgot to take before pictures for this so this is all I have to show.



A closer look at the cut bracket.



Sitting on stands so i can see how close its going to be and to make sure everything will line up right.



Side view again.



Pushed into place before I tacked it in to make sure everything would look/fit alright.



After I tacked it in place



Temp tack welds to hold it up. It will get cut back off so I can paint and add a stinger to it. I'm supposed to get the stinger back from my buddy today and then i'll be read to go with it.




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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 12:22 PM
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From: Bullville, NY
Year: 2000
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Looks great and nice work too!
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Old Mar 5, 2013 | 12:53 PM
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Fits alot better than I thought it would. You need to cut that receiver off of it and make a flush mount reciever from it.

If you add in some unibody tie ins to the bumper mounts im sure you're making then you'll have a nice and strong tow point.
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 12:48 AM
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From: reading pa
Year: 2000
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now i wanna do this...
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 05:47 AM
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From: +34° 25' 35.67", -81° 21' 12.04"
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You just butt welded it to the front of the frame horns?
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 06:30 AM
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Looks suprisingly good.

I don't know how strong the way you mounted it is going to be. I honestly can't really tell what you did.
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 09:16 AM
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wow great job man. Surprised I haven't seen more of these bumper swaps done.
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Old Mar 6, 2013 | 01:56 PM
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How is that thing attached? Will you be using it for recovery?
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Old Mar 7, 2013 | 11:26 AM
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If you read what he says, he just has it tacked on to check everything, and that he is taking it back off to add a stinger, etc...
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Old Mar 8, 2013 | 12:51 PM
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Originally Posted by xj_maniac_newb
Fits alot better than I thought it would. You need to cut that receiver off of it and make a flush mount reciever from it.

If you add in some unibody tie ins to the bumper mounts im sure you're making then you'll have a nice and strong tow point.
It will tie into the UNIBODY when its all said and done. And the receiver is staying on there. Its not worth the work to make it flush mount since I have only spent $25 on this bumper. Figure if it works then leave it alone and my winch works just as good on it this way as anything else.



Originally Posted by coastie903
If you read what he says, he just has it tacked on to check everything, and that he is taking it back off to add a stinger, etc...
Nailed it. Getting cut back off this weekend for the stinger and fogs to get added. Then paint and getting properly welded on. It wont be nice and easy to remove like 95% of the bumpers out there but I can promise you that I will break my unibody before I break my bumper off.
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Old Mar 9, 2013 | 11:28 PM
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From: gresham
Year: 1993
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dude thats pretty sweet! looks like youre on the right track as far as getting the unibody tie ins so no need to preach to the chior! :P I cant wait to see it finished!
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Old Mar 13, 2013 | 01:05 PM
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Any updates? Great one to follow....cant wait to see more
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Old Mar 15, 2013 | 12:13 PM
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I'm on my phone now so I can't post all the new pictures but here is a quick on just to show how it came out.

YJ rear bumper on XJ front-forumrunner_20130315_111219.jpg
Attached Thumbnails YJ rear bumper on XJ front-forumrunner_20130315_111209.jpg  
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Old Mar 18, 2013 | 12:44 PM
  #14  
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Alright. Here are my pictures finally.


Getting paint.









Getting ready to mount











Mounted







Welded in. There will be plates added on top of this that will follow the unibody all the way back and will be welded and bolted just for extra strength but the fact of the matter is, this IS part of the front unibody now. I welded all the way around the undibody on both side and weld it everywhere it touches. This picture is in the middle of the welding process. Also, Flame away, I know I'm going to hear it from some people on here but I trust my welds and know that it tied in nice and strong.
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Old Mar 18, 2013 | 12:58 PM
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I hope you plan on keeping that forever. Cutting it off will be fun
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