custom bumpers
Seasoned Member
Joined: Aug 2011
Posts: 311
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From: Southwest Michigan
Year: 1996
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 I6 HO
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In my opinion, if you are an ameteur welder with very little experience, maybe you should get more experience before welding something like a bumper. It takes practice to make good strong welds and then 1/4 inch steel you have to get pretty hot to weld it with a wire feed.
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 14,479
Likes: 805
From: Blunt, South Dakota
Year: 97
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.6 stroker
A word of warning here...you said you CAN weld...bumpers are not only structural, but a vital piece of safety equipment. If you're out of practice, then start practicing. Get the feel for it, get your settings dialed in for the material you're going to use...also, what kind of machine do you have? I wouldn't use a 110 machine for anything like this. You need good depth of fusion to bond the plate together.
Also, use good clean steel, and grind/bevel the edges where the plate meets for better penetration. Also have unibody tie-in points.
If all this is too much, or you don't have all the proper tooling necessary to do it, or are uncomfortable designing something like this, the link to JCR posted above is a good option.
One last thing, start going through the fab section and jeep build threads...lots of good info and ideas there...
Last edited by Rogue4x4; Jan 31, 2016 at 12:00 AM.
Thread Starter
Junior Member
Joined: Nov 2014
Posts: 94
Likes: 0
From: Brighton
Year: 2001
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0l i6
What kind of bumper do you want, tube or plate? I'm guessing plate, so personally, I would use 3/16". As far as design goes, get some cardboard and tape, and mock something up, take the pieces and use them as a template to cut your steel, tack it together, test fit, and gusset/weld it up.
A word of warning here...you said you CAN weld...bumpers are not only structural, but a vital piece of safety equipment. If you're out of practice, then start practicing. Get the feel for it, get your settings dialed in for the material you're going to use...also, what kind of machine do you have? I wouldn't use a 110 machine for anything like this. You need good depth of fusion to bond the plate together.
Also, use good clean steel, and grind/bevel the edges where the plate meets for better penetration. Also have unibody tie-in points.
If all this is too much, or you don't have all the proper tooling necessary to do it, or are uncomfortable designing something like this, the link to JCR posted above is a good option.
One last thing, start going through the fab section and jeep build threads...lots of good info and ideas there...
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Joined: Feb 2011
Posts: 14,479
Likes: 805
From: Blunt, South Dakota
Year: 97
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.6 stroker
Thanks I think I have a good idea on what I want and that card board idea is genius, after hearing about how "bad" of a welder I am 😂😂 I asked my buddy if he could weld it for me(he's going to Lincoln tech for welding) and I have a pretty solid idea all I need is some good weather to execute thanks all this has helped out alot

So take what was said here with a grain of salt, LOL
Roninofako has good advice. When I built my front bumper, I started out with making a bumper out of cardboard and tape. Put on the jeep and did some adjustments until I liked what I saw. Then I carefully cut the tape apart & used the cardboard pieces as a template to cut out steel.
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