Okay, so I'm starting my first bumper build. I am going to be using 2" square steel tubing that is 1/4" thick. The design is based on a few tub bumpers I've seen on some XJ's and various Wrangler models.

These are basic Sketchup drawings I made on the fly. I am going to mount on some recovery rings as well. What do you all think?

 

gotta say. that is one ugly bumper. there's a reason they use tube man

I'd extend the mounts back as far as they will go
for size reference http://liquidironindustries.com/XJ-D...-Brackets.html
then use 3/16" steel. might as well save a bit of weight

 

Your link is broken.

I am basing my design off this:

 

link still works for me.. liquid iron industries sells DIY bumper brackets.

 

Don't waste the time, money, or material building that.

 

Isn't yours made of the same material, and of a similar design?

 

yeah he's just speaking from an experienced standpoint in ugly bumperology

 

Sort of but not really. I used square stock beneath my winch plate to have a wider surface under it and a 90 to weld in instead of plate to round tube. The rest is round tube and the square on mine is barely visible.

 

Extend the mounts back so you have 7 bolts per side.
use tube instead of square stock of that's the design theme you're gonna do. A mix of plate (for a winch and d-ring tabs) and tube (the ends) would look good too.

The hoop you designed won't really offer any protection. If you hit something it'll just bust up the front of your Jeep. You want it angled out a little. You can still keep it short (a bull bar) or go full stinger, but angle and brace it to give it more strength.

 

But no, seriously do not use all square stock. It's the most horrible looking thing ever. You also do not need to use 1/4" stock for all of it. It's going to weigh way more than it needs to for absolutely no reason. 1/8" for anything not structural, 3/16" for anything you'll be pulling on. The only thing that really should be 1/4" is the plate for the mounts and even that doesn't have to be if it's tied in adequately.

The mounts themselves aren't even worth the time they take to fab because they can be bought for dirt cheap. AJ's Offroad sells them for $50 for a set of CNC'd cut mounts out of 1/4" plate with 6 holes on each side.

http://www.ajsoffroadarmor.com/produ...cat=256&page=1

You might find some bad reviews, but ignore them. He's great to deal with and ships quick. He had some issues a few years ago over not getting stuff shipped out but iirc he was still working out of his garage and his house and everything had burned down at the time.

 

I appreciate the feedback. The reason why I wanted to use the square tube was to fit the boxy style of the XJ and have a more unique looking vehicle. Thanks for the info on the brackets and the thickness of the metal, and the bull bar recommendations. I had thought about it bending back; I'll modify my design.

At the same time I'm planning a similar design for the rear bumper; it's not to scale, just the general idea.

 

I'm going for an expedition or safari style, since I do a lot of camping, hiking, etc. I do some off-roading, but nothing extreme. In addition to the bumpers I want add a rack and a side mounted ladder (I saw it on an XJ on another thread). The ladder of course would go in the passenger side so it doesn't cover the gas cap; I plan to make it removable, mounting to the rack and rear bumper.

I know it's crude, BUT this is the general idea...

 

I like the boxy look but Boxy trucks are what I'm into

 

The rear design doesn't look too bad. Are you planning on putting d-ring tabs on it?

 

If you plate the gaps i'm sure it'll look a lot better