I'm in the market for a new rear bumper. I am a floater on my department and too many times I have to pack up my gear and my bags and move to a different station. Essentially i'm looking to ditch the spare out of the rear to make more room. But I'm also going to be a little selective with what I'm looking for.

Obviously looking for a bumper with a tire carrier

Looking to also have a tow hitch

Possible a mount for a D ring

I'm also looking at finding a bumper with the cut and fold. I'm starting to rust out behind the rear tires and decided that this could be an easy project to get rid of the eye sore.

If you guys have bumpers that you have bought or seen that could fit most of these requests send them to me please! I have seen most of the common aftermarket bumpers but Haven't seen any that answered my request with the cut and fold.

I don't weld and don't have too many friends who do so I am looking to buy. Let me know what you guys think.

 

If you live in Ohio, Frank Welding and Fabrication does some good custom work for reasonable prices. He might be able to do a cut and fold for you, or mod one that comes with a tire carrier.

Have you thought about getting a roof rack to keep your spare? Lot easier to work with, imo. (Haven't gotten one yet, but want to!)

 

http://www.ajsoffroadarmor.com/produ...cat=254&page=1
http://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/moja...erokee-xj.html only two i know of off the top of my head.

 

I keep my tire on my roof rack but my advice to you is pick up a welder and start practicing. That's what I did

 

That "Cut and Fold" deal rules out a lot of really good bumpers that meet all the other criteria your asking for. If you consider cutting the fenders and folding open's you up to a lot more really nice bumpers.

 

I have to agree with all of you. Yes I have thought about a roof rack. I have seen a home brew one built out of EMT and it looked fairly simple. My thought was more or less about gas mileage on that.

And there are a couple of bumpers I looked at that looked nice but I was unsure of how it would look if I adjusted that area that's rusting out. Could be in for a good project.

And I'd pick up a welder but I have no storage for it is all. (Still living at home -_-)

 

I have one made from EMT and expanded metal very little drag at all plus quiet.

 

If you get a rear bumper with a tire carrier, make sure it has some real good tie-ins the the unibody framework. Or be prepared to create some good tie ins. I did like the picture where the nuts lined up with the holes used for a receiver after it was slid into the unibody frame rails openings (that I opened up at the back) This was also the mount for my HD Engineering Shackle Re-locators and Gas Tank Skid.

 

Oh man! I neeeeeeed those! Just scored a gas tank skid from the JY. Tried to put it on, but my stock nut strips got destroyed taking of the tow hitch. Replaced nut strips and trying to juggle gas skid, tow hitch, and shackle relocation brackets and keep them all lined up while trying to push bolts up into a nut strip that wants to pick up and move every time you bump it wrong . . . very, very frustrating!

I'll bet those suckers stay exactly where they're supposed to be once you pop 'em into the frame rails. Those babies are beautiful.

 

I built something very similar and welded to the stock mounting location 1/4" plate of my aftermarket bumper, I used 3/16" 2"x4" rectangle tubing (about 20" deep on each side. I did use a set of nut strips I already ordered and had, and drilled holes in the tubing and tacked the strips in place. Once finally all aligned up and welded together (which was a pain) It now comes together nice. Total of (16) Grade 10.9 bolts holding it all together.

Now if I pull the rear bumper off trying to yank someone out of a hole I am screwed, because along with it is coming my gas tank/skid, my leaf springs, and a large chunk of my unibody.... LOL

 

Do you have any pics of your roof rack? The EMT one you spoke of. I want one , but the price of the ones I have seen are out there.

 

FYI: Depending on how big and how sturdy of a rack you want, Amazon (and eBay) has a lot of 45" wide roof racks in the $150 shipped price range that connect to your roof bars, or you can order aftermarket gutter mounts.

 

Stat talking to local welding and fab shops. Also check CL in your area for people who do such work. Custom bumpers can be expensive, when bought from a company online, but a lot of that is time they have put into engineering and such, local fabricators can usually knock out things like this no problem, and how YOU want it, not a cookie cutter solution. Shop around, you'd be surprised at what you could find...

That said, somebody posted a link to DirtBound Offroad's bumper...Max at DBO is a stellar guy, I have had the pleasure of not only meeting him, but doing business with him. Really knows his stuff, and he's one of us. I will not hesitate doing business with him again. Quality products. Check out his XJ line here:
https://www.dirtboundoffroad.com/jeep-cherokee-xj.html

One other thing...think hard about putting a spare on the roof. You'll know why the first time you need to change a tire on the trail...

 

Those don't look too bad. The one longer one looked pretty decent. And reasonable as far as price too. I guess looking at the Jeep books where they are all 500-1500 kind of put me off on them. The short ones just look out of place. I have seen a few Cherokees with them on, and they looked like $50 racks with the small ones on top.