Custom Bumpers

[CherokeeGuy42]

RE: To lighten the mood...

I'm wondering why the custom bumpers that are out there for sale are so thin. I built a front bumper out of 1/4 in steel and it was alot stronger than any of those other bumpers I've seen. Are people looking for light bumpers or something? I'm jw cause weight was never an issue with me except when racing people.

Here's what my bumper looked like when I finished.

 

[Joopin]

RE: wanted handheld police scanner

Nice bumper man, I was thinking the same thing when I was building the rear bumper for mine. I built mine out of 1/4" too... with a tire carrier the same thickness. One thing I have discovered though is that between the wieght of the bumper and a 3' spare, the rear leaf springs started to sag! Perhaps that is why.

 

[currupt4130]

RE: fuel efficient 2.5L YJ???

3/16 is just fine unless you plan on beating it to crap in the rocks. i just built one and decided that 1/8 inch would be fine, what a mistake... after tellico its almost ready to be retired.

 

[CherokeeGuy42]

Yea I had designs for a new rear bumper also but I never had the chance to build it. The bumper came in handy since I hit a few rocks and hills. My bro also hit a few trees with it. None of it ever phazed the bumper. When my bro flipped it, the tow truck driver hauled it to my farm and didn't put the flatbed all the way down and just dropped the jeep off the back and landed on the bumper and it didn't even scratch it. So I was pleased with the bumper.

 

[90Xjay]

aftermarket gas guage sending unit question

I think I used 8 guage which is only 0.0225 different than 3/16th and still a great improvement over stock which is like tin foil.

Weight was a little concern for me also, due to an older suspension, but even with my rear bumper, endcaps, swing out tire carrier and a 31" tire back there, I have had no noticable sagging.

 

[Bounty__Hunter]

1/4" seems awfully heavy, and a little on the overkill side. To me 3/16" would be plenty strong in an attempt at keeping my 2.5L YJ as light as possible.

Although I did use 1/4" for my winch mount.

I haven't seen many thin aftermarket bumpers.

 

[jps4jeep]

Weight is a big issue but also, XJ's are unit body, and when in an accident, you don't want the weakest point of the vehicle to take most of the force to be the unit body conection points. You want a bumper that is gonna have a little give to it so that it can absorb some of the force from the impact.