Flatland Rig

[lateralus3]

ive been itching to build something. couple of questions, how difficult is it to build a bumper? where do you get your metal at? how much and what do i need for a bumper? cost?

[Brad S]

How difficult? That would greatly depend on your skill set and expertise I suppose... Simple bumpers are just that - simple to build. When you start constructing something with some decent shape to it, it takes a lot of prep time. We'll see how this rear bumper comes out, I may offer the plans to people like I did the front bumper.

I usually get my sheet metal from a local steel scrap yard. It definitely takes longer to get what you want because you have to dig through so much. A lot of it will have rust on it that will need to be cleaned up, but most of the time I can find what I'm looking for in fairly decent shape. $0.30/lb is what they charge around here, so you can figure general cost for materials based on that. That doesn't include cost of consumables, electricity, paint, time, etc, etc.

Take some time and do some searches for bumper builds on here - you'll find some good info to get you started.

[lateralus3]

How difficult? That would greatly depend on your skill set and expertise I suppose... Simple bumpers are just that - simple to build. When you start constructing something with some decent shape to it, it takes a lot of prep time. We'll see how this rear bumper comes out, I may offer the plans to people like I did the front bumper.

I usually get my sheet metal from a local steel scrap yard. It definitely takes longer to get what you want because you have to dig through so much. A lot of it will have rust on it that will need to be cleaned up, but most of the time I can find what I'm looking for in fairly decent shape. $0.30/lb is what they charge around here, so you can figure general cost for materials based on that. That doesn't include cost of consumables, electricity, paint, time, etc, etc.

Take some time and do some searches for bumper builds on here - you'll find some good info to get you started.

do you have your front bumper on google sketchup? if so i downloaded it. ive never built anything with metal, but what better way to learn than to just do it

[Brad S]

Yes, it is the one on sketchup... at least that was a revision of it.

[1ABrian]

This is comin out sweet. Lookin forward to the rear bumper fab

[Brad S]

Slow progress:

[Brad S]

Mocked up:

[lateralus3]

looks good man

[PurpleZJ]

looks nice man. but it almost needs a fill piece that you can see in picture 2 and 4 IMO

[1ABrian]

thats some nice fab work right there. Nice job. Not oversized or clumpy. Looks like she'll be a beefy functional piece. KUDOS

[Brad S]

Small update:

[CTeunuch]

Looking great, how are you going to secure that cover?

[Brad S]

It has tabs that hook under the lip closest to the hitch receiver. More than likely a bolt or something near the front to secure it. Designed to be un-openable while the hatch is down. This should, in theory, act as a hitch receiver lock as well as storage.

[CTeunuch]

It has tabs that hook under the lip closest to the hitch receiver. More than likely a bolt or something near the front to secure it. Designed to be un-openable while the hatch is down. This should, in theory, act as a hitch receiver lock as well as storage.

Cool. I've been thinking of making a box like that when I build my bumper, I'm looking forward to how it comes out.

[Brad S]

Getting closer:

[SirFuego]

Looks good!

Not sure how easily accessible the bolts would be, but you may want to consider adding "XJ-style" mounts to better distribute the load on the unibody. My rear bumper mounted very similarly to yours (sleeved inside the frame rail and bolted at the bottom), but also had some angle iron welded to the sleeves to allow for 4 bolts on each side to mount parallel to the "frame" rail. There were plates on the other side of each mount with nuts welded to them. The problem with just mounting them like the factory bumper is that the added weight can fatigue the unibody. Putting in those additional mounts perpendicular to what you have now better distributes the load.

[Brad S]

Finished!

[1ABrian]

Dude I LOVE the storage box idea. That just kicks butt. Looks great

[CTeunuch]

Came out great, I'll be stealing some ideas from you when I build mine.

[downtowncb]

Looks pretty good

[96RedZJ]

Looks good.
How much shipped to 08527? :p

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

[zjrog]

I like the second front bumper and the rear bumper. Storage is a great idea. I hope you will be building a skidplate for the gas tank soon?

[Brad S]

I like the second front bumper and the rear bumper. Storage is a great idea. I hope you will be building a skidplate for the gas tank soon?

That's next on the list

[rstrucks]

Nice work, looks good. The tail end of a ZJ is not the easiest to work with.

[Brad S]

It feels like an eternity since I've posted any updates. My wife and I are getting ready to take a much needed vacation to Colorado for some camping/wheeling. I took the opportunity to refresh the front skid on the bumper and also build a gas tank skid plate. I can't believe I hadn't built one before now!