WJ Rear Bumper Build

[Brad S]

Goals:

1) Replace factory plastics? Duh...
2) Accommodate factory hitch
3) Remove minimal sheet metal
4) Don't make it ugly!

Starting off, very few pictures of what the rear WJ looks like without the factory bumper, so here you go:



Threw together a model:



Holy huge booty batman!



Started slimming it up - the bottom piece is supposed to be angled in more but the duct tape kept slipping...



Didn't finish out the center section, but I guess you can get the idea:



Thoughts?

[Brad S]

Some progress this weekend:

[Israel]

What gauge metal are you using? Looks really good so far!

[Brad S]

What gauge metal are you using? Looks really good so far!

Thanks!
3/16"

[Israel]

I'd love to see how you're going to attach it. Have any pics of the brackets?

[Ds4x4]

Looks good. Just watch out how far that lip sticks into the wheel well.. My Kennesaw Mtn bumper was basically the same design and a couple times when I stuffed the rear wheels real good the bumper took small chucks out of my tread. fixed that by trimming some metal back

[JordanA]

It's hard to really tell from the pictures, but are you going to go back and cut out the area beneath the right tail light to put in the spindle for the tire carrier? Judging from the current progress and your rendering, it looks like adding the spindle as is will prevent the lift gate from opening.

I'm sure you know all that, just making an observation is all. It looks pretty good thus far, I can't wait to see it finished.

[Brad S]

I will try to snap a picture of the mounting solution.

Looks good. Just watch out how far that lip sticks into the wheel well.. My Kennesaw Mtn bumper was basically the same design and a couple times when I stuffed the rear wheels real good the bumper took small chucks out of my tread. fixed that by trimming some metal back

Yep, I noticed that after looking at the pictures.

It's hard to really tell from the pictures, but are you going to go back and cut out the area beneath the right tail light to put in the spindle for the tire carrier? Judging from the current progress and your rendering, it looks like adding the spindle as is will prevent the lift gate from opening.

I'm sure you know all that, just making an observation is all. It looks pretty good thus far, I can't wait to see it finished.

Correct, I will go back and 'notch' the area under the taillight for the spindle. Good eye - the spindle will be in-line with the taillight, not sticking out in front of the lift gate.

[Brad S]

Progress:









Mounts are 3x3x1/4" angle iron. Grade 8 bolts to bolt them to brackets welded to the bumper. Designed to mount over factory hitch.

[Israel]

Looking great!

[Israel]

Any more progress? I really like the look of this thing.

[Brad S]

I worked this weekend on getting it finished up. This week I can hopefully get it cleaned and painted. I'll post up pictures soon.

[Brad S]

Finished (standard version anyways)

[Israel]

Looks great! How much time do you think you have into it?

[Brad S]

Hard to say because I worked on it here and there... Setting aside design time, actual production maybe 12 hrs?

BTW, for those that are interested, plans are available here:
http://www.flatland4x4.com/product7.html

[indy242003]

I'm not trying to be critical, but it looks really blocky. The WJ has a lot of curves to it and this bumper just doesn't look like it belongs there. I would have liked to see some more angles around the bottom of the tail lights. I'm positive it is functional and does what it needs to do and what I think it needs, complicates the build, but I think it would look better.

[Brad S]

I'm not trying to be critical, but it looks really blocky. The WJ has a lot of curves to it and this bumper just doesn't look like it belongs there. I would have liked to see some more angles around the bottom of the tail lights. I'm positive it is functional and does what it needs to do and what I think it needs, complicates the build, but I think it would look better.

No, no, good feedback! I appreciate it. The reason it is blocky is to reduce the amount of welding for the end fabricator. If people want more angles, I can definitely do that.

Thanks!

[indy242003]

When I did mine I welded everything to the hitch. I have a big aftermarket hitch on mine. This way all I have to do it drop the hitch bolts and the rear bumper comes with it.

I have really got into building off road bumpers myself (not by choice). I built a bad ass set (front and rear) on my girl friends modded tracker. Best looking bumpers I have built to date but the cool styling lines take some serious fab time. She got all this for the cost of materials of course. Haha.

[indy242003]

These turned out to be a lot more complicated than I anticipated, but it's hard to make something look good on a clown car.



It's hard to tell from the front pic, but the front has 3 different angles all hand rolled into the corners. From the side it looks pretty impressive.

[indy242003]

Here is kinda what I'm talking about. The object here was the best approach / departure angles I could get (aka. Low profile) and still offer great protection. I tried to follow the lines and curves of the tracker the best I could. I'll stop bogging up your thread now. I was just trying to give you some ideas from a different approach. Feel free to delete these posts. I was not trying to hijack it. I'm just not good at explaining what i mean here.