Alright so I will update as I go along, but today for $37.xx I got an 80" piece of 3x6x3/8 steel box.

I mocked it up in sharpie! I am also mocking up unibody mounts that will use 7 bolts per side and will be made out of 1/4" plate.

This will be a stout bumper, if I dent it I will be worried more about unibody damage than the bumper haha.

It should weigh in about 70 lbs when done.

I attached a picture of the idea I am going off of-opting to give shackle points rather than a hitch-and i am using 3/8" instead of that weak 3/16"

 

Sounds like a cool project

 

mocked up the brackets tonight.

Using 7 bolts per side on the frame. That should be enough, it will be made out of 1/4" plate.

It measures 14.5" long by 5.5" tall.

sorry it looks all funny, I left the scanner open to get a dark background since the white template wouldnt show up very well. It made it look at short.

 

i have also decided that since I have 2 extra "no drop" class 3 hitch mounts that I am going to cut the ends off (where the ball mount is) and weld them to the bumper. They have the perfect sized hole for my shackles and would take alot of work out of fabbing some up by stacking plate and having to drill the hole...

 

Seems like a pretty interesting project...
The plan looks good and I'm looking forward to how you'll gonna craft this bumper out...

 

so today i got the thing plasma cut, cleaned it up with the grinder, made the mounts, tacked them into place to make sure the fit was right and drew up plans for the gussets and where i am going to put the "bend" at each end.

My friend took a turn plasma cutting, he created alot of slag build up so I spent a bit more time with the grindeR, but no worries. Also, i went thru 3 of the progression bits drilling the 1/4" hardened steel. I also saw the difference between 1/4" and 3/8" and really realized how THICK the bumper is.... and why it took so long to cut.....

But it was a productive today, i like the way it is turning out.

and yeah, i work in flip flops

 

lookin good so far

 

looks really good and not to hard. great job. wanna send me that bracket detail(actual size) via e-mail ill use it
scvillageballa@yahoo.com

 

looks good.. n ohh BTW wear some shoes please.. you REALLY dont wanna drop a piece of steel on ur toes..

 

Thanks alot! its been a tough time working with the thickness i got, but now that it is coming together i am very happy with it. I am excited to see how it looks completely finished and on the XJ.

 

Email sent! and thanks! the only hard part is cutting the damn stuff! plasma cutter makes things nice.... but found out that we can not run the Dynojet AND the plasma at the same time. over heats the breaker..... and it took a long time to cool down...

 

thanks for those emails dood. "your the best"

 

Thanks!!! and I wear shoes out in the field! just at the shop i dont.. hahah Its AZ its hot! my skin has toughened up to the sparks and stuff.... I am just observant as to not put feet where they should not be...

 

my front bumper is a piece of 3/16 c channel im getting ready to cut a similar design in mine but i like the way the tube looks versus the c channel

 

ohh see if it were me my feet would be crushed by now if i wore flip flops and not boots or sneakers (not much deifferance than flip flops)