A nice off-road bumper option for those willing to fabricate a mounting bracket.

[Schnitzel]

Hey guys for any of you interested in custom offroad winch bumpers willing to fabricate mounting brackets I had really good success with this one made for a Jeep XJ and it's only $265 but really good heavy duty quality.

I did have to cut the lower part of the body panel right above the bumper and I wound up cutting a small rectangle out for the 13,000lb winch to fit but that might not even be necessary if you install the winch on the bumper before mounting it. Let me know if anyone is interested and I can provide more pics or answer questions.

I'd recommend making the bracket then test fitting the bumper to find where to drill the bolt holes.

Vicious Offroad

Your premier supplier of off-road, Jeep and Truck gear.

viciousoffroad.com

I may add a skid plate and tube piping in the future.

 

[410Fortune]

looks great!!

 

[BKennedy]

I have had a XJ plate bumper from Protofab on my 1994 for at least 15 years. Cut the front of the frame off just in front of the radiator core support mounts. Welded a piece of 1/2" plate across to both frame rails, then built tabs off of those, still 1/2" plate with gussets. I also cut the mounts off the bumper and pushed it in 4-5" to better line it up with the fenders. I had to install the winch on the bumper, then install the bumper. Notched the sheet metal around the bottom of the grille to clear the winch.

The bumper you have is a great price. Mine was about 3x that. I would extend those gussets to the frame to go across the entire width of the frame. The way you have it now, you are only tying into about half of the top of a thin frame. If you can fit in a gusset or two going lengthwise on the frame that would add a lot of strength in the right direction. There is a tremendous amount of force put on a frame when winching. If your not in love with that stinger you could take it off and push the bumper in several inches. Its will be stronger with the mounts closer to the radiator core support.

 

[Schnitzel]

I have had a XJ plate bumper from Protofab on my 1994 for at least 15 years. Cut the front of the frame off just in front of the radiator core support mounts. Welded a piece of 1/2" plate across to both frame rails, then built tabs off of those, still 1/2" plate with gussets. I also cut the mounts off the bumper and pushed it in 4-5" to better line it up with the fenders. I had to install the winch on the bumper, then install the bumper. Notched the sheet metal around the bottom of the grille to clear the winch.
View attachment 315408View attachment 315409View attachment 315410View attachment 315411
The bumper you have is a great price. Mine was about 3x that. I would extend those

I have had a XJ plate bumper from Protofab on my 1994 for at least 15 years. Cut the front of the frame off just in front of the radiator core support mounts. Welded a piece of 1/2" plate across to both frame rails, then built tabs off of those, still 1/2" plate with gussets. I also cut the mounts off the bumper and pushed it in 4-5" to better line it up with the fenders. I had to install the winch on the bumper, then install the bumper. Notched the sheet metal around the bottom of the grille to clear the winch.
View attachment 315408View attachment 315409View attachment 315410View attachment 315411
The bumper you have is a great price. Mine was about 3x that. I would extend those gussets to the frame to go across the entire width of the frame. The way you have it now, you are only tying into about half of the top of a thin frame. If you can fit in a gusset or two going lengthwise on the frame that would add a lot of strength in the right direction. There is a tremendous amount of force put on a frame when winching. If your not in love with that stinger you could take it off and push the bumper in several inches. Its will be stronger with the mounts closer to the radiator core support.

to the frame to go across the entire width of the frame. The way you have it now, you are only tying into about half of the top of a thin frame. If you can fit in a gusset or two going lengthwise on the frame that would add a lot of strength in the right direction. There is a tremendous amount of force put on a frame when winching. If your not in love with that stinger you could take it off and push the bumper in several inches. Its will be stronger with the mounts closer to the radiator core support.

Right on, thanks for the tips. Your bumper setup looks great!

I agree the mount could be a bit stronger for winching purposes. I did wind up welding on another 2 inch wide bracket that ran down the length of the frame that I didn't get a pic of (outlined in red). Unfortunately, the frame has so many random bumps and overlaps it makes it a bit difficult to go horizontal.

My main concern not bringing the gussets all the way across and moving the bumper in more was having to relocate the airbag sensors (big black box here). I suppose the front gusset could have gone the full width but it would have been an about an inch away from the sensor. I know a lot of offroad guys remove the airbags but I wasn't ready to do that yet as I still have to drive this sucker without a trailer to where I'm going. I'm more concerned about other people causing me to crash to be honest. The mounting brackets for the stinger bar probably have a good 5 inches before hitting the bumper so that really wouldn't be much of a concern.

Also there are a bunch of internals on the gen 2 behind this panel rearward from the bumper that would be awkwardly exposed.

I would have to cut a huge whole out of my bumper and grille to get the winch to fit as it sits real nice right now with the wires running through the billet grille (except that one negative wire that was too short to route around behind the grille).

 

[ProjectAviator]

Looks nice, I may have to look into one for mine.