Homemade front bumpers - weld-on or bolt-on?

[RangerX]

I'm getting ready to get a front bumper fabbed up. It will be winch-ready, and all or mostly all tube. I'm a little leery of having it welded on to the frame. Why, I'm not sure. What if I need to take it off to repair something? :shrug:

So, I'd like to know. All you with offroad bumpers, especially winch bumpers, did you weld it on, or bolt? If welded, any regrets?

Close up pics of the frame mount appreciated!

Thanks.

 

[section525]

I am going to bolt mine on. That way when I am driving down the road with my seat reclined and my two 5x7s thumping and I rear-end someone.. I can just take it off and make another.

 

[Michael]

Mine have been welded on both of my trucks. I'm not sure it matters one way or the other as long as it is designed to with stand the stresses that winching will put on it. I think a welded one would be just as easy to repair as a bolt on, just cut out the damaged tube and replace. Also with both of mine I have been able to get to everything behind the bumper by either removing the winch or contorting up through the bottom.

 

[Jefe]

Both My winch mount is welded on, the tube bumper is bolted to that.

I needed the winch mount to double as a crossmember, plus be plenty strong for winching. The tube portion needed to be bolted on so that I can remove front clip as needed, and for easier paint touch-up.

The only thing that sucks about the welded winch mount is that I have to remove my whole grill to remove the winch. Luckily as I was design-building it I popped the winch onto the plate just before welding up the vertical fairlead portion. About 10 mins later I realized what I had done. Doh.

 

[tdavis]

I had a bolted on bumper on the Navajo, and I hated it - it kept moving around. So I placed a few good weld tacks, and presto, the movement stopped.

I prefer bolted to welding a bumper on..

 

[Stic-o]

I say Bolt. That is how my bumper is on, but all the brakets are welded to the frame. I have to cut most of them off this weekend though, because we designed it for the BL Can't drop the body till it's Cut.

 

[SkanlaxJMO]

i would say bolt it on...so that you can get it off without cutting. Plus you can take it off to fix/replace any part of it.

 

[RangerX]

Jeff, Tom, and Steve, can you post a close-up pic showing how it's bolted on?

 

[Positive Vibes]

Mine are bolted on with 6 grade 8 bolts.

 

[bmxking5]

I'm bolting on both of the ones I'm making now.

 

[unclemeat]

Engineer's hat on, BOLT. A weld's strength is dependent on the the ability of the welder. It cannot be inspected properly on the truck. A weld is more likely to fail catastrophicaly. Welds dont flex. Almost all modern steel buildings are bolted together. Bolts will fail in a ductile mode, welds will fail in a brittle mode.

 

[Jefe]

Jeff, Tom, and Steve, can you post a close-up pic showing how it's bolted on?

I hijacked one of Stic-o's threads to show my bumper buildup:
http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=100945

 

[Stic-o]

Jeff, Tom, and Steve, can you post a close-up pic showing how it's bolted on?

I'll take pics of mine tomorrow of the mounts before I cut them off

 

[GJarrett]

Engineer's hat on, BOLT. A weld's strength is dependent on the the ability of the welder. It cannot be inspected properly on the truck. A weld is more likely to fail catastrophicaly. Welds dont flex. Almost all modern steel buildings are bolted together. Bolts will fail in a ductile mode, welds will fail in a brittle mode.

Food for thought. I once saw a J**p being strapped out of a predicament by a strap that was wrapped around its custom front bumper that had been welded on. The weld broke and narrowly missed killing a couple of people when the bumper went ballistic. I am also aware of a 4x4 club in the Dallas area that specifically requires bolted/non-welded tow attachment points because years ago one of their members did get hit by a welded bumper that broke free during the same type of situation and he ended up in a hospital for several months and nearly died. When I strap someone now I make it a point to find a frame attachment tow point that is not dependent on a weld.

If I were you I'd want to be very confident of the skills of the welder if you go the route of welding a bumper that will have to withstand winching forces.

 

[rookieshooter]

Food for thought. I once saw a J**p being strapped out of a predicament by a strap that was wrapped around its custom front bumper that had been welded on. The weld broke and narrowly missed killing a couple of people when the bumper went ballistic. I am also aware of a 4x4 club in the Dallas area that specifically requires bolted/non-welded tow attachment points because years ago one of their members did get hit by a welded bumper that broke free during the same type of situation and he ended up in a hospital for several months and nearly died. When I strap someone now I make it a point to find a frame attachment tow point that is not dependent on a weld.

If I were you I'd want to be very confident of the skills of the welder if you go the route of welding a bumper that will have to withstand winching forces.

Man I'm glad I've got mine bolted. I just hope now that I have enough after reading that. I've got a total of 8, 1/2" grade 8s holding it on. The way I have plans for the wich receiver adapter to sit on top of the 2x2 part that goes into the receiver and then set back. I think I better have some more slip pins that go thru top of winch plate and thru that heavy 2x2x 1/4" bar. That way I'll have one in the receiver and two on top. If I'm making sense.

I vote to bolt yours on.

 

[RangerX]

I vote bolt on too. That's what I wanted from the start.

What would help me is some closeup pics of how and where you guys have it bolted, to give my fabricator some examples.

 

[FROADER]

Winter says to weld that damn thing on!

 

[BMXplorer]

RangerX,

This reply only half completes your request since this bumper isn't being built with a winch in mind.

I'm not sure what there is for holes in the frame on your Ranger, but the holes that I utilized were two upsidedown triangular holes on each frame rail(don't have a picture of these). A little play is present due to the round bolts in the frames triangle shaped holes (I'm working on a support to eliminate this, it can be seen behind the frame mounting plate in picture below). The bolts on my bumper in progress obviously aren't of a high grade, but they work for the fabrication stage.

Here's a picture that show's how my tube bumper is bolted on. A few other photos from different angles are at: http://www.cardomain.com/ride/509527/7

It'll be cool to see what you come up with for your bumper.
Later, Chris

 

[RockRanger]

Bill I would think weld it on. Especally after the guys that did your body lift cut the first few inches off the frame to re locate the bumber higher. If I remember where they cut it, it was pretty close to the body mount.

If you can figure out a good way to bolt it though I would do that. I perfer bolting on. Maybe you could run some angle iron down the frame rail and put some bolts into the bottom of teh frame rail. Then maybe a few braces coming back tieng into the vertical part of the frame.

 

[Burns]

well i didnt rearend someone someone pulled out in front of me. i made mine bolt on and it did great. the bolts were in the factory bumper holes. when i hit the guy the bolts gave way and took a lot of the force off my X. i was hopin it would do that and it did.

the bumper is in fine shape. i need to cut off the drviers side bracket and make another one but other than that nothing bent(other than the frame)