First Post Here and my rear bumper...in progress

[Xodius]

First I want to say I am glad to be here and while I just registered I have been here many many times. You guys do some great work and have really good ideas.

My Bumper:
So I got tired of my stock bumper...well that was part of the reason. The other was because my slightly oversized tire was making my tailgate rattle....so my Father-in-Law and I started this.

Basic idea.

Hitch

coming together...

Hinge

Latch

Current layout.

I just got my backup lights in yesterday and my gas cans are due in Friday. I have a 4x8 sheet of plate and the next time I am going to work on it is this Friday:smiley_drive:

I know it is not the prettiest but it is my first one both in steel fabrication and in welding. Not too bad I don't think. I will get the plate on it and make it more...eye appealing in the next couple weeks. For a finish I was thinking Line X or something comparable.

Next project might be some sliders...but I have been eyeing a few off road trailer build ideas...we shall see what the future holds.

Oh and as a side note, the Monday after I welded the basic bumper on I had a woman rear end me in a Toyota Tacoma. Tacoma-0 KJ-1 not a scratch on me...her...not so lucky but still drivable

 

[FlatlinesUp]

Looks like a pretty good start
I look fwd to the finished results

 

[Xodius]

Update

Well, I took off Friday and hammered out the bumper. Saturday I finished up a few tings and painted it. I am not 100% into the finish on the paint...I used the same paint on my jerry cans and it was super textured but on the bumper it wasn't as textured...perhaps a tad too cold out, I am not sure. I am going to be painted the flairs along with the skirt and front bumper so I may redo it then with a different product. We will see.

Then just to be stupid I plasma cut this into the Jerry can holder to let out water and to add some thing stupid.

Not bad for my first big fabrication job.

 

[burn_e]

Looks good, I am just not sure whether this jerry can holder is up for the job. Seems to be quite some lever.

Have you sat on it and really rocked it hard? (does this sound right? )

 

[Xodius]

I tested it. I have 2 ex-Swiss military 5 gallon gas cans. Loaded them up with gas and took it out to where we hunt. It held up really well.

The only...downside is that I use ratchet straps to keep the cans on and the straps vibrate just enough to take off some paint. I have been thinking of ways to make it a bit better. Also when full cans are on, it does drop that tire swing about 1/8" if that, on that side but it still slides in to be closed and supported.

When the cans are not on it, my wife jokes that I made a table for our lunches, lol.

 

[bat]

X2 on the Jerry can holder I would run a something down the backside to your made cross bar for support. If your straps are taking of paint off it might mean they are moving because of the plate flexing. It looks like a nice setup and good job on making it.

 

[Paladin]

If that is your first fab job, I'd say you did fairly well. At first I thought... oh boy... but you finished it up pretty nice, overall it looks pretty decent. I like what you did with the rear quarters.

Some constructive ciriticism if you don't mind.

Your welding needs some work. Get some more practice on running a nice straight bead. At the least, I'd get a grinding wheel and clean them up as much as possible and repaint. And yeah, the paint doesn't look too good with the texture. Just go with regular paint, or figure out how to get the texturing to work. I've tried the texture stuff too, and it seems pretty hit-or-miss.

It's hard to make out how it's all attached to the frame. Is it supported only on those two... 1"x2" tubes on the sides?

Trailer hitch hangs pretty low (I'm talking the reciever, not just the drawbar). I realize this may be due to necessity. Maybe take the opportunity to make a skidplate from the bottom of the reciever bracket to run under the gas tank. Look at what I did here, basically I made a gas-tank skidplate, and then there's some 1/8" plate that I ran from the back edge of the gastank skid to the underside of the bumper. Otherwise, that reciever bracket you have hanging down is going to catch on lots of things.

You'll also notice on that shot what I did for my trailer hitch. See the 4 holes in the middle? It's the bolt pattern for a Dixon-Bates tow jaw. I can bolt on one of those on if I want. I also have a massive drop bar I can bolt on. This looks funny in use, but it's a great setup. Good clearance when the bar isn't there, and then a massive drop hitch when I need it for towing. Overall, I'm very happy with the performance of this system. I don't think I'd want to tow a 10,000lb trailer on it, but it does really well with my 2000lb trailer. Rock-solid secure, no rattling at all. The drop bar is made from 2x6x1/4" tube and I cut one of the faces off so now it's a U-channel. Then, a block of 1x6x4 solid steel, drilled and tapped for 4 mounting holes and the trailer ball. It's all height adjustable.

What's with the upside-down hooks on the bottom? Seems kinda dangerous and not very useful? Just going to snag everything....

 

[monele]

I'd say that is a pretty well done bumper for a 1st project. I also agree with Paladin, the welds need some clean up (try a nice 120grit flap wheel) and the recovery hooks are begging to get snagged. Look in the junkyard for some hooks off of a mid 90's Chevy front bumper. They are super strong and mount flat (plus you could pick up the whole libby by one if you need a place to use the high lift) Have you looked into the Rotopax fuel cans? They are seriously expensive, but would fit much neater on your swing away, and reduce leverage. might be worth saving for. We're not dogging you BTW, just passing on knowledge learned the hard way! (I replaced a lot of bolts before getting my jerrycan mount just right b/c I kept shearing them)

Anyway, well done!! Jeeps are never finished, so you'll have plenty of projects to practice on. Can't wait to see the custom winch-mount front bumper!!

:coffeedrink: (come on you know you wanna!)

 

[JamesDowning]

The body mounting does look a bit questionable. Hard to tell exactly how it mounts, but if you're going to be towing anything, make sure it's very well supported.

Mine, below, was mounted with eight 5/8" grade 8 bolts using the 3/8" thick steel plates bent and inserted into the frame.

As for the gas tank mount, you may want to gusset the bottom-most weld area more. The long gussets will probably be fine, but where it all mounts to the swingout is probably too small.

For the hooks, you may want to consider switching to a clevis type mount, such as pictured below:

I do like the integration into the fenders. Pretty snazzy.

 

[Cards81fan]

Mine, below, was mounted with eight 5/8" grade 8 bolts using the 3/8" thick steel plates bent and inserted into the frame.

The only thing about the Liberty is that is is unibody, and the rear of the frame rails kind of drop off into no where at the rear of the vehicle. I mean, you can't even really see them in the pic. I thought it looked liked he welded the bumper base stock directly to the vehicle (as the comment was made "after I welded the basic bumper on") and build on it from there, but I could be wrong??

Not saying you can't bolt a bumper on Liberty, as heck... my tow hitch bolts on. But it is of course different than doing the same on a body-on-frame construction vehicle.

 

[Xodius]

I have the supports for the bumper bolted into the old hitch mounting holes. Almost all aftermarket KJ bumpers are mounted this way.

Some of the welds *cough* the ones not ground down are my father in laws lol. He was adamant that he did not have to grind them down and to be honest I did not look them over until after it was painted.

There are several things I would alter if I made again. It was a bit of a struggle with him on some things.

Thank you for the criticism I have no problem with them. Oh and as for the front bumper I have a arb.