Looking at building my own front bumper for my XJ, want to look at what you all have done as far as supports for the front. Typical set ups I've seen use 12 bolts to mount the front bumper: drivers side 3 stock holes + 3 steering box bolts. Passenger side 3 stock holes and drill holes replicating steering box location.

If ya can, post up, looking for ideas and what would be the most ideal setup for when I add a winch. As far as strength and structural support goes, rear is easy as fawk :flipoff2:

I did just like you said bolt the hell out of it on both sides. I build just a simple bumper that is tapered on the ends with taps for D rings. The key for the tabs to be as strong as posible is to weld them from both sides of the bumper. I cut holes in the front and the back of the box tubing and welded them front and back.

http://inlinethumb47.webshots.com/4270/2808486610064759854S600x600Q85.jpg


As for the winch you are going to have to build it out and build a mounting plate for the winch and fairleed

For the passenger side did you drill through both sides of the frame and use motherfucking long bolts? If I have to do something like that for additional mounts on the passenger side I think I want to use c channel, might as well box the fucker so that I don't pinch the sheet metal rails together...

I copied the factory tow hook/winch bumper brackets, which run more than a foot down each side and pick up a big through hole in the frame with a large bolt. The thing about the existing holes in the frame, including the steering box bolts, is that they are sleeved and so are much stronger than if you just drill a hole through the frame.

The rear might not be as strong as you think. When I pulled my rear bumper off when I cut the back down, there were cracks around nearly all of the eight bumper mounting holes in the rear crossmember. I have since talked to others who have experienced the same thing. It can be a good idea to weld in a thin plate across the crossmember to reduce the metal fatigue on that thin crossmember around the mounting holes. Of course, it also depends on how many of the hitch/gas tank skid bolts you pick up under the frame for mounting the bumper.

here is a templat

http://www.twisted-halo.com/digicam/xj/Bumper%20mount.pdf

Thanks so far guys, I have seen that PDF, will probably end up going with that as a base as well as getting the tow hook bracket mounts, never thought of that before. If you think of anything else let me know.

Like ya said Goatman, the rear will stress crack if not done properly (i.e. just bolting to the factory tin). There was another write up floating around, there they tied into the 8 hitch bolts on the bottom, and the 8 bumper bolts sleeving both sides of the factory bumper mount with 3/16th. It was beef to say the least.

I never saw the post about using the hitch mounts for rear bumper support before but that is what my roommate did on his old cherokee. I think he used a piece of 2" by 3/16" strap. One thing I noticed was that we pulled from the D rings(welded to the top of 5" box) it bent the unibody out and rotated the bumper down a little. I think using angle iron instead of strapping would prevent the bumper from rotating or at least deforming the unibody permanently. Just my opinion.

Tech to the top

here is a templat

http://www.twisted-halo.com/digicam/xj/Bumper%20mount.pdf

I made this right of the page and did not check the dims to my truck :shaking: I no newbie mistake but enough on that the front bumper (2) hole were to far forward and the bottom steering bolt was to far down. But then agian i was putting these plates on my MJ so I dont no that if it matters. So they might work for you but this what I found out.