I know this has been covered many times but its been a while so I'm hoping someone has found something new.

I'm not a fan of tube bumpers on the front. I really dig the plate style bumpers. I know ARB still makes them and Warn used to make them.....but they are mucho $$$. After shipping I'm looking at $950+. I have yet to find one used....which I would be very happy with.

The closest I can find is a DIY from CBI Offroad. It is precut, you just weld it together. But it still ends up being $550 after shipping. It is pretty sweet though and is exactly what I want a plate bumper to look like.
http://www.cbioffroadfab.com/store/p...roducts_id=153

As far as I know....there aren't any fabricators local to me that are familiar with offroad style bumpers. So that option is kinda out. Jeeps are the most popular rigs around here since all the Toyotas turned into dust 10 years ago. And they have tons of affordable options online.

Any other ready-to-go plate bumpers out there that look nice and wont break the bank? Or anyone have a used ARB they would like to sell?

 

http://www.badlandbumpers.com/

 

Take a picture and as much info as you can to your local Industrial fabrication/welding shop and ask them for a estimate to build the design you want
Oh and bring the truck too. They should be able to hook you up just make sure they know you can get a new brand name one for 500

 

You could aslo take a bed load of steel too m.I.t find the fab lab professor and pay him $20 to make your bumper his next class project

 

Sky still seems to make one. I got one powdercoated, and love it.

Sheet Metal Winch Bumper

 

That is pretty sweet. If they made a non-winch version that didn't stick so far out I'd be more interested. But for $525 before shipping......I'll learn to weld and build my own.

I came from the Jeep world (gasp!), specifically XJ's. You could get a basic non-winch plate bumper with a grill/light guard for $300-400. I guess I've been spoiled.


I would love to have a similar bumper on my 4Runner.

 

^This. You could also buy a TG winch plate for a platform to build off of and let the shop make the rest of the body - seems like a simple enough task for a Heep shop...

 

I have been looking at the CBI front bumper for months lately. but due to the expensive costs of ARB warn and like you said CBI after shipping at $550 it'll still hurt your wallet.

I know you mentioned the CBI. that is a Do it Yourself kit. Just wondering do you know how to weld? the reason i ask is because if you know how to weld already why dont you just fab up your own bumper? I looked at tons of options for a rear plate style bumper with tire carrier for almost 1 year before finally deciding to fab up my own. Total cost for my rear plate bumper/tire carrier came out to approx $350-380ish. and it has everything i could possibly want. I figure if the rear bumper came out to that much. I can only imagine how cheap the front one is gonna come out to when i build it.

Anyway. You should think about it man. You'll save alot of money doing it yourself. if you have confidence in your welds.

 

You guys who have mentioned this are probably right. But I'm going to go out on a limb and wonder if custom off-road fab is few and far between here...even at your mom and pop weld/fab shops. They are mostly concerned with welding frames for bigger snow plows. Since most people have jeeps....you either build it yourself or buy it from one of any 1000 resources on the internet.

Let me put it this way. I'm either going to order it off the net.....or learn to weld.

How much do you think it would cost in material to build a plate bumper? 1/4" structural pieces and 3/16 for the exterior skin?

 

Learn man. Its a great skill to have. Your welds are gonna look like crap at first. But that's where the practice comes in. My dad showed me how to to weld 2 weeks ago and I took over the rest of the project myself in doing my rear bumper. As for the plate steel goes. I bought a bunch of bigger scrap plate pieces both 1/4" and 3/16" thick. I spent about $110 total on steel. Bought out of the scrap metal section off the metal vendor because its sold for almost 1/2 the price when you buy scrap. Highly recommend it. Doesn't matter which way you look at it. You are gonna be saving a lot of money. My guess is about $4-500 just by making it yourself.

I would buy the TG winch plate and build my front bumper off that. (That's what I plan on doing.

You're gonna need cutter wheels, grinder wheels, and sander wheels for sanding metal. Look through the last few pages of my thread. I have a lot of info that might be helpful to you in planning this.

Good luck man. You got this

 

That settles it. There is nothing out there that I wasn't aware of....so it will get built by me.

I have no excuse not to learn how to weld. Absolutely none. My father has owned a repair shop for 25 years and has a pretty sick (but old) Solar MIG welder. I basically grew up in the shop and loved being there. I'm 32 and still go there most Saturdays to work on my 87 restoration (and drink beer).

Although it is clearly in my blood...he pushed me away from the trade to "use my brains, not my hands" since I have a scientific/engineering mind. Sure I make okay money being an engineer but I'll be paying off a $100k student loan for 20 years (11 years left!). Kinda wish I stuck with cars....

I've never really needed any extensive welding or fab work on any of my projects, and the light stuff he always took care of just because it was quicker. This project will be a ways down the road...but I'll be doing this one on my own.

My goal is this:

 

Well if you say is true no one wanting to build a bumper.

I would guess the economy is going gang busters and people are turning away work.

Most likely all the shops are busy doing plant process piping all Tig and orbital tig Understandable why no one will build a bumper no way that can be rated at $120.00 a hour .

To bad your so far from North western VT I have a good friend up there.

Who builds all sort of interesting things.

Building a bumper the welding is the easy part.

 

I'm sure there are plenty of shops that will build a bumper for me if I ask them. The problem is that I don't trust them.

They are probably very capable but once I hand them a picture and my money it is up to them to interpret what I want. Its not like they are going to take it apart and re-do it if I have a problem. Well they will....but it will cost more $$$.

The internet is great because you can see a finish product. Off-road fabricators are great because you can more or less hang out and tell them what you want while they do it. There unfortunately are none around me.

Around here....you submit some mechanical specs or in this case a picture, then come back in 3-4 days to pick it up. And it is still going to cost some big coin.

I think I'll just make my own.

 

Here are some more pix of that CBI bumper that Nathan from CBI sent me via Email.





Since you are sold on this look.

 

I like it. I'll probably keep the sides near the corner lights a little more square like the photo of the XJ above. I don't plan to use a winch so it wont stick out as far either and it'll have a flat top.

 

I built this bumper for less then 100.00 bucks. I used 4" and 6" channel and 3/16 plate. I only used a welder and grinder to build it.

 

Also be before warned right now. Try to keep it 3/16" plate. I used mosyly 1/4" because I wanted a super hwavy duty bumper for my rear end. And although the bumper looks great the rear end sags even more now then before. That is my only regret. But I'm getting the problem fixed by going 5" lift to 6" lift leaf springs and going from 4" shackles to 6" this weekend trust me I need it haha.

But 3/16" is still thick enough and it is the same thickness that ARB, CBI and WARN bumpers use.

Here is my creation. I know it ain't no front bumper like u wanted but just showing it off. Lol and just so much you kbow this was my very first time ever fabricating anything. Not bad eh? I can't wait to make the front one.

 

I ended up paying for the warn... (got it bnib with the stinger for $700ish) using the "make an offer" feature to a seller on ebay.



Yes it was pricey but I honestly dont regret it.

After getting the bumper and handling it myself I am confident that it would have been next to impossible to get anything of that fit/finish/strength locally... even for the same price or more.

 

I too bought the Warn. Amazon.com, free shipping. I also hung the Warn front hitch under is and am very happy.