you should back it with metal tubing, that way, if you are in an accident you have the tubing to protect you, and the fiberglass just cracks.

 

lol yeah there is more welding going on !! the one in the pic is my mock up winch tray the real one will be 3/16 with 1/8 gussets on the top and bottom my brother in law is welding it tomorrow. its being bolted to a new cross member made from 1/2 square tube welded and bolted

the winch and winch plate arent going anywhere!!!!!

 

i thought about that
but i decided not to the fiberglass is way stronger then the factory bumper

 

Think it's a great idea. So, it can't take a huge rock. My truck will probably never see rocks, maybe a small tree, but as stated it's fiberglass patch it up, sand it, spray paint, do it again.

I'm in a bumper delima right know also. Do I need a bumper that can take a head on collision, no. Do I want a stock bumper, not really. This one is right in the middle.

How much time and materials did this take?
It's a good start, I would like to see where this goes.

 

all said and done i have 130.00 into the fiberglass part of it
the winch plate steel was free

i probly have 30 hrs into it messing around
if i had to do it over again it would cost me 230. but i wouldnt have had to monkey &*%^* around with fitment and time would have been less

 

most new bumpers are using a metal bar (some are also fiberglass) in back and impact absorbing with styrofoam. get a piece of whatever bar you wish to use, aluminum or steel, mount it between your winch plate and the fiberglass, then fill the entire inside with expandable foam spray. then you have some impact resistance, and you can mount internal flush driving lights to the each end of the bar so they'll be stable. also, add a square hitch at the center, and cut it off right inside the fiberglass. then you can use a little hitch plug to cap it off and it will look flush. you can the hitch as your recovery point.

but definitely beef up the gussets on that winch mount if you plan to do any winching.

nice work, man. that's original, out of the box thinking.

 

Nice job!! Lets see some trail pics, soon!!!

 

interesting

 

Any updates on how well your bumper has held up? I like the idea of keeping the weight down with fiberglass (also helps the aerodynamics of our flying bricks). I've been giving this some thought lately, but I'm leaning more towards a leaner version of a tube bumper to hang the fiberglass onto.

BTW, if you've not already seen this, Iceland Offroad in Utah carries a full line of Jeep fiberglass winch bumpers -> here