Front bumper tweaking

PARTS & SUPPLIES NEEDED
Factory YJ Bumper
Warn YJ Grill Guard
90s Chevy 3500 tow hooks
5/16" Flat plate ~ 40x10"
1/8" Flat plate ~ 2x24"
1/4" Angle Iron ~ 6ft
1/8" Angle iron ~ 3ft
Small wire loom
Self tapping sheet metal screws
Black Spray paint
Duplicolor spray on bed liner
4 - baja 4x6 lights
Paper towel
3ft thread or thin string
misc wire, switch & relay


TOOLS NEEDED
Drill & Bits
Ruler or measuring tape
Welder
Assorted Sockets & wrenches
Shop vac
Angle grinder with metal cutting & wire wheels

Most of the aftermarket bumpers out there are not only expensive, but stick out beyond where the OEM unit does. I like the flush look of the factory bumper and knew that in the future I'd be getting a winch. So I decided to cut down and reinforce my factory bumper as well as add a winch plate. I did this in a few different steps and although I like the final look, it would have been much easier if I had done it all at once. This also means that some of the pictures in this writeup will be out of sequence.

1. The first thing I did was add a winch plate to the factory bumper. I removed the bumper and set my 40x10" plate on the frame rails marking how much I wanted to cut off(if you run a warn grill guard like I did take note it is wider than the frame rails, so you'll want to leave your plate wider to accomodate it). I wanted the entire plate to sit atop the frame but not stick out any farther than the factor bumper. You'll also need to cut into the factory bumper because you want the entire plate to sit flat on the frame. The plate I used is much thicker than the factory bumper (yours should be too) so you will have a noticeable seam around it, the bedliner will help cover that. Here, I wish I had add a rib to the rear for more strength, which I may do later.


2. The next pieces I added were the 1/8" angle to the top for use as roller fairled mounts. You could use flat plate here if you wanted to, I just used what I had available.


3. Next I added the thicker angle iron on the backside of the bumper. It's upside down in the picture, but I basicly added one long piece across the bottom to fit between the frame rails. then, outside the frame rails, under the top, I added more out to the ends of the bumper. I also filled the factory license plate holes at this time.


4. The hardest part of the whole ordeal was factoring in the grill guard. It is meant for a Warn bumper (which sticks out farther) and bolting it into it's intended position meant it would stick out past my bumper. I had to redrill holes and do some trimming to the mounts of the guard, but if you had all these parts to start with it would likely come out cleaner. To test fit for the holes I mocked it up without the bumper on.


5. Once I got the guard situated and scuffed up, I cut of 2 pieces of the 1/8" flat plate and bent them down to make light tabs for the grill guard. Clean off the paint before you weld them on and drill some holes for your wiring to run through later on. I made holes near the light tabs and on the back side of the guard nead the feet.


6. No you'll want to cut more of the thin flate plate to make mount tabs for the lower lights. You could drill and put them right into the bumper but then they will stick past it and not be protected by it. You'll also want to drill holes in the plate to mount your tow hooks. I chose to mount the hooks to the winch plate, just inside the grill guard. this required a lot of test fitting and was the secoind biggest PITA of this project. Once you get everytyhing the way you want it, you can remove it all and prep for bedliner. Here are a few finished shots to give you ideas.



7. Once you have it all bedlined you can start to run your wiring. The only tricky part is getting the wiring through the grill guard and that where the thread, paper towel and shop vac come into play. It took me several tries but of you tie the string to part ofthe paper towel you can "suck" it through the guard. Once that's through you can pull the wiring through.