New steel front bumper

[TrialByFire]

A fellow I met on one of my trips moved to Albuquerque and is trying to get a fabrication business started here so he offered to make me some custom bumpers. I'm posting these not because he wants to start taking orders (it's not a mail-order project), but because I really liked his design! Its light, stylish, and super-strong--with welded-on braces. It took him most of a week to do the front as it was all welding (i.e. no bends!). I hope to get it painted or powedrcoated soon while he works on the rear bumper and tire mount.






An internal brace inside the fenders makes the tip work well as armor. We had to relocate the window washer reservoir.


Some nice detail of the quality.


The front skid is mounted from welded tabs.

[Omelet]

Not too bad! How much does the whole thing weigh? Your approach angles are greatly increased. Looks like you need more air in those tires now

[Adondo]

That looks GREAT. I've seen military M37's that look almost wimpy compared to that setup.

[Matt]

I love seeing other people making stuff for our rigs!

[TrialByFire]

We didn't weigh it but he said it was noticably lighter than the winch. Plus he was able to put it on and take it off by himself, so my guess is about 70 lbs without the front skid. Only the center section is 1/4".
I will get a weight on it after it's painted.

The approach angles were a priority in the design and there is not much room for additional improvement.

He took a couple of photos during fab and posted them on Craigs List and got three requests for work within a day! I think his business will be good.
He and his mechanic partner are working on me to get into a buggy and stop tearing my XK up. I went for a ride in one this weekend and got to experience my first flip. Thank God for 5-point harnesses!

[Sal-XK]

That bumper looks pretty solid man good find. I wheel my XJ but even though it can do way more then the XK you don't get that same feeling when you get to the top in your XK

[LWM]

Nice, I hope there are still people needing bumpers by the time I get mine finished.

[Sal-XK]

Nice, I hope there are still people needing bumpers by the time I get mine finished.

Depends on how long you take LMAO hahah

[TrialByFire]

Nice, I hope there are still people needing bumpers by the time I get mine finished.

Yeah. Sorry.
I had decided to get a set of yours when this "too good to pass up" deal came along.

[LWM]

Yeah. Sorry.
I had decided to get a set of yours when this "too good to pass up" deal came along.

No worries, I would do the same if I were in your shoes. And it is Black Friday weekend!