2015 JKUR bumper rebuild

[redneckdan]

Early last fall I rushed through building a bumper for my 2015 JKUR. I was going back to Utah in October to visit my wife again and I wanted a winch to explore some places I was hesitant to go in June when I was out there winch-less.

Had a single speed mile marker, sourced a milsurp solonoid and bought the pump & steering box adapters. Steel and hoses are cheap for me to get. I saw the Henderson Defense Commando and ki d of liked the minimalist look of their bumper. That's what I was going for here. The further I got into the project, the less I liked the direction it was going. But I was under a deadline to have a functioning winch/bumper. I didn't even bother painting it. Being Cor-Ten, it would only rust a minor amount. I felt I would be soon replacing it.




It turned out okay. The older milemarkers are known to be a bastard to free spool. I have to power in and out. But they are hella stout! I pulled out a full size mired to the frame in loon ****. I double lined that pull, not because the winch bogged but because I started to worry about breaking my jeep!

I don't want to waste the work I did setting up for the hydraulic winch, but I really want to put my 8274 on the front.

 

[redneckdan]

Mocking it up

I drew up a rough idea in Autocad then imported to pronest and burned it out. 3/8" T1 for the base plate. Base plate flat to the frame horns, the gear case touches the cross over that supports the bottom of the grille.




So I'm kind of at a decision point. Cut the grille around the winch or space the bumper away from the frame horns. My guiding principle with this JK is minimal permenant modification to factory equipment. Yeah it is easy to get a new grille on ebay, but grille trimming leads to body trimming and o really dnot want to go down that road.

 

[Kmrtnsn]

I'd box it out a few inches.

 

[redneckdan]

A flat plate is not very stiff against face axis loading, even T1.

I'm fitting a 1/4" x 2" flat across the top and one at a slight tilt on the bottom.




The bottom plate is drilled 7/16 on 4" centers for a skid plate to bridge between the bumper and front cross member. This will help protect the disco mechanism.

The top plate is drilled 1/2"on 8" centers for Hella 500FFs. These have been through several bumper iterations. I've tried LED and HIDs as well. I trigger the bumper lights off the factory fog wiring. The problem is the factory fogs are pulse width modulated. I've tried various methods of 'smoothing' the signal but I've had varying degrees of flicker with HID and LED. Using a solid state relay to avoid chatter and halogens has worked the best for me. I run 100w bulbs and get about 75watt equivalent brightness and much longer bulb life.

Plate is tacked with ER70S-6 and C25. Full pen welds will be ER110s-1 with 98/2 mix.

 

[redneckdan]

Mock up #2

Here is mockup #2. I cut six 1/2" thick spacers on the burn table. With a full stack on each side and mounting bolts torqued, the gear case lightly touches the grille piece. I cut some 3/8 spacers as well if I want to move it out more.



For a while I have wanted to install a filter for the power steering system. My counts on fluid analysis have only been just okay. This seems like a good spot to mount the filter head. The fluid return cross over is near by. Filter is easily accessible for changing but still fairly protected.

 

[redneckdan]

More fit up

Cut some gussets and a contactor bracket on the burn table.

Hopeing to get the upper and lower flats gusseted and burned in tonight. Might even get the shackle tabs cleaned up and tacked in place square. Order of operations will be tricky to avoid warping the large flat T1 plate.



This bumper and the winch have to installed and functional before the 15th. Heading out of state on a road trip.

 

[redneckdan]

Fabrication almost complete

Got a lot done last night, even with two SAR calls mixed in.

Bumper is welded up. Need to clean up some edges with the flap disc and bead blast it. Then a couple coats of primer and then some matte black.

 

[redneckdan]

Sanded, blasted and primed

Got the minor weld splatter cleaned up, bead blasted and a couple coats of primer on. Hope to get a few coats of matte black on before the night is out.

Also, found donor for a future engine swap.

Think it will fit? Might have to push the fire wall back a bit...

 

[redneckdan]

Contactor mounted

Initially, I really wanted to mount the contactor very close to the battery in order to minimize the length of cable that is always hot. That proved impractical. There just isn't enough room. I didn't want to complicate matters for a future potential dual battery project.

I found I could remove one of the stock horns from behind the driver side headlight. I built an angle bracket which slipped in under the two 8mm bolts that hold the top radiator cross over in place.

The studs clear the hood liner by about 2 inches. I plan to add rubber boots on the lugs for peace of mind. Hot to the contactor will run along the passenger side quarter panel then cross over the top of the radiator, under the grill trim. A1, F1 & F2 will be bundled and run down along the driver side of the radiator, come out from under the grille and run up to the motor.

 

[redneckdan]

Mounted up

Painted cured over night. Mounted it up and reinstalled the top hat.

Then I realized I forgot about figuring a method to mount the damn front plate!!!

I will have to figure something out.

Got copper anti sieze smeared all over the place.

Forgot to anti size the 2 o'clock bolt on the passenger side frame horn. Then put the impact to it and proceeded to gall the ever loving crap out of the threads. An hour of quality time with the Dremel got it cut off. Gotta love L316....

 

[redneckdan]

Wiring

Working on wiring the winch motor. Using 2/0 welding cable and hydraulicly crimped lugs.