I managed to get some work done on the Monty bumper over the weekend. I picked this bumper up several months ago and have been changing my mind the whole time as to what to do - raise the stock bumper 1.5" to match the body lift, buy an aftermarket bumper and adapt it, or use the homemade one I found on Craigslist. I want to run a winch and it just seemed like too much trouble to make it work with the stock bumper, so that was out. The price of aftermarket bumpers, even used, is just ridiculous, so that was out. That left the wacky homemade Craigslist bumper.
It's definitely homemade, but very heavy duty. I got it for $25, so any surgery I have to perform on it won't hurt my feelings. It's built like a bridge - overkill in some places, like the old 1/2"-plate mounts - the PO had cut them with a plasma cutter.
After getting the stock bumper off, I checked out the stock mounts. They are like platforms and were easy to adapt to, but I needed something beefier than I currently had in my scrap steel pile to mate the bumper to the mounts. I spied the winch plate I bought at Harbor Freight. I was going to have to cut it down to fit between the frame horns anyway, so I cut it early and used the pieces to make my mounts. I got the bumper as even and lined up as I could and welded up the brackets.
Being somewhat anal about my projects I couldn't get over the fact that the bumper itself was built a little crooked. The first shot of it on the rig shows how the right side angled up. Easy fix - I just ran a straight cut up from the bottom, closed the gap and welded it up.
I then realized that the center was a little wavy. Jacking it up at a few key points took care of that pretty well. It's not perfect, but once it's black it will be hard to tell.
Next, I found the center and marked it. I did the same for the cut-down winch plate and lined it up where it will go. The bumper is made from a giant piece of C-channel so it folds over at the bottom making it an easy and solid seat for the winch plate. I traced the plate, marked the corners to drill holes and started cutting. I used up my last cutting wheel so I have to finish after I pick up some more.
I am still trying to decide if I want to extend the bumper out on each side or leave it short. I also have a brush guard that will be going on.
More soon...
I cut off the existing bull bar thing.
Do I extend it or not?
Whether I extend it or not I will be cutting it and bringing it back to follow the line of the body.
Note the piece or rusty bar stock as a temporary spacer. I wanted the bumper to be off of the frame horns and this also gave it a tighter fit to the bottom of the grille. Also note the crappy plasma cutting job on the existing mount.
See the difference in the gaps right and left?
A little better after I made relief cuts to be able to bend the up or down as needed.
