I have been working on designing a new beefy bumper for my '95 pathy and was wondering if anyone else is or has done this and wishes to collaborate?

Sheetmetal or tube? Winch mountable or just heavy-duty?

i'm working on a sheet metal winch mountable bumper. I dont have nearly the kind of money required to have one made, so I'm going to do it myself. I've seen your truck before and it looks like you probably have some experience building things like this. I have done a bit of metal work before but maybe you have some tips based on what i have designed so far. I have been using Rhinoceros 3D to draft the bumper on my computer, i have developed a shape I like from measurements i took off the pathfinder. Now I have to figure out an internal frame work that is strong, but also doesn't weigh a ton. I am thinking of using 1/8" sheet metal for the outter skin and using 1-1.5" square tube steel as the internal frame. I still have to work on some of the clearances around the bottom of the rad so that i can fit a winch in. I was wondering if you knew what do the stock bumper mounts attach to and are they just bolted on? Are you planning on designing a new bumper? If you like the idea I have going I'd be glad to send you the specs on it when I finish drafting it.

The stock bumper bolts to the end of the frame in front through two holes slotted through the body. There are two bolts per side, accessible through the fenderwells. There are two holes per side you can see the bolt heads through.

1/8" should be good for the skin, yeah. I'd think that 1/4" plate would be good to use for the attachment points and internal bracing. With a 1/8" skin all welded together, it'll be fairly rigid all by itself. Seems like perhaps the square stock may take up a bit of interior room in there and you'd still need some plate to bolt it on with anyway. For bracing though, the square would work fine.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing, I just need more plate and the time and money to do it. I'd like to actually weld in some better frame horns or mounts for the upper mounts, that way you could bolt the new bumper to the frame horns or mounts with them sticking out of the body already and not have to deal with positioning a heavy-ass bumper by hand to fit the teeny bolts/mounts that were holding the stock bumper on.

I'd definitely like to see what you come up with. Remember to add recovery points and some bracing or plate reinforcement for them so you can use the winch and a pulley on yourself, or just for towing Jeeps out. Have fun!

Thanx I can see where the bumper mounts attach now and you bet I plan to put recovery points on. I plan to put them on either side of the winch and have them in line with the mounts to reduce torque on the bumper.

Wow has a lot of stuff happened lately, I got a different pathfinder now but I finally finished the bumper plans. I have these pics that I made through a drafting program called Rhinoceros 3.0, you really need the view the full 3D design to get the whole idea. These two layouts are the dimentions of all the sheet metal peices that need to be cut out.
This other pic is a 3D render of the design.

In the whole design I have a frame work laid out but i havent made exact specs for it yet.
If you want to look at the the whole design you can use the free version of rhinoceros 3.0 http://download.mcneel.com/rhino/3.0/eval/ and I can send the file.

That looks pretty solid. Hope you have a good shop to build it. Reminds me of an old man emu bumper.

A junkyard semi tractor (Kenworth,Peterbuilt,etc.) front bumper makes a great specimen to cut down for installation. A torch helps. The license plate opening makes for a cool winch mount area. Full chrome and the road light openings are slick. With a 3" lift kit aboard , the bumper looks right at home. [/i][/b]

Very nice design. AKA Zombie Plow.