Input?

I used to work as a fabricator for 7 years and I'm now a stay at home dad/college student. I have a garage and am looking at buying equipment to start fabbing steel in my free time. What do you guys think of the market for bumpers, skids and armor right now? Is it worth it for me to start making some of this stuff to sell and would anyone local be willing to drop by once I do start to give trail experienced insight on certain designs?

One thing I've noticed about the Jeep crowd is that they are notoriously CHEAP. Most of them don't like paying more than $1000 for the entire vehicle:spin1: (Myself included)

I would think that to sell a decent amount of custom bumpers and stuff, they would have to meet three requirements:

1. Design - Function, fit, and looks all have to be good
2. Dependable - the stuff has to be tough as nails
3. Down right cheap - well, sort of. It would have to be significantly cheaper than what is available now through the big shops

For the time, energy, and money you would have to put in to design, produce, and market your products ..... I don't think you would come out ahead.

To make decent money, you need high margins. High margins mean high prices, which means low sales.

The big shops have you beat hands down in that area. They'll have lower costs, smaller margins, and lower prices ..... but still make more money because of volume.

Fabrication is AWESOME. If you enjoy doing it, go for it. I just don't think it will produce any income to speak of.

not that my opinion represents most, but I like em strong, and good approach, departure angle. I could care less about looks. It could be rusty I don't care. I don'yt like any bells and whistles either. I don't need a stinger or light tabs for some gay ass lights or sunk in fog lights. give me a front bumper that I can mount a winch in, hook some d-rings to, and ties into the unibody nicely.

i think Simon pretty much hit the nail on the head.. but then again if you can produce a nice product at even a slightly cheaper price you might do alright..

You could make me some armor and I will be your promo rig

it als helps if you fill a void that the market may have right now

i don't know what that is, but it could help

also you can make some money by being a shop that does welding and custom fab for the vehicles, like cages, custom bumpers, and rocker replacements

I thought about that too bandit. I have owned my own business before so I'm aware of the specifics, but I believe I can build products a little less costly that are damn near bulletproof. I'm actually working on a front "X" design brace for bumper mounting that should allow for much more use of the unibody rails and take the straight pull stress out of the equation. If I can manage the same for the rear I'll be happy.

XJinPA said:

I thought about that too bandit. I have owned my own business before so I'm aware of the specifics, but I believe I can build products a little less costly that are damn near bulletproof. I'm actually working on a front "X" design brace for bumper mounting that should allow for much more use of the unibody rails and take the straight pull stress out of the equation. If I can manage the same for the rear I'll be happy.

Click to expand...

see, thats something unique and different, you should be able to sell lots of them!

Follow your passion and mind your pennies. There's always room in the market for a quality product and quality service.

bandit455 said:

also you can make some money by being a shop that does welding and custom fab for the vehicles, like cages, custom bumpers, and rocker replacements

Click to expand...

i know i want a cage somewhere down the line :cheers:

haha me too

wait i have one

ok i want a real cage, none of this stock sport bar bs

and one of is where you can excel xjinpa

anyone can order stuff in a catalog but if you make something custom and to there wants you can charge more and fill that void with people

I'd like to build cages as well but I want to ruin My XJ with the first one. I am actually looking for a rolling XJ shell at the moment to use as a guinea pig for measurements and general abuse. I may even ask for volunteers that are local to help me test products from time to time if I think they might be groundbreaking. I have a cool idea for a cage that would be trail only but very useful. When I mount that up, we'll need to get stupid to see if it holds up. Once I get my first bumpers and sliders built I'll start taking design ideas and I've figured if they work out, those that donated the ideas will get either the trial part or the half off price on the first part. I have a ton of ideas, just researching my new welding rig at the moment, then I'll order steel and start the fun.

Hey man,

I have honestly thought about this myself. I love fabbing stuff on my Jeep, or for anything for that matter. I don't' know how the market is right now, but I can tell you people don't seem to be dropping coin like they were a year ago. I don't want to discourage you, I think what you are doing is a dream of mine I would like to see happen some day, but you should probably open your horizons to JK stuff too as that is where the market has really shifted. Make friends with a jeep club, guys that are buying JKs and wanting to mod and wheel the crap out of them obviously have $ to blow, so if you have something to offert them, you have your "clients", with the cash to spend on your stuff. I have an XJ (94) that I am not doing anything with right now. It is not registered or insured, and I have big plans for it (some day). I would be willing to let you keep it as a prototype vehicle for as long as you wanted if you need something to fab stuff on. Shoot me a PM if you want to talk details there. I would also be interested in helping you in any way possible. I have a MIG welder and a few tools, nothing much though. I have also thought that being an installer would help in slow times, if you could install lifts, tires, and other parts. You wouldn't have to be a real mechanic, no engine stuff, but bolt on stuff that people don't have the time/skill/tools to do themselves. I think the market is there if you are creative, innovative, and open minded. Like I said don't limit yourself to XJ's & MJ's, we're the cheapo's. Certainly make awesome parts for them, but don't plan on feeding your family from that alone. Love to chat with you more about this so PM me if you get a chance.

Jon

yeah

swb jeepers pay big bucks for anything and everything

trust me...

and i can give ya ll the measurements you could ever want for a tj

heck you could even borrow it for a day, i just come with it

Glad to hear you guys are supportive enough. I thought I might get hammered over this. I might have to head down to Downingtown to get some serious input from you guys. It'd also be cool to meet some fellow XJ owners. Lots here but they're not very sociable. I haven't been in Downingtown in about 8 years. I'm curious to see what it looks like now.

good deal

if/when you do be sure to give us notice and what not

and you are always welcome on a rc run

I'd love to go on a RC run, but I don't have a full size spare or fire extinguisher yet. I've been trying to get a spare on the cheap and it's not happening. My XJ is barely built at this point as well. Just has recovery points, a CB and a 2" BB.

what size tar???

and thats still plenty of size

make some homemades disco's and you will be good to go