Gold Cobra

[Gold Cobra]

As some of you may have seen, the bumper that came on Gold Cobra was pretty goofy looking.

So I sold it to fund the build of a new one. (sold it for $200) I wanted to build something very low profile, and of course lighter than what was there. I also didn't want to have to modify the crossmember or frame rails so it would fit any TJ, that way I could sell it if I wasn't happy with it later on.

I picked of a sheet of 1/4" and a sheet of 1/8" from Eastside Steel for $50.

Where I'm starting;

I didn't have much time to work on it today after work so all I really got done was a real rough cut o the top/winch plate portion of the bumper.

I know it looks like nothing but that's where I left off tonight. Cutting 1/4" with a angle grinder really makes me wish I had a plasma cutter.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Bumper build day 2:

A rough cardboard cut of where I'm going with the top plate;

Mounting holes drilled, I incorporated the sway bar bolts, my previous bumper did not. I figured it would add some strength at a minimal weight cost. Here is the plate bolted up using the swaybar bolts and measuring for winch placement.

Drilled more holes for the winch, bolted the winch to the plate and bolted the swaybar on.

Winch to swaybar clearance, kinda hard to tell in the pic but it's about 3/16".

This is the first winch bumper I've ever built and I'm not sure exactly where or how the fair lead should mount. Any suggestions?

That's where I called it a night today. I'm very proud all my holes lined up, I didn't have to hog any of them out. I'm working with some pretty primitive tools so things are taking longer than I would have liked. It took me a while to drill the 16 holes in 1/4" using a hand held black'n'decker corded drill. At one point I had to stop and let it cool.

Tonight however I did have some company, someone to offer suggestions and make fun of me.

 

[NW99XJ]

Primitive tools or not, looks like things are coming along nicely....
And only WISH I had as much room in my garage as you've got....
(is that a band saw I see in the corner?)

I would love to try and tackle a custom fabbed bumper, but I just dont have the means (fabrication tools/cutters/welder/etc...) or the space for that matter... and time seems to be a dwindling commodity for me lately.

Keep up the progress man, Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

[Gold Cobra]

Thanks Josh. Yeah I'm pretty happy with my garage it suits my needs perfectly. Yes that is a bandsaw, but a very cheap one. Ben gave it to me for free when he got a nicer one.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Day 3:

I only had about 2 hours to work on it because my "honey do list" took up most my time today. Women, am I right?

Measured for the fairlead and tacked them into place.

You can see in the last picture where I'm going with this in soapstone. My shackle mounts are going to sit horizontally and I'm putting a piece of 1/4 above and below the winch plate to bring it to 3/4". The top piece will also incorporate the top 2 bumper bolts for added strength. Here are the top plates that I cut out. I still have to drill them.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Day 4:

I didn't get out into the garage until 7 tonight so I only got to work on it for about two and a half hours. You know if I didn't have a job or family I'd have a lot more time to work on Jeep projects.

Anyway, after doing some research I decided that using the 4 swaybar mounting bolts wasn't necessary. The six 1/2" grade 8 bolts would be enough.

So I plotted out the final plan for the top plate and got to cutting. Mnkyboy offer to let me use his plasma to cut the 1/4" plate, but I figured with what little time I had I would accomplish more if I just kept at it. (Thank you for the offer though Nathen.) Here you can see my final outline, as well as my fancy tools and work area.

Here it is all cut out, with bolt holes drilled into the top shackle mount plates, and bolted into place.

With the winch and fair lead.

With the top taking its final shape, and the winch and fair lead bolted up, I'm finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[NW99XJ]

I didn't get out into the garage until 7 tonight so I only got to work on it for about two and a half hours. You know if I didn't have a job or family I'd have a lot more time to work on Jeep projects.

Funny how that seems to be the case more often times than not, huh?
Damn those pesky priorities!

With the top taking its final shape, and the winch and fair lead bolted up, I'm finally starting to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

In the famous words of Hannibal Smith.... "I love it when a plan comes together...."

 

[Gold Cobra]

Day 5:

With the main plate basically done I started on the rest of the bumper. The main plate is 1/4" but the rest is 1/8". The 1/8" is so much easier to work with, it takes half the time to drill or cut than the 1/4". Crazy, huh? Anyway, I bolted on the bottom plate and started adding shape to the bumper.

With the winch and fair lead. The roller fair lead stick out further than I'd like. Maybe I need some rope.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Bumper build day 6:

Since I had some company today (Eric again) I headed out to the garage early and stayed late. I got my final pieces cut and tacked into place.

Then I welded it all up, and tested to make sure it still fit.

With the winch and fair lead in place.

I've still got a lot of cleanup to do, as well as add another piece of 1/4" to the shackle mounts and drill them out but it's basically done. I'm pretty happy with it so far, aside from the amount of time it's taking me. I'll be proud to say "yeah, I built that", but with my time factored in I would have been better off to buy one I liked. If I had better tools this would have gone a lot quicker. So maybe its a better idea to spend my money there and keep building my own stuff. Who knows? With my job I either have a lot of money and no time, or a lot of time and no money, neither is ideal. Anyway, I'll be glad when this is done so I can move on to other projects.

 

[muddypunk]

Thats looking good Im not big on stubby bumpers but Im liking this and how your shackles will mount

 

[Gold Cobra]

Day 7:

I got the shackle mounts done, and smoothed it all out.

Also drilling out the 3/4" shackle mounts my drill got very hot. So hot that the plastic case got soft. So I had to take a break and let it cool.

Since the bumper is done, I weighed it. 26 pounds. That's 33 pounds lighter than the old bumper. Yay! It's got paint drying as I type this.

 

[Boveevil]

Nice work!

 

[kndrewa]

Great weight savings!
I've never seen a recovery shackle mount in a vertical hole.

 

[NW-ZJ-SCOTT]

Great weight savings!
I've never seen a recovery shackle mount in a vertical hole.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Thanks guys.

Got it mounted up today.

I'm really happy with it, but even happier it's done. As soon as I sell the Harley I'll be regearing it. In the meantime I've got some lights I can mount, CB antenna, and remove the body lift.

 

[BPB]

Looks great!!!!! I like how simple it is. basically a cross member to store your winch.

 

[NW99XJ]

Any plans for a hoop at all?

 

[Gold Cobra]

Thanks Ben, that's what I was going for. Simple and light.

And I don't have any plans for a hoop at this point.

 

[Gold Cobra]

Got my new fairlead in the mail today. A Warn hawse fairlead for steel cable. I wasn't sure about running a hawse fairlead with cable, but after doing some research I think I'll be fine considering how often I'll be using it. If it becomes a problem I'll switch to rope.

It's a lot tighter to the bumper than the roller fairlead and weighs 1 pound less. It also looks a lot better in my opinion, and that's what it's all about, right?

 

[NW99XJ]

Any chance you want to swing that roller fairlead MY way?.......