i have a question for you guys that fabricate and sell XJ bumpers

[sidriptide]

i'm probably venturing into something thats gonna give me more agravation than benefit but i guess i just cant help myself so humor me here..
i'm working on designing an XJ front bumper. yeah i know the wheel cant be reinvented anymore but i dont expect it to be a cash cow. my partner has been doing YJ and TJ bumpers for a while now and the biggest problem with building them from a production stand point is that the OEM threaded insert locations in the frame have pretty consistant variances that require 2 holes to be slotted... for strength we end up templating each vehicle individually so we can use round holes.
do you find XJs have similar variances in the frame holes or are they consistant enough that you dont need to make slotted holes? (like i assume)
thanks guys!!

 

[CanMan]

Ive done a few bolt on bumpers, and havent ran into any problems. You can always make the hole 1/8" bigger to allow for some adjustment.

 

[2xtreme]

I have no idea if the stock bumper mounts are different from Jeep to Jeep, but I would of thought that any decent custom front bumper was going to incorporate the steering box bolts also and have new holes drilled to match on the pass side. With this in mind I would think they would each need to be at least slightly oversized to allow allignment of all 12 bolts consistently?

Just my thoughts,
Michael

 

[beakie]

having made my own frame mounts for the front, then having made a set for another guy he noticed (before shipping luckily) that his 95 has 1 hole on either side that is placed a little differently than my 97. Where his stock bumper bolts are in a different triangle. His triangle looks more isosoles (sp?) and mine looks more like a right angle at the top. Not sure if you understand, but something to look into before designing.
Also the frame will tweak a bit depending on how much trailing has been done, my buddies old bumper didn't fit mine exactly the way it fit his when I bought it off him. But like you said, a little ovalling and we made it work.

 

[sidriptide]

ok thanks.. thats some more detaails to think about. i found a few places that already fabricate these plates/brackets just for this purpose so i might fust go that route rather than try to reinvent the design and not copy somone elses work..

 

[Roxtar]

... the biggest problem with building them is that you have to compete with 1000 companies trying to sell $350 bumpers that cost $325 to build.

Fixed for ya

 

[sidriptide]

Fixed for ya

you aint just whistling Dixie, Jack!!