Bumpers

Here's a quick page for the bumpers on the Scrambler.

The front needed a bumper of some sort because I didn't want to run the cheesey "racer" bumper from the CJ7 and it simply didn't fit. 
Personally, I think bumpers are highly over-rated for an off road jeep unless they serve other purposes, ie tow points, tire carrier, air tank, winch mount, etc. But they do seem to be the first upgrade for many rigs.

Anyway, I wanted a simple "stub" bumper for the front, it didn't need tow mounts because they are on the winch plate. Also it is important that I slap on a front bumper to cover the front openings in the frame because the AFW does not have drain holes and it would quickly fill up with junk from water crossings. 

Here's the early stages where I'm measuring and lining it up. I used 2x3" scrap from a friend. 

It's hard to see but I made small tabs above the shackles to cover the extra inch on the exposed frame (bumper 3", frame 4). 

The install was a little tricky. I had to mount the side winch mount brackets first, then the bumper, then the winch plate to the brackets. In the first pic, the front bolt hole on the frame only goes through the outer rail of the frame, unlike the back bolt which goes all the way through the frame. Also the AFW frame is wider than stock so takes some work to get the winch on. It took me about 5 hours total to make the bumper.
Side view. 

The rear bumper is from J&L 4WD and has a tire carrier, receiver, 3 gal air tank and extra frame braces. 

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