Since I have seen a lot of bumpers that are similar to mine mounted using the factory front crossmember I thought that I would share this.
After wheeling at Superlift last weekend and using my front bumper as a ramp to get up some ledges I managed to pull the factory captured nuts almost out of the front crossmember. We pulled the bumper off today and cut the top mount and captured nut off. We then cut the section of the crossmember that had the lower captured nut out.
We then made two plates out of 1/4" plate and thread some 1/2" holes and welded some nuts on the backs of the plates. We fit these to the cavities where we had torched out the captured nuts.
After welding the plates in place we cut some gussets, welded them in and rewelded some of the areas where the crossmember mounts to the frame. On the gussets that we made on the inside of the new plates we angled the gussets back at an angle to help support the plates. Since the metal on the crossmember was so thin we laid down 3 rows of bead to grab more surface area.
Then we reinstalled the bumper using a gantry crane to hold it in place. All mounted up and it is more sturdy than it has ever been.
Now to test it out at Clayton next month.
After wheeling at Superlift last weekend and using my front bumper as a ramp to get up some ledges I managed to pull the factory captured nuts almost out of the front crossmember. We pulled the bumper off today and cut the top mount and captured nut off. We then cut the section of the crossmember that had the lower captured nut out.
We then made two plates out of 1/4" plate and thread some 1/2" holes and welded some nuts on the backs of the plates. We fit these to the cavities where we had torched out the captured nuts.
After welding the plates in place we cut some gussets, welded them in and rewelded some of the areas where the crossmember mounts to the frame. On the gussets that we made on the inside of the new plates we angled the gussets back at an angle to help support the plates. Since the metal on the crossmember was so thin we laid down 3 rows of bead to grab more surface area.
Then we reinstalled the bumper using a gantry crane to hold it in place. All mounted up and it is more sturdy than it has ever been.
Now to test it out at Clayton next month.