Mounting tj or jk bumper

[LucasD]

Im wanting to get a stinger bumper for my liberty. Is it easier to fab a mount for a tj bumper or jk bumper?

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[WesStevens]

I'm actually doing this right now. I found a cheap Jeep JK (I think) winch bumper on FB Marketplace. It just needs cleaning/painting. I've started to mock up in cardboard what the mount is going to look like, but need to get the existing bumper cover again off so I can fine tune the measurements. My plan is to use 2"x2" steel tubing and insert them into the existing frame holes and bolt them in securely. Weld that tubing to a 6"x12" 1/4 steel plate to attach that to the "new" bumper. I just need to fiddle around with the placement and spacing. I bought a cheap MIG welder and have been practicing welding the 3/16" steel. Never did anything like this before...but it looks like it might work. (At least in cardboard).

 

[LucasD]

I'm actually doing this right now. I found a cheap Jeep JK (I think) winch bumper on FB Marketplace. It just needs cleaning/painting. I've started to mock up in cardboard what the mount is going to look like, but need to get the existing bumper cover again off so I can fine tune the measurements. My plan is to use 2"x2" steel tubing and insert them into the existing frame holes and bolt them in securely. Weld that tubing to a 6"x12" 1/4 steel plate to attach that to the "new" bumper. I just need to fiddle around with the placement and spacing. I bought a cheap MIG welder and have been practicing welding the 3/16" steel. Never did anything like this before...but it looks like it might work. (At least in cardboard).

Share pics once its all done. Id like to see it. What do you plan on doing for turn signals and fenders? Are you going to try and keep the stock signals or will you add different ones? Ive thought about deleting the fog lights and putting turn signals there. Also do you plan on removing the fender liners and wiper fluid reservoir?

 

[WesStevens]

Those are all excellent questions that I suspect will ultimately depend on how this bumper can integrate with the Liberty.
My goal is to keep the Stock turn signals in their original position if possible. I want to cut the bumper cover about an inch below the turn signals and mount them to the fender flares. (See the “before” and AI generated “after” image below). It didn’t get the bumper completely right as mine isn’t this wide, but I like how it handled the turn signals.
I like the stock fog lights in the grill and hope to retain those if possible. But…since the JK bumper has mounts for fog lights as well as tabs at the top for lights or a light bar…the stock fog lights are redundant and if I can’t get the stock signals mounted, I’ll move them to the grill.
I also agree that the windshield washer fluid is extremely vulnerable with the bumper cover removed. I think I’ll fabricate something with diamond plate to cover it.
As for the fender liners,
I’m going to most likely trim them to the bottom of the fender flares. I’ll post pictures when complete.

 

[WesStevens]

Not that this is a big update...but I did want to at least acknowledge that I am still working on getting the bumper fabricated. I did remove the front bumper cover, cut off and re-mounted the turn signals in their original location, trimmed the fender liners, and have mounted one of the bumper supports inside the frame by welding nuts to a strip of steel and inserting into the 2"x2" tubing. I bolted it on using the factory holes in the frame. It isn't pretty, but it worked. The other side, I'm going to change it up, as I'm not confident in the tack welds on the nuts. {The idea is creating a "blind fastener" since I don't have access to the inside of the tubing once it is inserted into the frame). I've bought some 1/2" steel plate which I'm going to tap the M12 sized holds, and going to insert that into the tubing. As expected, the bumper requires some serious adjustment in height to get it to line up with the KJ's lines, but I still think I can get things to line up. Here are some shots on "progress".
I've already trimmed some of the length of the driver side mount just so I could drive it mid-project. The passenger side hasn't been bolted in yet, I just stuck it in there for the picture.