Richard, in your article you make a point of saying "I used Grade 5 bolts
since ungraded hardware is not suitable for load-bearing applications. "
You do realize that the bumper you are attaching to is only 3/32" thick and
is not rated for load bearing applications....... This is somewhat of a
contradiction don't you think?

Tom

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Grumman-581 writes:

Perhaps his next project should be to design a real bumper for his TJ
....

Bad idea. Bumpers are weaker than the frame so they absorb impact energy
instead of bending the frame. You put a heavy bumper (or a frame hitch
for
that matter) on the back of your car, and many collisions are going to
result in frame damage that would have just been a simple bolt-on swap of
a
new bumper.

On a previous rear-ended TJ I was able to replace a crunched back bumper
with a $25 OEM item from eBay (surplus to somebody's aftermarket upgrade)
with hand tools. The other guy had $1000s in damage.

I wonder if people buying all those macho aftermarket bumpers understand
that they've *given up* a lot of their crash protection?