Welding aluminum sheet

Don't get mad! I am totally a newbie to this and before I screw up with money I want to get some input. I am looking to build some bumpers for my new Jeep. I just can't stand to pay someone to build something that looks like so much fun to build. I want to build them with some steel diamond tread but I am having trouble finding any. I found some aluminum diamond tread and was thinking about using that since it is strong and also light which would really help with the top heavy jeep. For some reason 7 inches of lift really makes the Jeep a little top heavy. So my questions for all of you who know lots more than me on this subject:

Would aluminum work? How hard is this to join with a wire feed welder? Is this is a pointless waste of time? Will I be better off with steel? Where is a good place to find a 4x8 piece of steel?

Thanks for all your input and information.

Reply to
PullnOutHair
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With a tank of argon and some practice you can make sloppy welds on certain thicknesses and geometries.

You know, you don't want too strong a bumper. It needs to sacrifice in a collision to absorb energy and spare the frame from bending. The stock Wrangler bumpers seem somewhat flimsy, but that's a feature. Those cool aftermarket bumpers can ruin your frame with a slight rear-end collision.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

I wonder what the liability concerns are if you injure or kill someone with your new bumper. (assuming you were not at fault otherwise)

Bumpers, airbags, and other bits of the safety system are something I would be reluctant to alter in ways other than cosmetic, or exact repairs.

Reply to
Ian Stirling

Keep looking for the steel diamond plate. You really don't want this area of the Jeep to be aluminum. An alternative, make them out of steel then attach the aluminum diamond plate with screws.

While other posters have indicated the bumper of modern cars are designed to crumple in the event of contact, Jeeps are 40's technology. The idea is crash, jet clean the previous owner out and put it back up for sale. :-)

Happy road'in

Jim Vrzal Jeep Wrangler 2002

PullnOutHair wrote:

Reply to
Mawdeeb

This is a great idea, I vote for it! Make a solid steel bumper can then cut panels of al diamond plate with curved corners that follow the shape of the faces of the bumper. This could be made to look really neat and meet the need for structure. As for the concern about insurance and crumple zones, screw it. Rick

Reply to
Rhbuxton

Nice piece of railroad track makes a great bumper, or sched 80 pipe.

Gunner

No 220-pound thug can threaten the well-being or dignity of a 110-pound woman who has two pounds of iron to even things out. Is that evil? Is that wrong? People who object to weapons aren't abolishing violence, they're begging for the rule of brute force, when the biggest, strongest animals among men were always automatically "right". Guns end that, and social democracy is a hollow farce without an armed populace to make it work. - L. Neil Smith

Reply to
Gunner

Thanks to everyone. I agree with going for the steel but it is difficult to find.

New bumpers are made to crush under a crashing force, but if you do any kind of offroading (in my case rock climbing) all it takes is a little miss read on the height of the next obstical and your shiney new stock bumper is now a mound of broken plastic. The last thing I want to do is to trash a trail with my Jeeps parts. So I want something tougher, but these things cost upwards of $1000 a bumper. Plus, go and try to mount a 9000 lb winch to a plastic bumper that is held on by plastic clips and see what kind of pulling force you get when before the bumper pulls off. I don't care if the jeep is totaled after an accident. That is what insurance is for! What I care about is that it looks good and doesn't fall apart when I hit the smallest of obsticles. I don't think that any amount of plastic and styrofoam are going to slow the impact of my 2000 lb Jeep when it nails a little

1500 lb honda. I am just hoping that I am lifted enough to use that darn slow honda as a jump!

Thanks again for your input. STEEL IT IS!

Reply to
PullnOutHair

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