Custom Front Bumper Without Recovery Points

I bought the truck with a custom front bumper. It has a spot for a winch, but no recovery points. Welds are a little rough, and the bottom two bumper struts are not currently bolted to the frame. The bolt holes are slightly offset from the threaded spots on the frame.

My question is, between now and getting a spot for shackles welded on, can I wrap a strap around one of the lower bars in a pinch? Any ideas where they should weld on shackle attachment points?

 

I can't see the right frame tip is the factory tow hook still there? If it is I would replace it with an aftermarket recovery point and use that.
As far as the tubes I'm not an engineer but I would be worried about bending the tubes. The strap would likely not stay close to the weld and if it's a couple inches away the tube may bend. If the weld isn't good you might have a bigger problem than a bend.

 

It’s not there, I haven’t seen one in person but I believe the bumper attaches to the frame at that point.

Thanks for the insight on the tubes, that’s what I was thinking and just wanted to confirm. I’ll Have to find someone who welds!

 

That's definitely a home built bumper, lol. Pretty goofy setup, IMO.

I know that grinders aren't "welders", but sheesh, everyone grinds the welds on plate bumpers...

It looks like that bumper has removed the stock recovery locations by the way that main bracket is mounted to the frame, I only see TWO bolts holding the bumper on (the front-facing bolts in 2nd picture). There are (probably?) bolts where the stock skid plate mounted (the tubing with the L brackets near the diff). So that's 4 bolts holding it on.

For some perspective, my bumper is held on with 10 bolts, and that's just the winch plate. The bumper is held on with 6 more.
you can see two of them here, plus the 2 (each side) for the stock tow hooks, and then the front facing bolts like on yours. The rear bolts by your diff are a nice touch and are probably pretty strong.

(not the best pics, but I just stole these from my bumper build)

Here's another pic, with my stock bumper (sans plastic fascia): the tow hook with bottom bolts, front facing plate mount, and the two other side bolts are on the left

 

First thing I noticed was how messy all the welds looked. The only redeeming feature of this bumper is the skid plate, nice 1/4" steel that has pretty good protection. That, and I feel a little bit better if I ever come into contact with a deer.

It's held on by 8 bolts, or should be. The two front bolts that are visible in the pictures, two side bolts on the frame rail, and the bottom two near the diff which aren't actually bolted to anything since the holes are about 1/4" off of the mounting threads. I'd like to fix those, but I'll have to give it a go with a Dremel to widen the mounting holes a bit.

 

Fix those two on the bottom for sure.

Get a flapper wheel on a grinder and dress the whole bumper then repaint.

It won't be a bad bumper.

BTW, a die grinder and a burr will make quicker work of those holes than a Dremel. Know a welder? He'll have one. Or her. Whichever.

 

I count 6....

It looks like the tubing (lower skid plate) is interfering with the location of the bottom-front mounting holes (the tow hook mounts), and likely why those bolt holes weren't used. If at all possible, I'd really like to see at least one of those bolts get used (1 each side).

Even if the front mount plates were replaced with 1/4 steel (like is required on the pre-2000's) I wouldn't trust just those bolts for the front. In my previous pic, you can see the material on the stock faceplates isn't very thick, and relies on distributing the load to the other 4 bolts (each side) as well.

It's just odd that the builder chose to place the tubing where he did. If he would have moved the tuning an inch in any direction, all those mounting bolts could have been used.

I certainly agree with @cruxofthebisquit to dress those welds. Grinding them down will also let you see how well those welds fill the gaps between the pieces, and if you'd need to throw an additional bead down the seams. I'm no expert welder, but I know what a poor weld looks like (that's all I'm capable of making, lol)...

I'm betting you had two welders there. The tubing and main frame bracket look like pretty decent welds, but the filler plate material is amateur hour.

 

There are six bolts on the frame rail, plus the two on the bottom with the L brackets which are currently not bolted up.

In the picture, the bottom skid plate is removed, and the tubing is definitely blocking the stock tow hook location.

There is an exhaust hanger that someone welded on the truck that looks absolutely horrible, and it has since broken. So having two welders on the bumper is definitely a possibility. Grinding them down to take a closer look is a good idea, thanks for the tips.

 

Yeah they didn’t put any recovery points on it because it would turn into extruded aluminum foil if you tried to pull the truck by it.