Second Gen Aftermarket Bumper Mounting Reinforcement

I just picked up an All-Pro front bumper and I'm extremely pleased with it. However I can see obvious week points on my truck when it come to mounting an aftermarket bumper. On my second gen there are the three forward facing bolts on each side that primarily support the bumper however the metal is thin and week to say the least. After a few minor winch pull I can already see the metal slightly bending.

I have some ideas of how I want to reinforce how the bumper and truck mount together but was curious if anybody had any suggestions or have seen anybody do any reinforcing?

Here is a picture of the back side of one of the forward pacing bolts. You can see how thin the metal is. This was obviously not designed to hold a after market bumper and then on top of that have a winch pulling from it



Not my photo but this is the front view of were the bumper mounts to the truck.

 

Bump! I need to know this too.

 

interesting, let me know too.

 

by the way that piece is formed it appears that you would have to "tear" the face at the crease before it bent any considerable amount.

a side load from the winch would only be able to bend them if the frame bent too.

im not an engineer but any force great enough to mess those up, would mess up a lot more

 

Welcome to the quality of Allpoo. Check out how an ARB mounts to the truck. I think it has 10 or 12 mounting points to the frame.
I would say get a fab shop to make some simple triangular plates that bolt to the frame and either weld or bolt to the bumper.

 

All-Pro's bumper also uses two holes on the bottom crossmember. Their newest bracket design has an additional web that appears to be sandwiched into the swaybar mount.

 

Relentless Fab and ARB both use braces that run to existing holes in the frame behind the mounting tabs there. I'm sure other companies do as well.

 

These are the brackets that I sell for my bumpers

 

^ Now that is how is should be done. Vendors take note! (I'm talking to you All-Pro).

 

After banging my head against the wall trying to get All-Pro to fix the problem I took matters into my own hands and reinforced the mounting tabs myself. It’s still not as strong as I would like it to be but I’m much more confident in the mounts than I was before.

Props to all the bumper builders that can see this obvious week point and have actually done something tofix it. (Brute force Fabrication, Relentless Fabrication, ARB and I’m sure many others) For now All-Pro does NOT make the list.

 

Yeah..the front of these trucks need all the help they can get...lol