Custom Off Road Rear Bumper With Hitch
Introduction: Custom Off Road Rear Bumper With Hitch
After installing a lift kit on my truck and testing it out in Moab I was quick to discover my truck's main weakness at off roading: bumper clearance, specifically the rear hitch. It scraped across several bits of slickrock and once when rolling over a ledge I smashed the hell out of my trailer wiring socket.
So on the drive home I started planning a bumper build that would clear up the back end of the truck by incorporating the hitch receiver into the center of the bumper, and also allow for extras like led lights, recovery points and backup camera. I got inspiration from other builds and tutorials, which I'll link to at the end.
I wanted it to have a nice clean look that would hide all the wiring, so I decided to go with a piece of 5 x 3" rectangular steel at 3/16" thickness for the main bumper. To mount that to the frame I went with 3 x 3" angle iron at 1/4" thickness. I purchased the recovery points from Amazon and got a couple extra pieces from a local scrap yard, including the 2-1/2" hitch receiver.
I should mention that I'm an intermediate welder at best, and have no certifications. I learned everything from YouTube and Instructables after getting a cheap Harbor Freight flux core welder and played around with small projects, but all the welding for this bumper was done at a local maker space using a nice Miller MIG welder. Then last year I got a job as a parks maintenance worker and have been welding a lot of 4x4 and 6x6 steel fence posts. Between that and help from my coworkers I built up my confidence enough to tackle this bumper project. As you'll see from my welds I still have plenty room for improvement, and it took a lot of grinding to clean things up but I'm incredibly happy with the result. I've since done two cross country road trips towing my teardrop trailer with no issues.
Step 1: Mounting Brackets & Recovery Points
This was built for an 07 Nissan Frontier, but could be adapted for about any vehicle. After removing the old bumper and hitch you can get a good look at where the bumper mounts to the frame. You might be able to reuse the original mounts depending on their condition but I decided to go with new angle iron that can pass completely through the new bumper so I can weld it on both sides.
I held a piece of cardboard up against the original mounting bracket, where it attaches to the frame then traced it and the 3 holes for the bolts. Using this as a template I marked the holes on the new 3x3" angle iron and using a drill press, started with pilot holes and moved up to a 3/4" bit. 215
This gave me a little wiggle room to adjust the mounting brackets on the truck, making them level. I put the new bumper on a floor jack and raised it into position to see where the mounting brackets would line up. Since my driveway isn't perfectly level I put a 2x4 across the bed and did my best to match that slight slope to the bumper, and once in position against the ends of the brackets I marked their location. The 5x3" bumper I bought was about 12" longer than the width of my truck so I had plenty of room to spare but I still did my best to center it. Once I had the bumper on my work bench I made sure the marks I'd made were square and an equal distance from the edge of the bumper before getting a final trace of the angle iron. Back to the drill press for 3 holes on each side using a 5/16" bit that was just barely long enough to pass all the way through the 3" width of the bumper. I wouldn't trust myself to do this with a hand drill since it needs to be perfectly straight. I then used a jigsaw with metal cutting blade to connect the three holes on each side. I started with a cheaper Craftsman jigsaw that was taking forever and then invested in a much stronger Bosch saw with quality blades that in comparison, cut like butter. This is the main reason I went with 3/16" instead of 1/4" steel since I knew I had a lot of cutting to do and I don't have access to a plasma cutter. Be sure to use a cutting oil, added often as you drill and cut; this will help your blades last longer and help you cut faster. As you can see my cuts weren't perfect but I got the brackets to slide through both sides of the bumper, extending about an inch farther than needed, allowing me to choose how far from the truck body I wanted the bumper. Quick note: when choosing the final height of the bumper be sure to check your clearance while the tailgate is open. 933