Use a F150 bumper. Or rebuild the factory ?

[candymancan]

I have the lriginal bumper for my J10.. the 200lbs bumper.. but its wonky. Needs bent back to shape.. and needs some steel inside of it cut out and new stuff welded.

Should only cost like 50$ to fix. Bending it back to shape will be a pita.

Or should i buy a ford f150 bumper. Local guy is selling one for 50$. Its from a 09-14 model.. So its thinner stamped steel. But in good condition.

Same length too at about 74 inchs long. So it should line up pretty good.

Part of me wants to rebuild the original. Its stronger.. heavier duty by far.. the steel is like 1.8th . compared to the stamped thin steel ford

What do you guys think ?

[devildog80]

Rebuild yours, and leave the pretty Ford one lie where it is........for someone with a Ford to put it on.

[Srdayflyer]

i would just fab a custom bumper, thats what i ended up doing new steel ran me 40.00 and my time looks a hell of a lot better than the stock steel bumper offerings, also fabbed a front winch bumper . that is unless your skill level isnt up to that task ability

[tgreese]

Not many spare original bumpers for J-trucks out there. I expect near 100% are attached to trucks, and the remainder are in the junkyard or gone to rust/scrap. Depends on what you want. Replacements are scarce.

Kinda skeptical that the Ford bumper is the right width, but maybe. If you can make the Ford bumper work, that's a new source for existing trucks, and of interest.

[jpcoutts]

I vote for fixing and using the original. The truck just won't look right with the Ford bumper and it sounds like fixing the original won' be too much work. I bought a junkyard bumper from a Jtruck and straightened it and painted it and I think it looks better than a bumper from something else.

[candymancan]

Haha what are the odds.. 1 day after i made this post.. someone put up a J10 bumper for sale for 50$. Its solid.. intact and same style as my original. Backside looks great too jist need wire wheeled and painted

Lucky me lol. Thats weird how that happened.. figired id never find one and had to rebuild mine. Now i can set my rusted out one asside.. maybe rebuild it another day and sell it.

Fyi what is the towing capacity of these bumpers ?

[jpcoutts]

You found the hens teeth! Congrats!

[devildog80]

Bumper itself I would not pull more than a 5x8 trailer, and would not connect any snatch strap for recovery to it. Recommend to install a 2" receiver hitch separate from the bumper for towing.

[candymancan]

But im curious why though you say that ? The bumper is 3 3/16th plates sandwhiched together where the receiver is. Thats thicker than any hitch.

I just wish we had some official numbers.. as im curious. I mean ill use ny 90gw to tow if i ever have too again. Its what pulled my 76 on a flat bed home.

But still curious what this bumper can actually do. Guy on fb narketplace said he towed his CJ7 accross country with the bumper on his J truck.. lol

[devildog80]

CJ7 pretty light, especially if flat towed. Trailer maybe combined weight of only 5000#, but relatively light tongue weight.
Myself at 63 yrs young, remember pulling way heavy loads on bumpers of the trucks back in late 60's & 70's. After a few short years the mountings had to be repaired & beefed up, but the bumpers were rated at 5000#. If installed correctly for that use, I would agree you could do that much at least, and not think twice.
My thoughts were more towards aging of the metal on the truck and bumper, as they may have thinned a bit over the many years since new, and unable to handle the specs when they were both new.
Now.....I know your work, you do things right, and sure this will be done right as well. Go for it