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 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. 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. I barely had enough room to avoid hitting the 'frontier' lettering on my tailgate and wish I'd made it about an 1/8" lower.
I then cut spaces for the recovery points so they can be inserted about an inch into the bumper itself. They'll first be welded to the outside of the mounting brackets and once the bumper is finally mounted, I'll weld the recovery points to the outside of the bumper. I wanted to make these welds as strong as possible since they're my best chance of getting towed out of a tight spot.
So I placed them next to the space already cut for the brackets, centered vertically and traced. Only one hole needs to be cut for each one, then you can run the jigsaw from other open spaces to finish the cut-out. This hole only goes through one side, not both like the other cuts so far.
Step 2: Hitch Receiver
A lot of custom bumper builds will have the receiver sticking out a bit from the bumper, but I wanted mine to be flush. It can be a pain to install the hitch pin on the backside but I like the streamlined look. If you have a particular hitch you like to use, make sure there is 3" of clearance between the hitch pin and where it will come into contact with the bumper since 3" is just a bit more than the standard distance for this. I now use a 12" drop hitch for standard height trailers and I had to grind about 1/8" off so the hitch would seat properly.
Find the center point between the two mounting brackets and trace the location of the 2-1/2" receiver. I used a 1/2" bit in the drill press to drill through both sides of the bumper, the the jigsaw to cut in between the holes.
For a place to attach tow chains I used a piece of 5" wide plate steel that was 5/16" thick. It doesn't need to be that thick, but I found it at my scrapyard for 50 cents per pound, and it also worked for the end caps of the bumper. I used my maker space's metal cutting bandsaw to make two right triangles but you could also use an angle grinder. I drilled 1" holes in each piece, but that wasn't going to be big enough for standard tow chains so I cut the triangles into the "L" pieces shown in the last few pics. In the end these probably weren't necessary since I added 1/2" solid square steel as the actual attachment point for the chains. Since I'm not an engineer I tend to overbuild things, especially on the more structurally important parts.
There are a lot of other ways to do this section, like buying ready to weld D-ring mounts. I was just using what I had on hand. Also, sorry the pictures jump around a bit, but I'll cover the other cuts made in these pics soon. Also the 2-1/2" hitch receiver I bought was 12" long but I had to cut it down to a little under 8" since that's all that would fit behind my spare tire.
Step 3: The Rest of the Cutting...
I'm sorry I didn't take more pictures during this process, but the rest of the cutting is pretty straight forward. With the mounting brackets bolted to the frame, I used the floor jack again to raise the bumper into position and slide it onto the brackets, through both sides. To figure out where to cut the ends off I really just eyeballed it, roughly matching the angle that the truck body makes, leaving about 1/2" gap for the steel plates to attach. Luckily I was able to use a metal-cutting bandsaw at the maker space, which I also used to cut the end caps.
I'll add links to the parts I bought at the end of the post, but I got the LED lights off Amazon, built by Nilight and they just barely fit inside the 3x5" bumper. I removed the face plate from them and traced the location on the ends of the bumper then drilled holes at the corners and finished with the jigsaw. On the other side of the bumper I used a 5/16" bit for the wires to feed through. At first I drilled it centered, but the space was too tight behind the light and I had to drill a new hole about an inch lower where the wire comes out of the light, then welded the original hole to close it up.
When I drilled holes to cut out space for the 7 way trailer socket I mistakenly had the bumper oriented the wrong way, and now have to mount it to the right of the hitch receiver when I meant to have it on the left side, which is pretty standard for most vehicles. This still works, but now I have to solder extensions for all 7 wires so they'll reach the right side. So save some time and make sure you place yours on the left. The socket is a little over 3" long so I had to cut out space for it to stick through the backside of the bumper too.
The hole for my reverse camera was 11/16". To mount the LED lights and 7 way socket I drilled 3/16" holes and then secured with self tapping screws.
The license plate light I bought is nice because it's bright but doesn't take up much space. I wanted to minimize how much the license plate hangs below the bottom of the bumper so I installed the light on its left side, shining across the length of the plate. I cut out a small steel spacer the size of the light's base in order to extend it out a bit, past the license plate frame for better illumination. After that was welded on I drilled a 5/16" hole through the center for the wires, and two 9/64" holes for the screws that came with the light.
Step 4: Welding the Bumper to Mounting Brackets
Before welding it's important to prep all surfaces properly. Bare steel bought from a manufacturer will have a coat of oil on it to keep it from rusting. I used acetone to clean all that off, and used a wire wheel on an angle grinder to clean up the scrap steel I was using. A clean, polished surface will result in a much cleaner weld. Instructables has a great welding class that will cover all this if you're just getting started: https://www.instructables.com/class/Welding-Class/
After cutting down the mounting brackets so they only stick out about 1/8" I bolted them to the frame and slid the bumper on, then slid the recovery points into place. Before welding anything to the bumper I needed to make sure the recovery points get welded to the inside of the brackets because I won't be able to reach this spot once they're attached to the bumper. So I used the same 2x4 method to level the bumper in comparison with the truck bed. I used the floor jack and a piece of wood to raise up the left side to get it level, and welding magnets to hold the recovery points in place against the side of the brackets. When I was satisfied with everything I made tack welds evenly spaced around the recovery points. With the recovery points secured to the brackets, I removed the bumper and unbolted the brackets.
Before making structurally important welds like these I use a propane torch to preheat the material, which helps you get better penetration with your welds. I did two passes all around the recovery points, securing them to the mounting brackets before re-installing them on the truck and slipping the bumper back on a final time.
Once I had it leveled again I made tack welds to the bumper, all around the recovery points and brackets, including on the back side of the bumper before unbolting everything again. Back on the welding table it was time to go to town with the final welding. Again I did two passes everywhere, using the torch to preheat materials for better penetration.
Step 5: Welding the Hitch Receiver and End Caps
I left the receiver sticking out the front about 1/16", welding the front and back sides before adding the "L" shape pieces and then finally the 1/2" square steel. As you can see this was probably overkill but at least I'm not worried about anything coming loose. I used an angle grinder to clean up the welds as best as I could after all this.
For the end caps I mounted the bumper to the truck again and used clamps as shown to hold it in place for the tack welds. I had the spacing just right but later when I ran a full weld down the inside corner of the cap where it meets the bumper the heat caused plate to pull in, so much that it would contact the truck body. Laying the bumper on the ground I used the torch to heat it up along that weld and then hit it several times with a sledgehammer to straighten it out, which worked great, not to mention giving me a nice confidence boost in my welding ability.
After that the only welding I had to do was the spacer for the license plate light, and the smiley face bottle opener, which can be see in the final pictures.
I did some final grinding and polishing before dropping it off for powder coating, which ran about $250; well worth it in my opinion.
Thanks for reading! Be sure to comment with any questions and I'll do my best to respond. For more info on my truck and other improvements I've made you can find me here: https://www.clubfrontier.org/members/beerdidtrev.2...
Step 6: Links to Products and Related Tutorials
recovery points
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07516XQH9/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
license plate light
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0722YHMVL/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
Off-road LED lights
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00J5AAX5S/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
3/4" drill bit for mounting bracket
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FXICHQY/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
7-way trailer socket
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0776VRGF5/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
shackles
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07SZL4VMT/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
wire clips
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KZDDG3/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
rear camera
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B018800TR2/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
11/16" drill bit for rear camera
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005P07SH8/ref=cm_sw_r_a...
bottle opener
(*unfortunately it appears they no longer sell the bottle opener I used on this project. if anyone finds a good alternative please let me know!)
https://www.lowrangeoffroad.com/smiling-bottle-ope...
A couple forums that show similar bumpers that helped me plan mine:
This guy's build is really impressive, and the main inspiration for my project; take note that he used 3-1/4" angle iron for the mounting brackets, enabling him to bolt them to both the sides and bottom of his frame. Also his recovery points pass thru both sides of the bumper, which is something I wish I'd done. He also ended with this great line that encouraged me to finally start this project:
"I did basically this whole project with a 4.5" angle grinder, mig welder, t-square, and my imagination. It's not rocket surgery. Get out an build neat stuff for yourself."
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/backyard-rear-...
Professionally built bumper by KMA: