Alright, so I was giving this a though and tried to think of where I could get my hands on one ofr the dodge. I fancy the custom bumpers for our trucks and like the thought of being able to have a winch setup and some extra protection while going in the mountains.

Looking at some sites, I find that the bumpers are expensive for my liking. even if I can get a winch on them, would I even be able to put a plow on as well? I'm looking at getting a plow in the future as well and would not prefer to have to keep switiching between the two.

I'm considering making my own bumpers at this rate...

--- Update to the previous post...

What, nobody wants to play with me?!

Not sure how heavy a bumper you are looking for but I have a Warn Trans4mer winch bumper on my 2nd gen.I paid about $400 a few years back and don't know what it would cost today, but it is a very heavy bumper with brush guards for the lights and comes in black or chrome. It protrudes out front of the stock bumper. Easily made out of 1/4 plate.The price was way cheaper than some of the custom bumpers (that would handle a winch) that I looked at as potential options.It turned out to be a very practical application to add my winch.

Something along these lines: http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff300/lwe772002/PDR_0564-1.jpg But I want to still be able to access the engine bay and climb up on it and can sit. Also have accomodations for a winch. Probably put in some tow hooks or do some tabs that will take clevices. OR maybe just get a winch setup that is on a hitch so I could put the winch on front or back and just put a receiver in the front. ..... oooooOOOhhh the possibilities!

mine i built by hand with 1/4" 2x4 boxed and welded to the frame with 5/8" plate as the winch mount and .180 2" tube for the bumper. it houses a warn 16.5TI (16,500lb single line pull) total cost for material $75

mine i built by hand with 1/4" 2x4 boxed and welded to the frame with 5/8" plate as the winch mount and .180 2" tube for the bumper. it houses a warn 16.5TI (16,500lb single line pull) total cost for material $75

Thats pretty sweet! I dunno if mine will be that cheap. Material cost has gone up alot.... I would like to get some 1/4" plate cut on a CNC then do some 2" tube and diamond plate. Then hit it all with a bedliner of some sort.

The ranch that I work on lets us use their shop, so I had some extra metal around, purchased some more metal and built my own. It is not exactly how I wanted it, but it is close and it will do the job I made it for, mainly keeping animals out of my radiator. I looked at a lot of other bumpers, seen what I liked and started fabing it. I do have room for a winch in the future if I want to put one on, but there are a lot of other things to do before that, but like I said, I did research and found what I wanted and thought of what I might add in the future and built accordingly.

Nice! I had an idea to build one along the lines like yours. I will probably add some tabs in the front for some clevices though. I cannot fathom why in the ever-cotton-pickin world, dodge did not add tow hooks in the front! :banghead:So, did you use a 220 welder or 110?

I would have liked to have added clevices but I could not find any. I am sure if I looked around I could have found some. The ranch has a 220 wire feed welder. It is nice to have some of the right tools like a plasma cutter and oxy/acetylene, but we could have used a pipe bender also. I just took my time, made several fittings and it turned out pretty good.

I would have liked to have added clevices but I could not find any. I am sure if I looked around I could have found some. The ranch has a 220 wire feed welder. It is nice to have some of the right tools like a plasma cutter and oxy/acetylene, but we could have used a pipe bender also. I just took my time, made several fittings and it turned out pretty good.

Yes, a metal chop saw and hydraulic pipe bender would be something I would LOVE to add to my arsenal...