I guess this is as good a first post on LOST as any. I got enough of it built to post some pics, but still far from finished. I used Durangotang's budget bumper build and the Backbone winch mount as inspiration. Two ball hitch mounts as the base, a TJ winch plate and a 1/2" steel bar to tie them together from the outside, with two vertical and two horizontal bolts to mount the bumper to the unibody. I used 3/16" steel plate for the end sections, and an old brush guard from an '80s ford truck for the front skid framing. I'm waiting on the money to buy LED turn signals/markers before I box in the rest of the bumper, and later on I'll add 3" fog lights in the end sections, round everything off with a 2" piece of tube steel for a bull bar, then truck bed the whole thing. This was my first time welding completely by myself, but it turned out decent enough. I used a flux core wire feeder, about $600 for the setup and very simple to use. It's not as pretty of a bead as your gas welders but it's still a weld. Hopefully by seeing this, more people will consider the DIY method because let's face it, the ARB is ugly and noone wants to pay $1100
You can buy welder and mask, decent gloves, some wire, 20 sq ft. of steel plate plus hardware and still have a chunk of change leftover. Practice makes perfect. Buy extra cut off wheels if you're going the angle grinder method for cutting your plate. Using a piece of thick steel as a grinder guide helps tremendously. I took off the guard to make straighter cuts, just make sure you use a face shield ($10-$20) and dust mask.
Here are the [unfinished] goods:
Mounting bolts and locations (still need to beef these areas with crush sleeves and reinforcement plates):
Side view. I have to trim those wing brackets and add the bottom piece of plate on each side. I'm still deciding what to do about my lighting options. Notice my awesome pro welds
Front View
The factory turn signals are just mounted with some construction adhesive for now, I'm going to box in that area behind them when the new LEDs come.
My bumper design was focused mostly on approach angles and keeping things simple, no crazy angles and such. I'll be taking it off once it's completely done, so I can weld the backside and add some gussets/more support, then paint.
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