Jeep projects

I guess a little basic info should be given to start off. I live just south of Houston, in Pearland, Texas. I'm married to my beautiful wife and have two handsome boys, ages 10 and 6. I love to fish and duck hunt. My duck hunting has really taken up alot of my "usable brain power" over the past 10 years or so and has become somewhat of an obsession of mine. Anyways, in addition to spending time with my family, I also enjoy wood working and lite welding and fabrication. At times I also feel the need to just go out back and lite up one of my tobacco pipes or a cigar and relax with a good smoke.

The picture below is of my tube doors I just recently completed. They are not perfect but they cost a grand total of about $20.00. Compare that to the $250.00 - $350.00 cost of commercial tube doors and I think I did alright.

Now that the tube doors are done, I have decided on my next project....a front bumper. Only problem, I don't want to have my off-road jack mounted on the new bumper as it is now, (on the stock).

So the next question is what to do with the jack. I don't want to simply remove the jack from the Jeep and throw it in the garage, so the jack situation has moved in front of the bumper project. What I've decided to do it weld up some brackets that will attach to the hood hinges. The jack will then mount to the top of the new brackets. I may even try to work in a couple of light tabs somehow so I can mount some small lights up there. Not sure about that, we'll see.

This will be the first project I get to use my new Hobart welder on. I was getting used to the cheap Harbor Freight welder that I've been using, but this new one will give me better range. The crude sketch below is what I might shoot for. Still not sure on the bar with the light tabs just yet. It would add strength though......

Here are the brackets as they sit right now. 3/16" x 1" flat bar with the bottom portion doubled up to give it a little more height. I have also decided to utilize a light bar with these brackets. I welded some 1/8" tabs that I will ultimately mount pipe or maybe EMT to that runs across the hood.

Ok, worked on the hood jack mount this evening and just about have it wrapped up. I've decided now to add a little extra style to it and weld on a spider web gusset from 4wd.com. I'll add one to each main bracket then clean it all up, paint and install. Next update will hopefully be final pics of install.

Pics aren't the best I know. I'll get some decent ones later on the Jeep.

***UPDATE***

Got the hood jack mount wrapped up this past weekend. Pics below. I had originally planned to mount the lights on the underside of the light tabs and that's the reason I made the mount a little higher than most. However, once I started getting things all mounted up, and at the suggestion of Nathyn, (our 10 year old), and my wife's confirmation, we realized they looked much better on the top of the tabs. You can definitely see the jack and lights while driving but it doesn't feel like you have anything blocking your vision. I have all the wiring installed but just need to hook up the grounds and install the switch and it'll be good to go. Next project will be starting on the front bumper....

My welds still are far from perfect but they are getting better with each project.