Fred that what I'm looking for, honest opinions, I appreciate that and no offense taken at all, nothing worse in my eyes than someone who tells you what they think you want to hear. Drives me crazy,. Anyway to answer some of your questions,
Q: To big, to heavy.
A: It's within 5lbs of other aftermarket bumpers such as the ones that I mentioned earlier.

Q: To Wide
A: being in utah for a bumper to be legal it must extend from track with (center of tire) to track with. Mine does exactly that. It as well has to be 4.5 inches in height. Mine is not completely across but I think I can argue that interpretation pretty strongly. Remember this is only one design. the other fab shops generally have one bumper that is 60 inch with (which this one is) and one shorty (generally 52 inches.

Q: 2 separate peices to mount the winch and fairlead.
A: Mine is actually the only one that I have seen that actually uses two pieces. one main plate from frame to frame to mount the winch and one to hold the fairlead. All the others use anywhere from 4 to 6 and they use 3/16 inch steel, where mine is 1/4 inch in that section.

Q: Bumper biz already saturated
A: You could not be more correct. That is why this will only be approx 5 or 10 percent of the business. i have something else in store, nothing super new just a big twist that hasn't been done. That will be my bread and butter. Alot of these other shops also are in it to support their hobby, I'm in for the business, small business at that. You can be small, medium which equates to working long hours 7 days a week, or large where you hire someone to work long hours a week. I doubt that I'll ever get that big nor do i want to, it's not in my business plan. Yes I even took the time to thoroughly write out a 5 year plan as well as I'm working on the 10 year plan. That's part of the reason that it is taking me so long to launch the bugger. I'm not going to halfass it.

Q: Fewer pieces, less welding, etc
A: The fewer the pieces definitely keeps the costs down that why I built the prototype to see where I can modify the construction of it. I've already cut the time down by 2/3rds. However less welds does not necessarily make it stronger. If you are a good welder those welds will yield more tensile strength then a non welded piece. In this case almost double the strength.

Q: receiver hitch rated for a certain load
A: point taken, however this prototype the hitch was only placed on there for my personal use so that I could have a vertical bar with a horizontal one attach at the top of that which I could slide into the receiver so that I can mount my kayaks and canoes on top. If would be difficult to mount a receiver hitch on the front to make it strong ewnough to say handle the load of a removeable winch, becuase if you were to design it for that the bumper would stick so far out to accommodate it that it would look very weird.

Q: the tube in front
A: this was actaully the toughest thing to do because I was severly sleep deprived coming back from a 4x4 trip when i did it and could think straight and kept screwing up both the cut and the bends. it about drove me crazy, normally bending is pretty darn easy for me but not this night.

Thanks again for the honest opinion Fred.

With the winch it's 142 lbs or 147lbs I can't remember. The approach angle is significantly better due to the sloped angles and the fact that I brought it up so tight against the lower portion of the fender, another issue that half of the aftermarket don't take into consideration. I can get you the figures but it will have to wait until I can pull it off again and mount the stock one to check unless someone can provide the stock readings for me. Thanks for the comments.

Must of misunderstood ya Bud, sorry, point taken.

http://www.quadratec.com/products/12050_000_07.htm

Looks familiar

Please, it's not even remotely the same. If you're going to compare it do so by companies with quality products such as Hansen, Advanced Engr, etc. That bumper you pointed out utilizes 3/16 for the main plate, and 1/8 on the sides. It as well has multiple welds between the winch and the mounting points, it as well has some BS roller thing a mi bob that I myself would probably trash in the first outing, not even close bud.

Possibly close enough for them to zap you in court for patent infringement. Apparently you have already seen that one. It would be the actual design charachteristics that is the prob. That company is owned by Bestop, so I'm sure they have some spiffy lawyers too. You said not even close? You may look again, It looks real close to me, minus the roller and your serrated edge on the bottom. Have your ducks in a row if you plan to sell them. All comments are IMHO, of course. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/notooth.gif" alt="" />

I hear you but have you even looked at the aftermarket? If you're basing it on the overall general shape (and I do mean "general") then you can put Hansen, Advance, Fab Four, SSR, best top, mine, and about three others all in that same catagory. Then you could take Warn, Kilby, Fabtech, and about 3 others and classify them all the same. Highly doubt that is grounds for a case plus the fact that I intend on dealing with such a low volume like one or two a month because as I stated earlier a front bumper is less than 10% of what I'll do that they are not going to waste their time on someone such as I. Heck for that matter lets compare lifts on that same principle; Rubicon, Shyjacker, Fab Tech, Full Traction, nth degree, clayton, Tera yada, yada, yada, are all the exact same, They use the same length of arms, most use the same exact ends, they use the same shape of coils, what makes them different is the material that they use and the quality of the work.

actually no they can't. there have been multible lawsuits that musicins brought against each other for suposed same music.the reason they lost was a couple added notes or whatever. since rubi uses thicker metal and other small differences he is well covered in getting nailed.
that being said where would i sign up in getting one for my cherokee <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Chill out! Just said "looks familiar" I said nothing of quality, I thought that it might help with determining a price for yours.

It's all good bud, I don't believe anyone is being hostile to you, definitely not me, just making a point. It's kind of funny but I was at home last night looking at potential lifts for my rig and I was looking at RE (the front leader for me anyway), Clayton, Nth Degree, and Tera (Quality has got a lot better here recently, plus they are right down the street from me), and I thought to myself, now I know why everyone uses a different color powder coat, it's so you can tell who's who from 15 feet away. If they were all the same color you could not tell them apart with the exception that Clayton utilizes square tubing for their links. That goes with many other products as well, lights for example, if you took away any labeling there would be a ton that you could not identify from the other, that is until you turn them on or see how long they last. I guarantee a PIAA will out shine and last a......say KC for example. I have a set of PIAA's that have now been on 3 vehicles and are over 14 years old and still going strong. Other brands would of died of rust by year two. It's all about quality materials and construction.