INTRO BY Q:
Before I post Dave's article on how he made the bumper for me, I wanted to thank him for the work he put into it.  It's a great looking bumper and looks totally stock.  I've been very happy with it.  Thanks Dave! Check out www.clubgwagen.com for more great articles from Dave.

Well, our buddy Q wanted a bumper for his G-wagen that would stay out of the way of the tires as the truck progresses toward rock crawling nirvana. He agreed to trade me his hitch-pin bumper if I'd cut down my plain bumper to be only as wide as the grille. I thought it would be nice to keep the stock finished ends on the bumper, so I measured out about 1-1/2" from the chassis mounting point (distance between the green arrows) at the top and bottom of the bumper, and used a combination square, and "precision eyeball" to extend the line around the bumper face (yellow arrow). Then I did the same thing about 2-1/2" in from the end of the bumper (distance between the blue arrows).

A little careful use of the SawzAll (metal cutting reciprocating saw), and this is what we're left with. I cut each of the bumper's 5 different angled faces separately, laying the saw teeth flat against the bumper face, to be sure I followed the guide lines as exactly as possible. The saw cuts fast, and a little wandering of the kerf means a lot of grinder and/or welding work later. Taking your time with the cuts will pay off in an easier, cleaner job. And here's a little tip. If you can live with the bumper being a little longer, you can just change the 1-1/2" dimension above to 2-1/2" and you'll miss the holes where the factory fog light tabs attach. We wanted the clean lines of the bumper ending right at the grille, so I had to do a little fancy sawing to save the fog light bracket holes in the rear, reinforcing face of the bumper.

The edges are cleaned of paint to ease welding, and a magnet holds the parts in place while I place a couple of tack welds to hold it.

Here's one end finished. All welded up and ground flush.

This picture shows how much the bumper has been shortened. The two points denoted by the red arrows on the left, have been brought together at the green arrow on the right. This will create a bumper that ends just under the edges of the grille and leaves the tires free for boulder hopping.

And here's the finished product. Ready to hit the trails!