Wait, You said you asked MF if the SS bumper had mounting studs welded to the back? "...and they answered in the affirmative...". Afirmative, in my dictionary = a positive response; i.e.yes. That would mean that YES, they do have studs for mounting attached. I cannot conceive that MF would sell a polished SS bumper without it having a ready means of attachment without pointing that out in big bold letters in their catalog, or they'd get an awful lot of them returned!
My guess is there is a bit of miscommunication panic here.

Are you talking about the special order bumper with no holes ("special order only a few made each year...")?
If it were me that wanted smooth bumpers (assuming they don't come with studs attached for that much money?) I'd buy the SS with holes and solid SS bolts. Take them to a business that does SS fabrication/polishing for commercial kitchens Have them place the bolt head against the rear of the hole and weld thru the hole, then sand and polish down the welds. That's the way customizers did chrome bumpers to eliminate the bolt heads on the face back in the day before being sent off to be rechromed.
Any heat applied to SS is going to at least discolor it (just look at any motorcycle or car with polished SS exhaust. That's a LOT less heat than any welding) and will require repolishing no matter what.

 

I was just thinking about this issue and it dawned on me how a buddy did his rear bumper...pic attached. It would be feasible to use panel adhesive to bond a section of steel to the back of the bumper that would either have bolts welded to it or anchor nuts embedded in it or even welded to the bracket as pictured. The bracket setup in the photo was designed to raise the bumper up to a more reasonable height, especially when the truck is lowered, but it would also work well for this SS application.

 

yup Ax the special order only make a few a year. My stainless front bumper shipped direct from midfifty the rear drop shipped from dennis carpenter. I will send midfifty an email and see if they have one with studs.

I am not going to lie I didn't really believe the girl when she said it had studs

it was $25 cheaper without holes I figured it would of been more expensive with studs welded on rather than some holes in it.

CharlieLed, do you really get away with your licence plate location?

 

Actually this truck belongs to a friend, it was featured on the cover of Classic Trucks magazine a few years ago. He has had the plate in that location since he built the truck and to my knowledge he has never had any issues, both here in CA and in neighboring AZ. It wouldn't be my choice for mounting locations but at the time it worked for him.

 

It would seem to me that the time for welding studs on the back would be before you polished it. I'm with AX, if they told you that it had studs just tell them that you want to return it for one with studs as the one that you received is a mis-build.

 

The folks at Midfifty are really nice and were happy to replace it on their dime. they do not come with studs welded on. I prefer the no bolt look so I have the bolts welded in and will have to build bumper brackets. I will have pics up soon

 

Welded up fine I welded to the top and bottom rather than the face some distortion but the discoloration polished out nice

 

 

Nice job Gary...very clean.

 

Good job Gary how long were the welds I can't see very good in the pic

 

It's 1.5 inch angle so 3 inches top and bottom for each of the 4 pieces I welded on. Stock brackets could be used with some trimming. But I made mine since I had to put them inside the rails. My rear shackle mounts are on the outside