BUMPERS!

[capercrew02]

I installed the rugged ridge HD stubby and am really impressed and happy with it so far!

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[O|||||O]

Ugh, my mechanical un-inclination dreads hearing that since I have one sitting in the garage with a Zeon 12s waiting to go on when the Jeep comes home.

I was thinking a bit of hassle discombobulating the fog lights from the plastic bumper and a bit of cussing bolting it on. Trimming and drilling are past my skill and tool level. I'd barely know a fender washer from a muffler bearing.

Any details on the bits that gave you trouble?

This will be a bit long winded, but here we go. There is a bracket on the driver side frame horn that interferes with the winch plate. That bracket will need to be notched out to clear. It will be immediately obvious once you set the winch plate into place. All eight of the bolt holes for the bumper will need drilled out to 5/8". Do yourself a favor and get a good quality drill bit with a 1/2" reduced shank. I originally attempted to open up the holes with a step bit and barely made it through one before the bit was too dull to use. Lastly, if you have the led lights from the non steel bumper like me then they will hit the winch if you're using a Warn Zeon. My solution to this was to push the winch rearward into the grill as far as possible and place a single washer between the bumper and the frame on all eight mounting bolts. The fogs still contact the winch, but I don't feel that there's enough pressure to do damage. They're still working anyway. If you have any questions or want pictures of anything, feel free to shoot me a pm. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the process and my wife made it clear that if I ever take that bumper off, a divorce is inevitable.

 

[chrcal14]

This will be a bit long winded, but here we go. There is a bracket on the driver side frame horn that interferes with the winch plate. That bracket will need to be notched out to clear. It will be immediately obvious once you set the winch plate into place. All eight of the bolt holes for the bumper will need drilled out to 5/8". Do yourself a favor and get a good quality drill bit with a 1/2" reduced shank. I originally attempted to open up the holes with a step bit and barely made it through one before the bit was too dull to use. Lastly, if you have the led lights from the non steel bumper like me then they will hit the winch if you're using a Warn Zeon. My solution to this was to push the winch rearward into the grill as far as possible and place a single washer between the bumper and the frame on all eight mounting bolts. The fogs still contact the winch, but I don't feel that there's enough pressure to do damage. They're still working anyway. If you have any questions or want pictures of anything, feel free to shoot me a pm. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the process and my wife made it clear that if I ever take that bumper off, a divorce is inevitable.

Thanks, good detail, appreciate the heads up and the warning and the advice. Gives me something to go on as I know I'll be itching to do this Saturday morning and I was already a bit worried since the bumper didn't come with any instructions. I'll have to go buy a grinder or something if it's not the sort of bracket a hacksaw will manage. Some kinda thick washers should sort out the fogs, and a 10 pack of drill bits should mitigate my inevitable misadventures in drilling.

Bit of a bummer given the ad pic shows a Zeon in it with what appear to be factory LED fogs. They had me at "Direct bolt-on installation". I figured... I've watched like 2 Youtube videos of winch installation, and I know righty tighty, lefty loosey, I'm good!

Normally I'm a proponent of I'll do what I do well and make money, and pay others to do what they do well, but there's something about a Jeep that makes you want to do it yourself.

 

[chrcal14]

This will be a bit long winded, but here we go. There is a bracket on the driver side frame horn that interferes with the winch plate. That bracket will need to be notched out to clear. It will be immediately obvious once you set the winch plate into place. All eight of the bolt holes for the bumper will need drilled out to 5/8". Do yourself a favor and get a good quality drill bit with a 1/2" reduced shank. I originally attempted to open up the holes with a step bit and barely made it through one before the bit was too dull to use. Lastly, if you have the led lights from the non steel bumper like me then they will hit the winch if you're using a Warn Zeon. My solution to this was to push the winch rearward into the grill as far as possible and place a single washer between the bumper and the frame on all eight mounting bolts. The fogs still contact the winch, but I don't feel that there's enough pressure to do damage. They're still working anyway. If you have any questions or want pictures of anything, feel free to shoot me a pm. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the process and my wife made it clear that if I ever take that bumper off, a divorce is inevitable.

Everything is an adventure... even before I start.

Got some 5/8 flat washers. Got an angle grinder and a metal cutting blade, just a cheap corded one since I may never use it again (but probably will now that I have one). Had to pick up a deep well ratchet set since I saw I'll need an 18mm for the stock bumper bolts, so I got a full set of metric and SAE in larger sizes just in case. Even got extensions and a flexible ratchet. Grabbed some zip ties for light and winch harness neatening. Feeling good about this much (probably ignorance).

Misadventure #1 in drilling was that I had no concept that 5/8 metal drill bits would be $18 each. My 10 pack will have to get by as a 3 pack! This is fraught with danger, I have no faith that's enough to overcome my inexperience. I picture this case of sticker shock causing me to drive bumper-less back to the store with the charred remains of $54 worth of drill bits lying on the floor.

Misadventure #2 in drilling was that I had no concept that cordless drills had different bit size limitations, so I proudly got those 3 $18 bits home to find they don't fit what I now know is a 3/8 bit drill. I'll be buying a bigger drill tonight.

I'd have saved so much money just having this thing installed... but what fun is that?

On the bright side, my tool and skill set will be larger next Gladiator.

 

[chrcal14]

This will be a bit long winded, but here we go. There is a bracket on the driver side frame horn that interferes with the winch plate. That bracket will need to be notched out to clear. It will be immediately obvious once you set the winch plate into place. All eight of the bolt holes for the bumper will need drilled out to 5/8". Do yourself a favor and get a good quality drill bit with a 1/2" reduced shank. I originally attempted to open up the holes with a step bit and barely made it through one before the bit was too dull to use. Lastly, if you have the led lights from the non steel bumper like me then they will hit the winch if you're using a Warn Zeon. My solution to this was to push the winch rearward into the grill as far as possible and place a single washer between the bumper and the frame on all eight mounting bolts. The fogs still contact the winch, but I don't feel that there's enough pressure to do damage. They're still working anyway. If you have any questions or want pictures of anything, feel free to shoot me a pm. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures during the process and my wife made it clear that if I ever take that bumper off, a divorce is inevitable.

No pics yet, Jeep is a mess from crawling all around it and and the crap flying from all the doing.

Short version... your assessment was very very right. More right than I realized until I got a ways into it.

Yes... winch plate won't fit without grinding off a hunk of bracket right behind the drivers side rear of the winch plate. You had me prepared for that though, zipped it off and moved on.

Winch plate wasn't quite sized right, so I had to wiggle, twist, swear, ultimately start the drivers side bolt loose and beat the passenger side into place while leaving bolts in the front holes to keep them aligned.

Bolts fit in all the front bumper holes save one, so I drilled it out. What I didn't realize until later was that I now think you meant to drill them all out to give more wiggle room to hit the welded in nuts in the bumper. It was the most frustrating 8 bolts of my life. A 20 minute job took a good 3 hours, but I was so far along I didn't want to go back. I got them, but boy did it suck.

The fog lights were a pain, the included fog light bolts didn't fit thought the factory plastic bumper LEDs, the bolt holes in the mount are so big I didn't want to use smaller bolts, so I had to drill out the light mounting holes and really fiddle with the bolts. Again, got them, but took 10 times as long as you'd expect for 8 bolts. Also, the wire connector does indeed stick way out, I had to space the bumper off 3 washers to clear without them being crushed to death, and they're still crushed a little. And man adding those washers added joy to lining up the bolts.

The synthetic rope install into the Winch was a bear. Not sure what I was doing wrong, but it took everything 2 of us had to pull that rope through with the wire. Just one more delay and frustration. I never did get that litle puck as far in as it seems like it should be, but I was yanking the entire Jeep forward as far as the gear and E brake would let it, so I don't suppose it's going anywhere.

Love the result in the end, exactly the look and function I wanted, but I won't do it again. I'll pick one out and drop the Jeep off and pick it up when it's done. Maybe someone more used to doing this sort of thing would have an easier time. I enjoy the process of doing it if it was take this off, bolt this, install that. Every single aspect of this beside the Warn winch mounting bolts (a rare and pleasant 4 bolts of just tighten them up) fought me in every way possible.

And at the very end... the Warn Sidewinder I bought needs snap ring pliers to install... that I don't have and have to go get today. All that way and foiled for completion by a set of snap ring pliers.

Sum total from starting to remove the factory bumper until done... 12 hours.

 

[chrcal14]

 

[Rayzzz]

I went with the DV8 Stubby bumper on mine, love the way it looks and the built in 20" light. I will probably go back and add the additional skid plate that DV8 makes.

I like the front bumper and want ask who makes the nerf side steps on this

 

[noside85]

I installed the rugged ridge HD stubby and am really impressed and happy with it so far!

Is that a Softopper? I didn't know there was one out yet. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[G8R]

The only thing I dont like is they need to come out with an aftermarket skid plate to protect the electronic disconnect. The standard skid plate does not fit after mounting this bumper. I've spoken to Smittybuilt and they are aware of the issue and working on releasing it soon.

I installed the SB XRC last night. Was also disappointed that the disco skid plate did not work with this bumper. I decided to take matters into my own hands and used my worm saw and a cut off wheel to cut the OEM skid in two and made it fit. I still need to add a couple of supports between the disco skid and the bumper though as cutting the skid in half will certainly weaken it. But it is better than nothing. Warn Zeon gets mounted tonight.

 

[chrcal14]

I installed the SB XRC last night. Was also disappointed that the disco skid plate did not work with this bumper. I decided to take matters into my own hands and used my worm saw and a cut off wheel to cut the OEM skid in two and made it fit. I still need to add a couple of supports between the disco skid and the bumper though as cutting the skid in half will certainly weaken it. But it is better than nothing. Warn Zeon gets mounted tonight.

Now that's custom! Love it.

 

[G8R]

Zeon 10 steel installed. More custom work in that the winch is too wide for the Gladiator's bumper flange mount. I had to grind off about a half inch from each to get it to fit.

 

[Linx]

Rugged Ridge Arcus. Really like it so far.

 

[Texops]

I wanted something different but stubby not too heavy, so i bought a Hauk off-road Predator Bumper. Offers a lot of options (texture, color, raw, or black) came with LED lights & winch ready. I didn’t want my winch blocking the grill. Easy install, mounted my license plate on the crash plate underneath. They now offer a rear bumper & even fender flares. I am very pleased with it . Made in USA also very nice welds. Build could take a month although mine was 3 weeks.

 

[capercrew02]

it is a soft topper, but not a gladiator specific one. I already owned it from my previous 2005 Nissan Frontier, so I kept it and made it work. its not a perfect fit, but its works.

Is that a Softopper? I didn't know there was one out yet. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[txraider]

I like the front bumper and want ask who makes the nerf side steps on this

Sorry Rayzzz! Didn't see this pop up. They are Nfab steps.

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