ARB Bondi Deluxe Bumper Install

[APTOutdoors]

Before ordering the bumper prior to the whole COVID-19 lockdown in the Denver metro I did a fair amount of research. I knew that from the Product Documentation (PDF) it works on the JL Rubicon for sure, and that given the JL and JT are the same from the front seat forward in theory it should work on my JT Overland with one small catch. The catch is, and I didn't note this before hand -- the fender flares appear to be different from the Overland/Sport package to the Rubicon package. I wasn't aware of this little tidbit.

In doing my research I hadn't found anyone else who'd installed this bumper, meaning I had the dubious distinction of being the only one on the Internet dumb enough to try. Swell.

Onward.

Finished Pics

I think it looks pretty mean, if a little bit of a tight fit on the fenders. In order to install the bumper and winch i needed to take care of a couple of things.

Removal of the factory bumper. This should be old-hat to most of you guys, but the amount of scrivets and screws that hold on the front air dam and bumper are ridiculous. Have some diagonal cutters available for when you remove your factory fog light harness otherwise you're gonna have a bad time. There are loads of zip ties and other plastic doodads that will "help" keep the factory wiring harness in place. You're going to cut all of them.

For mounting the wiring harness in the new bumper what I did was look for the holes where the winch-delete plate mounts in the top U-shaped cutout, and buy these zipties with holes in them. That allowed me to use the bolts and nuts for the winch delete to string my harness up and out of the way of my winch cable.

My Winch
I chose the Warn Zeon 10-S for no real reason other than it was officially supported by the ARB bumper and that it was a fairly large winch -- and somewhat cost effective by comparison to the others. It is a TIGHT fit. Prior to using the longer hardware (see below) I was scraping a little bit on the upper portions of the winch with the bumper. Not something I either wanted to do, nor expected for something that was technically supported.

For the Zeon series winches you'll need to notch the frame and the winch cradle supplied from ARB. There's no turning back now. They recommend a 10mm x 10mm notch on the inboard side of the frame like so.

I used touch-up paint from my safe, but nail polish will do the trick. Get rid of raw ends with your friendly bastard file and touch up the metal with a couple coats of paint and loosely mount the winch on the cradle with the flange head bolts supplied.

Route the winch cables up to the battery box, probably under and around the air box and you're good as gold here.

Preparing and Mounting the Bumper
This is where things get a little dicey. The red tow points are held on only at this point by a single metric bolt through a cage nut. I hate cage nuts in every application from IT rackmount equipment to automotive. I spent a half hour trying to fish out an M6 cage nut from the darkest depths of the bumper using every implement possible because they didn't ship with spare hardware. Anyway. Take your time with the cage nuts both on the tow points and the bumper inner caps and you'll have a good time. Don't take your time (like I did) and you'll end up canibalizing some cage nuts and using a small crescent wrench and some cursing to get them to seat properly by removing the actual cage.

If you lose any parts in the bumper, raid your fishing gear for a pair of hemostats. On second thought buy another pair for your toolkit. I use them enough that I should probably have a pair in the garage.

Once you're fully prepped get one of your friends, probably two, that either don't believe in social distancing or are COVID free and have them stand on either end of the bumper while you assume the decapitation position and slide underneath and thread the bumper to frame bolts in. We found that threading them on and then hitting it with a electric hand impact wrench worked wonders.

Step back and be amazed at your handiwork that probably took double the amount of time that the ARB instructions told you they would take.

Pro-tip:
When installing the bumper itself with the Warn Zeon 10-S I found it necessary to dig through my hardware and get 1/2 inch longer grade 8 bolts for the bumper to frame mounts. This allowed the bolts to properly index on the threads whereas the bolts supplied with the bumper appeared to simply bite for a thread and then pop off.

Overall Thoughts
I love the look of the bumper and the way it matches the lines of the truck. With the winch, cable, and bumper I'll have to ride around at stock height to see whether I want to throw on the Mopar 2" lift or whether this will be plenty fine. The ARB and Warn equipment came very well packaged, and I managed to get deals on both while just waiting out sales and tax free days.

Sponsored

 

[J_0ne]

I am also looking to get this bumper price and featutes seened to be one of the beat out there but wondering if the bumper loop interfeer with the headlights lighting path at night?

 

[Nitroexpress]

I am also looking to get this bumper price and featutes seened to be one of the beat out there but wondering if the bumper loop interfeer with the headlights lighting path at night?

I have this bumper and there is no interference between the hoop and the headlights.

 

[APTOutdoors]

Yep, nitro is correct. It doesn't effect either the headlamp beam pattern or the fogs in any way.

 

[LostWoods]

Can you do me a huge solid and take some measurements for me? I'm debating about whether the weight of this guy is worth it and if I get one, I want to be able to squeeze a 30" light bar in there so I can have high and low circuits.

I'm wondering how much height there is under the bar (lightbar height), the distance between those major welds on the bumper (lightbar length), and how much depth there is from the winch opening to the front of the bumper.

Also, can you verify there's still the punch-outs under the wings? One of the cool things I noticed on the show truck was that it had flush-mount lights there to illuminate by the front tires but it also had a different bar setup so I'm not sure that all stayed.

 

[Govdog76]

Thanks for the write up APT. I am looking at this same bumper/winch combination. What did you end up using to cut the notches in the frame for the winch? I am not much of a metalwork guy so I am not sure if I have the right tools or not.
Thanks

 

[APTOutdoors]

Thanks for the write up APT. I am looking at this same bumper/winch combination. What did you end up using to cut the notches in the frame for the winch? I am not much of a metalwork guy so I am not sure if I have the right tools or not.
Thanks

I just used a 4" angle grinder to make the cuts. I checked and it's way too thick for a dremel, just get a nice reinforced cut off wheel and some eye protection, measure twice, mark with tape, and cut once. It was really straightforward but it's also not my first rodeo for hacking apart a poor virgin jeep!

 

[Govdog76]

Got it. Thanks for the fast reply. Now to find a friend with an angle grinder!

 

[APTOutdoors]

Can you do me a huge solid and take some measurements for me? I'm debating about whether the weight of this guy is worth it and if I get one, I want to be able to squeeze a 30" light bar in there so I can have high and low circuits.

I'm wondering how much height there is under the bar (lightbar height), the distance between those major welds on the bumper (lightbar length), and how much depth there is from the winch opening to the front of the bumper.

Also, can you verify there's still the punch-outs under the wings? One of the cool things I noticed on the show truck was that it had flush-mount lights there to illuminate by the front tires but it also had a different bar setup so I'm not sure that all stayed.

Hey sorry for the delay I've been getting busy with preparing for a trip and installing some other parts...

Measurements:

Bumper to bottom of bar: 4"
Bumper weld to weld: 31.5"
Winch opening to front of bumper: 3.5"

Unfortunately the punch outs for the corner lights appear to be gone in this iteration of the bumper, pity since it would have been nice to have those for some side viewing.

 

[LostWoods]

Damn, those corner lights were a huge plus for me but nothing a hole saw an some BD S1s won't fix. Appreciate the measurements because it sounds like a 30" bar might actually fit.

Now it's just debating whether its worth it before I move or after haha

 

[Govdog76]

Does anyone know if the winch guard bar interferes with the trail camera view? Would hate to have nothing but a view of a steel bar! Thanks

 

[Govdog76]

Ok all, I got the Bondi bumper and Zeon 10-S installed today on my Rubicon. With huge thanks to APTOutdoors, the install was mostly as expected. A couple notes to add to APT’s great write up for anyone else who goes down this path.

• The instructions talk about installing the whole bumper without mention of installing the rope/cable on the winch. You need to install the rope BEFORE installing the bumper. There is no way you could install/change a rope with the bumper in place.
• Similarly, if you like the look of the button head screws on the top of the bumper (instead of just holes) you should install those before installing the bumper. They CAN be installed after (as me how I know) but you can imagine the pain of getting the nuts in place.
• Speaking of which, the upper, inner bolt on each side of the chassis plates is hell to get to (the rest are easy) but if you have a variety of socket extension lengths and wrenches it can be done. You have been warned.
• Now, just for you Rubicon owners:
  • You will need to remove the brackets on each since that held the factory steel skid plate, or they will interfere with the ARB bumper. No biggie, but if you are under the car trying to figure out why the damn bumper won’t pull flush to the vehicle you will cuss when you realize this. LOL.
• Finally, in answer to my own question previously in this post, the grille guard does NOT interfere with the trail camera. You cannot see stuff quite as close to the vehicle as when stock, but this is really more due to the winch. Camera still works great.

Again, big thanks to APT for his great write up and pics. Helped me a lot!



Cheers,

Ian

 

[dustanner]

Ok all, I got the Bondi bumper and Zeon 10-S installed today on my Rubicon. With huge thanks to APTOutdoors, the install was mostly as expected. A couple notes to add to APT’s great write up for anyone else who goes down this path.

• The instructions talk about installing the whole bumper without mention of installing the rope/cable on the winch. You need to install the rope BEFORE installing the bumper. There is no way you could install/change a rope with the bumper in place.
• Similarly, if you like the look of the button head screws on the top of the bumper (instead of just holes) you should install those before installing the bumper. They CAN be installed after (as me how I know) but you can imagine the pain of getting the nuts in place.
• Speaking of which, the upper, inner bolt on each side of the chassis plates is hell to get to (the rest are easy) but if you have a variety of socket extension lengths and wrenches it can be done. You have been warned.
• Now, just for you Rubicon owners:
  • You will need to remove the brackets on each since that held the factory steel skid plate, or they will interfere with the ARB bumper. No biggie, but if you are under the car trying to figure out why the damn bumper won’t pull flush to the vehicle you will cuss when you realize this. LOL.
• Finally, in answer to my own question previously in this post, the grille guard does NOT interfere with the trail camera. You cannot see stuff quite as close to the vehicle as when stock, but this is really more due to the winch. Camera still works great.

Again, big thanks to APT for his great write up and pics. Helped me a lot!



Cheers,

Ian

thanks for the great info! Can you post a pic of the TrailCam view?

 

[syreeves]

Before ordering the bumper prior to the whole COVID-19 lockdown in the Denver metro I did a fair amount of research. I knew that from the Product Documentation (PDF) it works on the JL Rubicon for sure, and that given the JL and JT are the same from the front seat forward in theory it should work on my JT Overland with one small catch. The catch is, and I didn't note this before hand -- the fender flares appear to be different from the Overland/Sport package to the Rubicon package. I wasn't aware of this little tidbit.

In doing my research I hadn't found anyone else who'd installed this bumper, meaning I had the dubious distinction of being the only one on the Internet dumb enough to try. Swell.

Onward.

Finished Pics

I think it looks pretty mean, if a little bit of a tight fit on the fenders. In order to install the bumper and winch i needed to take care of a couple of things.

Removal of the factory bumper. This should be old-hat to most of you guys, but the amount of scrivets and screws that hold on the front air dam and bumper are ridiculous. Have some diagonal cutters available for when you remove your factory fog light harness otherwise you're gonna have a bad time. There are loads of zip ties and other plastic doodads that will "help" keep the factory wiring harness in place. You're going to cut all of them.

For mounting the wiring harness in the new bumper what I did was look for the holes where the winch-delete plate mounts in the top U-shaped cutout, and buy these zipties with holes in them. That allowed me to use the bolts and nuts for the winch delete to string my harness up and out of the way of my winch cable.

My Winch
I chose the Warn Zeon 10-S for no real reason other than it was officially supported by the ARB bumper and that it was a fairly large winch -- and somewhat cost effective by comparison to the others. It is a TIGHT fit. Prior to using the longer hardware (see below) I was scraping a little bit on the upper portions of the winch with the bumper. Not something I either wanted to do, nor expected for something that was technically supported.

For the Zeon series winches you'll need to notch the frame and the winch cradle supplied from ARB. There's no turning back now. They recommend a 10mm x 10mm notch on the inboard side of the frame like so.

I used touch-up paint from my safe, but nail polish will do the trick. Get rid of raw ends with your friendly bastard file and touch up the metal with a couple coats of paint and loosely mount the winch on the cradle with the flange head bolts supplied.

Route the winch cables up to the battery box, probably under and around the air box and you're good as gold here.

Preparing and Mounting the Bumper
This is where things get a little dicey. The red tow points are held on only at this point by a single metric bolt through a cage nut. I hate cage nuts in every application from IT rackmount equipment to automotive. I spent a half hour trying to fish out an M6 cage nut from the darkest depths of the bumper using every implement possible because they didn't ship with spare hardware. Anyway. Take your time with the cage nuts both on the tow points and the bumper inner caps and you'll have a good time. Don't take your time (like I did) and you'll end up canibalizing some cage nuts and using a small crescent wrench and some cursing to get them to seat properly by removing the actual cage.

If you lose any parts in the bumper, raid your fishing gear for a pair of hemostats. On second thought buy another pair for your toolkit. I use them enough that I should probably have a pair in the garage.

Once you're fully prepped get one of your friends, probably two, that either don't believe in social distancing or are COVID free and have them stand on either end of the bumper while you assume the decapitation position and slide underneath and thread the bumper to frame bolts in. We found that threading them on and then hitting it with a electric hand impact wrench worked wonders.

Step back and be amazed at your handiwork that probably took double the amount of time that the ARB instructions told you they would take.

Pro-tip:
When installing the bumper itself with the Warn Zeon 10-S I found it necessary to dig through my hardware and get 1/2 inch longer grade 8 bolts for the bumper to frame mounts. This allowed the bolts to properly index on the threads whereas the bolts supplied with the bumper appeared to simply bite for a thread and then pop off.

Overall Thoughts
I love the look of the bumper and the way it matches the lines of the truck. With the winch, cable, and bumper I'll have to ride around at stock height to see whether I want to throw on the Mopar 2" lift or whether this will be plenty fine. The ARB and Warn equipment came very well packaged, and I managed to get deals on both while just waiting out sales and tax free days.

THANK YOU! I have this bumper on the way for my JTR. Will be installing a Smittybilt X20 Gen 2-S - pulling it from my landrover. Am debating whether to leave the factory LED fogs in the plastic rubicon bumper and sell it as a whole unit - otherwise I don;t think there is much resale value in a plastic rubicon bumper with no fogs... any thoughts? What did you do with your factory bumper?

 

[Govdog76]

I kept the factory fogs and put them in the ARB bumper, then passed along the factory bumper to a forum member for a six pack. Worth it to me!

Sponsored