Front Air Dam/Skid Plate issue.

[RealMcCoy]

Hey folks, need some pointers on how to reinstall the Front Air Dam on the Gladiator Ruby. The Rubicon came with a plastic bumper. I purchased the “Jeep” Steel bumper to install my Warn winch.
Like always no, issue removing the Skid plate/bumper. However, I am having one heck of a time getting my Stock skid plate to mount up correctly. Correctly, mind you is getting the holes to line up and set the plate. The skid plate is steel or metal.
Has anyone else had an issue with reinstalling the metal plate? Any suggestion? Am I supposed to upgrade the skid plate too?
I added the steel bumper and Warn winch without issue. Now the darn skid plate will not mount without some major malfunction.

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[JTzntz]

If you are trying to reinstall the steel skid plate for the plastic Rubi bumper, it will not work with the Mopar steel bumper. It uses a different skid plate. Some made it work by trimming the plastic bumper steel skid plate. When I did mine yesterday I swapped to the steel skid for the Mopar steel bumper. See link below. Also, the bottom brackets for your factory skid will work for the new one, just need to remove the two upper skid plate brackets as the new skid mounts directly to the Mopar steel bumper.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/mopar/front-bumper-skid-plate-jeep-wrangler-jl

 

[Mark Doiron]

As JTzntz wrote above, you need a new skid plate. It reinforces the bumper, likely for the pulling forces caused by the winch. You really should replace and not just hack something into place with the old (plastic bumper) skid plate if you intend to use that winch.

 

[JTzntz]

You should be able to get the plate only since you already have the brackets. Then you would need the grade 10.9 bolts and speed clips to bolt it to the bottom of the steel bumper. Sorry don’t have the part numbers for those.

 

[RealMcCoy]

If you are trying to reinstall the steel skid plate for the plastic Rubi bumper, it will not work with the Mopar steel bumper. It uses a different skid plate. Some made it work by trimming the plastic bumper steel skid plate. When I did mine yesterday I swapped to the steel skid for the Mopar steel bumper. See link below. Also, the bottom brackets for your factory skid will work for the new one, just need to remove the two upper skid plate brackets as the new skid mounts directly to the Mopar steel bumper.

https://www.quadratec.com/p/mopar/front-bumper-skid-plate-jeep-wrangler-jl

Thank you for the replies, That was my thought too about the need for a different skid plate but was not sure. I have the steel Mopar bumper and wish they would have told me before wasting my time.

 

[RealMcCoy]

As JTzntz wrote above, you need a new skid plate. It reinforces the bumper, likely for the pulling forces caused by the winch. You really should replace and not just hack something into place with the old (plastic bumper) skid plate if you intend to use that winch.

Thank you, I did purchase the steel bumper but was unaware a need for the different skid plate.

 

[Renegade]

Thank you, I did purchase the steel bumper but was unaware a need for the different skid plate.

I have a friend who bought an aftermarket steel bumper and wanted to use the factory steel skid plate. We drilled 4 new holes on the stock plate and bolted it right back up. Good luck with yours.

 

[Mark Doiron]

I have a friend who bought an aftermarket steel bumper and wanted to use the factory steel skid plate. We drilled 4 new holes on the stock plate and bolted it right back up. Good luck with yours.

The issue for RealMcCoy is a bit more subtle, but similar to what I went through: Replacing the factory plastic bumper with a factory steel bumper. At first blush one might assume the skid plate is identical. But it isn't. You also need a new skid plate; the old one will not bolt up. And, depending on model of vehicle, you may need to do some drilling and add some nutserts (provided with the replacement skid plate) for that factory skid plate. If installing an aftermarket steel bumper with no skid plate and designed to mount a winch, it's likely safe to assume that the bumper is good to use with a winch without the skid plate. However, the factory steel bumper is a bit lighter material than most aftermarket bumpers. Eyeballing the skid plate, it appears that it reinforces the bumper during those really hard winch pulls. Which is why I recommend use a factory skid plate designed for and fully installed (all factory mounting hardware) if you intend to use a winch for those 10,000 pound pulls. It's been a few years since I did those kinds of calculations (let's see, about 40). I wish I was as smart as my daughter (she's an engineering physicist, but is too busy finishing up her doctoral thesis for me to ask her to run the numbers on this), but everyone can consider or decide to ignore my best guess here as they decide on how to mod their rigs. But here's a pretty safe presumption: FCA did not add all of that extra mounting hardware that adds to the production time for each Jeep on the assembly line even though that hardware isn't needed. It just adds to the tough appearance, should anyone stoop down and look under the front bumper.

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