Mopar bumper swap

[Tsblue83]

Hey guys, I managed to snag a lightly used mopar steel rubicon bumper for a steal. Someone local had one to let go of and only wanted $300 for it. Too good to pass up. Anyway, I’m going to be putting it on my overland. I’ve seen a few install vids and it looks pretty easy but the ones I’ve seen only show the install of a new complete bumper. He had his broken down into the stubby with the ends removed and it doesn’t have the lights. I have the led package on my overland and I’m assuming they were the same and I should be able to pull them from my current bumper and put them into the steel bumper before doing the swap. I just don’t know if there’s any additional brackets, bolts, etc I would need. Anyone done this that could give me some advice or instructions? I’d be very grateful. Thanks.

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[ShadowsPapa]

Hey guys, I managed to snag a lightly used mopar steel rubicon bumper for a steal. Someone local had one to let go of and only wanted $300 for it. Too good to pass up. Anyway, I’m going to be putting it on my overland. I’ve seen a few install vids and it looks pretty easy but the ones I’ve seen only show the install of a new complete bumper. He had his broken down into the stubby with the ends removed and it doesn’t have the lights. I have the led package on my overland and I’m assuming they were the same and I should be able to pull them from my current bumper and put them into the steel bumper before doing the swap. I just don’t know if there’s any additional brackets, bolts, etc I would need. Anyone done this that could give me some advice or instructions? I’d be very grateful. Thanks.

You will need adapter brackets to make the Overland fog lights fit into the steel bumper.
The brackets are easy to find because the "plastic" bumper is the same for Overland as Rubicon so a lot of people do the swap

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D598QRF


Otherwise, you use the same nuts to hold the steel bumper on that held the original bumper on.
You won't use the top filler piece or the lower air dam (the plastic bit below your plastic bumper)

You will either need to buy a new fog light harness for the new bumper, or take your original bumper apart (about 349 screws or so LOL) and harvest the wiring harness from the INSIDE of your plastic bumper. It come apart easily enough - just takes all morning.
Next time, I'm buying the harness instead of taking it out of the plastic bumper.

Here's just a sampling of a few of the screws that have to come out to get that harness out.......
Like an easter egg hunt, there's a lot more than shown here, some not easy to see.

 

[Tsblue83]

You will need adapter brackets to make the Overland fog lights fit into the steel bumper.
The brackets are easy to find because the "plastic" bumper is the same for Overland as Rubicon so a lot of people do the swap

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D598QRF


Otherwise, you use the same nuts to hold the steel bumper on that held the original bumper on.
You won't use the top filler piece or the lower air dam (the plastic bit below your plastic bumper)

You will either need to buy a new fog light harness for the new bumper, or take your original bumper apart (about 349 screws or so LOL) and harvest the wiring harness from the INSIDE of your plastic bumper. It come apart easily enough - just takes all morning.
Next time, I'm buying the harness instead of taking it out of the plastic bumper.

Here's just a sampling of a few of the screws that have to come out to get that harness out.......
Like an easter egg hunt, there's a lot more than shown here, some not easy to see.

Oh dang lol so I won’t be doing this tomorrow then. What adapter piece will I need for the lights? The guy I bought it from included the steel skid plate to replace the air dam piece. So at least I’ll be good there.

 

[mdyucca]

Shadow included a link for the fog light adapters. I also recommend buying the Rubicon fog light harness rather than going into your existing bumper for the harness. Did you get the brackets /bolts to mount the skid plate? Check to make sure you have the appropriate number of Allen head bolts for mounting end caps, skid plate and if you have the winch hole cover/bull bar. Getting all the pieces together takes longer than the actual install. Good luck/have fun!

 

[Tsblue83]

Shadow included a link for the fog light adapters. I also recommend buying the Rubicon fog light harness rather than going into your existing bumper for the harness. Did you get the brackets /bolts to mount the skid plate? Check to make sure you have the appropriate number of Allen head bolts for mounting end caps, skid plate and if you have the winch hole cover/bull bar. Getting all the pieces together takes longer than the actual install. Good luck/have fun!

yeah I saw that after I replied. I must’ve glazed over the link the first time reading through. Those look like jk brackets through. The bumper looks like it’s got everything. He gave me a bag of bolts and clips that came out of one of the end caps. I went and found an old thread about the lights and it had some guys saying they were able to just swap things over and others couldn’t and it seems like there are a couple different lights out there. I’ll have to go check to see how mine mounts if it’s the two or three or four bolt option.

 

[Artsifrtsi]

if it’s the two or three or four bolt option.

Stock O'Land bumper should be the 4 bolt option.

You can make the steel bumper custom to a point as well... Just a little paint, removal of some pressed in bolts, and adding shackle plates in place of crush cans made it different.

 

[Tsblue83]

That’s pretty cool.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Did you get the brackets /bolts to mount the skid plate?

Good point - there's bolts and the special nuts to hold those lower/rear skid plate brackets. The proper skid plate then bolts to the bottom of the steel bumper so the front brackets aren't needed for the skid plate.

These brackets, bolts and nuts -

https://yhst-83673118800219.stores.yahoo.net/jl-jt-front-skid-plate-brackets-and-hardware.html

Check with Benny here in the forum - he may have a better price for these skid plate brackets, nuts and bolts -

Front Skid Plate Brackets and Hardware for 2018-2021 Wrangler JL and 2020-2021 Gladiator JT
Mopar factory mounting hardware and brackets for the 82215183AB front skid plate for the JL Wrangler and JT Gladiator.

Parts in this kit are:
1 - 68353836AB Bracket, Item B
1 - 68353837AB Bracket, Item C
4 - 6511076AA Nut Insert, Item D
4 - 6104414AA Bolt, Item E
7 - 6512587AA Bolt, Item F

 

[Tsblue83]

Good point - there's bolts and the special nuts to hold those lower/rear skid plate brackets. The proper skid plate then bolts to the bottom of the steel bumper so the front brackets aren't needed for the skid plate.

These brackets, bolts and nuts -

https://yhst-83673118800219.stores.yahoo.net/jl-jt-front-skid-plate-brackets-and-hardware.html

Check with Benny here in the forum - he may have a better price for these skid plate brackets, nuts and bolts -

Front Skid Plate Brackets and Hardware for 2018-2021 Wrangler JL and 2020-2021 Gladiator JT
Mopar factory mounting hardware and brackets for the 82215183AB front skid plate for the JL Wrangler and JT Gladiator.

Parts in this kit are:
1 - 68353836AB Bracket, Item B
1 - 68353837AB Bracket, Item C
4 - 6511076AA Nut Insert, Item D
4 - 6104414AA Bolt, Item E
7 - 6512587AA Bolt, Item F

I’ll have to look at the bolts and stuff to see what I’ve got. I don’t think he gave me any sort of brackets.

 

[Tsblue83]

Well the brackets came. I had to mod them a bit. The holes didn’t line up 100% so I took the drill to them and made them bigger which worked. Didn’t have to cut anything off the fog light housings though. I think I’ll need some brackets to mount the skid plate and I’ll need more bolts. Looks like I’m short by the ones needed for the skid plate. There’s a metal plate that was there behind the plastic bumper. I left it on for now but don’t know if it will need to go when I mount the skid plate.

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