Installing a Stubby Front Bumper on a JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon
It only takes a few tools and some elbow grease to install a narrow front bumper on the JL Wrangler and give its front rubber some more room.
Sooner or later, every Jeep Wrangler gets modified. Many people start their upgrades underneath it by installing aftermarket wheels and tires. The folks at Driving Line (brought to us by our friends at Nitto Tire) already put those mods on their 2018 JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon. In this video, Driving Line‘s senior off-road editor Ali Mansour walks us through what it takes to replace the stock front bumper with a steel unit.
As it sits at the start of the footage, the JLU is equipped with a set of 17″ X 9″ bronze wheels surrounded by 35 ” X 12.5″ Nitto Ridge Grapplers. The problem is that the plastic stock front bumper gets in the way of the front tires, limiting their ability to help the JLU get up and over rocks. Mansour says, “I want to get as much tire in front of that obstacle as I can without worrying about a bumper hanging out in the way.” He’s got just the solution: a stubby steel bumper.
Getting the whole removal/replacement process started only requires a few tools, such as a flat-head screwdriver and an 8-mm socket wrench. Mansour uses the screwdriver to pull the clips out of the trim piece above the stock bumper, then removes it. After backing out the two bolts holding the lower plastic fascia in place from the bottom, he uses another hand tool to undo the clips on the bottom side of the bumper.
With that out of the way, he disconnects the fog lights, pulls two more bolts out of another panel with an impact wrench, then removes the bolts holding the old bumper in place. It’s light enough for Mansour to haul it away by himself.
In order to fit the new piece, Mansour has to use a 5/8″ socket to take out the inner braces. He replaces them with new brackets, which offer high and lower mounting holes. Mansour fills the bottom bolt holes with the stock bolts so the bumper will sit higher.
Everything, including the nut plates for the new bumper, is pretty much plug-and-play except for one of the holes on the driver’s-side frame horn. Mansour bores that out and proceeds to add a couple of brackets. Then it’s finally time for him to put the new bumper on.
Of course, he doesn’t stop there. There’s a big empty space on top of the bumper – just the right size to fit a winch. And that’s exactly what Mansour puts there. He opts for a Warn Zeon 10-S running a 3/8″ synthetic rope. “I like that it still takes a conventional plug-in-style remote and the cast aluminum housing isn’t extremely heavy.” After Mansour grinds the driver’s-side frame horn down a little, the winch fits in its tray perfectly. He adds, “To get the winch working, all you’ll need to do is route the ground lead and the positive lead to the battery. Now I highly recommend removing this 10-millimeter bolt from the top of the air intake so you can actually remove the airbox.” Doing that allows him to route the wires easily and without having to worry about them coming into contact with anything they shouldn’t be touching.
Mansour ends the build session by adding a 3/16″ steel skid plate that matches the bumper. The added weight of everything makes the front end drop by about half an inch, but there’s a good chance Mansour will balance that out with his next mod: an upgraded rear bumper.
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