07rubisteve

First I tare off the OEM bumper and tow hitch in literally less than 10 minutes, super simple to do. Then I take off the spare, no big deal....Take the spare tire OEM support bracket off the rear door and disassemble the 3rd brake light, easy.....

I get to installing the bumper....Attempt with a co-workers help to lift this in place...so close, but no cigar, way too tight.....part of the bumper that bolts into the frame where the hitch was mounted is probably 1/16th too tight to physically force it up and around the frame...so much for all my years of body building.....So I go over to the local tire shop, literally 50 yards from the garage I was in, which I know very well, and ask to borrow a huge industrial floor jack and block of wood.....get it, jack the bumper up to the frame where it was catching....and jack, and jack, and jack........still no luck.....starting to lift the whole rear of the jeep up off the ground....so I am thinking that either I slightly grind away the lip of the bumper, or the frame.....call over the owner of the tire shop for a second opinion....we try and try again, but no cigar.. He says, bring it over to the shop and I'll put it up on the hoist and strap down the frame...then we'll use the hydraulic jack to force it in....so we do this, and it still won't spread around the frame..talk about freakin tough ass steal this bumper is made of....my buddy says that when the factory welded it that the heat probably curled this part just enough to cause this.

So we drop it again, take the grinder to the edge that needs to go around the frame, and just grind a tinny bit off, then grease it up.......again we try with the
hydraulic jack on the hoist, and success ...The bumper is super close to the body though, but works no problem, looks stellar Without the bolts this thing wasn't moving....bolted everything up, leveled it, and torqued to spec.....

Then I added the tire carrier and bolt everything up, test fitted the spare a few times to get the height I wanted.....final decsion was to put on the spare on the lowest position, thus keep my field of vision from seat as clear as possible in rear view mirror....even at it's lowest possition, I still ahd tons of room between the bumper and the tire The wheel studs on the spare tire carrier were too long though for the lug nuts to tighten up, and thus had to be grinded down, but after that I got everything all snugged up it sure is tough.

When I put the handle on, I think I either lost the two bolts which I don't think happened, or Smitty forgot to add them in my package, so I bought a couple and tightened it up......Everything mount up, looks awesome, I am super happy..

The bumper is pretty much a shorty, and you can really see it.....So much more clearance now, specially on approach and departure angles......I have no issues with the tire carrier, or the handle, everything is awesome, just had a couple hiccups...but the over all result is

I still have to install the 3 rd brake light, and am still deciding if want to....all I have to do and get the extended wiring harness, and it will be good to go.....enough talk.....here it is..

Before



After

Northern Wrangler

Lookin' good man!

joeybear

Looks great! I love the Smitty rear and will probably be looking into one of those in the spring.

KSU_MAN_JK33

Hey Steve,

Got mine on this weekend....created a new XRC thread just for myself with pics...LOL - what did you do to locate your 4-pin towing/lights plug that slid on to that small metal tab left of the factory receiver?

Mike

deekum1627

awsome man i had the same issue i banged the sh*t outta the frame a then it went it with the help of a jack. i also had to but a washer in the body mount so it would sit a little higher cause it was way to close my tailgate rubed but all is good now

07rubisteve

I have it tucked up into the bumper for now....still have to make it secure....

We took our time to get the gate to level out perfectly, using a long crowbar and tightening up the side bolts....have about 1/8th inch inbetween the bumper and the gate.....I am still thinking that I will fab up some 1/4-1/2 inch body spacers in the rear, as when wheeling, and flexing, I am sure the body could rub the bumper. Just a precautionary measure I guess..

rubijksilver

i have this bumper and i have tried everything and it still rattles. i cant stand this. just wondering if this one does it. i know i am not the only person with this problem just wondering how people fixed it.

dajuicejml

Not sure if you've solved your "rattles" yet, but I just finished my install yesterday. I found that the largest cause of the rattle was still in the handle. I do have the gen 2 and I know they have made improvements, but there is still a little play. I went and bought a few 7/8ID washers and added that between the rubber bushing and the tire carrier, then added another nylon washer between the tire carrier and the actual handle. Seemed to make the latch a lot tighter and more secure, but also took away the play in the latch assembly. IF you take the allen screw off at the handle the entire assembly will come out and you can add different thicknesses until you get no rattle.

My only other issue seems to be on the passenger side where the carrier mounts to the shaft on the bumper. I think I still have a little movement up and down and when I hit a BIG bump, there's a big thud like its moving up and back down into place. I have smittybilt sending me one more of the plastic rings that were included in the assembly and hopefully that will fix the problem.