Body Armor rear bumper and Garage Pro roof rack base install issue
03-16-2014, 08:57 AM
#11
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The Body armor rear rack mount arm on the right hand side is modified from the factory to accommodate the gussets used to strengthen the bumper for the tire carrier. We installed one last weekend on a friends JK. i'm guessing other brand racks that looks very similar don't have this from what i have read.
Dave
Dave
03-16-2014, 09:14 AM
#12
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Yea, my plan was to grind off a portion of the gusset to fit the Garage Pro right rear bracket. Do you have a pic of the Body Armor bracket for reference?
03-25-2014, 06:36 AM
#13
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Here is a picture of our passenger and driver side lower legs, Although these racks are similar in appearance they are different when it comes down to the fine details. Hope this helps.
03-25-2014, 07:23 AM
#14
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Here is a picture of our passenger and driver side lower legs, Although these racks are similar in appearance they are different when it comes down to the fine details. Hope this helps. <img src="https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=540417"/>
03-26-2014, 03:28 PM
#15
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Yes it does weaken the rack to some degree, fortunately we have not had any issues with this part failing under load thus far. I would imagine that the unsupported horizontal bars that go the length of the vehicle would fail long before this part would. We haven't had any of those fail yet either so I think that you would be in good shape with our rack. Once again this is our rack we are talking about not the brand you have purchased. I don't know the specs on your unit sorry.
03-26-2014, 04:42 PM
#16
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Here is a picture of our passenger and driver side lower legs, Although these racks are similar in appearance they are different when it comes down to the fine details. Hope this helps.
Attachment 540417
Attachment 540417
Dave
03-27-2014, 07:46 AM
#17
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Well I finally received a complete rack kit after 3.5 weeks and sending the first to shipments back to JCW. I was able to test fit the base rack to verify I can still drive it in and out of my garage, even with the cross bars mounted. There is no way to mount conventional spot lights and still get in and out of the garage so maybe LED light bars will work.
I will still have to modify either the rear passenger side frame bracket or my Body Armor rear bumper or both to get it to fit. I'll post some pics once I get things going. I'm gonna pull some wire through the frame for lighting while I'm assembling the rack.
I will still have to modify either the rear passenger side frame bracket or my Body Armor rear bumper or both to get it to fit. I'll post some pics once I get things going. I'm gonna pull some wire through the frame for lighting while I'm assembling the rack.
03-28-2014, 01:10 PM
#18
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Finished the install, a few pics: Had to cut off some of the bumper gusset to clear the rear mount. I ran some wire for lights, along the driver side, both to the rear light bar and up the front pillar to the front light bar. With the crossbars mounted I can still drive in and out of my garage at 82" opening even with 35's and 3.5" lift, which is cool. I plan on adding LED combo light bar up front and some type of floods in the rear. Have about 4.5" to work with in the front but rear is tight so may have to modify the rear light bar mounts to clear the garage entrance. This thing is rock solid, had to use ratchet straps to pull everything together during assembly. I added some O-rings at each of the joints to seal it up and eliminate rattling. Test drove it at 65 mph and a little noisy but with soft top it was already noisy, no big deal. The powder coat is good quality, had to touch up a bit on the three crossbars which are all same length and the rack is pretty square front front to back. The quick knobs are a joke so I just snapped apart and used the screw and nylon locknuts from them same as the other hardware. Hardest part of this whole mod was dealing with JCW to get all the parts. For $253 shipped I think it's a great deal, and I have a basket to throw on it, made from two Harbor Freight ATV cargo racks bolted together, 40x48" finished size, cost about $65 total for both.
Last edited by vulcan classic; 03-31-2014 at 02:35 PM.
04-18-2014, 07:31 AM
#20
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Has anyone installed a Body Armor rear high clearance bumper (and tire carrier) along with a Body Armor or other brand roof rack? I recently purchased a Body Armor rear bumper and it installed easily. However, I purchased a Garage Pro roof rack from JCWhitney, and it looks like the passenger side rear mounting leg/bracket will not mount up with the Body Armor rear bumper at the frame due to a support gusset welded on the back side of the bumper to reinforce the pivot for the tire carrier.
The Garage Pro is supposedly made the same as Body Armor, Smittybilt, Barricade, N-dure and other racks as others have said. See attached pic of my JK: You can see the rear mounts in the third pic, lower right, where the two large holes mate with the bumper mounting bolts and the smaller holes towards the front of the bracket align with the smaller holes on the frame.
I do not want to drill holes in my quarter panels using the alternate method used for stock bumpers, since it wont be as strong and may lead to damage later on. I'm still waiting on arrival of the rack so I haven't actually sized things up so I may be able to use a cutoff wheel and trim the gusset, assuming the tongue on the rear leg mount will fit under it, just wondering what others have experienced.
The Garage Pro is supposedly made the same as Body Armor, Smittybilt, Barricade, N-dure and other racks as others have said. See attached pic of my JK: You can see the rear mounts in the third pic, lower right, where the two large holes mate with the bumper mounting bolts and the smaller holes towards the front of the bracket align with the smaller holes on the frame.
I do not want to drill holes in my quarter panels using the alternate method used for stock bumpers, since it wont be as strong and may lead to damage later on. I'm still waiting on arrival of the rack so I haven't actually sized things up so I may be able to use a cutoff wheel and trim the gusset, assuming the tongue on the rear leg mount will fit under it, just wondering what others have experienced.
Hope this helps.