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TKH Fab Rear Bumper Installation |
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After seeing the stylish yet wussy chrome rear bumper on the CJ-5 that it came with,
it was realized that a more heavy-duty bumper was needed. The aftermarket rear bumper that was on there was for
looks I suppose. A heavy-duty rear bumper with the D-ring mounts and a 2" receiver was ordered up from TKH fab.
The guy that fabricated the front bumper for me was the one that the rear bumper was ordered from.
When looking for this bumper as well as the front bumper, I looked through catalogs and the forums and saw that
on eBay
there was a bunch of guys that made bumpers for far less then the WARN rock krusher bumpers and such, so I
opted to purchase one from one of these vendors. It worked out great and I have had no problems with it yet.
They also have a great return policy. If you break one, they will replace it, no questions asked. I got the front
and rear bumper from tkhfab.com
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Installation was very easy; first the removal of the old bumper is necessary. This
was done when the frame tie-ins were installed. There were 4 bolts per side.
Once the old one is out of the way, bolt on the new one using new grade 8 hardware. This is very important.
I know you will be tempted to reuse the existing bolts, but they are very old and are probably grade 5. Opt for
the few extra bucks and bolt it on the right way with the correct hardware.
Once the bumper was installed, I stepped back and checked out the progress. The bumper is very well made and looks
great. Once the D-rings come in, they will be installed as well.
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Lessons Learned the Hard Way |
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So, my lessons learned here would have to be that I waited too long to get this
new bumper. It looks great and is very well made. It looks like it can handle quite a bit of abuse and would
terrorize anything out there, plus it has the receiver hitch so items can be towed if the situation calls for it.
What else could you ask for?
I also mentioned above that you would need hardware for this; make sure that you get this after the test fitting.
I made sure that the holes lined up and then I installed all the hardware. It turned out really nice.
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Conclusions |
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This is a fairly easy upgrade that will give you a better way of getting out of
trouble or helping others out. What you want is some heavy-duty tractor style straps to go with these so you
can be snatched out of the mud. Also included is the added benefit of winch protection at the same time
offering up a place to mount some lights so you can light up the trail at night.
This took a bit of fitting with the frame tie-ins that were installed previously to get it to line up perfectly,
but it didn't take all that long to do and once it was all lined up and installed, the bumper was ready for abuse.
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