Front Bumper Install

If you would have told me ten years ago or even two years ago that I would be sitting out on my driveway underneath a Jeep installing a new bumper I would have laughed at you. Well, that's exactly what I did on Saturday during my Birthday Weekend Celebration.

After about a month of earning money for my Jeep Parts Fund I finally had enough to purchase my first Jeep Part -- the start of my Jeep modification. 




I ordered the Barricade Trail Force HD Front Bumper Wednesday at 11 pm online.   

Don't you just love the Internet?!?! 

I then began the long grueling process of waiting for that Big Brown Truck to bring me my package. I've read online how difficult it is to wait for your much desired Jeep Parts. Now, I finally understand what everyone is talking about. 

I received an email four hours later at 3am stating my order was processed and shipped.  That morning I couldn't stand the waiting any longer, so I got my beach chair and camped out by the mailbox waiting for Mr. Delivery Man. 






By the next morning I had grown very bored and decided a little front yard rock crawling was a great way to pass the time. 

Finally a long 36 hours later the Big Brown Truck arrived and my 79 pound bumper was sitting in my garage. I was ready to get to work  on the bumper install when my mom duties had to take precedent. Dinner needed to be made, Pokemon cards needed to be bought and of course the neighbors Game Truck Party needed to be attended. Then just when I was ready to get started the neighbor kid needed help fixing his eight inch lifted truck! A mom's job is never done.




Saturday morning I wasn't going to let anything get in the way of my bumper install. So, I turned on the X-box and told the kids to have fun. 

We began unpacking the bumper and gathering up the needed tools -- The ratchet set, some screwdrivers and a hammer -- just in case. Just kidding about the hammer -- definitely a tool you won't need during a bumper install.

The first thing we did was remove the plastic thinging that was attached to the front bumper. HaHa... After a little bit of looking around I found out it's the air dam cover. Wonder what I should do with it? My next blog post... 

Now the toughest part of the job was loosening those bolts on the factory mounted front plastic bumper. I'm pretty lucky I have a big strong husband who got that job started for me. 













Once the stock bumper was off and set aside it was time to line up my new - heavy duty steel - bad ass looking - black powder coated bumper. 


It seemed all the reviews I read were correct about the stock fog lights not lining up with the new bumper. But all we needed to do was take the wires out of the loom and pull out the excess wires. Or so that's how I read it. So we did just that but there didn't seem to be any excess. My husband said no big deal he would run out and get some wire and spliced it together. 


So some more waiting took place. But I was bound and determined to find that excess wire.


Well low and behold what do you know. I figured it out. There really isn't any extra wiring. All I needed to do was separate the passenger side fog light from the main wiring and bring it under and around the frame -- a perfect fit.

Next we mounted in the fog light covers -- definately a good idea to do this before you bolt on the bumper. However I'm not sure how most men get this done. It's a real tight fit getting those screws in and the teeny tiny nuts. Luckily my thin, nimble fingers were able to do the trick.

Now time for the part I was waiting all those long hours for -- bolting on the big bad bumper. It was a pretty simple and easy install.

Last but not least was putting on the license plate. However, I'm not sure what I will do if I decide to mount a new winch in it's place.

I was going to start looking for my next modification but first I think I need to solve the Air Dam issue. What's it's purpose? Do I need to replace it. I'll discuss that in my next post. Maybe we can figure it out together. 

I know where I'll be looking first... Extreme Terrain. 

I certainly didn't have to wait long for my Jeep parts like I've heard others had to wait. I'm pretty a pretty impatient person and I was very pleased with how little I really had to wait! 

      -- Simple Living! -- Enjoying Life! --
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