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Photos and Information, all pictures
are "clickable" for larger image
After much deliberation I ordered a
Body Armor
front bumper for the FJC. I wanted an aluminum bumper
because of it's lighter weight. The Aluminess bumper was way too
expensive for my tastes so this was the only other option. It's looks were okay with me, some people don't like it.
This is
what the main bumper section looked like when I unpacked it.
I waited almost a month for it to arrive. I should have
inspected it right away and returned it but not knowing what to
look for was the problem Perhaps this write up will save someone
else the hassles I experienced.
The first defect
was the passenger side light bracket mount. It's offset by over
an inch with no way to bring it into align without serious metal
work, and since it's aluminum I can't/won't weld what should not
be my problem in the first place. It took almost a week to get a response from BodyArmor4x4 on this
defect. They offered to send me a new bumper if I returned this
one. TOO LATE, I was already 3 days into installing it and wasn't going to
remove it and start all over. Note* Missed
communications-they did send a new bumper before I could respond
to say not to.
After getting the bumper I began to fit the 6" inch KC fog lights to the bumper
mount. I discovered whoever welded the passenger's side was
sloppy or the jig they used was out of whack.
The following pictures show what I found.
The passenger side light bracket is misaligned by over an inch.
It measures about 4 1/2" inches from the vertical side plate
The driver's side measures about 5 1/2" inches from the left
vertical plate
And, the light bracket lines up with the mount on the KC 6" inch
fog light.
While waiting for Body Armor 4x4 to respond I did the electrical
work running the wires and installing a switch for the fog
lights. No pictures of this, maybe later.
THE END RESULT!
I got tired of waiting for Body Armor 4x4 to respond so I made a
bracket to bolt between the bumper mount and the light fixture
to hold it in proper alignment.
Now the light aligns squarely with the light pocket and is
very rigid, I wasn't sure it would work but it'll have to do.
I added some rubber edge guard with adhesive to the light pocket
rim to isolate the light housing from the bumper metal.
Then I put the bumper on the FJ after removing what I thought
were all the stock pieces according to the pictures on the
instruction sheet. The fog lights hit one piece of stock
bumper support that wasn't referenced in the instructions. Off
comes the bumper again to remove the sheet metal bumper supports
under the headlights. I guess if I had no lights installed it
might have fit, but what's the point of having light pockets if
you aren't installing lights? Jeez!
Sheet metal brackets
On goes the bumper and it won't go all the way on the
mounting studs. Then I find it's hitting the AC line bracket
where it enters the condenser. Off comes the bumper again to cut
a notch in the 1/2" inch aluminum winch plate.
Marking winch plate for cut. This is where a sliver Sharpie pen
comes in handy.
Winch plate cut
Finally after many hours of screwing with this thing it fits all
the way on and aligns fairly good. Looking up at the bottom of
bumper to show clearance for the AC line connector.
I take a break and go inside for some coffee and check my email,
there's a note from Body Armor saying they heard from the seller
about my problem and are willing to ship me another bumper. Five
days TOO LATE! I'm not taking this off again. Back out to the
garage to finish up. I try to install the grill guard (brush
bar) IT DOESN'T FIT!!!!
However, as a follow up they sent another bumper before reading
my e-mail to tell them not too. They wasted a bunch of shipping
charges cause I ain't paying for it!
Three of the bolt holes line up and the fourth does not.
Passenger side outer hoop sits over an inch out of line. Jeez,
it's ten o'clock at night by now.
Plus, now the grill will not go on or come off with the bar
installed. Man it's one thing after the other. I
feel like a crazy dog chasing his tail!
I've been working almost 12 hours today and I give it up for the
day and quit.
I guess I'll have to bore out the holes or elongate them but
that'll have to wait. I'm beat tonight. 2/18/2010 10:12PM
2/19/2010 10 AM New day
Okay fresh start, except for aching legs and shoulders! Wrong! On further inspection I find
that not only does the grill bar (their term) outer hoop not
line up with the bumper hole on the passenger side, it's at
least half an inch from sitting flush on the bumper
Drivers side okay
Passenger side whacky!
The outer, smaller bar does not even touch the bumper it's at
least half an inch off the bumper surface as well as being an
inch out of line with the bolt hole.
I contacted Body Armor4x4 and asked them to
send me a new brush bar, after all, they were willing to send a
whole new bumper, right? They responded telling me to start the bolts
and the bar should pull
into alignment! Man, what part of out-of-align did they not
understand? Ever try to bend a one and a quarter inch aluminum pipe with your
arm strength? Makes me crazy!
I ended up drilling the four bumper holes slightly over size to give some
play. Then took the bar off and out to the back yard and wedged
it in the fork of my maple tree. Some added pressure from a
come-along with several attempts got the bar to line up enough to
start the bolts up into the holes. I snugged it down a few turns
an each of the four bolts until it finally pulled the offending
hoop down into place. So much for Body Armor junk.
The tree survived with some minor scuffing (not the first time
I've done something like this to it) and the powder coating on
the bar had a little tree bark on it which wiped off. I still
had to remove the bar again to get the grill back in place.
End of cranky bumper installation. Caveat Emptor! 2/19/2010 5:36
PM, time for a cold brew.
The following day I removed the lower grill insert from the stock bumper
shell and mounted it in the lower section of the BA4x4 bumper. Right
now it's held in place by some industrial strength Velcro until
I figure a better way. You can only see it if you look
real close.
Looks better than a big gaping hole. Might even be able to keep
it there with a winch installed, big maybe!
I trimmed the support plastic from the back and cut a few
grooves in the front but it fits snugly on the top and bottom of
the opening and has about a quarter of an inch space on each
end. Still brain storming a more permanent mounting solution to
replace the Velcro, although it's holding up after a couple
trips at 60mph. Sunlight and heat tend to deteriorate Velcro.
I also trimmed down the fiber filter behind the grill to fit the
new bumper. It keeps bugs, stones and junk out of the AC
condenser.
All in all, I like the bumper, I just wish it had installed
smoother than it did. I was upset when things didn't go
according to plans. Autoanything was basically out of the loop
although they did notify the manufacturer about the problem I
was having with the light bracket. Then I worked directly with
BodyArmor4x4 to try to resolve the issues I had with the bumper.
They did send another bumper but a couple days too late. I
wasn't removing the first one since I made it fit my way.
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