abebehrmann
03-12-2014, 08:09 PM
This is the install of my custom Virginia Fabrication stubby bumper on a 97+XJ. Installation should be the same as the regular Virginia Fabrication Stubby Winch Bumper as the brackets are identical. The early model XJs should be the same as far as installing but I believe the bumper removal is slightly different (no end caps, difference size vacuum reservoir). This was my first aftermarket bumper install on an XJ, so a lot of the things I did I made up as I went. This is also my first write-up of any kind so I apologize in advance if none of this makes sense. If you have any additional tips or suggestions please leave a comment.
Stock Bumper Removal
The first thing you need to do is remove the end caps from the bumper, there are two bolts on the bumper and two bolts on the fender that you need to pull back the inner fender liner to get to. I tried taking pics but they're kind of hard to make out exactly where everything is, so I borrowed this image from the Factory Service Manual.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/51D54CE3-7789-4437-8111-73D1BA5B596B_zpsyekwm674.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/51D54CE3-7789-4437-8111-73D1BA5B596B_zpsyekwm674.jpg.html)
As you can see there is also a rivet on the bumper that you need to either remove or, like I did, take a sharp utility knife and slice the end cap so it can slide off the rivet.
After the end caps are removed you will next need to remove the vacuum reservoir from the passenger side of the bumper. it is attached by two T20 torx bolts. It looks like this:
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/DF6046FD-20EA-4509-AEB1-E083C0F3349E_zpsyo0waeji.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/DF6046FD-20EA-4509-AEB1-E083C0F3349E_zpsyo0waeji.jpg.html)
You can let it hang out of the way while we remove the bumper or just carefully pull the reservoir off the vacuum line so it doesn't get damaged. We will come back to this reservoir after we get the new bumper installed.
All you have to do now to remove the bumper is remove the 3 bolts from each side of the bumper where the bumper bracket attaches to the unibody subframe. Be sure to hold onto the rear bolt on each side, this will be reused for the install. It is helpful to put a jack stand under the first side you unbolt so you can easily unbolt the other side with out the bumper flying off. Once the bumper is removed it should look like this.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/photo7_zpsdc5acd92.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/photo7_zpsdc5acd92.jpg.html)
Preparing for Install
Now that the stock bumper is removed, you are almost ready to install the Virginia Fabrication Bumper. Before the bumper can be installed you must first unbolt your steering box from the unibody frame rail. There are three bolts that hold the steering box to the frame.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/8ff11ce5-3b22-4b0d-a730-fa4fe94e22c6_zps8af17e33.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/8ff11ce5-3b22-4b0d-a730-fa4fe94e22c6_zps8af17e33.jpg.html)
This pic shows the bolts after the bumper was installed. As you can see the bumper only uses two of the steering box bolts but you will need to remove all three in order to slide the bumper into place. Support the steering box with your hand as you unbolt it and gently lower it until it holds itself up. If you have a front skid plate like I do, it would be a good idea to remove it before unbolting the steering box. I didn't do this at first and it made it nearly impossible to get the steering box back into position after installing the bumper.
Next you will probably need to open up one of the holes on the passenger side. This is the one that is directly behind the fender brace on the passenger side, in the same position as the lowest steering box bolt.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/19220169-0418-4FFF-B462-EB609F5A1014_zpsgmsyliih.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/19220169-0418-4FFF-B462-EB609F5A1014_zpsgmsyliih.jpg.html)
I used a 1/4'' die grinder to open this up, but I'm sure an electric drill with a sharp bit would be able to accomplish the same thing.
The last thing you will need to do is remove the "U-nuts" shown in the image from the FSM that are used to hold the front two bolts on each side of the stock bumper. This just clips into place and can easily be removed with a flat-head screwdriver.
Installation
At this point, install should be fairly straight forward. To get the bumper into position, you will need to angle the back brackets up to clear the fender brace. Once you're past the brace, you can line up all your bolts and (loosely at first) bolt everything up. You will reuse the two rear-most steering box bolts and the stock bumper bolts I told you to save when removing the bumper. Once you are happy with the placement of the bumper, go ahead and tighten all the bolts down. It would probably be a good idea to use some Loctite on the steering box bolts, but I don't believe this is required. If you don't, make sure to go back after a few weeks and make sure that they haven't loosened themselves.
Now we're almost done! Remember the vacuum reservoir we set aside when removing the stock bumper? Since there isn't any room inside the aftermarket bumper for it, I relocated it to inside the engine compartment. To do this, follow the vacuum line that originally ran to the reservoir up to behind the battery. Here I found where the original vacuum line attached to a T-fitting. All I did was remove the extra vacuum line from this fitting and attach the vacuum reservoir in its place. There is a perfect amount of space for this to fit directly behind battery and in front of the fuse box. Use some self-tapping screws to attach it to the side of the engine compartment. Eventually I may move this back to the firewall but for now this seems like a good place for it.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/08AA5A10-83E3-437A-8E5C-4C64F58284C3_zpso0uc2xgf.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/08AA5A10-83E3-437A-8E5C-4C64F58284C3_zpso0uc2xgf.jpg.html)
If you wanted to, you could just trim the fender liner with a utility knife and call it done but I really didn't like the way the horns were just sort of hanging down there.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/DD185851-4C26-4279-8B0C-FF89EC02F2FC_zpscw7vqrtf.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/DD185851-4C26-4279-8B0C-FF89EC02F2FC_zpscw7vqrtf.jpg.html)
I considered moving them into the engine compartment like the vacuum reservoir, but I didn't have the wire on hand to do this. What I did instead was unbolt the horns and flip them around so they tuck up nicely behind the fender brace.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/2A3FA101-8E98-4A26-89DC-D6E8AD27D6DD_zpsqdn96dyc.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/2A3FA101-8E98-4A26-89DC-D6E8AD27D6DD_zpsqdn96dyc.jpg.html)
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/07F016AD-3458-4808-BC7D-AE9B9E1CAFF2_zpsoyevcwyl.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/07F016AD-3458-4808-BC7D-AE9B9E1CAFF2_zpsoyevcwyl.jpg.html)
I may still relocate these somewhere else, but for now this is where I put them.
Last thing I did was shoot the fender brace with some flat black paint so it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, and trim up the fender liner. If I were to do this again, I probably would have first used some sheet metal screws to hold the liner in place under the turn signal so that it would protect the under side of the lights and then trim it. Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous with the utility knife and cut it away before thinking about this. I plan on grabbing a couple liners from the junkyard next time I'm there and experimenting. I will post up my thoughts on this when I get to it.
Here is the final product.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/1805FEE6-580B-4FA4-9288-484DF25FEF67_zpsojtxp3ko.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/1805FEE6-580B-4FA4-9288-484DF25FEF67_zpsojtxp3ko.jpg.html)
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/photo8_zps57672a78.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/photo8_zps57672a78.jpg.html)
Stock Bumper Removal
The first thing you need to do is remove the end caps from the bumper, there are two bolts on the bumper and two bolts on the fender that you need to pull back the inner fender liner to get to. I tried taking pics but they're kind of hard to make out exactly where everything is, so I borrowed this image from the Factory Service Manual.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/51D54CE3-7789-4437-8111-73D1BA5B596B_zpsyekwm674.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/51D54CE3-7789-4437-8111-73D1BA5B596B_zpsyekwm674.jpg.html)
As you can see there is also a rivet on the bumper that you need to either remove or, like I did, take a sharp utility knife and slice the end cap so it can slide off the rivet.
After the end caps are removed you will next need to remove the vacuum reservoir from the passenger side of the bumper. it is attached by two T20 torx bolts. It looks like this:
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/DF6046FD-20EA-4509-AEB1-E083C0F3349E_zpsyo0waeji.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/DF6046FD-20EA-4509-AEB1-E083C0F3349E_zpsyo0waeji.jpg.html)
You can let it hang out of the way while we remove the bumper or just carefully pull the reservoir off the vacuum line so it doesn't get damaged. We will come back to this reservoir after we get the new bumper installed.
All you have to do now to remove the bumper is remove the 3 bolts from each side of the bumper where the bumper bracket attaches to the unibody subframe. Be sure to hold onto the rear bolt on each side, this will be reused for the install. It is helpful to put a jack stand under the first side you unbolt so you can easily unbolt the other side with out the bumper flying off. Once the bumper is removed it should look like this.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/photo7_zpsdc5acd92.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/photo7_zpsdc5acd92.jpg.html)
Preparing for Install
Now that the stock bumper is removed, you are almost ready to install the Virginia Fabrication Bumper. Before the bumper can be installed you must first unbolt your steering box from the unibody frame rail. There are three bolts that hold the steering box to the frame.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/8ff11ce5-3b22-4b0d-a730-fa4fe94e22c6_zps8af17e33.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/8ff11ce5-3b22-4b0d-a730-fa4fe94e22c6_zps8af17e33.jpg.html)
This pic shows the bolts after the bumper was installed. As you can see the bumper only uses two of the steering box bolts but you will need to remove all three in order to slide the bumper into place. Support the steering box with your hand as you unbolt it and gently lower it until it holds itself up. If you have a front skid plate like I do, it would be a good idea to remove it before unbolting the steering box. I didn't do this at first and it made it nearly impossible to get the steering box back into position after installing the bumper.
Next you will probably need to open up one of the holes on the passenger side. This is the one that is directly behind the fender brace on the passenger side, in the same position as the lowest steering box bolt.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/19220169-0418-4FFF-B462-EB609F5A1014_zpsgmsyliih.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/19220169-0418-4FFF-B462-EB609F5A1014_zpsgmsyliih.jpg.html)
I used a 1/4'' die grinder to open this up, but I'm sure an electric drill with a sharp bit would be able to accomplish the same thing.
The last thing you will need to do is remove the "U-nuts" shown in the image from the FSM that are used to hold the front two bolts on each side of the stock bumper. This just clips into place and can easily be removed with a flat-head screwdriver.
Installation
At this point, install should be fairly straight forward. To get the bumper into position, you will need to angle the back brackets up to clear the fender brace. Once you're past the brace, you can line up all your bolts and (loosely at first) bolt everything up. You will reuse the two rear-most steering box bolts and the stock bumper bolts I told you to save when removing the bumper. Once you are happy with the placement of the bumper, go ahead and tighten all the bolts down. It would probably be a good idea to use some Loctite on the steering box bolts, but I don't believe this is required. If you don't, make sure to go back after a few weeks and make sure that they haven't loosened themselves.
Now we're almost done! Remember the vacuum reservoir we set aside when removing the stock bumper? Since there isn't any room inside the aftermarket bumper for it, I relocated it to inside the engine compartment. To do this, follow the vacuum line that originally ran to the reservoir up to behind the battery. Here I found where the original vacuum line attached to a T-fitting. All I did was remove the extra vacuum line from this fitting and attach the vacuum reservoir in its place. There is a perfect amount of space for this to fit directly behind battery and in front of the fuse box. Use some self-tapping screws to attach it to the side of the engine compartment. Eventually I may move this back to the firewall but for now this seems like a good place for it.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/08AA5A10-83E3-437A-8E5C-4C64F58284C3_zpso0uc2xgf.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/08AA5A10-83E3-437A-8E5C-4C64F58284C3_zpso0uc2xgf.jpg.html)
If you wanted to, you could just trim the fender liner with a utility knife and call it done but I really didn't like the way the horns were just sort of hanging down there.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/DD185851-4C26-4279-8B0C-FF89EC02F2FC_zpscw7vqrtf.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/DD185851-4C26-4279-8B0C-FF89EC02F2FC_zpscw7vqrtf.jpg.html)
I considered moving them into the engine compartment like the vacuum reservoir, but I didn't have the wire on hand to do this. What I did instead was unbolt the horns and flip them around so they tuck up nicely behind the fender brace.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/2A3FA101-8E98-4A26-89DC-D6E8AD27D6DD_zpsqdn96dyc.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/2A3FA101-8E98-4A26-89DC-D6E8AD27D6DD_zpsqdn96dyc.jpg.html)
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/07F016AD-3458-4808-BC7D-AE9B9E1CAFF2_zpsoyevcwyl.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/07F016AD-3458-4808-BC7D-AE9B9E1CAFF2_zpsoyevcwyl.jpg.html)
I may still relocate these somewhere else, but for now this is where I put them.
Last thing I did was shoot the fender brace with some flat black paint so it wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb, and trim up the fender liner. If I were to do this again, I probably would have first used some sheet metal screws to hold the liner in place under the turn signal so that it would protect the under side of the lights and then trim it. Unfortunately, I got a little overzealous with the utility knife and cut it away before thinking about this. I plan on grabbing a couple liners from the junkyard next time I'm there and experimenting. I will post up my thoughts on this when I get to it.
Here is the final product.
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/1805FEE6-580B-4FA4-9288-484DF25FEF67_zpsojtxp3ko.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/1805FEE6-580B-4FA4-9288-484DF25FEF67_zpsojtxp3ko.jpg.html)
http://i989.photobucket.com/albums/af15/abebehrmann/photo8_zps57672a78.jpg (http://s989.photobucket.com/user/abebehrmann/media/photo8_zps57672a78.jpg.html)