Rhino 4x4 Front Bumper (1 Viewer)

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@prharper I have a big gap on the driver side. With the wing arm mounts bolting directly to the frame, I see no way to adjust the wing backward (only up/down seems possible). Did you find a way to adjust forward/backward? (Or anyone else with 16+ model?)

It's about a 3/4" gap, would like to knock at least 1/4" off that to get to 1/2" or less.

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I just finished mine last weekend. I was able to get my gap to 7/16. It was similar to your gap at first, then I loosened the winch tray and pushed the entire bumper back to close up the gap.

On a separate note, it appears I received a newer version of the bumper (based on parts and skid plates) but directions for an older version…directions made no mention of several parts that were included. Threaded rod, frame bolts for the threaded rod, frame mount for the bash plate and a couple other parts . Not to mention the skid plates in my directions were nothing like the actual skid plates I received…holes didn’t line up as illustrated. Thanks to the member here who recently posted their set of directions I was able to see what these mystery parts are for. And Once I took off all the factory skids I could see where the frame mount for the skid plate went. Problem is the narrow center skid support also is the mount point for the factory plastic plate that protects the trans oil pan and other stuff further back and the the frame mount for the skid plate won’t fit with it there. So i cut the center piece down to just the back portion that the plastic plate mounts to while allowing for the skid plate mount to be attached.

I took pics and will post a write-up soon…maybe it will help the other folks who said their skid plate didn’t work.
 
I love these custom bars that these smaller companies are making. But if you watch the video below there is a lot of R&D that the bigger companies use to really make their bars an integral part of the car and the car’s safety.

Things like built in slotted mounting holes allowing the bumper to shift back so that a animal strike may only wreck the bull bar and not the car frame itself and even prevent airbag deployment when it isn’t necessary. (Do some of these aftermarket ones copy and integrate those features in their designs?)

I really do like the looks and design of the smaller company bull bars much better, like rhino and Slee and others but when you watch this video kinda make me reconsider buying a Tjm or arb that has this amount of r&d and testing.

 
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I love these custom bars that these smaller companies are making. But if you watch the video below there is a lot of R&D that the bigger companies use to really make their bars an integral part of the car and the car’s safety.

Things like built in slotted mounting holes allowing the bumper to shift back so that a animal strike may only wreck the bull bar and not the car frame itself and even prevent airbag deployment when it isn’t necessary. (Do some of these aftermarket ones copy and integrate those features in their designs?)

I really do like the looks and design of the smaller company bull bars much better, like rhino and Slee and others but when you watch this video kinda make me reconsider buying a Tjm or arb that has this amount of r&d and testing.

 
I just finished mine last weekend. I was able to get my gap to 7/16. It was similar to your gap at first, then I loosened the winch tray and pushed the entire bumper back to close up the gap.

On a separate note, it appears I received a newer version of the bumper (based on parts and skid plates) but directions for an older version…directions made no mention of several parts that were included. Threaded rod, frame bolts for the threaded rod, frame mount for the bash plate and a couple other parts . Not to mention the skid plates in my directions were nothing like the actual skid plates I received…holes didn’t line up as illustrated. Thanks to the member here who recently posted their set of directions I was able to see what these mystery parts are for. And Once I took off all the factory skids I could see where the frame mount for the skid plate went. Problem is the narrow center skid support also is the mount point for the factory plastic plate that protects the trans oil pan and other stuff further back and the the frame mount for the skid plate won’t fit with it there. So i cut the center piece down to just the back portion that the plastic plate mounts to while allowing for the skid plate mount to be attached.

I took pics and will post a write-up soon…maybe it will help the other folks who said their skid plate didn’t work.

I did try to push the winch mount back further exactly like you described. I used ratchet straps to get it back as far as possible (and even destroyed one of the straps), but that's as far as the bumper would go. To get it the rest of the way I think I'd have to bend the end of the wing mount arm.

Regarding instructions - I used the same instructions someone posted here that you're talking about, and they were mostly correct. A few things weren't exactly right, though, and unfortunately I had to improvise in a few places.

Looking forward to your write-up for the lower skid plate. I got mine on, but it sure didn't want to flex like that. The way it's flexed / stressed right now is going to make oil filter changes really difficult taking the skid off & putting it on.
 
I just realized a super simple fix for the too-big gap. I just need to add a couple washers in between the wing and the mount arm where they bolt together. Since the arm is positioned in front of the wing at their mating point, washers will push the wing back further (i.e., closer to the fender). I'll try this first thing tomorrow. Probably will just just one or two stacked together to get it to match the passenger side gap.
 
Success! I was able to get 1/2" gap on both sides. I used 4 stainless steel washers (per bolt) stacked as a shim on the driver side, and 1 washer shim per bolt on the passenger side.

I also replaced the fog light casing screws with black stainless steel screws and (non-black) washers from Lowes.

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looks so good.

Skid plates? Anyone spraying the skid plates these with bed liner? I think I’m leaning toward color matched with black center for my blizzard pearl LC…
 
So happy it's done! The final product:

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A little birdie told me Slee is making a front bumper for the LC200. I won't release too much as I'm not sure how much is supposed to be out there. It's very similar to the one on the SLEE heritage. But one downside is that the shape isn't as complex as the one off. Especially under the headlight region. It is similar to many of the other small manufacturer bumpers where it is a straight across at the level of the bottom of the grille. Not curving up and following the contours.
 
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A little birdie told me Slee is making a front bumper for the LC200. I won't release too much as I'm not sure how much is supposed to be out there. It's very similar to the one on the SLEE heritage. But one downside is that the shape isn't as complex as the one off. Especially under the headlight region. It is similar to many of the other small manufacturer bumpers where it is a straight across at the level of the bottom of the grille. Not curving up and following the contours.
 
Nice! Harkens back to the blueberry bumper first started on the 100-series and Slee's demo rig.
 
Hahah, awesome. Thanks for sharing!
 
Just some follow up advice when using a painted rhino bumper...

Based on how the components mount together, you almost definitely will scrape the paint up near the mating surfaces. It is really unfortunate, because it means you will get rust in certain areas where it's hard to stop it without removing the main 3 pieces. Now that the bumper is installed and aligned, it's really not too difficult to remove the 3 pieces, and they would more or less install back on with roughly the same alignment as before. So if I do have to blast & paint it again several years down road, I think it will be less likely to get marred the 2nd time around when reinstalling just those 3 pieces.

Here's an example of where the paint likes to come off at a mating surface between the center piece and the right wing (ignore the squashed bugs...).

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If I were to try this over again with a brand new bumper, I would probably do one of these:
  • Just sand the original powder coating lightly until it's relatively smooth, then have the body shop prime and paint from there. That would at least keep the tough powder coat layer beneath the more fragile paint, so any wear and tear doesn't go straight to bare steel and start rusting. OR:
  • Get everything fully installed with the original powder coated bumper, then uninstall the 3 main pieces to get painted. That would make it so it's super easy to reinstall the painted pieces with minimal alignment & marring.

I wouldn't hesitate to use this bumper again in the future, I just would have done it a little differently.

In this thread, I of course feel obligated to include some additional full-vehicle pictures... 😁

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