Idaho Savage
GOLD Star
Hi All,
Well I'm happy to finally be able to contribute something to the 60 forum. As some of you know, I was lucky enough to purchase my 62 from a fellow Mudder and it's been great. Shortly after purchasing the truck, I contacted Luke at 4x4 Labs and changed my order from a 100 series rear to a 60 series rear--one day before it was supposed to ship. Luke was stoked as the 100s were back ordered, so he moved my 60 build to the front and I received it about 3 weeks later.
Anyhow, this is a lay-person's install with the photos I took and a few borrowed from Luke's DB file that helped. These bumpers do not come with directions but even this shade tree mechanic found it generally easy enough, though there were a few steps I wish I would have taken to save time which I'll share. This will be overkill for many of you but I'm hoping some find it helpful.
Here's the hardware in the box that ships with the bumper. Basically, the palate shows up with the bumper and swing arms already attached; bolt-on spare tire carrier; bolt-on ladder, and a box containing the rest of the hardware. The craftsmen ship was obvious upon inspection of the bumper, the paint and the hardware. I'll also note that all hardware was included which is always nice.
Step 1: Check that everything is in the box and your new bumper is ready to be assembled.
Step 2: Remove the tow hitch. I recommend dousing with PB Blaster or another penetrating oil, and letting it sit overnight. I felt very fortunate that mine came off without too much of a fight and no broken bolts, etc.
Step 3: Remove rear bumper. The bumper that was on my rig was a custom job of questionable beauty. Well-built but boxy and the hardware attaching it was not stock, so I don't know the size of the wrenches needed to remove stock bumpers. Anyhow, it had a lot of bolts and it took a good hour to get off. I doused these bolts with penetrating oil as well. Take care to clear any hitch wiring out of the way before wrangling the bumper off. This is what you're left with (if you look very closely, you'll see my cross member had some bonus c-channel welded to it to accommodate the custom box bumper--this was extra fun to cut and grind). Sorry for the bad photo--it was dark in my driveway.
Now the real fun begins.
Step 4: Remove the cross member, necessitating a total of four cuts--at the corners of the frame and further forward, where the diagonal channels meet the frame again. I found it easiest to cut the cross member using a cordless sawsall, cutting in sections to create access for more cuts. You'll definitely end up under the truck, making multiple approaches. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A FULL FACE SHIELD! Metal will be flying. Here's a picture showing how i chose to cut access points to the primary cross member.
After these, I was better able to access the diagonal sections and make clean cuts. Ultimately, I had my wife hold the cross member as I made the final cut so that it didn't come down on me or get weird. Here was the result.
And bam! No more crossmember. Yes, that's a custom gas tank of unusual proportions.
Continued in Next Post...
Well I'm happy to finally be able to contribute something to the 60 forum. As some of you know, I was lucky enough to purchase my 62 from a fellow Mudder and it's been great. Shortly after purchasing the truck, I contacted Luke at 4x4 Labs and changed my order from a 100 series rear to a 60 series rear--one day before it was supposed to ship. Luke was stoked as the 100s were back ordered, so he moved my 60 build to the front and I received it about 3 weeks later.
Anyhow, this is a lay-person's install with the photos I took and a few borrowed from Luke's DB file that helped. These bumpers do not come with directions but even this shade tree mechanic found it generally easy enough, though there were a few steps I wish I would have taken to save time which I'll share. This will be overkill for many of you but I'm hoping some find it helpful.
Here's the hardware in the box that ships with the bumper. Basically, the palate shows up with the bumper and swing arms already attached; bolt-on spare tire carrier; bolt-on ladder, and a box containing the rest of the hardware. The craftsmen ship was obvious upon inspection of the bumper, the paint and the hardware. I'll also note that all hardware was included which is always nice.
Step 1: Check that everything is in the box and your new bumper is ready to be assembled.
Step 2: Remove the tow hitch. I recommend dousing with PB Blaster or another penetrating oil, and letting it sit overnight. I felt very fortunate that mine came off without too much of a fight and no broken bolts, etc.
Step 3: Remove rear bumper. The bumper that was on my rig was a custom job of questionable beauty. Well-built but boxy and the hardware attaching it was not stock, so I don't know the size of the wrenches needed to remove stock bumpers. Anyhow, it had a lot of bolts and it took a good hour to get off. I doused these bolts with penetrating oil as well. Take care to clear any hitch wiring out of the way before wrangling the bumper off. This is what you're left with (if you look very closely, you'll see my cross member had some bonus c-channel welded to it to accommodate the custom box bumper--this was extra fun to cut and grind). Sorry for the bad photo--it was dark in my driveway.
Now the real fun begins.
Step 4: Remove the cross member, necessitating a total of four cuts--at the corners of the frame and further forward, where the diagonal channels meet the frame again. I found it easiest to cut the cross member using a cordless sawsall, cutting in sections to create access for more cuts. You'll definitely end up under the truck, making multiple approaches. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A FULL FACE SHIELD! Metal will be flying. Here's a picture showing how i chose to cut access points to the primary cross member.
After these, I was better able to access the diagonal sections and make clean cuts. Ultimately, I had my wife hold the cross member as I made the final cut so that it didn't come down on me or get weird. Here was the result.
And bam! No more crossmember. Yes, that's a custom gas tank of unusual proportions.
Continued in Next Post...
Last edited:
