New ARB bumper, frame horns, and bolt holes oh my! (1 Viewer)

[robertaleon]

So I bit the bullet and treated myself to some retail therapy from Australia in addition to taking advantage of Metal Tech's super sale on Engo winches and picked up an E10000.

That's the good news except for those that hate the ARB. My buddy and I started prepping the bumper by installing the winch. As many have said - you'll need the kit for anything other than the specified Warn. Well - they're right. I had some 1/4" plate but wasn't thick enough of a spacer. On top of that the supplied bolts with the Engo are not long enough after spacers. So I'll have to hit the store in the morning. In addition - the fairlead is too narrow for the ARB fitment so a new roller fairlead is in the future. Damn Damn.

More bad news. We decide to do a dry-fit of the bumper without winch. I chased the bolt holes with anti-seize to help clean them out and prep for the new bolts. As my friend and I lift the bumper on to the horns, it will not go. We fight, tugging and pulling, cussing and kicking. And finally 'POP' it goes on and we proceed to dry-hump it in order for it to sit back far enough to line up the bolt holes. We start threading in the supplied bolts, first the sides and then the tops. We climb under and realize that the bottom is not lining up, maybe 1/16" off.

We tug, and cuss, push, and dry-hump the bumper some more but can't ever get all 12 bolts into the bumper. I'm willing to except that the Carfax did not turn up a possible collision that bent my frame horns a tad but what are my next steps? I was thinking of boring or step-drilling out the holes a bit to get the clearance I need or should I do something else? What about the frame horns, does anyone have a secret to getting the bumper to slide on a bit better? I currently loathe all those other ARB owners who just 'slide it on' and 'bolts right on'


Any help is appreciated.........stay tuned for pictures of install.

 

[LandCrawler]

That sucks to hear. You would think after dropping all that $$$, that s*** would just line up and bolt together.

 

[86tuning]

are the frame horns too wide? or too narrow?

got a hi-lift?

 

[arndog123]

are the frame horns too wide? or too narrow?

got a hi-lift?

x2. Maybe greasing up the horns and the inside of the bumper might help? I had to persuade the ARB onto my '97 w/ a BFH and 2x4 while the one on LX slid right on.

 

[duggy]

That sucks to hear. You would think after dropping all that $$$, that s*** would just line up and bolt together.

Not possible with our (at the most current 80 series) 15 year old trucks. Impacts to the front are very common on all cars and the frame horns can get tweaked.

I agree with the Hi-Lift statement. Give that a whirl

 

[robertaleon]

I'll give the "grease the horns" and "hi-lift" idea a try. It seams that the horns are a bit flared out ; ie not parallel at the ends. It tends to catch at half the thickness of the frame rail on the outside of frame rail.

Any thoughts on enlarging the bottom holes on the bumper? We can manage to get 10 bolts in at best but the two bottom holes on US passenger side are off by about 1/16".

 

[Rwhat]

Looking good Robert, I wouldn't worry much about kissing the holes with a rat tail file you will be fine. I'm sure others will agree.

 

[bhmmapping]

A ratchet strap will pull the frame horns in too. if you get the frame pulled in and greased I would bet that you could get the holes to line up too. thread the side bolts loosely and you should be able to get the bottom holes to line up.

 

[ChristmasMud]

I had a similar problem about a month ago when I installed my new ARB. I had to wiggle it back and forth trying to get the bumper to move ever so slightly back towards the holes. A few times I had to walk away out of frustration, but get it a few good hits to the outer sides of the ARB, alternating as you go, and it should line up eventually.

 

[Colorado80]

The dry-humping part had my rolling on the ground. I have three, actually two and a half 80s, and I've had to do that on all of mine. Goodluck with the install, hopefully your neighbors got a good laugh.

 

[robertaleon]

Success!

I made my template for my winch spacers and mounted the winch which was straight forward. For the Engo, 1/2" spacers seems perfect to this newbie with 2 1/4"x1"x6" pieces of steel per side; if you have or can find 1/2" plate all the better. I still have clearance on the motor and gear side and feels solid. I ended up with 45mm grade 8 M10x1.50 bolts to replace the 30mm that come in the Engo kit.

As the wife was cleaning up after dinner I gave her the 30 minute warning, "Be ready and meet me in the garage when you're done!" Ok - truthfully I asked if she was busy and if she could give me a hand...... I spent about 15 minutes with my Dremel tool and Aluminum Oxide bit and took about 1/8" off of the 4 bottom holes of the bumper. I took my time and evenly cut out a good amount of metal. Your mind starts to wander with the high-pitched hum muffled through your ear protection and sunlight tint of your safety glasses.

So the moment of truth............................I use Greentruck's idea and use some wood and 3Ton jack to lift the bumper near the horns. More trouble than it's worth if you have two people. The wife and I could not get the damn thing to catch on the horns after 15 minutes. So I pulled out the Bel Ray grease and lubed up the horns, still nothing. The only time we had the bumper on the horns last night was using a 500# HF strap so I hooked it up thinking "this is such Bull****!" Cranked the mofo's down and set back up to lift the bumper on to the horns and ......Money! The bumper was on and slid on that lube like a..........................you get the point.

After lining the bumper up with the appropriate holes I proceed to start with the bottom bolts as my co-worker had suggested, with 1 opposing the other - DS rear, PS front. Both bolts went in smoothly so I lined up the other bottom bolts. I had a bit of resistance but the wife and I bumped it into position and locked down all 12 bolts. Still more to do in hooking up the solenoid pack, installing the Warn fairlead and chasing cabling but I believe the worst is over.

1st pic is the arrival of the E10000 - super deal and free shipping from Metal Tech!

2nd pic is unpacking. Fairly decent but obvious Hecho en China cardboard and styrofoam.

3rd pic - ARB arrives.

 

[robertaleon]

1st pic - hey look the elusive ARB bumper for 80 series


2nd pic - installed

3rd pic - raided the motorcycle trailer for more anti-seize, bearing grease, and ratchet strap along with the dremel tool

 

[robertaleon]

1st pic - side view with my fairly new Duplicolor bedliner flares - Thanks Fishjunkie for the donation of flares for this side project.


2nd pic - the Engo E10000 installed


3rd pic - my 1"x1/4"x6" x 2 per side spacers with custom booger welds!

After the majority of the mass has been installed I only lost about 1/2" in suspension, measured from center of hub to bottom of flare. 30mm spacers coming soon to lessen the stinkbug


Thanks to all for the input, another testament to the Mud community and my friends and wife who enable me in my addiction.

 

[SPECTRE]

Mine went on snug but all holes lined up and fit perfect.

 

[robertaleon]

#1 Tested out the wired and wireless remote with my little

#2 and #3 playing in the mud at Prairie City. Driving home my alternator "Sh1t the bed" so new brushes are on order.

 

[waterweber]

FYI, If you carefully remove the hex head bolts on the clutch side of the winch you can rotate the end so the clutch lever is on the top of the winch and not on the side.
I have a CSI winch that looks very similar (not quote as long) so I didnt need the spacers but it has a similar end piece where the clutch is. Much easier access after the rotation.
Also on the fairlead, mine has long bolts that run vertically down through the side rollers. They line up perfectly with the horizontal tad on the ARB.
Thought this might be helpful.

 

[dlee300z]

Sweet bumper and winch! Where did you purchase the ARB Bumper from and how much? I'm looking for one right now too. Thanks!

 

[robertaleon]

@walterwebeter - Thanks. I've already clocked it one position and does not interfere with operation at this time, clears the cooler. I might take it 30 more degrees like yours but ran out of time and time for a vacation. The fairlead on there is the Engo one that doesn't fit and the Warn one is on order (as mentioned in my previous post on 4/25) and will be installed 'correctly' next week with the bolts provided by ARB.

@dlee300z - 4wdparts. I scoured the net for the best price and then called them up. I was debating on Metal Tech's April deal on the Ironman commercial but just preferred the ARB. Find the cheapest "To the Door" pricing on the net for ARB and that's what you'll get at 4wd parts plus tax if applicable. They can have it at their local store usually within 1 day.

 

[mikedamageinc]

Update? I have a 12k engo and just discovered the need for the spacers. Wondering about the fairlead and overall performance of the winch. Thanks!

 

[scrowley]

any update on the bumper and winch. Did you get the bolts with the bumper or did you have to get the other 6?