Pumped about my Slee Rear Bumper

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On the other hand, if you need a steel bumper of that quality, you probably offroad it, and will eventually need recovery. With the massive forces involved in vehicle recovery, you may want the additional hardware. A poster above confirmed that it can be done with a right angle drill. Why not do not do it right?

If not, and the bumper is just aesthetic, then maybe don't bother.

I put as many bolts into my bumpers as I could, since I know I will trust my safety to it.
 
CharlieS said:
On the other hand, if you need a steel bumper of that quality, you probably offroad it, and will eventually need recovery. With the massive forces involved in vehicle recovery, you may want the additional hardware. A poster above confirmed that it can be done with a right angle drill. Why not do not do it right?

If not, and the bumper is just aesthetic, then maybe don't bother.

I put as many bolts into my bumpers as I could, since I know I will trust my safety to it.
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The four bolts being questioned are just for the side wings. Look at this picture of my car from a couple of years ago. You can see how many other bolts are holding this bumper directly to the frame and rear crossmember. Good luck ripping that rear bumper off doing recovery. Slee has been making this thing for like two decades. Up until the last year their instructions said those 4 side bolts were optional. This being one of the most popular bumpers out there for an 80, if there were any failures you’d hear about them by now.

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I have a factory hitch mounted here too now and just for reference the hitch only uses the lower frame bolts. If that’s enough to tow 6,500lbs or whatever it’s rated for then i think 10 bolts that the Slee bumper is held by will hold it just fine in a recovery pull (if you don’t install the 4 extra bolts that don’t even come supplied with these bumpers).
 
Kabanstva said:
@sleeoffroad
@use2bn83
Can someone please chime in about these side bolts.
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So just to be clear, I no longer work at Slee so they may have an updated recommendation on this since I was the design engineer there. I’ll share my opinion on this but really, a phone call to Slee would likely clear this up.

1. The part in question is for the bumper “wing” supports. This will have little chance of seeing any forces during a recovery.

2. The left and right side are mirror images. The right side needs these holes for the exhaust hanger to bolt through. By making them mirrored parts you save money on having individual laser cut part numbers. The holes on the left side are just an artifact of being a mirrored part. And there just so happens to be factory holes behind them.

I’m my opinion (and on my 3 personal rigs), after tons of testing, and lots of personal use, these bolts are not needed.
 
use2bn83 said:
So just to be clear, I no longer work at Slee so they may have an updated recommendation on this since I was the design engineer there. I’ll share my opinion on this but really, a phone call to Slee would likely clear this up.

1. The part in question is for the bumper “wing” supports. This will have little chance of seeing any forces during a recovery.

2. The left and right side are mirror images. The right side needs these holes for the exhaust hanger to bolt through. By making them mirrored parts you save money on having individual laser cut part numbers. The holes on the left side are just an artifact of being a mirrored part. And there just so happens to be factory holes behind them.

I’m my opinion (and on my 3 personal rigs), after tons of testing, and lots of personal use, these bolts are not needed.
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I really appreciate you posting this information! Thank you.
 
If you are in the neighborhood, stop by Cristo Slee's shop in Golden, CO. All kinds of cool stuff being worked on.
 
use2bn83 said:
So just to be clear, I no longer work at Slee so they may have an updated recommendation on this since I was the design engineer there. I’ll share my opinion on this but really, a phone call to Slee would likely clear this up.

1. The part in question is for the bumper “wing” supports. This will have little chance of seeing any forces during a recovery.

2. The left and right side are mirror images. The right side needs these holes for the exhaust hanger to bolt through. By making them mirrored parts you save money on having individual laser cut part numbers. The holes on the left side are just an artifact of being a mirrored part. And there just so happens to be factory holes behind them.

I’m my opinion (and on my 3 personal rigs), after tons of testing, and lots of personal use, these bolts are not needed.
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Thanks so much for weighing in here!
 
use2bn83 said:
So just to be clear, I no longer work at Slee so they may have an updated recommendation on this since I was the design engineer there. I’ll share my opinion on this but really, a phone call to Slee would likely clear this up.

1. The part in question is for the bumper “wing” supports. This will have little chance of seeing any forces during a recovery.

2. The left and right side are mirror images. The right side needs these holes for the exhaust hanger to bolt through. By making them mirrored parts you save money on having individual laser cut part numbers. The holes on the left side are just an artifact of being a mirrored part. And there just so happens to be factory holes behind them.

I’m my opinion (and on my 3 personal rigs), after tons of testing, and lots of personal use, these bolts are not needed.
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Odd they would bother wasting money on hardware, and then updating directions when they could have left them the same.

Make a mirrored part to save money, then add previously unused hardware and update directions to…not save money.

Idk. I’ll probably call Slee on Tuesday just for my own curiosity.
 
JoeCova said:
Odd they would bother wasting money on hardware, and then updating directions when they could have left them the same.

Make a mirrored part to save money, then add previously unused hardware and update directions to…not save money.

Idk. I’ll probably call Slee on Tuesday just for my own curiosity.
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Yeah call them. Or just insert the bolts man. You don’t want your bumper falling off on the highway….
 
JoeCova said:
Odd they would bother wasting money on hardware, and then updating directions when they could have left them the same.

Make a mirrored part to save money, then add previously unused hardware and update directions to…not save money.

Idk. I’ll probably call Slee on Tuesday just for my own curiosity.
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No doubt and there could be a multitude of reasons. Could be that something has changed, it could be that supplying hardware helped stave of everyone calling and asking about it, it could be whoever updated the install instructions last decided that they needed to be there. Definitely hard to say. That’s why a call or email to Slee is probably best.
 
use2bn83 said:
No doubt and there could be a multitude of reasons. Could be that something has changed, it could be that supplying hardware helped stave of everyone calling and asking about it, it could be whoever updated the install instructions last decided that they needed to be there. Definitely hard to say. That’s why a call or email to Slee is probably best.
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I bet they added the hardware so everyone would buy their drill bits and rivnut tool at premium so they end up making more. Haha.
 
JoeCova said:
I bet they added the hardware so everyone would buy their drill bits and rivnut tool at premium so they end up making more. Haha.
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Nah they don’t make any money off of that stuff it’s really there as a convenience to their customers. It’s a nice tool and a very nice drill bit. They can’t afford to sell cheap Amazon junk.
 
I’m emailing Slee tonight. They always respond within a day and answer all questions. My bumper was bought and installed early 2022 using the old instructions.
 
Just use a dam step bit, there nice and short
And cheep at HF. 🤷‍♂️
 
Also keep in mind that a rivnuts are not that strong
 
Sorry for the late reply. We are moving out fabrication facility so that has had me out of the office. The parts are made symmetric and we do provide the hardware if someone wants to install it. All the forces on those brackets are upwards and the bolts on the bottom is normally enough and the top ones not needed. However since there are holes we might as well use them. It all depends on the user and how the vehicle is being used.

We will amend the instructions to suggest using a 90 degree drill with a step drill. Either an exact step drill for the right size for the river nut, or a tapered on that you mark at the correct hole diameter.
 
sleeoffroad said:
Sorry for the late reply. We are moving out fabrication facility so that has had me out of the office. The parts are made symmetric and we do provide the hardware if someone wants to install it. All the forces on those brackets are upwards and the bolts on the bottom is normally enough and the top ones not needed. However since there are holes we might as well use them. It all depends on the user and how the vehicle is being used.

We will amend the instructions to suggest using a 90 degree drill with a step drill. Either an exact step drill for the right size for the river nut, or a tapered on that you mark at the correct hole diameter.
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Good info, thanks for chiming in.
 
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