Relentless Fabrication Front Bumper

[Pascoscout]

Purchased the DIY front bumper kit from Relentless Fabrication. With the 4 day weekend I thought I'd get it put together and on the cruiser.

I went with this bumper because it compliments the rear bumper I am finishing up. The quality of the bumper looks good. Fit and finish is good, not perfect, but only took some minor grinding and opening up a few holes to get it together. Assembly is fairly straight forward and the included instructions help but thought I'd throw up some pictures of how it goes together in case anyone else gets one of these.

After removing the stock bumper and tow hooks bolt on the bumper risers. As suggested in the instructions I used two fender washers to shim out one side so it comes on and off easier.

Next place the top bumper tabs on the top of your frame and align the tab on the side with the hole in the riser. Make sure the bolt holes line up. I did not have bolts in these holes and the hardware store is closed today so I didn't bolt them on. I stuck a piece of sheet metal under them as a shim (same reason as above), clamped them to the frame and tack welded the tabs to the risers.

Next place the center core of the bumper onto the risers. Since I have no friends to help I used a floor jack to hold it up and then used large clamps to hold it to the frame until I got the bolts in the bottom. It took a little grinding of the risers here and some clamping to get the core to line up just right. One thing not mention in the instructions but I would suggest it putting the D link hangers in their respective holes at this point. Don't tac them in yet but at least make sure they will go in and out easily for later. Once you tac the core to the risers you can take them out again.

Set the top plate in top of the risers, line up with the center core and tack into place. Mine has a gap between the fender flare and the top of the bumper due to the 1 inch body lift I have. Without the lift it would fit tight and clean.

 

[Pascoscout]

Next add the front plate for the wing. These are the only pieces I had to clean as the core and risers were already down to bare metal. Kind of have to hold it in place and tac... friends would be helpful here.

Add the next two pieces of the wing. Put one or two small tacs first so you can bend them back and forth to get the angle right.

If you got the angles rights above the end piece should fit right in. The bottom piece (with the 3 holes) appears to be able to go in two different ways. One way is angled slightly up so you would not see it at all from the front (appears this way in the pics on Relentless's web site) The other way is angled down like I did. My way marginally (and I mean barely) impacts the approach angle but it hides more of the body mount and the bolts that mount the bumper (i.e. it looks better). If you do it my way be sure you don't put the plate in the way of the upper mounting bolt. I put a deep socket on the bolt and pressed the plate lightly against it. This way I know I can get the bolt in and out. My way also hides the core support completely (again body lift plays a part in this). I'll still need to do something about the AC drier though.

 

[Pascoscout]

That's it for today. All told it took maybe 3 hours to get it this far. I plan to add a stinger to the top tomorrow and start welding it together.

 

[Oscar Witte]

Looks great!

 

[maxamillion2345]

Hey! Good looking bumper!

 

[maxamillion2345]

Heres how I did mine.




I think its the same?

 

[Pascoscout]

Yeah looks close to how mine came out. I see yours has a horizontal plate on the end of the wing. My kit didn't come with one there but was thinking about adding one to look like yours.

Got my stinger on today. Time to take the bumper off and weld it up.

 

[96Cruiser]

really like this bumper, website says backorder, is this just a order then we build thing or? how long to get yours? it says most winches up to 10k, looks like a hawes type fairlead? will a roller fairlead go on that thing?
sorry for all the questions,
I didn't email them as I have an ARB, and just am thinking for the future as I eventually want something without the tubing/bars on top , probably this or a heavily reinforced TJM T17
thanks

 

[Pascoscout]

They changed their website since I bought mine. Used to say 2-3 weeks for shipping. Mine ended up taking close to 5 weeks to ship. They cut and bend the pieces after you buy it so that's why it may say backorder.

There's a lot of room around the fairlead opening so I'm thinking either type would fit. I won't be able to tell you for a while as I don't plan on installing a winch right away.

 

[maxamillion2345]

I have a 12,500 and a roller fairlead in mine.

Like he said, once you order its cut and bent and packaged. It's a small shop so I'm sure they're just busy around the holidays.

 

[96Cruiser]

thanks guys ....

 

[Pascoscout]

Finishing up the details. Got the whole thing ground down (sorry no pics) and now its ready for a final sand and paint. Best thing about a DIY kit is I can add some custom touches to make it my own.

First I added a cap for the end of the wing. Took 3 small pieces to get all the angles right but I really like it filled in rather than open like it came.

I also added some rock lights to the front. The largest hole on the bottom wing support fits a KC Cyclone LED light. Bent up a mount out of 16 ga metal and welded it on. This should throw a bunch of light right in front of the wheels.

Hoping to get this painted tomorrow and installed later this week.

 

[Blondie]

Looks good. I may have just found my bumper.

 

[Pascoscout]

Can't go wrong with this one Blondie. I am very happy with how it came out and the price was reasonable. They even use a cool shipping method that I hadn't seen before, Fastenall Freight. If you have a Fastenall store near you they ship it to that store and you pick it up, was only $75 to get it to me, a lot cheaper than UPS etc.

Got it painted today. Went with Rustoleum Hammered Black. I really like this paint as it helps hide some of the imperfections in my grinding skills. With the hammered finish it looks more of a really dark grey. Gonna give it a day or two more to dry before I install. With the cold wet weather I want to be sure the paint is cured. I also added holes for the square plastic license plate plugs. The plate fits perfectly on the front above the fairlead mount.

 

[Pascoscout]

Mounted and done. Really happy with it. The wife even said she likes it

Still need to order and install the rock lights so will post some pics of that down the road once I get them in.

 

[LFD2037]

Bumper looks good!
On a side note:
there's way too much weight on that PS front tire. Take it back to whoever mounted those tires & tell them to rotate that tire 180* on the wheel. Should knock that weight amount way down. (sorry, it's a pet peeve of mine! Some tire guys are just so damn lazy.)

 

[Pascoscout]

I'd have never known that on the tire weights. Discount tire did it and it's been several months but I'll go talk to them.

Thanks!

 

[LFD2037]

Discount tries to pull that crap here, too! It's just them being lazy. I grew up around a tire shop & know better.

 

[4G63 POWER]

looks good. Is it completely removable ?

 

[Pascoscout]

looks good. Is it completely removable ?

Yep. There's 6 bolts on each side that hold it to the frame where the factory bumper brackets were. Undo those and the whole thing comes off. I can get it on/off myself now but once I had a winch it will probably take two people, or use of the shop crane.