Removing stock bumper (1 Viewer)

[Madbodhi]

Does anyone have a link to a good pictorial, video or even exploded drawing for removal of the front bumper in preparation for mounting a winch bumper.

 

[cmck]

Here is the page from 1999 FSM, dive in.

 

[87warrior]

It is pretty straight forward once you crawl under the front end.

- 3 vertical plastic clips behind the grill (these were a pain to remove for me)
- One screw at eash end of the bumper cover in the fender well
- 5 (or six) small bolts under the front edge of the bumper cover holding the cover to the metal bumper support.
- 4 big bolts attach the metal support to the frame

 

[benc]

It's pretty easy to remove the grill to access the clips under it.
2 screws on top and a couple quick release clips on the bottom.

 

[Live to Ski]

Hi Gang.....related question:

Regarding aftermarket bumpers and airbags, I do not see anything in the above diagram indicating crush/sacrificial/sensor references.

I do know that some aftermarket bumpers are pitched as "airbag" compatible. This seems to be a hot topic over in Australia.

Any comments?

 

[cmck]

There is an item above called an energy absorber. It looks and feels like a 1 1/2-2" piece of styrofoam. Can't tell you any more about the engineering around it, just pointing it out.

 

[benc]

For the most part airbag compatible just means they have been crash tested. No after market bumper interferes with the air bag sensors. I know with my bumpers all factory crumple zones in the frame are unrestricted. Australia requires the bumpers be air bag compatible and crash tested, they also require a certain amount of coverage, this is most likely why they are typically bulky. During the crash testing process the passengers are alowed a certain amount of g-force before the air bags deploy, depending on how rigid the bumper is it is possible the passengers could absorb slightly more of the impact before deploying the air bags.
Your air bags will function just fine no mater what bumper you put on the front. I went though all of this when I was designing my bumper and while I do not have crumble zones in the brackets per say I did take this into consideration during the design process, from the sizing and placement of the winch cutouts to where I put stiffener bends and where I leave them out the bumper is designed to collapse in the event of a hard collision.
I felt this was a better route to go for a winch bumper as the crumple brackets can have problems when winching or light impacts you may encounter on the trail.

 

[Live to Ski]

Hi Benc,

I applaud your thoughts/explanations! Glad to see it was considered and impressed with the "devils in the details" design approach.

Quick questiong: I'm hearing that the crash approved bumpers actually have the crumble zones, correct? And here I thought that these zones were somewhere in the frame design. Ignorance is bliss!

 

[benc]

Yes, crash tested bumper do have some form of crumple zones typically built into the mounting brackets.

The frames do have crumple
zones as well but the factory bumper is made to crumple , this will absorb some of the force before it is transferred to the passengers.