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- #61
Rear Bumper Install
Thinking back, I think I my posts my be a little out of order from what I actually did. I was working the bumper installation while I was pulling the rear seats out and routing cables.
I had ordered a Victory 4x4 Strike Rear Bumper in August of last year, and it showed up right around the Christmas holiday. After sitting for a few months in my shed, I finally had gotten everything else to a place where I was ready for the bumper install.
I had two buddies helping me, and we followed the Victory 4x4 Installation video for all of these steps. The only thing to really note here is that I did spend the money to buy the recommend layout tape that they discussed in the video. This was worth every penny, as it was pretty stiff when stuck down, but flexible enough to make bends. You could probably do the same thing with painter's tape, but this stuff definitely made the job easier...And after all, you kind of only get one cut to make it right. Here's a photo of the passenger side marked out:
From there, I also applied 2" wide painter's tape above the thinner layout tape (above), to help protect the body while cutting. In terms of cutting, we used a rotary air tool with a new cut-off wheel. This is definitely the way to go, as the wheel doesn't get hot which prevents meting or bubbling of the paint. This left a somewhat rough edge which we then cleaned up with a file and a demurring tool.
With the cuts made and a few electrical connectors later, the rear fascia is easily removable. It's pretty interesting to see the size difference between the "bumper" and the rear fascia, as shown in the photo in the upper right.
I don't have many great photos from this step, but I spent about an hour or so installing lights, routing cables, and connecting my rear proximity sensors in the new Strike Bumper. For lights, I went with the Diode Dynamics SS3 pods with a flood pattern. These easily assemble to the interfaces on the rear bumper, although the fit might be better if you were to use the Baja Designs variant, which the bumper was designed for. The below photo shows the setup right before final install. Note the dangling electrical harnesses. which were installed to the vehicle side before they were connected to the (lights & proximity) wires, which were routed along the bumper.
I wish I could say that at this step, we bolted the bumper up, and everything fit flawlessly. For whatever reason (and I'm not sure why because we had 3x Mechanical Engineers working this), there was a variable gap between the flat surface on the driver's side of the bumper and the flat surface on the driver side trim. The cut was dead nuts, but perhaps sloping down slightly, so we couldn't get the bumper to interface at the right height on the vehicle. After removing the bumper, cleaning up the cut, and reinstalling everything, the final product turned out pretty well.
In terms of time, this whole install took about 3/4 of a day, including the quick go-back to clean up our cuts. I ended up finishing the cut surfaces with weather stripping, which gave everything a really clean look.
Other Helpful Resources:
Thinking back, I think I my posts my be a little out of order from what I actually did. I was working the bumper installation while I was pulling the rear seats out and routing cables.
I had ordered a Victory 4x4 Strike Rear Bumper in August of last year, and it showed up right around the Christmas holiday. After sitting for a few months in my shed, I finally had gotten everything else to a place where I was ready for the bumper install.
I had two buddies helping me, and we followed the Victory 4x4 Installation video for all of these steps. The only thing to really note here is that I did spend the money to buy the recommend layout tape that they discussed in the video. This was worth every penny, as it was pretty stiff when stuck down, but flexible enough to make bends. You could probably do the same thing with painter's tape, but this stuff definitely made the job easier...And after all, you kind of only get one cut to make it right. Here's a photo of the passenger side marked out:
From there, I also applied 2" wide painter's tape above the thinner layout tape (above), to help protect the body while cutting. In terms of cutting, we used a rotary air tool with a new cut-off wheel. This is definitely the way to go, as the wheel doesn't get hot which prevents meting or bubbling of the paint. This left a somewhat rough edge which we then cleaned up with a file and a demurring tool.
With the cuts made and a few electrical connectors later, the rear fascia is easily removable. It's pretty interesting to see the size difference between the "bumper" and the rear fascia, as shown in the photo in the upper right.
I don't have many great photos from this step, but I spent about an hour or so installing lights, routing cables, and connecting my rear proximity sensors in the new Strike Bumper. For lights, I went with the Diode Dynamics SS3 pods with a flood pattern. These easily assemble to the interfaces on the rear bumper, although the fit might be better if you were to use the Baja Designs variant, which the bumper was designed for. The below photo shows the setup right before final install. Note the dangling electrical harnesses. which were installed to the vehicle side before they were connected to the (lights & proximity) wires, which were routed along the bumper.
I wish I could say that at this step, we bolted the bumper up, and everything fit flawlessly. For whatever reason (and I'm not sure why because we had 3x Mechanical Engineers working this), there was a variable gap between the flat surface on the driver's side of the bumper and the flat surface on the driver side trim. The cut was dead nuts, but perhaps sloping down slightly, so we couldn't get the bumper to interface at the right height on the vehicle. After removing the bumper, cleaning up the cut, and reinstalling everything, the final product turned out pretty well.
In terms of time, this whole install took about 3/4 of a day, including the quick go-back to clean up our cuts. I ended up finishing the cut surfaces with weather stripping, which gave everything a really clean look.
Other Helpful Resources:
