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i placed an order for a 4x4labs rear bumper earlier this year and it showed up last week. i believe total wait time was about 5 months. not alot of info on installing these bad boys so i will do a quick and dirty run through on my experience.
first off, these bumpers are top notch quality and ian over at the shop was super nice to work with whenever i needed anything. they are super pricey, but things that take this amount of work to build usually are.
i ordered a dual swing out, with tire carrier, ladder, and jerry can rack. see pic for the massive pallet it arrived on. the idea was simple, it slides into the frame rails and has little wing supports from the sides of the bumper over the the outside of the frame.
you need to remove the stock rear bumper and side plastics, and then cut the little sheet metal tabs off that hold the plastics on. see pic for what it should look like before install. my first attempt to slide the bumper on failed, there was not enough clearance to get the bumper up into the frame. the tailgate must be removed. after that, you need to angle the bumper frame points up and bring it in at an angle. its tight but it will do. my frame would not allow the bumper to fit in all the way and use the bolt holes as intended so i cut out about 1' off the bottom side of the tail end of the frame rails. that gave me enough room to slide it in further. i ran into alot of trouble getting bolts to line up. i imagine after 35 years this truck is tweaked in places, and the bumper comes with weld nuts (1/2x13) so it all needs to line up perfect or youll booger up your bolts, which i did a few times. in the end, i could not get one of my bolts in right, it was a several hour fight, so i left it out (wing support, there are two on each end). after the install i decided to add a few stich welds in various places, easily removable with a metabo, but will ensure strength even missing a bolt. i added some welds on each wing support and at two places on the chassis. my tires would not allow the jerry can rack to fit (i run q78's) so i simply slide the rack over an inch or two and drilled new mounting holes. its all there now and i love it. very good looking bumper and very sturdy.
for a wheeling rig/overlander, that's a nice bumper. for a daily ride, forget that; it will always be in the way when trying to access stuff in the back.
for a wheeling rig/overlander, that's a nice bumper. for a daily ride, forget that; it will always be in the way when trying to access stuff in the back.
absolutely agree. But I would say the same about almost everything I’ve done, including the SAS, 4.7 case gears, 5.29s, detroits, etc lol. My main goal with this bumper with rear protection and getting the spare out of the bed. I would not want this for a DD as you said though.
i'd like to have the tire carrier and can rack on my cj5's bumper. that's my wheeling rig.
i went with a single swingout tire rack from 4plus products on my 40 and really like it. its not really a built rig, open diffs and such, but its fun for running the national forest roads in my area. its not a CJ, but i sure do get alot of jeepers waving at me, slightly confused lol. mainly JK owners..
06-13-2022, 08:38 AM
