4-5 years ago I installed a Warn front bumper. I really liked this bumper…it looked sharp without being over the top.
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However, it was intended in my use case to go with 33’s, lift, etc. It looked off-road oriented. With the closer to stock size tires I have now, it doesn’t really fit, in my opinion. Certainly didn’t look bad though, but to me stock would be a better fit.
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I picked up an Omix-Ada bumper which is close enough to stock in appearance that I’m happy with it. Same for the bumper end caps. Now that I have stock wheels and an overall stock track width, I think the full stock bumper setup looks great. It always looked weird when I had aftermarket steelies because the stance was further out than where the bumper end caps ended.
I also installed a Warn winch mount back when I installed the Warn bumper, because I did intend on installing a winch, and the factory Jeep plastic cover doesn’t really work with the Warn bumper. I still want the ability to run a winch with the stock bumper, so I grabbed some washers so that the winch mount would install flat. Since it sits on the bumper and the frame, it straddles a step. A thick flat washer (1/2”) at the rear winch mount holes fixes this.
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The last thing having to do with this project is tow hooks. My YJ didn’t ever have tow hooks. I wanted tow hooks. I picked up a clean repainted set of stock hooks, which looked good enough.
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Since I never had stock tow hooks, I didn’t have the longer bolts needed to mount the hooks. I found a nice set of OEM quality (new) bolts sold in a kit on eBay for a fair price. I picked up a set:
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The problem is, the stock tow hooks have a step built in, because of that step from the bumper down to the frame that I mentioned earlier. This is no problem if I wasn’t going to run a winch mount, however, I will be running one. So the stock hooks don’t work….
Example of the step:
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When I bought the hooks, I wasn’t really thinking about the winch mount. Since they won’t work for my uses now, I ordered up a set of Rugged Ridge hooks that are 10K lb rated, and have the right hole spacing for CJ/YJ/TJ. They are supposedly very good quality, with the only downside being the hardware supplied. I won’t be using that hardware, I’ll be using the OEM style torx bolts I bought for both appearance and good corrosion resistance.
Overall, this is how it looks now, with no hooks. The RR hooks are backordered, so once I get them I’ll install and upload a photo.
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I’ll be selling the Warn bumper and I’ll probably stash the tow hooks away somewhere just to say I have some stock hooks in the pile.
For fog lamps, I am going to buy some stock imitation brackets that will mount my KC fog lamps in the OEM location. I would like to install a stock set of lamps, but they are an insane price and I think the Amber KCs are neat anyways. So I’m not itching to get rid of those. The brackets are way overpriced, but oh well.
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Overall I’m happy with how it turned out. I think the stock bumper with a winch on it will be a clean but utilitarian look, and of course functional with the tow hooks and winch mounted. The Warn bumper was cool for sure, but ultimately just didn’t match the theme of the rest of the Jeep anymore. Now I need a winch…
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