High mount bull/safari bar
 

Recently, we purchased for our 99 Grand Cherokee Limited, a Hunter brand "bull bar" (Safari Bar/City Bar).

After installing the bar with the supplied brackets, we were taken back by how LOW and flimsy it was.

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5048/1000637ky.jpg

So, flimsy I had to fab up a small bracket to stabilize it.
I hid the bracket behind a front license plate.

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2179/stabilizer.jpg


I posted on this forum and asked if there were any brackets to mount the bar HIGHER and give it a more "classic" pushbar look.

After finding a set of brackets, I was disappointed to find they only worked on a "front receiver" product that was too high priced for our liking.
We did not feel it was worth spending all that money just to get our bar up.

A fellow forum member stated the obvious: "Looks like its time to make some brackets of your own."

And thats just what I did.

Where the bar mounts ORIGINALLY. Where it should be mounted is marked with a red X

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8798/mounting.jpg


There are holes in the unibody structure at the front behind the bumper cover. To access them, well the cover has to come off.

What has to be done:
Remove grille.
Undo plastic pushpins (3) undeneath.
Drill out plastic rivets inside wheelwell (3 per side)
Pull liner out enough to access cover-to-fender screws (1 per side) Use 10mm socket.

Pull cover straight forward. And IF equipped, unclip foglight wiring.
Place cover somewhere SAFE.

The holes in unibody

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/1...ibodyholes.jpg

Took a piece of 4"x4"x 1/4" steel and ground one side at an angle until it rested flat inside.
The shorter edge measures just under 3 3/4"
The side with the square corners will go towards the outside and the 3 3/4" end will go towards the back.

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/9736/innerplate.jpg

The plate will have to be put in at an angle, pushed to one side then allowed to drop into place. There are raised areas on the sidewalls the plate will sit below.

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/435/iplatein.jpg

I pulled the plate as far forward as it would go , then using a black Sharpie, I traced the 4 holes from underneath.
There is a lip that goes through the middle of the pattern. This needs to be flattened. (Highlighted in red below) I carefully hammered it flat as best as possible.
The brackets will flatten it the rest of the way during installation.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/4...underneath.jpg

With my pattern on my top plate, I drilled the 4 holes to .437" (7/16")

Now its time for the nitty gritty.
The actual mounting brackets

Material I chose was 4" x 3 1/2" x 3/8" angle 9" long..
Why so thick? I was planning on tapping it AND eventually adding some recovery points.
Plus, it is not going to stay that size, it will be cut down.

C-clamping the angle in and carefully lining it up square to the body (basically, I eyeballed it.)

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7...stclamping.jpg

With it in place I can go ahead and draw my new profile; AND trace the mounting holes from INSIDE.
You will notice the "notch" at the top. This will allow the bracket to stick out and not interfere with the bumper cover.
It is basically, 3/4" down from the top and the sharp inside corner will be radiused to minimize stress cracks. (Pfff...stress cracks...its 3/8" thick!)
Also marked along the top against the body, so nothing will protrude out.

http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/1/newoutline.jpg

After trimming everything down and radiusing that inside corner, I drilled and tapped the mounting holes to 3/8" NC.
I cleaned up all the edges and ended up with this.
NOTE: There is a line on the inside of the angles. This is from the drill and tap. There would be no way to get a nut on a bolt that close to the wall, this is why I opted to tap the angles instead of drilling a clearance hole for a bolt.


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/3576/brackets1.jpg

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/5000/brackets2.jpg

Ready to install. I am using 3/8 x 1 Grade 5 hardware with heavy washers.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/3...ytoinstall.jpg

Everything went together perfectly

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/8756/install1.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/8694/install2.jpg

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/9421/install3w.jpg

In the last pic you will see what I was saying about the bolt close to the sidewall.

I torqued the bolts down to "OMG, they're gonna snap" ft/lbs.
This also flattened out that lip underneath and makes everything..nice and tight.

One last pic before fitting the bumper cover.

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2171/moneyshot.jpg

I slipped the bumper cover on over the brackets.
It was a perfect fit. No interference at all.
(Gee... I wonder who'll be driving this when I'm done.)

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9849/moneyshot2n.jpg

BUT...
After placing the Safari bar against the brackets, I discovered it would be sticking out too far and leaning out at the top.
So, while I held the bar "vertical", my assistant marked a new line on the brackets.
The brackets will be trimmed to this line and the mounting tabs will rest against the new front edge to stand the bar upright.
Plus, it will bring the bar closer to the nose.

http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/9996/newangle.jpg

After the brackets have been trimmed

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/603/newprofiler.jpg

Now for the mounting TABS
The bar will bolt to these tabs and the tabs will bolt to the brackets.

Rather than going and making a new set of tabs, I decided to MODIFY the original ones that came with the bar.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6081/tabsoriginal.jpg

I cut their brackets 3 1/2" back and trimmed off the one corner (marked with an X)

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3269/tabscut.jpg

I then bolted the bar to the tabs using new Grade 8.8 (metric) bolts and heavy washers, and clamped it tight to the Jeep.
After a long time of getting it "just right"

http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/2910/testfit1.jpg

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/5976/testfit2u.jpg

I marked and drilled through both the brackets and the tabs with a 27/64" bit. I tapped the mounting brackets to 1/2"-13. Re-drilled the tabs to 9/16"

Mounted the tabs with more Grade 5 bolts and heavy washers.

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/6...untingtabs.jpg

And made final test fit of bar before assembly.

I removed the TABS.
Installed the bumper cover (Completely this time)
Re-installed the TABS and BAR.
A few minutes of aligning it.

And THIS:

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/2789/finished1.jpg

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/3380/finished2g.jpg

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/5556/finished3.jpg

Up high, vertical and close- the way they SHOULD be.
Finished just in time. It just started to rain.

I will be removing eveything for TEMPLATE making and final painting.
If you are interested in a set of templates hit me up.

Sweet job!

I have an 02, and was looking at one of those push bars to put on my Jeep. How much would you charge to fab another set up? ;)

Nice work! It looks much better that way, hope the wife likes it! Sorry couldn't resist.

You should hook yourself up with a metal fab shop and have those mass produced then sell to the masses. Nice Work. That front bumper cover on our WJs kinda limits our choices but this came out quite nice!!

hehehe

I am a machinist at a fab shop.

WAS a vendor.
Had to step away due to some personal issues.

Seriously thinking about re-opening up shop.

I am designing recovery points for the brackets to hang shackles.
Nothing like dual-purpose.

Yes I can understand and respect that.

looks great

Great looking brackets, makes the bar be more than it was...

A question for you, and I hope I can explain what is in my mind enough for it to make sense. On the mounting brackets that came with the bar, the ones that you cut and mounted to your tabs, did you have to make any changes to the holes that bolt to the bar itself? It seems like they would be 3/8" closer together on each side of your tabs, or did you account for that when designing your tabs? The reason I'm asking is I'm curious if the brackets could be cut and modified to fit on a front Warn hitch in a similar manner, or if one would have to design mounting brackets to be able to bolt this to a Warn hitch.

This guy at FMD Offroad is doing something similar, of course it's a custom built hitch and not a modified Warn, but I'm curious if it can be done and save a couple hundred.

In all actuallity, the cut oem brackets have a slotted hole. So there is some leeway there.
I HAD to mount the tabs on the "inside" of the main brackets, because they would have been too wide.

I had to die-grind about a 1/16" INWARD on both slots just to make getting the bolts in a little easier.

I actually ordered FMD's bullbar mounts only to find they only work AFTER you install thier $350 MiniMax set-up....NO THANKS. They were nice enough to explain the mix up and refunded my $15.

Warn hitch... I don't think it's impossible. I have (literally) behind me, my old "Hidden Hitch" from the rear of our now gone 91 XJ. Looking at it I am sure it could be cut down and have some mounting plates welded to it to fit between the two bullbar tabs

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6...tabswhitch.jpg

I am planning on adding a 3/4" plate to the outside that protrudes down past the bull-bar tabs and has a hole to mount a D-ring shackle.
I just took delivery of the two different size D-ring shackles available, so I have to decide between the 5/8" shackle w/ 3/4" pin and a 7000lb rating or the 3/4" shackle w/7/8" pin and 10,000lb rating.

Still unsure on if I want to mount the plate with bolts or weld.

If bolted, the 1/2" will be bumped up to 5/8"
Besides, 3 of the 4 bracket mounting bolts will be bumped up to 1/2", the forth one is too close to the sidewall of the angle, I will leave it at 3/8"

AND all bolts will be switched to flange-head for strength.
Why? The brackets are evolving into something more than JUST a bull-bar mount.

My main problem is getting the test vehicle from the clutches of "MARYANN", she the quintessential "jeep-chick" and is very possesive of her baby.

I had a 98 for 5 years as the misses DD as I needed to drive the work truck.. anyway she got tired of it and I traded it on a mini van... I've never been happy with it and now all of the sudden after I went out and got me a 94 to drive she wants one for herself again... Ha Ha ... never happy..

Okay, today I was able to get the WJ from Maryann's clutches and get some work on the mounts.

I fabbed up some plates to mount D-shackles.

Everything on the outside of the main bracket(s) stayed the same.

Inside I welded a gusset for strength. (Sorry- no pic)

But the D-shackle plate bolts to the outside of the bullbar brackets with LONG bolts. Why LONG bolts...you'll see why shortly.

The plate(s) are 3/4" thick Gr 50 steel with (2) 9/16" clearance holes for the bolts. It protrudes down low enough so there is no interference with the bullbar itself.

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/3895/1000709g.jpg

With a 5/8" D-shackle installed:

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/1552/1000711t.jpg

IF it looks low... Its not really. Its an illusion. It will look better AFTER the bumper cover's installed.

Bumper cover on and shackle hanging. This is kinda before/after shot. Or a with/without , if you prefer. I didn't have time (daylight) to finish up the other plate.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1083/1000712a.jpg

And now you find out why I opted for LONG bolts:

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/8662/1000713n.jpg

The bullbar tabs slide over the protruding hardware and fasten w/nuts and washers.

One last pic...the side view

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9951/1000714z.jpg

I am going to put (2) 1/8" thick rubber washers on each side of the shackle-plate to quiet the shackle a bit and keep it a bit more stationary. Should keep any undue wear/rubbing at bay.

I am also trying to get the shop back up and running, so VERY SOON HCP Off-Road will be back in business and offering everything we did before (with the exception of one item).

Very sweet!

very nice , I always appreciate he effort it takes to R&D a product.. I've been doing that my whole life... reinventing the wheel.to make it rol better..:brickwall::brickwall::brickwall:LOL