Detour's Backbone Installation Write-up
 

This is a write-up for Detour's Backbone front winch bumper. Enjoy :)

First, of all things, you need to order "da bumper". It's real easy. First make sure you have at least $350 ready. Next you

wanna go to XJ / MJ Backbone Bumper System and check out some of the pictures. Have a nice big bowl in

front of you to catch the drool. After drying off your mouth, call him up or send him an email saying "i want that damn

bumper!" and he'll bill you, you pay him, he ships it out, etc etc, you own a jeep, you know the drill VERY WELL.

A week or two later, a big brown box will appear on your doorstep. Rip that open and you will find this inside:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5919.jpg


inside that envelope is where the nuts and bolts are hiding...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5921.jpg

There were two white papers included and best thing of the entire package:

A STICKER!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5920.jpg


Now you have everything you need to put this bumper on your.......you do have a cherokee right? I sure hope so. Here's

what we will be installing it on:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...z/DSCF5800.jpg

Before we can install it, we hafta paint it. Detours is smart. They send the winch bumper primed but not painted. Most

companies use powerdercoating and it ALWAYS get's damaged through shipping. You can't really touch up

powercoating that well. This bumper comes primed and ready for you to rattle can it or pro-paint it. In my case, i opted

for the most un-common color used on bumpers: black.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5923.jpg

Let's see how much the two cans costs cuz i can't remember...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5924.jpg

Oh damnit.....(rubbing eyes)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5925.jpg

Ahh there it is. Almost $6. See, not too bad. Cheap paint!

Now it's time to paint the bumper so it's ready to be bolted on.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5955.jpg

Paint it first so it would have time to dry while you are tearing apart your front end monster-garage style.

Ok let's climb under the front and check out what we need to remove or snap in half (argh!!!!)..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5929.jpg

There are two brackets holding the bumper to the fake frame with three bolts per side. In order to remove those bolts,

you will need one of these:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5930.jpg

With a 15mm socket....

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5931.jpg

Stick that cool little tool on the bolts and turn counterclockwise..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5932.jpg

Remove all six bolts. I was curled up in a little ball expecting the bumper to fall on my nuts but that never occured. I

realized that there was something still holding the bumper on. Hmm.....AH HA! Found two pesky little bastard screws

holding the end caps on. they are on in the inside and you can see them by laying down and looking up through the hole

(remove plastic flare flap up and out of the way)...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5934.jpg

They are way up on the inside of the end caps so you need some reach. Take out the extenze pills and blend them with

water. Pour it on your neat little tool that you used to remove the six bumper bolts. This will be the result:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5935.jpg

See, longer is better. Now go through your entire socket set, one by one, and try to find the right size socket. Of course

it's always the last one you pick up and in this case it is size.......

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5936.jpg

umm...can't see.....

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5937.jpg

..damn camera.......ahh screw it, simple:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5939.jpg

It's 8mm. No i didn't get 8mm and 9mm mixed up. I lost 9mm when i first bought this $50 set of sockets. Nice job right?

Back on topic. Remove those two screws on both sides and then the bumper will start to release itself. I was lucky once

again cuz some sort of hose halted the bumper's progress towards earth:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5940.jpg

Someone installed a bomb that apparently did not function correctly and has been collecting dust. There's a hose

coming out of it and i assume it's a vacuum powered bomb. Since my AC and heater don't work this thing has no

chance to explode but I'll keep it in there anyways. Pull that hose out of the bomb....CAREFULLY.....

and ....HOUSTON, WE HAVE TOUCHDOWN!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5941.jpg

Mission accomplished!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5942.jpg

Ok now you have the bumper in YOUR command, let's remove the end caps. They are in the way of measuring if you

decide to keep your factory bumper.

There are two bolts per side, on the bottom:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5943.jpg

You will need your trusty tool you've been using and a socket in the size of....

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5944.jpg


oh..here we go again...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5945.jpg


10mm. Yeah, the same size holding the rear end caps on, that i snapped in half.

take that wonderful tool with the socket and remove that bolt...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5946.jpg


(3 minutes later)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5947.jpg

(7 minutes later)

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5948.jpg

Hmm it just keeps spinning without coming out. Let's look underneath..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5950.jpg

Ahhh no wonder. No biggie though, nothing my grips can't handle..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5951.jpg

Here's the other bolt near the end..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5952.jpg

Once you get those off, the end cap will pull away from the bumper..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5953.jpg

Of course, like the bumper itself, it doesn't come off without a fight. There's another freakin bolt holding it on. What

the....screw it, just tear it...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5954.jpg

Ok that's off and so is the other side. Let's go check out the bumper and see how it's drying..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5955.jpg

Nice :)

Back to the bumper. Mine came with this bling bling low rider flap or whatever it's called. Garbage really. Not need either.

Let's take that off.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5956.jpg

..and throw it away...literally.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF5957.jpg


Now comes the time where you have to remove the three steering box bolts. I was expecting to breeze through this with

ease but of course nothing ever goes as planned. I ended up snapping two of the three steering box bolts. They were

rust-welded to the box/spacer. Since I could not get them out of the box, I had to replace the box with a reman:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6050.jpg

and then order a frame spacer from c-rok:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6049.jpg

I went with c-rock because it's steel. The oem spacer is made out of alum. or magnesium and it corrodes to metal,

which left me screwed in the first place. The c-rok spacer acts as a brace and replaces the oem spacer. With the c-rok

spacer and detour's bumper, both sides of my frame are reinforced and i have little to worry about tearing the box off our

cardboard frames.

It has been a week and now i'm continuing the install. I installed the steering box and it's ready to go. Let's resume by

removing the nut clips on the end of the frame, that held the bumper on. You remember the six bolts you removed?

These are the nuts for them. Pop them off anyway you please..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6040.jpg

Now it's time to slide the detour's bumper onto the frame but I decided to check the bolt holes first. Good thing I did cuz

look what I found:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6041.jpg

Whoever rebuilt the front end didn't do it perfectly. The bolt holes were blocked 1/2 way by the nutsert for the sway bar

brackets.

Both sides too.....

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6043.jpg

I did not panic. I have another trusty tool upstairs that can easily take care of this minor setback:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6045.jpg

Yeah baby! POWER TOOLS!.....well sorta....

After a bit of dremeling, the holes were clear for insertion:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6042.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6044.jpg

Now let's take the bumper and slide it on the frame, inserting one bolt per side to hold it in place.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6046.jpg

After it's reunited with the jeep, insert two more bolts on the passenger side, and the three steering box bolts on the

driver's side.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6047.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6048.jpg

Let's start off by tightening the bolts closest to you, near the front:

I chose to use some anti-sieze on the threads. It'll save my arse later on.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6054.jpg

Now we need to pour some more extenze drink on the trusty tool to get it long again and stick a socket on it.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6052.jpg

This is what size you need and i'm not bothering taking another picture of the socket...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6053.jpg

Tighten clockwise..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6055.jpg

After getting those two bolts on both sides, move onto the passenger side two rear bolts. You will need the same tool

again, and i found out it's called a socket wrench, or rachet. I still call it my trusty tool.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6057.jpg

and of course, the size socket you need...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6058.jpg

This bolt has those tricky nuts on the other side that fooled us earlier. We will need the same size open end wrench to

overcome troublemaker..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6059.jpg

Tighten them up and now it's the steering box bolts. You will need this size:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6056.jpg

I had to install my c-roke brace and steering box, and you will be doing pretty much the same thing with your box and

spacer..

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6051.jpg

Again, tighten the steering box bolts clockwise and TIGHT. I dunno the factory torque specs on these bolts, nor do I

care. I just put them super freakin tight with some blue locktight. They aren't going anywhere. :)

Now we are pretty much done but before we sit back and check out the new winch bumper, let's see what the scorecard

is showing:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6060.jpg

Yup, the bumper won 6-0. That's how many times i struck my head on the newly extended winch bumper that just

happens to extend right over your head (if your jeep is high enough). It hurt.....bad.

After retreiving an ice pack from the freezer, we can now stand back and check out our new accessory added to our

jeep:

A paper towel holder:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6061.jpg

the only one on the market today.


This project is not completed yet. You are only half done. Now you have to decide whether you wanna re-use your factory bumper or modify an aftermarket bumper to fit on it. I chose to go with my factory bumper cuz i'm cheap. :)

I was gonna give you a write-up on how to cut it but my gf was a little ticked seeing her camera covered in grease and dirt from my hands during the installation of the paper towel holder. "It happens" i told her but that ended up with no camera to use. I did manage to sneak a few completed shots. Don't tell her please...shh!

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6062.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6063.jpg

You can see the big gap below the bumper from when we threw away that center piece. I am in the process of cutting the end caps to shorter so they line up with that center section. It'll give me more ground clearance too.

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6064.jpg

How far it sticks out and what my head battled against...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...s/DSCF6065.jpg


Well, that's that. I hope this helps enough to prevent you guys from installing the bumper upside down or something.

Paper towel holder did it's job until the winch came...

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e7...d/DSCF6113.jpg