new front hitch! How to get bumper off?

Hello all. Here is my problem. I just got my new front hitch and it would be alot easier for me if I am able to get the bumper off. I did some looking and could not find all the bolts for the bumper. Could someone please tell me where the bolts are that are holding my bumper on so I can put on my hitch. Thanks in advance for the replies. Oh yeah, I am dealing with an 85 wagoneer with a new drawtite hitch and stock front bumper. any questions let me know.

Kim.

you should have a total of 6 bolts to take your bumper off, 3 on each side of the frame rail....tucked up under your bumper is a bracket attatched to the ends of the frame rail...undo those with I think a 15mm socket wrench and your golden...

Start soaking those bolts now with powerblaster, do this for about 3 or 6 days before you even start. Also get ready to bleed over this. I replaced my rear bumper on my 98 with a tomken and finally ended up drilling 4 holes to get at those bolts from the outside, drilled holes big enough to get a 3/8" 12" long extenstion in. This was a buster and the tough part was I even had that bumper off about 3 years before and had anti-seized all the bolts.

Front Bumper???


There should be a couple bolts on the top and bottom of the bumper that mount the bumper to the frame mounting brackets.When removed the bumper will pull off. Once those are out the bumper brackets should have three bolts on each side. There may be a couple screws that hold some plastic parts depending on your model.

HTH,Jerry

Y pull the brackets you dont have to there is two bolts on the bottom and two on the top that hold the bumper to the brackets lossen those and you will not have to line the bumper back up. took me but a couple of minutes to take it off when i did my ft hitch on my 87 xj.

there was no need to pul the bumper off when i did one :dunno:

yotaparts said:

there was no need to pul the bumper off when i did one :dunno:

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My hands are too big to fit behind the grill and fish the bolt in LOL

I just put a hitch on the front of my 99 xj this week end. There should be four bolts holding the bumper to the brackets, you don't need to take the brackets off the frame. There are four bolts that hold the bumper to the two brackets, and six that hold the brackets to the frame. As for the four bumper bolts, there should be two on the top/front and two on the bottom. Once you get those off you should be able to put the hitch on no prob.

Quick Question?

I have a home built hitch that uses the main bumper bracket bolts and holes for mounting.What does the manufactured hitch hook to? I would think that the hitch frame would sandwich between the frame and bunper brackets. Just curious,haven't seen a manufactured one installed.

Jerry

Sorry for the delay in replying. I just got off of work and am just now getting a chance to reply. Everybody who posted thanks alot for the info. If I get time tomorrow I will take the bumper off. Thankfully on Saturday I started soaking some of the bolts that I seen up front on the bumper with PB Blaster. I could not figure out all of the bolts that could possibly hold the bumper on. I just don't have enough room to work without taking the bumper off. I sure am glad that I got the hitch instead of the tow hooks. Many more uses and more durable when pulling off of the hitch vs the tow hooks. If I can get my sisters camera I will post some pics of the install and detail what I did. Again thanks for the replies.

Kim.

pics of install? detail of what you did?

gotta love open ended threads

dakotus said:

pics of install? detail of what you did?

gotta love open ended threads

Click to expand...

Sorry about the stall on the thread. I have just gotten a chance to get a camera to take some pictures so the pictures will be coming soon. As far as the install, well lets just say that a torch was brang out.
My bumper was pushed in pretty bad on the right side and on the left side a little too. So that resulted in torching off my license plate mount because of two bolts that were holding it on I could not get a wrench to because of the bent bumper. With the bumper being the way that it was I was able to put both bolts on in the back on either side but not the top so I had to cut small notches in the hitch for it to fit properly. The front bolts would not match up because of the bumper so we are working on making some spacers to fit inbetween the hitch and unibody rail. The spacers should be done soon, a buddy is working on them. That is about it for the install. Pretty easy and only took me and Jeff about fifteen minutes to install. Never had to take off the bumper, just cut the bumper a little to make the hitch fit a little better. I have used it several times and has not bent, moved or cracked anywhere with some hard pulls. I will get the pictures up asap.

Kim.

sorry for being harsh. I mean this is the reason everyone yells at everyone else for not searching. Then the person says they searched and didnt find anything. Its cause no one posts results of what theyre doing.


looking forward to the pics....