ARB bumper install issues

CGman · **Posted:** Sat Nov 26, 2016 10:45 pm

Has anyone that has installed an ARB bumper had problems with the mounting system not fitting the crossmember correctly? The cutout on on the ARB part is not lining up with the crossmember/frame rail junction. I'm not sure if it's an ARB issue, or a Jeep issue. I've got the first bolts in with the help of a pry bar, but the parts aren't sitting flush like they should.

CGman · **Posted:** Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:09 am

Hopefully these pictures will post correctly

Picture from installation instructions:

Picture from my Jeep:

See the difference?

mass-hole · **Posted:** Sun Nov 27, 2016 1:26 am

Mine was ok I think, I don't remember seeing it hitting the lip at the top of the cutout. I wasn't overall too pleased with arbs attention to detail with a few things on the bumper though so who know what the issue might actually be

Edit: ok nevermind, mine is the same way as yours on my passenger side. The drivers side is sitting just on the top of the lip. I didn't do the install because I had a body shop do it as they were putting the Jeep back together following a deer strike so I don't know if they couldn't get it to fit flush.

Sent from my LG-D850 using Tapatalk

CGman · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2016 8:48 pm

Ugh, what a PITA!

Went and talked to our "normal" body shop, the front office guy was completely uninterested in anything dealing with aftermarket bumpers. :furious:

Finally got hold of Tech guy at ARB, he basically said " yeah, sounds like a problem with your jeep, take it to a body shop and see if they can fix it " :banghead:

Does anyone know where to look to see what the normal crossmember looks like and whether it's square with the world?

KJ/toy · **Posted:** Thu Dec 01, 2016 9:11 pm

CGman wrote:

Ugh, what a PITA!

Went and talked to our "normal" body shop, the front office guy was completely uninterested in anything dealing with aftermarket bumpers. :furious:

Finally got hold of Tech guy at ARB, he basically said " yeah, sounds like a problem with your jeep, take it to a body shop and see if they can fix it " :banghead:

Does anyone know where to look to see what the normal crossmember looks like and whether it's square with the world?

If I remember correctly when I installed the ARB bumper. I also had the same problem, ended up trimming the bracket corner to line up the bolts.

CGman · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 1:32 pm

Well, I finally have the 'mounting system' attached to the front crossmember, all it took was 4 hours and $100 at the body shop and it lines up much better! :mrgreen:

But now after a hiatus due to freezing butt temperatures, I'm at it again and I've run into two more issues. :banghead:

1. The instructions that came with my bumper are different than the ones that come up on the internet, with mine lacking any pictures or helpful info on how to do any of the wiring. (other's have several pictures and more wording). Also, is everyone using the provided 'scotch locks' or do they have issues?

2. The fog light housing seems to have changed and been enlarged to allow larger fog lights, but I don't see how the OEM fog lights are attached and there is no mention of them in the options of different types of lights.

Anyone else ran into these issues?? What do you do with the fog light cutouts if you move them to the bumper? Not real impressed with the paperwork right now!

thermorex · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:01 pm

Instructions suck. I'm not sure what scotch locks are.

You'll need to buy ARB fog lights to fit the bumper, or compatible with arb. There is no way you can reuse the stock fog lights.

The bumper will cover the fog light holes the jeep has, if properly installed and there is no body damage.

I had not had issues with bumper alignments.

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:08 pm

I'm pretty sure it's your Jeep that is the issue.Manufacturing specs have very generous tolerances up to 10mm and by the pic you posted you got unlucky and have one that is at the very edge of said tolerances.

You do know there are 2 different versions of the ARB for the KJ right? You need to make sure you got the correct one.

It took me longer to unbox the bumper then install it when I did my ARB.Had it bolted up in less then 30mins including the winch.Didn't even look at the instructions,found them after it was installed anyways but regardless it was totally idiot proof to install without the instructions(at least the '02-'04 versions).

mass-hole · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:41 pm

CGman wrote:

Well, I finally have the 'mounting system' attached to the front crossmember, all it took was 4 hours and $100 at the body shop and it lines up much better! :mrgreen:

But now after a hiatus due to freezing butt temperatures, I'm at it again and I've run into two more issues. :banghead:

1. The instructions that came with my bumper are different than the ones that come up on the internet, with mine lacking any pictures or helpful info on how to do any of the wiring. (other's have several pictures and more wording). Also, is everyone using the provided 'scotch locks' or do they have issues?

2. The fog light housing seems to have changed and been enlarged to allow larger fog lights, but I don't see how the OEM fog lights are attached and there is no mention of them in the options of different types of lights.

Anyone else ran into these issues?? What do you do with the fog light cutouts if you move them to the bumper? Not real impressed with the paperwork right now!

Yup, ARB sucks at the documentation. The stock fog lights do not fit the current bumper. They used to fit in a previous version which is what ARB still shows on their website like a bunch of jackwagons:

Supposedly the plastic fog light inserts that come with the current bumper fit the ARB fogs or Toyota foglights. Based on this, I purchased a set of Morimoto XB LED foglights that are supposed to be direct fitment for basically every Toyota since 2010, they were not even close. I went to the hardware store and got some Nylon sleeves and used those to mount the lights in the housings. They work and havent come loose, but it was a PITA to get the fitment just right.

https://www.theretrofitsource.com/complete-housings/fog-lights/toyota-oval-morimoto-xb-led.html

They are a massive improvement over the stock fogs and really help supplement the headlights which are pretty crappy. I have the same fog lights on my F150 and they dont do a whole lot since it has the factory Bi-Xenon headlights which already do a great job.

Also, watch the LED turn signals. They dont supply resistors and the lights dont have enough internal resistance, so you get hyperflash. I emailed them about it and their solution was to send me the old style incandecent bulb turn signals which didnt even fit the bumper. I end up doing the hyperflash mod to the flasher circuit behind the Hazard light switch in the dash to fix the hyperflash.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 2:57 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

I'm pretty sure it's your Jeep that is the issue.Manufacturing specs have very generous tolerances up to 10mm and by the pic you posted you got unlucky and have one that is at the very edge of said tolerances.

You do know there are 2 different versions of the ARB for the KJ right? You need to make sure you got the correct one.

It took me longer to unbox the bumper then install it when I did my ARB.Had it bolted up in less then 30mins including the winch.Didn't even look at the instructions,found them after it was installed anyways but regardless it was totally idiot proof to install without the instructions(at least the '02-'04 versions).

Its strange that there are 3 of us with the exact same issue.

WWDiesel · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 3:18 pm

3M Scotchloks do the job their are designed to do; not the best connection in the world but they do work if sized correctly for the two wires being connected...
If you are using them where they will be exposed to the elements, seal them up good and wrap them good with electrical sealing tape.
They do not last well when exposed to lots of moisture! :shock:

Connections will corrode over time and insulate themselves and stop working... :roll:

Seen this many times in the South where people used them to connect up trailer plug connector wires on the tow vehicle...ended up cutting wires and using crimp on connectors for a more permanent fix...

CGman · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 3:36 pm

I know the Jeep Liberty market is small potatoes, but some of this crap is beyond sloppiness for a supposedly 'top of line' company. :twisted:

After looking at the 'old' vs 'new' bumper design as documented by mass-hole, I'd bet that ARB stopped making the Jeep version of the bumper and 'modified' their mounting system to fit another bumper used on other vehicle (I'd bet a Toyota by all the references to it) since the bull bar is now too wide and the stock fog lights (which supposedly fit) now can't be used. :2cents:

I'm surprised I didn't see any other complaints about these issues either...

mass-hole, can you provide more info on the hyperflash mod you were discussing??

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 3:47 pm

mass-hole wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

I'm pretty sure it's your Jeep that is the issue.Manufacturing specs have very generous tolerances up to 10mm and by the pic you posted you got unlucky and have one that is at the very edge of said tolerances.

You do know there are 2 different versions of the ARB for the KJ right? You need to make sure you got the correct one.

It took me longer to unbox the bumper then install it when I did my ARB.Had it bolted up in less then 30mins including the winch.Didn't even look at the instructions,found them after it was installed anyways but regardless it was totally idiot proof to install without the instructions(at least the '02-'04 versions).

Its strange that there are 3 of us with the exact same issue.

Must be a CRD only thing then.I've installed a total of 5 ARB's,4 on '02-'04's and 1 '07 KJ but a 3.7 gasser, and never ran into 1 single issue.The one I installed on the '07 was no different then the older version besides the turn signals which had to be wired in.

Like I said it took me 30mins to install mine including the winch and others so the only thing that could be the difference is the CRD's are not built correctly,or the same, as the gas versions.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 4:23 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

mass-hole wrote:

tjkj2002 wrote:

I'm pretty sure it's your Jeep that is the issue.Manufacturing specs have very generous tolerances up to 10mm and by the pic you posted you got unlucky and have one that is at the very edge of said tolerances.

You do know there are 2 different versions of the ARB for the KJ right? You need to make sure you got the correct one.

It took me longer to unbox the bumper then install it when I did my ARB.Had it bolted up in less then 30mins including the winch.Didn't even look at the instructions,found them after it was installed anyways but regardless it was totally idiot proof to install without the instructions(at least the '02-'04 versions).

Its strange that there are 3 of us with the exact same issue.

Must be a CRD only thing then.I've installed a total of 5 ARB's,4 on '02-'04's and 1 '07 KJ but a 3.7 gasser, and never ran into 1 single issue.The one I installed on the '07 was no different then the older version besides the turn signals which had to be wired in.

Like I said it took me 30mins to install mine including the winch and others so the only thing that could be the difference is the CRD's are not built correctly,or the same, as the gas versions.

Well its definitely not built correctly, thats for sure.

thermorex · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:07 pm

At least my arb bumper was build very nice, not very solid in my opinion but considering that is airbag compatible, I believe they had to sacrifice a bit. I had a warn bumper on my former Cherokee and that thing is 1/4 inch thick on every side, but probably much heavier than the arb. I had no issues fitting the arb on my crd. But I was disappointed in regards to instructions and providing led turning signals without resistors. Also, they pictured the old bumper where the oem fog lights needed to go on the arb bumper. I believe if the old model fits, that is what I should have bought... I had to buy the arb fig lights and the rock shields and spend over 200 bucks on them because I wanted to have an all arb setup. Overall I'm happy with it but it's far from being perfect, considering the amount of $$$ it costs.

The resistors I used, from carid.com:

Arb fog lights and rock shields:

I really like the arb fog lights and use them as short beam for the reason of being easier to replace the burnt bulb when it will be necessary to replace it.

An idea on how to mount the winch controller:

Also, what I didn't like is that there was no place where to mount the synthetic rope guard, I had to drill and tap in the bumper and there is not a lot of space where a nut can fit...

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 22, 2016 11:32 pm

WARN bumpers and the like are made out of your general run of the mill plate steel and why they need to be 1/4" or thicker.

Just to let you know the ARB's are made from HSS so half the thickness is needed to achieve the same strength.There designed to take kangaroo hits.I've bashed mine on big boulders,trees,and relocated a celica tail light 12" forward and not a dent.

mass-hole · **Posted:** Fri Dec 23, 2016 12:19 am

tjkj2002 wrote:

WARN bumpers and the like are made out of your general run of the mill plate steel and why they need to be 1/4" or thicker.

Just to let you know the ARB's are made from HSS so half the thickness is needed to achieve the same strength.There designed to take kangaroo hits.I've bashed mine on big boulders,trees,and relocated a celica tail light 12" forward and not a dent.

I have heard of people smoking deer with the arb around here and only having minor damage if any at all.

CGman · **Posted:** Wed Dec 28, 2016 1:54 pm

The Italian princess' face-lift is almost done! (Still missing foglight inserts and air deflector)

However, I didn't expect to have to use my meager electrician skills, and now the pax side position lights (front and rear) and instrument panel and console background lights don't work! Pax side blinkers and brake lights are fine. :banghead:

Mis-wire, blown fuse or something else??

CGman · **Posted:** Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:03 pm

Even with the new coil overs you can definitely tell the difference with the heavy bumper up front, I don't think I would suggest putting this on (especially with a winch) if you still had the stock suspension up front.

Also finished up the Provent install, installed near TCM, currently zip-tied to AC line with a couple of 90 deg barbed connectors to cut down on the sharp curves on top of the engine.

ARB bumper install issues

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