First things first. I have to apologize to Dave at Northridge. I’m the reason your ears were burning this evening because I was talking bad about you up until a few minutes ago. I place my hand on my Craftsman plastic toolbox and swear that I’ll never doubt you again.

The afternoon started out really nice because I was going to finally get to install my LoD Signature Series front bumper that’s been sitting in my garage for two weeks taunting me. Everything went pretty smooth until I got to the part where I tried to install the lights. You see, I bought my 07 used and it didn’t have fog lights, so when I ordered the bumper, Northridge had a note on the page that said, “Didn’t get no factory fog lamps on your Jeep? No worries, mon, you tell us and for just a little extra coin, we gonna configure yo new bumper with holes and mounts and da light kit wit everyting you need.” No, really, you can go look. So I thought, that would be nice and ordered away.

Now I’ve gotta be perfectly honest here, I did go to Project JK’s write up for the bumper installation and even printed it out. But I really didn’t follow it that closely and the pictures are really, really small when you print the page so I treated it as more of a guide line than an installation procedure. In other words I read, ‘Tear out those plastic Phillips screw POS’s because you won’t have to use them again on this REAL bumper. Then take a size 18 socket and blah, blah, blah. Then blah, blah bleh, so that blah, blah, blah. Then go back and tighten all your bolts with a ¾ socket and blah, blah, blah. You’ve been there, I know.

So now, I’ve got the bumper mounted and man o man does it look good. I haven’t tightened anything down, just in case I have to make any adjustments before I’m through. Smart, I am. So I take the lights out of the box and hold them up to the holes in the bumper. Hmmm, they look a little big. But then they’re supposed to mount from the back, so I’m not concerned. I take the little L-shaped bracket off, not because anything in the instructions has told me to, but because I can see for myself that that screw is what comes up through the little tab welded on the inside of the hole in the bumper. Analytical skills, I have.

So now I’m laying under my bumper with my left hand in the hole where the light is supposed to go and the light in my right hand trying to fit it to the little tab I could so easily see from the front. Right about then I realize that I’m out of hands and there’s no way I’m going to get both hands up in there to get the screw started from the bottom, underneath the bumper. It appears that the problem is that the lamp itself, is too big. So my anal-ytical skills kick in again and I soon come to the conclusion that I have been sent the wrong light for my bumper. And being the experienced mechanic that I am, I decide to just tighten up the bumper and give Northridge a call when they open on Tuesday. (Hence, the apology at the beginning)

So I come back in, get cleaned up and even knowing what curiosity did to the proverbial cat, I let it get the best of me. I went back to the write up to see what those lights looked like after they were installed and thought, yeah, that’s the way I expected them to look. The difference was that his were modified from factory fogs and I bought mine from the knuckleheads at Northridge. Then I thought, hey, why not look at how he installed the lights that are the correct size. Then I’ll know what to do when Northridge sends me new ones.

That’s about the time I ran across this picture. I didn’t catch it at first, but it looked off, something was wrong. Maybe he had a different bumper. No, it was pretty much the same one I bought. Was it just the angle of the camera? No, nothing strange about that. Then I thought. Why did he leave off the winch plate? Was it just so he could get a clearer picture of what he was doing? He shouldn’t be able to reach in from the top to….. uh oh. Then I looked at this picture.

OK, I’ll come clean and be honest, The real reason I put the winch plate on upside down was because I had so much fun putting that bumper on, by myself mind you, that I just had to have a reason to take it all the way off and do it again. As soon as all these little nicks and scrapes on my hands and arms heal. And as soon as the temperature comes down a little. And as soon as my wife stops laughing at me…

But it looks really, really good!

 

You said it looks good ,but where are the pictures???

 

Pictures... you should put a sign on the tire carrier that says I will never doubt Northridge, Dave is my hero! and then snap a pic.... just sayin

 

All my upgrades go that way! I thought I was the only one. It is kind of cool when you do it youself. Mistakes make good stories.

 

OK, I got pics. I was afraid to post them. I might come back and the forum would be upside down.

Before:



After:


Edit: Now these are links that work...I hope.

 

Never doubt David.

 

This is all i see;

OK, I got pics. I was afraid to post them. I might come back and the forum would be upside down.

Before:



After:

 

Hmmmm, I see them ok. Anyone else not seeing them? I checked to make sure I was posting them the right way.

 

nope..........no pics for me either, just the words.....before and after

 

OK, I changed the Before and After to links to the pics. If that doesn't work, I may have to open a photo account here on the site.