I installed the bumper w/ my friend and yeah, getting the factory stuff off was a huge pain in the ass. Installing the xhd was a lot easier, until I noticed that the ground wire was supposed to be screwed in w/ the black wire which was underneath the now mounted winch. So my friend and I had to take all the bolts off and take the bumper off again. Unmount the winch, hook up that one wire and then reinstall everything. We were using handtools and out in the cold haha. On top of that, the inexperience w/ doing this stuff slowed us down even more. Took us 6 hours total just to do this!!! Good thing we're not on the payroll. But it was worth it. Luckily we didn't have to cut the bumper to make room for the electronic sawy bar disconnect. We got the winch selanoid to fit on top of the winch w/o having to modify a bracket to mount the selanoid box forward. Dodged 2 bullets there.

My only worry is that the crush cans are not being used anymore. Will that really effect me in a crash at low speeds? I don't want my airbags deploying if I hit something going 10 mph.

 

Glad to hear its all installed! When I originally did my bumper install, I had 2 friends help me. Total time to install it was about 4 hours and we never actually hooked the winch up at that point! reason it took so long was that none of us had ever put a winch together and none of us was smart enough to use the instructions! So ended up mounting the winch a total of 3 times before we "thought" we had it right.

During the install, I asked, hey, is it just the one red wire that hooks up to my battery? answer was, I guess so! Once all the bolts were on (this was the second install attempt), I moved down the counter area and looked in the shipping box and said "do we need this black wire?" So off it came again before our thrid and final attempt that day.

When all was said and done that day, we had everything bolted onto the Jeep but realized we had mounted the winch in the wrong holes. we had used the holes made specifially for the Warn powerplant. Only way we caught it is when my friends says, "I like the bumper but I don't like how the winch sits off center". I finally went and got the instructions and that was when we realized our error.

the good news is that I've had the bumper off and on several times do to various things. Once you get the hang of it, it can be done it record time.

Glad to hear you got the updated bumper like I had so no cuting was required. How about the skid? Did you get that and did you install it without the need to cut the front crossmember?

I can't answer your question on the airbag situtation. I kind of want to know as well!

and finally... where are the pics?

 

Don't say you weren't warned!! I posted that issue in my above post....sucks huh?

Still loving my XHD....I get tons of comments on it from other Jeep owners around here.

G

 

Anybody know what the weight of the xhd with a stinger is compared to stock bumper? Looking to buy one soon but don't have a lift and I'm not planning to lift for a while. Will it sag a lot?

 

I don't know about the stinger but with a winch and hoop mine dropped about an inch.

 

Yeah, I finally decided to read instructions on anything I work on now to avoid any headaches. I did my RR XHD in about 3 hours alone including removing the stock bumper. It would have taken longer if I didn't read the instructions. I installed the winch later. That only took about 1 hour. I made my own control box mount so it would face the W forward. I didn't want the cables rubbing on the grill. That way I don't have to worry about the insulation rubbing off or wearing a hole in the grill. Laying the controller flat seemed to get the cables a little too close to the grill for comfort. I just had to extend the winch motor ground wire.

 

crap, I didnt really look at the instructions when I installed mine and I think I may have placed my winch in the wrong holes...lol. thing was such a pain, I wish I had installed it with the bumper off.

 

You have a Smitty winch right? I have the XRC10 with synthetic line. It came with an chromish looking fairlead with bolts long enough to reach the back of my Jeep! LOL!! That was the primary reason we used the "wrong" holes becasue my winch wouldn't fit with the fairlead bolts in place. When I fixed everything, I ended up having to grind the fairlead bolts down about 1/4" to 1/2" each so I could move the winch to the correct holes. Luckily, I did this at my father's house and he has a table top grinder. Once that was done, moved everything over and the winch sits perfectly centered.....although still haven't needed to use it even after several attempts to get stuck...damn Rubicon!

Let me know if you need help when you go to fix yours...I was told you need it centered or you could have issues when using it. I'm just down the road in East Bridgewater and Jason (who I think you know....rescue green unlimited Sahara) is also about 5 minutes away from me. Always glad to help if we can!

And yes..when you go to fix it, take the bumper off!! Much easier!

 

does anyone have the mounting dimensions of the winch mounting holes for this bumper? I have searched and can only find pictures...

I ordered the RR XHD bumper and am looking at winches. Leaning towards the Warn M8000, or the Superwinch 09034 EPi9.0 Series Master Winch both sound like good winches and are under $600 on sale... I really wanted synthetic rope but I can't find the warn with that. I also do not want to modify anything since I really don't have the tools to do cutting etc.... so does anyone have the mounting dimensions of the winch mounting holes for this bumper? I have searched and can only find pictures...

I want to order the Winch tomorrow... so I need to decide soon..
thanks for all the good post on working with this bumper..... etc...

oh yea Merry Christmas ... Happy holidays....

 

Not to answer my own questions but I found the dim. for a RR 10500 winch and it shows 10" by 4.5" mounting holes... so now My question would be any body have thoughts on this winch RR10500lb w/synthetic rope,


http://www.amazon.com/Rugged-Ridge-1...3305859&sr=1-2