AEV JL bumpers now available

[guarnibl]

Interesting. Visually my center section lines up pretty well, but the far left bolt that points down to the ground doesn't line up. As I mentioned above, I'll be redoing much of the install when my Baja light shows up and I'm imagining I can get all that to line up. I guess I'll find out.

I was able to get it on yesterday. We had to pry a lot to line it up, but that was after using a step bit to expand the holes of the center section. Zero possibility to get it lined up without that -- even tried it with the left corner untorqued to see if I could wiggle it around, but that didn't help either. I'm thinking it could be the 392 frame, but who knows. My guess is that there's slight differences vs when AEV designed it. My center section's coating was damaged pretty badly in shipping, and the AEV touch up paint is sheen vs the coating which is textured/flat. Worst case, it's $350 for a new center section which I can replace later if it bothers me.

Oh, my center parking sensors don't work now either, so I had to disable park sense. I heard that they don't like being near metal, so that might be part of the issue. My corners work fine, but they're in plastic.

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[COKENOGOOD]

I don't know that they can do much better IMO. It's a complicated process and if you're purchasing 5 different things at once (bumper, tire carrier, fuel caddy, mug guard, fender guard) it's just the nature of the beast that the instructions can't accommodate for the different combinations people may purchase at once. There are good reasons why it's engineered in three pieces, but having the corners install and then connecting them with a centerpiece just requires a little patience. And shimming most likely to get perfect.

There are pretty good videos that if you watch before hand, and review during it will keep the installation going okay (northridge 4x4 I think has the best one). It's just a lot of steps, and getting out of order at all, or wanting to experiment with an idea that you think may be better than instructions, means you'll be backtracking from time to time.

If you had a nearby shop that's installed several of these, I'd personally have someone else do it if you're totally confident in their work. Otherwise, I wouldn't let anyone do this install except for myself as I would expect a shop to make some of the same missteps and that stress and time constraints would push them to rush the install and make even more mistakes.

I’m at Australia, which is far from the states.
If it’s only the instructions are not detailed, that fine for me.
im more worried about the quality issues. So far, i have heard:
1. Holes are not inline.
2. Surface is damaged.
3. Camera connector is not fit.

that’s why I’m still watching. I hope their production become more reliable.

 

[guarnibl]

I’m at Australia, which is far from the states.
If it’s only the instructions are not detailed, that fine for me.
im more worried about the quality issues. So far, i have heard:
1. Holes are not inline.
2. Surface is damaged.
3. Camera connector is not fit.

that’s why I’m still watching. I hope their production become more reliable.

All three of those are unavoidable based on what I’m seeing. I don’t think they include the updated harness by default so it might be ideal to request one ahead of time .

If it’s coming all the way to AU it’s probably a safe bet it’ll be damaged IMO. You can fix the rest of the stuff like holes not aligning ( prying with two people and drilling out the holes more ). Probably prepare to re coat the entire thing though and if you don’t have to consider it luck. If I installed it a second time I’m 99.9% positive those holes would still get drilled out further.

 

[guarnibl]

I’m at Australia, which is far from the states.
If it’s only the instructions are not detailed, that fine for me.
im more worried about the quality issues. So far, i have heard:
1. Holes are not inline.
2. Surface is damaged.
3. Camera connector is not fit.

that’s why I’m still watching. I hope their production become more reliable.

Oh also park sense won’t work unless you get lucky it seems. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that factory bumpers surround the sensors in plastic as opposed to steel and my corner sensors ( in plastic ) work but center ones don’t. After Moab ( EJS ) I’m going to fiddle with it more. I can probably make it work. There’s no instructions on them though other than mount it to the bracket and original harness.

But yeah overall…. It seems like a nice bumper and does resemble factory but they’ve got some revisions to do for sure.

 

[xylodan]

I’m at Australia, which is far from the states.
If it’s only the instructions are not detailed, that fine for me.
im more worried about the quality issues. So far, i have heard:
1. Holes are not inline.
2. Surface is damaged.
3. Camera connector is not fit.

that’s why I’m still watching. I hope their production become more reliable.

As far as 2 and 3 goes, mine arrived in perfect condition and my camera connected up without any problem.

I'll report back as to what it takes to get the one stubborn hole lined up on the driver side of the bumper.

This week or weekend I'll be getting the Baja light in the mail and I'll complete the install.

 

[COKENOGOOD]

Oh also park sense won’t work unless you get lucky it seems. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that factory bumpers surround the sensors in plastic as opposed to steel and my corner sensors ( in plastic ) work but center ones don’t. After Moab ( EJS ) I’m going to fiddle with it more. I can probably make it work. There’s no instructions on them though other than mount it to the bracket and original harness.

But yeah overall…. It seems like a nice bumper and does resemble factory but they’ve got some revisions to do for sure.

If I

As far as 2 and 3 goes, mine arrived in perfect condition and my camera connected up without any problem.

I'll report back as to what it takes to get the one stubborn hole lined up on the driver side of the bumper.

This week or weekend I'll be getting the Baja light in the mail and I'll complete the install.

Which year model is your JL?
I haven’t looked at what my connector looks like.
Mine is MY20. I’m also not sure whether there is a difference between LHD and RHD. Because mine is RHD…
Glad you have worked it out.
please share pics once installation finished.

 

[xylodan]

If I

Which year model is your JL?
I haven’t looked at what my connector looks like.
Mine is MY20. I’m also not sure whether there is a difference between LHD and RHD. Because mine is RHD…
Glad you have worked it out.
please share pics once installation finished.

MY21

 

[xylodan]

MY21

Wrapped up the install yesterday and have some crappy photos.

Goal was to:
install fender/mud guards and a baja rear light - Success
Correct interference between rear window and fuel caddy - Success
Correct alignment on driver side, top facing holes of center bumper and corner tank - Failed


I had success in getting the rear window to clear the fuel caddy. The secret to success here is use a level and make sure the connecting tube is completely perpendicular to the ground/car (and obviously perform on level ground).

I did not succeed in getting the one stubborn hole lined up on the left on the top facing part of the center bumper section. There are two possible reasons. One is that you can see if the photo that my driver side isn't totally level and if were leveled, it would guide the hole closer to the proper spot. BUT, not as easily seen in photo, is that there's a big fat weld that interferes with the bottom part of the center bumper so I'm not totally sure going through the effort to level the driver tank would really do the job.


You can see this tank is not quite level and the rear tilts up slightly. I may correct this at some point as it's the last little thing that isn't perfect. But I probably have nearly 40 hours total labor into this trying to get it all right.

To the naked eye, this actually looks pretty straight. I'll try to get another photo as this doesn't really tell the story. You can see the lack of alignment here and perhaps if I leveled the tank it attaches to it would all line up. But as mentioned above, there's a fat weld I'm concerned with that I think would still cause a problem.

This is the only hole I can't get to line up. From what I've read, having just one is a pretty good result.

There's a particular use case for this bumper that relates to how much I carry around large dogs and bicycles and that has to with something raises a tire up enough to get that swing-arm hitch on there which allows me to keep a bike rack attached at all times while still allowing access to get in and out of the back easy. Also I can tow a trailer with all that in place as well. So for me this bumper creates nearly mandatory luxuries in my life so I'm happy with it.

I'm curious to hear how other's experiences are who had dealers/shops install them. I would worry that labor hours would get out of control or the install wouldn't be super clean. Speaking as a former test engineer in the cycling industry who tested nearly finished products, I might call the design of the whole system to be "ambitious" but I can appreciate how in a perfect world (where all welds are clean and tidy and all Jeep frames are perfectly identical in every way) that it's a clever design.

 

[guarnibl]

Wrapped up the install yesterday and have some crappy photos.

Goal was to:
install fender/mud guards and a baja rear light - Success
Correct interference between rear window and fuel caddy - Success
Correct alignment on driver side, top facing holes of center bumper and corner tank - Failed


I had success in getting the rear window to clear the fuel caddy. The secret to success here is use a level and make sure the connecting tube is completely perpendicular to the ground/car (and obviously perform on level ground).

I did not succeed in getting the one stubborn hole lined up on the left on the top facing part of the center bumper section. There are two possible reasons. One is that you can see if the photo that my driver side isn't totally level and if were leveled, it would guide the hole closer to the proper spot. BUT, not as easily seen in photo, is that there's a big fat weld that interferes with the bottom part of the center bumper so I'm not totally sure going through the effort to level the driver tank would really do the job.


You can see this tank is not quite level and the rear tilts up slightly. I may correct this at some point as it's the last little thing that isn't perfect. But I probably have nearly 40 hours total labor into this trying to get it all right.

To the naked eye, this actually looks pretty straight. I'll try to get another photo as this doesn't really tell the story. You can see the lack of alignment here and perhaps if I leveled the tank it attaches to it would all line up. But as mentioned above, there's a fat weld I'm concerned with that I think would still cause a problem.

This is the only hole I can't get to line up. From what I've read, having just one is a pretty good result.

There's a particular use case for this bumper that relates to how much I carry around large dogs and bicycles and that has to with something raises a tire up enough to get that swing-arm hitch on there which allows me to keep a bike rack attached at all times while still allowing access to get in and out of the back easy. Also I can tow a trailer with all that in place as well. So for me this bumper creates nearly mandatory luxuries in my life so I'm happy with it.

I'm curious to hear how other's experiences are who had dealers/shops install them. I would worry that labor hours would get out of control or the install wouldn't be super clean. Speaking as a former test engineer in the cycling industry who tested nearly finished products, I might call the design of the whole system to be "ambitious" but I can appreciate how in a perfect world (where all welds are clean and tidy and all Jeep frames are perfectly identical in every way) that it's a clever design.

Pretty much my experience exactly. I had to use a screw driver/pry bar to get that last hole to come close enough... and even that it was after opening up the holes quite a bit in spots. Mine was nearly perfect from a level standpoint. On a level, flat ground, I was like 0.1 on both sides all said and done.

Do your parking sensors work? I may have asked you this already, if I did I'm sorry. Go figure the holes I installed on the plastic corners work fine, but the steel ones that are technically easier to mount (since you don't have to cut anything) do NOT work. Ugh. Turned off park sense for now.

 

[xylodan]

I don't have the parking sensor feature so I can't report on that.

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