Installing hitch on 2018 JLUS woes

[aai]

same here, with plastic rear bumper on rubicon I was able to slide it out to the side and force it out by bending the plastic out of the way some.

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[Curtjeep]

I ordered one from amazon which had installation instructions for this bracket that you have. Let me see if I can find it and snap some pics. Ironically enough, my JL had no brackets over those holes, LOL... Jeep may have forgotten a couple parts ob mine.

If I remember correctly, in order to mount it you had to loosen some bolts near the outside of the bumper or something...

 

[WXman]

Hmm.. mine had no bracket. I used the Draw-Tite hitch and was about a 10 minute job.

 

[jerseymike]

I had the same problem, I just loosened the bracket, and slid the hitch up to line up with the holes. Worked fine. I did have a little trouble creating enough space in between the bracket and the bumper, but it worked.

same here
installed MOPAR hitch on both my sahara and now my rubicon, both had the bracket, I loosened it by removing bolts from plastic bumper and slid hitch in between.....after first time it only took about 20min to install hitch (wiring is another story though)

 

[timn1984]

same here
installed MOPAR hitch on both my sahara and now my rubicon, both had the bracket, I loosened it by removing bolts from plastic bumper and slid hitch in between.....after first time it only took about 20min to install hitch (wiring is another story though)

Ahh Yes the wiring, I did not wire mine. Not sure if I am going to pull anything at this point. I just put the hitch on for extra basket storage or bicycles. Not in to trailers yet. When the time comes I'll probably have someone wire it, I'm not taking on that task.

 

[Ogre_FL]

Hmm.. mine had no bracket. I used the Draw-Tite hitch and was about a 10 minute job.

I just put a Draw-tite on mine and like wise I don't have that bracket/nuts either.
It should have been a 10 minute job, but 2 of the holes in the frame of the Jeep would not let the bolts pass through.
One of the inner pair and one of the outer.

It was a pain in the ass, but I was able to get a round file up in there and open them up just enough to get the bolts through.

 

[Candsevo7]

Hi Chomper.

My UK spec Rubicon has the same metal bracket.

Like yours, it has two captive nuts which align with the outer holes on the receiver fitting. As you mention, there are existing bolts running through the cross member to secure that bumper bracket.
The metal bracket on mine is a little different to the one in your photo in that it has two large cut outs where the central receiver bolts go through the cross member.

I was able to create enough space between the cross member and metal bracket to slide the u section receiver in place. I just levered it out carefully with a couple of pry bars, one either side. Then I refitted the outer two bolts, clamping the U section in place.

So the inner two receiver bolts have their nuts running directly onto the receiver.

And the outer two bolts use the captive nuts on that bumper bracket, with the receiver sandwiched between the cross member and the bumper bracket. My receiver fitting instructions said to refit the existing outer bolts.

Hope this makes sense.

The bigger challenge I had in the UK is that there is a diesel adblue tank bolted to the rear cross member on the right hand side of the vehicle which makes it very difficult to pass the right hand inner and outer bolt through the receiver and cross member. The tank is in the way
There are also two vertical bolts holding the rear of the tank to the cross member which screw into threaded holes on the cross member. You can see one of those threaded holes on your picture. Some of the earlier JK hitches available in the UK don't have slots cut in them to allow the inner of those vertical bolts holding the Adblue tank bolt to be refitted once the receiver is in place, so they are no good for a JL unless you modify them.

The non MOPAR aftermarket towbar I managed to source was type approved for a JL with adblue tank, but the fitting instructions failed to mention that you need to slacken off the front adblue mounts as well and drop the tank so you can thread those cross member bolts through the chassis.

Given our crazy type approval laws in Europe, I didn't want to modify a JK receiver, and the European JL Mopar kit was no good for me as it only comes with a detachable swan neck type tow ball. We don't use your 2" square section style receiver mount over here. I needed a tow bar with a flange type fitting to take our cycle rack.

Next problem in Europe is the lack of availability on the official wiring harness. I've had one on back order for 2 weeks now and still no ETA from the Dealer. You guessed it, the European spec is different from your USA set up, although I'm sure I could use a USA kit if all else fails and just wire up the socket to European spec. I don't want to use a generic kit with a bypass relay as I'm loathed to tap into each of the tail light harnesses, especially given the can bus set up on the Wrangler and potential warranty issues in the future.

So like you, what I thought was going to be a 15 minute job, ended up taking most of an afternoon.

What did you end up doing with the wiring ?

 

[ps2baseball]

What a cluster. I order the Rugged Ridge. I too can't for the life of me get this pre-installed bracket out, and thus the new hitch won't slip in.

Back it goes to the store!

 

[ps2baseball]

Update:

I was able to get the metal plate - and then it fit. Tight though. There appeared to be some type of adhesive pad in there was well, maybe for sound of vibration. Anyway, when I stuffed the hitch it that scraped off.

I have a JLUR with factory steel bumpers. I didn't loosen the bumper per the Rugged Ridge instructions. The whole thing took much longer than I had hope, but I also have minimal tools.

It also seems a little tilted one way.

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