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Mounting Aux Lights on Steel Bumper

mrtm1970

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I'm not really fond of the idea of modifying my steel bumper when it's already got a bunch of threaded holes everywhere. Really wish someone made a longer accessory bracket for the front 3 holes, sorta like the Maximus-3 Dually bracket with the same angled setback, but not quite as high and something you could just as easily drill yourself for your own light placement or for more than 2 lights.

Wish I knew how to cleanly fab something like that myself and really kinda surprised/disappointed that Mopar/JPP, @BajaDesigns , @Diode Dynamics , @KC HiLiTES and other light manufacturers that are already making several Wrangler-specific lighting mounts haven't already come up with any single mount adapters and multi-mount brackets for our steel bumper like Maximus-3 has with their Dually and 10" bar mounts.
Actually none of the ā€œholesā€ are threaded. They all have threaded clips. These are the ones I took out:

Jeep Wrangler JL Mounting Aux Lights on Steel Bumper D3F3BA2B-3281-4E3D-A5B2-03B137CF1C7F


AND those actually are on the steel plate that covers over where a Winch would go. The holes we drilled bigger ARE through holes already šŸ˜Š So you donā€™t drill out threads šŸ˜Š
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AFD

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Actually none of the ā€œholesā€ are threaded. They all have threaded clips. These are the ones I took out:

Jeep Wrangler JL Mounting Aux Lights on Steel Bumper D3F3BA2B-3281-4E3D-A5B2-03B137CF1C7F


AND those actually are on the steel plate that covers over where a Winch would go. The holes we drilled bigger ARE through holes already šŸ˜Š So you donā€™t drill out threads šŸ˜Š
Yeah, @Clint Eastwood clarified that for me last week. I just meant I wasn't a fan of over-boring the existing holes and that it just seemed unnecessary to do so or to drill new holes when there's already so many existing mounting holes (with threads via those clips). Not really a big deal I guess, but just not crazy about making changes that I can't bring exactly back to stock if and when I ever need to sell the vehicle. Having a mounting bracket like the Maximus-3 Dually easily avoids this, though I'm thinking it sits a little too high for me to have anything substantial mounted beneath my winch/grille guard.

Are you saying your winch blanking plate is already drilled with those threaded clips - or that those clips are mounted to the blanking plate for the front holes? I don't recall ever seeing any accessible holes on mine.
 

mrtm1970

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Yeah, @Clint Eastwood clarified that for me last week. I just meant I wasn't a fan of over-boring the existing holes and that it just seemed unnecessary to do so or to drill new holes when there's already so many existing mounting holes (with threads via those clips). Not really a big deal I guess, but just not crazy about making changes that I can't bring exactly back to stock if and when I ever need to sell the vehicle. Having a mounting bracket like the Maximus-3 Dually easily avoids this, though I'm thinking it sits a little too high for me to have anything substantial mounted beneath my winch/grille guard.

Are you saying your winch blanking plate is already drilled with those threaded clips - or that those clips are mounted to the blanking plate for the front holes? I don't recall ever seeing any accessible holes on mine.
I understand your concern, but with how much more the holes are drilled out, the head of the bolt will still cover the bigger hole (which isnā€™t that much larger).

As for the blank plate question, the answer is both. The winch blank plate will have just a bit bigger hole in them than the threaded bolt. For the bolt to go through the threaded clips, there has to be holes in the plate for the bolts to pass through. When you pull the clips off of the plate you will be left with seeing the through holes in the plate. Basically there is through holes in your bumper AND the winch plate at the same location. The threaded clips are pushed onto the winch plate to now provide threading for the bolts.
 
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AFD

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I understand your concern, but with how much more the holes are drilled out, the head of the bolt will still cover the bigger hole (which isnā€™t that much larger).

As for the blank plate question, the answer is both. The winch blank plate will have just a bit bigger hole in them than the threaded bolt. For the bolt to go through the threaded clips, there has to be holes in the plate for the bolts to pass through. When you pull the clips off of the plate you will be left with seeing the through holes in the plate. Basically there is through holes in your bumper AND the winch plate at the same location. The threaded clips are pushed onto the winch plate to now provide threading for the bolts.
Ah gotcha, thanks! Thought you were saying there were additional exposed mounting points back where the winch goes.

And since the stock bolts can be reinstalled into an over-bored hole and still cover the hole, couldn't you just remove the larger mounting bolt for most lights and just use the stock bolt in its place? Think I read of someone doing that with one of the Mopar lights, but wasn't sure if this was also possible with KC Lights, Baja Designs or Diode Dynamics lamps. Seems like it would work and still hold fine, maybe using a washer if needed, but wasn't sure how accessible their mounts were for swapping a bolt like that.
 

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SWVA JLUR

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Appreciate it. I have flex era 4ā€™s for the bumper and couldnā€™t pass the bolt. I read you have to remove the threaded part but some are saying you have to drill out the hole also.
 

AZ Hella

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Appreciate it. I have flex era 4ā€™s for the bumper and couldnā€™t pass the bolt. I read you have to remove the threaded part but some are saying you have to drill out the hole also.
Mine dropped right in without any modification.
 

Fuel Fire Desire

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Not sure if itā€™s been posted yet, but I found a fairlead mount that fits a 10ā€ bar perfectly. I had wanted to mount the hyperspot bar under the driving beam cubes off of the bull bar, but had interference issues with the winch. After a few hours of thinking and measuring I figured I just had to make a bracket. Out of luck I came across a factory bracket that was made to work with Warn/ XRC winch fairleads (oversized).

Iā€™m not a huge fan of it being slightly in front of the bumper, but it works. KD Fabworks.


Jeep Wrangler JL Mounting Aux Lights on Steel Bumper {filename}
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