Front Bumper
Warrior Products wanted to send over their brand new FJ Cruiser Front Winch Bumper for us to in- stall & test on a brand new FJ, so we we jumped at the chance. Tim was kind enough to allow the use of his 2012 TT SE Radiant Red FJ for the project, and met us at High Country Performance 4x4 for the install. Eric, Dennis, and Valerie from HCP were very gracious in letting us use their shop. Special thanks go out to Dennis for his pa- tience during the install. The folks at HCP 4x4 are true professionals and do amazing work!
The instructions provided with the Warrior bumper are adequate and the install should normally take 3-4 hours if you have all the tools needed. Since this FJ is a 2012 there were a few special issues we had to contend with that were not in the original instructions. Our notes have been sent over to Warrior Products so they can include 2010+ specific steps.
Removal of the original bumper is the first obvious step in the pro- cess. It’s done quickly and easily using the Warrior instructions, but we also found the Toyota bum- per removal instructions (found here) helpful since they include diagrams. It’s important to keep in mind that some of the hardware from the original bumper must be retained for use on the new bum- per, especially the large nuts hold- ing the OEM reinforcement bracket on. Don’t throw anything away un- til you’re done with the install.
The biggest change in the 2010+ FJs as far as front bumpers go is, of course, the washer fluid
bottle. In order to setup the truck for right hand drive more easily, Toyota moved the washer fluid bot- tle down below the engine com- partment, which exposes it with virtually any aftermarket bumper. While Expedition One sells a kit to replace this bottle, Tim wasn’t sure he wanted to take that route just yet. Shooting the bottle with black spray paint effectively hides it, but it’s still exposed and could get
hung up on an obstacle on some trails. Check
FJCruiserforums.com for options other than the Expedi- tion One bottle if you’ll be install- ing an aftermarket bumper. The bottle must be removed to install the winch plate, so we recommend doing that early in the process.
Washer Bottle Before Removal
Once the OEM bumper is removed, the difficult work was preparing the FJ before mounting the new bumper. First, you we reshaped the AC condenser tubing to keep it out of the way of the new bumper & winch. Warrior includes steps to accomplish this in their instruc- tions, and Dennis took it a step further with a bit of rubber tubing to protect the condenser from rub- bing. This is essential to help pre- vent costly damage to the tubing.
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