JCR Crusader Wrangler TJ Rear Bumper Install

Since the jeepfan.com 2004 TJ Unlimited has been added to our fleet it has been lacking a rear bumper. Nearly immediately the factory rear bumper was removed and the Jeep remained bare. What’s funny is since we span the Jeep line the TJ with no bumper was kind of normal looking since most CJ’s never had bumpers. Anyway, with that longer rear section on the TJ Unlimited extra protection was needed.

We shopped around and decided on the JCR Mid-Width Crusader rear bumper. This is a substantial and stylish bumper that fits both the TJ and TJ Unlimited perfectly. The JCR bumper features recessed cube style light mounts, hi-lift jack holes, a receiver mount and d-ring tabs. In addition the bumper is ready made to mount a tire carrier too.

Installation

Since our TJ had no bumper (or rather it was removed quite a while ago) we could jump right in to the install. JCR offers their bumpers in bare metal or finished. We chose the bare metal to allow us to match the finish to the other parts on the TJ. This adds some extra work but can be worth the time in the end, especially when it comes to fixing up rock rash later. We first mounted up the bumper to test fit everything. On a TJ it’s necessary to drill two holes for the bumper to mount to. There is a template but we just measured it out.

We decided to paint the bumper in two steps, inside then out. Also, we decided to paint the outside of the bumper on the Jeep to avoid paint damage during installation. The bumper was given a good cleaning using Simple Green and water to remove any manufacturing gunk left over.

With the bumper mounted to the Jeep we got it ready for paint. The back of the Jeep was masked up and we did another wipe down to remove any oils from installation.

After allowing sufficient time for the paint to dry the 3″ KC LED Cube lights were installed and the job was complete. The lights will need to have some wiring done to get them working.