nikhsub1
FRF Addict
Well I bit the bullet and got myself the ADD Race R series front bumper along with a Baja Designs OnX6 ARC dual control 30" light bar. The bumper came via FedEx freight - in a box bigger than a twin bed and on a double pallet. The thing was packaged super well, all hardware was there - more than I expected. The first thing I did was install the light bar into the bumper, seemed simple enough. Of course, I used the hardware that came with the light bar thinking this was the only option. No. I got it in but it sat way too far back in the bumper, about an inch recessed. Not happy, I decided to open the hardware box that came with the bumper. A hah! ADD includes like 10 different brackets.
After spending a couple hours messing with the light bar install and getting it just so, I then moved on to removing the OEM bumper and skid plate. This is by far the easiest step of the job. If you don't have a good impact gun you must be a *********. The OEM bumper is surprisingly light BTW. This particular ADD bumper uses 6 bolts to hold it to the truck, that's it. 2 on each frame horn and 2 at the back of the skid plate. Anyway, I chose this bumper because of all the non chop bumpers, this one offers the best approach angle (at least from ADD). 2 people are required to at least hand thread 2 bolts on the bumper, after that it's cake.
I chose the amber/white light bar because amber helps a lot in the fog/dust and I love the fact that the amber and white are on separate switches so I can have one or the other or both together. BD makes wiring for our Raptors super simple with their uplifter cables. I had no trouble locating the wires however the color codes in my manual are no where near correct. I just used a volt meter to determine which switches I wanted to use.
It's weird seeing so much more of the guts of the truck with this bumper. The OEM hides so much you don't realize it until you switch it out. It will take some getting used to I think. Changing the oil filter will be a chore now I think, not sure how I am going to approach that, we'll see. I'm pretty **** about things so I really took my time, tried to align things as perfect as possible and I also spent time trying to make the wiring look as oem as possible. I wish Ford would have made the wires a bit longer but not a huge obstacle.
Anyway, next week I'll tackle my A Pillar BD quads on SDHQ brackets.
After spending a couple hours messing with the light bar install and getting it just so, I then moved on to removing the OEM bumper and skid plate. This is by far the easiest step of the job. If you don't have a good impact gun you must be a *********. The OEM bumper is surprisingly light BTW. This particular ADD bumper uses 6 bolts to hold it to the truck, that's it. 2 on each frame horn and 2 at the back of the skid plate. Anyway, I chose this bumper because of all the non chop bumpers, this one offers the best approach angle (at least from ADD). 2 people are required to at least hand thread 2 bolts on the bumper, after that it's cake.
I chose the amber/white light bar because amber helps a lot in the fog/dust and I love the fact that the amber and white are on separate switches so I can have one or the other or both together. BD makes wiring for our Raptors super simple with their uplifter cables. I had no trouble locating the wires however the color codes in my manual are no where near correct. I just used a volt meter to determine which switches I wanted to use.
It's weird seeing so much more of the guts of the truck with this bumper. The OEM hides so much you don't realize it until you switch it out. It will take some getting used to I think. Changing the oil filter will be a chore now I think, not sure how I am going to approach that, we'll see. I'm pretty **** about things so I really took my time, tried to align things as perfect as possible and I also spent time trying to make the wiring look as oem as possible. I wish Ford would have made the wires a bit longer but not a huge obstacle.
Anyway, next week I'll tackle my A Pillar BD quads on SDHQ brackets.
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