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Perry Mack
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
1 – Remove the plastic front air dam, disconnect the fog lamps from the wiring harness and remove the OEM bumper bolts and bumper.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
2 – Remove the fogs from the old bumper and reinstall in the new with the supplied hardware. If the holes don’t line up, you are holding the fogs upside down. The hardware for the fog lights didn't fit. Just to prove it to ourselves we broke one in the bumper. Pulled out a tap. 8-32 NC and rethreaded the holes – perfect.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
3 – If necessary (and it was), use a cut-off saw to remove the excess metal to create a flush cross-member. Remember to paint the newly virgin metal.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
4 – Disconnect the hoses and electrical, then unbolt the auxiliary vacuum pump.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
5 – On 2013 and up models, the secondary horn is right where you want to put the pump. You will have to modify the bracket by adding two 90-degree bends and drilling out the hole at the end of the bracket.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
6 – Relocate the horn next to the firewall on the upper drivers side stud for the brake booster.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
7 – Fit the pump into the bracket so the intake nipple points to the coolant reservoir, and then install the bracket.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
8 – Cut the plastic ties that hold the pump hose in place and pull them into the engine compartment. This pic shows the final step as the smaller intake hose is routed along the loom next to the firewall.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
9 – The electrical wires (green and black) are now too short. The kit comes with the wire, butt connectors, and wire loom to reach the new vacuum pump location. Splice in the new wires, reattach the harness and apply heat to the connectors to shrink and seal them.
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Perry Mack
Teraflex Rockguard Epic Front Bumper
10 – Mount the bumper. The instructions say you'll only have to drill out one hole but our passenger side OSM holes didn't line up and had to be drilled. Then install two of the button head screws up through the bottom of the bumper and into the cross member. You’ll need to drill a hole for the third using a ½” bit. With the bumper centred, torque all the bolts to 80 ft-lbs and reconnect the fog lamp wiring.
Story & photos by Perry Mack
Clean lines, perfect welds, black powder-coated heavy gauge steel, with a lasercut Teraflex logo just screams ‘I mean Business’. Which is good because this is the business end of your Jeep. When push comes to shove, grind and pull, you need the equivalent of a tank front end to get you through the tough stuff unscathed. Or you can continually replace mangled OEM bumpers. As the industry strives to cut weight to improve fuel efficiency, and cuts dollars to improve margins, you’ll soon realize your kids $40 Tonka toys are built stronger than your new $40,000 truck.
We choose the Teraflex Rockguard Epic with the hoop, but this bumper also comes in a ‘hoopless’ version. It is setup up to accept your factory fogs, or in our case, our J.W. Speaker LED fogs, and is ready and willing to accept a winch. The factory tow hooks are replaced with secure clevis mounts bolted inline with the frame. When you are ready to put your best foot forward, here is the place to start.
The install requires some basic wrenching along with a bit of drilling and grinding. If your JK is 2012 or newer however, you will also have to relocate an auxiliary vacuum pump, which will involve simple electrical and hose connections and fittings.
The Jeep engineers ran out of room in the engine compartment (hard to believe) on 2012 and up editions, so they put the vacuum pump behind the front bumper. You will need the Teraflex Vacuum Pump Relocator kit to correct their error. Its new location is the same bit of real estate that items like under hood mount On Board Air (OBA) systems like ARB use.
It took us as longer to move the vacuum pump than it did to do the balance of the front bumper install. Thank-you to the bonehead engineer responsible at Jeep.
Step back and have a look like a proud new papa. Your JK’s front end is now bolder, tougher, ready for a winch and a trail ride!
Installation time: 3 hours
MSRP: $1,144.99 USD - www.teraflex.com
Thanks to my fellow 4x4 enthusiasts at Kelowna Trucksworks www.kelownatruckworks.com