It was at the spring Off-Road Expo in Pomona, Ca that I met up with Richard Ward of Hanson Offroad an saw their newest bumper, the 42"e; Rock Crawler. Up to that point I was still undecided on which bumper to go with to complete the Jeep. I had already installed Hanson's rear bumper/tire carrier combo and rock sliders on the LJ and was completely impressed with the build quality and strength of their products. This along with the new bumper design that immediately got my attention is what made my decision an easy one.

For the winch, I chose Ramsey's Patriot 9500UT. The UT is the first and only winch with a semi-automatic clutch. What this means to the user is a mush more pleasant winching experience. With a flip of the switch the clutch disengages allowing you to pull the line out and secure it to an anchor point. From there you have the choice of using the included wireless remote or the standard wired control to begin the extraction. Since the clutch automatically engages when the winching begins, there is no more hiking back to the winch to manually engage the clutch and clear the area before beginning.   

The stock bumper is more than capable of supporting a winch but after hitting a ledge or a rock face while off-roading I was looking for more clearance so the tires would be able to reach the obstacles without obstructions.

I also plan on installing tube fenders and wanted a short enough bumper to compliment the fenders.

The installation is really simple for anyone that can turn a wrench. It all began with removing the 6 torx bolts(4 on top and 2 on the bottom). I chose to retain the stock tow hooks and reuse the factory torx bolts for a cleaner look although hanson provides all of the necessary hardware to get the job done. Once the 6 bolts are removed you can pull the stock bumper off. For this installation, the plastic sway bar cover will need to be removed by removing the bolts on each side. You are now ready for installation.

The Ramsey Winch mounts with 4 bolts throught the bottom of the inside of the bumper(this is great for theft prevention since it's nearly impossible to get to the bolts without removing the bumper). This is the part where an extra set of hands will help. Turning the winch upside down I placed it on a few small cardboard boxes to support and balance it while I placed the bumper and fairlead mount on top and lined up the mounting holes. Place 4 nuts and lock washers in the corner recesses then feed to bolts through to join it all together. Once everything is tightened, it's time to flip the whole assembly back over and slide it onto the frame.  

The Hanson bumper is drilled to fit most Jeep applications. I found a slight clearance issue with the sway bar mounts so I simply loosened the mounting bolts, slid the bumper underneath them, and tightened it all down. I chose to reuse the factory tow hooks to retain a front anchor point and to have a spot to hook the winch cable when not in use. As you can see in the picture, the Hanson bumper has an integrated sway bar cover to keep everything clean looking. Once the bumper and winch are secured, it is time to hook up the winch. Simply take the red and black cables from the winch through the grille and bolt them to the corresponding battery terminals(red +, black -).

Stay tuned as we install the wireless receiver to our winch to complete the package!