96-98 Front Bumper on 2002

[Jason B]

I love the 96-98 bumper, but mainly because you can add this:

 

[thatoneguygeoff]

If anyone wants my old stock bumper they can have it. It's off of my 97 limited. It has a pair of small dents from someone backing into me but other than that the chrome is in great shape. Here's a picture of it before I took it off.

 

[MTwEeZi]

I like the 96-98 bumper, and I like the 01-02 grille, but I think they don't work together. The grille bulges out too much next to the slim bumper IMO. I want to do this swap with a Satoshi.

 

[Jason B]

I have the 99-00 grille on mine. I'm not a fan of the 01-02 grille either.

 

[MatthewRM18]

Geoff, I PM'd you about your bumper, and I am eventually going to be doing a "satoshi" mod of my own so it will tie the whole front end in. So if anyone has a 96-98 Bumper or grill that you would be willing to ship to me at cost of shipping I would love you forever.

 

[midcoma]

If you haven't bought anything yet, you can just remove the lower abs section from your bumper. It's not as flat as a 96-98 bumper, but it's not nearly as bad as the fat lip.

Here's how it looks with the lower section removed.



I wanted something to protect the radiator still, so I build a cover from some scrap material I had laying around. I wouldn't call it a skid plate because it's only 14ga aluminum, but it will protect the radiator from debris.



I modified the frame caps so they aren't as big either. I removed the crash bar and didn't need all the mounting holes anymore.

 

[Rockwall4R]

Bumper swap

Sorry to 'revive' an old topic, but I've searched and searched and cant seem to find the size of these bolts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Jason B]

I love the 96-98 bumper, but mainly because you can add this:

Do it

 

[JMIC4]

Following. I finally acquired a 2000 limited. The paint is in awesome shape except the bumpers and flares have a bunch of scrapes and I'm getting quotes in the 2K range to respray. Most of the damage is on the bumpers so I'd like to possibly swap to the chrome version as well. Thanks!

 

[Tyler James Inc]

Sorry to 'revive' an old topic, but I've searched and searched and cant seem to find the size of these bolts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

M10x1.25
They're about 25mm in length.

 

[Rockwall4R]

Re: Bumper Bolt Size

Thanks so much Tyler James.

 

[JZiggy]

Has anyone attempted to trim the fat lip crash bar or the 96-98 bumper plastic to make the early style bumper be able to retain the crash bar?

 

[Jason B]

Is there a way to add a video in here? Can we upload a vid or only pics. Have a vid of a bumper comparo that you guys would find interesting.

 

[Tyler James Inc]

Has anyone attempted to trim the fat lip crash bar or the 96-98 bumper plastic to make the early style bumper be able to retain the crash bar?

No way. Well, there is a way. It would involve cutting the entire crash bar off [emoji6] The mounting points at the front of the frame rails are right behind the early valance once installed. The fat lip is so fat to make room for the crash bar when safety standards when up in '99.

 

[Skunkworks]

Any thoughts on this?
I had a boo-boo with my 2001 limited and I'm looking to replace my front bumper.
Ultimately I'd like an off-road bumper, but I'm not ready for new suspension just yet.

 

[Jason B]

This is still my favorite set up and look if you’re keeping all factory stuff and looks better than adding the 99-02 bumper. The lower spoiler Also fit 5 inch lights that actually work at night and are super bright.

 

[orangemtbrider]

That new lower valence looks insane! I just recently did the 96-98 bumper swap on my 99. Everything went together smoothly, with the exception of having to sawzall out the side bumper bushings that attached to the body. In addition, I noticed as soon as I installed my new bumper (96-98) with the fogs disconnected (96-98 didn't have them), that I was getting hyperflash and that the signals wouldn't work. I ended up replacing my turn signal relay and new bulbs to make it work again. I used my 99 bulbs and sockets in the 96-98 with some cutting of the housings. The 99 have 4 small prongs like the 96-98, but are a little larger and therefore didn't fit the 96-98 housing without modification. I should also recommend using an additional rubber grommet if you plan on using your 99-02 sockets in the old housings, as if not used they will wiggle like crazy.

Hope this helps someone who runs into this in the future!