ok so first things first, i am a paying customer, i was not given a set of these by CBI -they did cover my shipping though, and CBI is not paying me for any advertising. i have never owned a CBI product before. i have head several things about CBI, all of them have been good, and i have seen a couple of bumpers made by them and like what i saw, so my expectations are high. that being said the brackets look great, and well built -quality
installing was fairly easy, one person can do it, it would be easier with two people. instructions are kind of lacking, ie there are none that come in the box, you have to go to their web page to get them -CBI might want to fix that, as not everyone has access to the interwebs all the time.
they will NOT fit on a vehicle with a snorkel, -at least not the ARB safari snorkel(which is the most popular snorkel out there for our rigs. the bracket hits the snorkel (as i initially suspected it would) and holds the fender about 3/4" away from being able to bolt back up or reattach the upper support on the snorkel to the A pillar. i think that if CBI could move the bracket in about 1" and up maybe 1/2" it might work. idk
ok onto the things i dont like about this, and im being critical here, not because i dont like CBI(i actually do like their designs on bumpers ect.) but because from what i have seen in the past im expecting great things... so first off i installed these brackets wrong, and they should go ontop of the hood hinge bracket, not under it as i have shown in the pics. if you install like i did you will run into these problems- the brackets are thick at the base, so much so that this will raise the back of the hood so the hood reveal will not be factory or stay nice and neat all the way back, it raises up about 1/4" and its defiantly noticeable. second is the /notches CBI made in the vertical part of the bracket for the hood hinge are ment for the bracket to be installed ontop of the factory hing, not under. those could be made more pronounced and or deeper, as they can rub(because of my installation error), mine does and it will soon wear of the powder coating (its already wore off the paint on the hood hinge) and both will start to rust. third, and this one is nit picky, but you will have to cut the lower valance/cowling at the base of the windscreen/windshield to install these. that will mean, once installed if you ever decide to remove them you will have noticable holes in your cowling at the base of the windscreen/windshield. this can be fixed by sourcing another cowling but could be a hassle.
sense i can not use these as intended and i have already paid for them and installed them or tried to anyhow(drivers side works fine) i am going to go ahead and keep the drivers side, and use it for a CB antenna mount. while the mount does mess with the hood reveal, i put my full weight(185lbs) on the back corner of the hood and that brought it back down a little(not sure what i bent lol but everything still opens and closes just fine) so now the gap is only about 1/8" and so thats a little more tolerable.
all in all, i think this is a good product, a few tweeks and adjustments and it could be a great product that could work with vehicles with a snorkel. but for now, those of us with snorkels are just gonna have to find some place else for lights.
these are pics of the hood hinges before the instal
IMG_5216 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5217 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
removing the windshield wiper caps and wipers
IMG_5224 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5223 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5225 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5228 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
removing the trim cowling below the windshield
IMG_5230 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5229 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
once you get all the screws out, there are 4 small pins on the front of the cowl under the hood that you will need to pop up and out, and then carefully lift up the front of the cowl, pull it forward a little and then lift up the back and pull it out between the hood and the windshield.
remove the top bolts in the door jam for the back of the front fender - 10mm (same for the drivers side)
IMG_5233 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5231 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5232 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
the next step is irreverent, as it only pertains to trucks with snorkels, and this product(as it is now) wont work with the snorkel
IMG_5235 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5234 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
(you will notice that i have installed these incorrectly, as the bracket/mount goes over the factory hood hinge bracket -included instructions with this product could have alleviated this mistake)
next you will remove all the top bolts on the fenders(some how i managed to not get pics of this, i can do that this weekend and update the post with them)
after that you will pull the top of the fender up and over the "lip" on the side core support and out of the way, exposing the two bolts per side of the lower hood hinge. these are the bolts you must remove, they are 12mm. this is where a second paid of hands will come to help, once you unbolt both bolts on one side the hood will want to kick back and could pinch your hand to the hood -not good. under the hinge is two larger washers, you can either leave them between the core and the new bracket or the new bracket and the hood hinge as i did.
IMG_5238 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr
IMG_5236 by
isaacyocum, on Flickr