Toys by Troy Front Bumper

Note:  Toys by Troy shut down their operation at the end of 2007.  Instead of removing this write-up, I am leaving it on the web site for a couple of reasons.  The steps for installing it are pretty much the same as one from another manufacturer and so you’ll get an idea of what is involved if you decide to do this type of modification.  If you happen to come across one on the used market, you’ll have some information about it that can help you do the installation correctly.

At a recent OHV area cleanup, I won a raffle prize.  The prize, graciously donated by Troy, of Toys-by-Troy,  was a front sport bar setup for my TJ.  Since I already had one in the Jeep (welded in no less), Troy allowed me to trade it for something else.  I opted to pick up one of his front bumpers.  I had been running my old shortened stock bumper and decided it was time to get something a bit more sturdy.  So, having the day off, I gave Troy a call and then stopped by to retrieve my prize.  I tossed the bumper in the back of the TJ and headed for home for a quick install.

With the bumper home and put on an old blanket that I keep in the garage, I took a quick inventory of everything.  I had a light bracket, two T-handles for securing my hi-lift jack, and a couple of nuts and bolts.  Looked good to me….time to get started!

A 3/4″ socket, a 15mm wrench, and a #55 Torx made quick work of my existing bumper.  (sure am glad I don’t have to lug that winch and mounting plate around all day long!)

I checked the threaded holes, just to make sure everything was OK.  I put a few drops of oil on the threads since I didn’t want the bolts to seize on me.  I use lock washers on the Grade 8 bolts so I was not worried about the bolts backing out of their holes.

In this picture, you can see two sets of mounting holes on the center tube.  These holes are used for securing the hi-lift jack and the light bracket.  Since the folks that made the HI-Lift jack decided to use two different hole spacings on their product, Troy set up these two pair of mounting holes to accomodate both jack spacings.  So, it does not matter which version of the jack you have, one of the pair of mounting holes will fit it (pretty cool!).

Well, as luck would have it, I put the HI-Lift bar in place and as you can see, the mounting bolt and the hole did not line up correctly.  (Murphy’s Law of Bumper Installation!)

So, the mounting studs were moved from the outer pair of mounting holes…..

and the stud was moved to the inner holes.  At the same time, I used the supplied bolt to secure the light bracket in place.  That is the bulk of the “setup” for getting your bumper ready to bolt onto your TJ. 

I put the winch back up on the frame rails and managed to slip the bumper in underneath the winch mounting plate.  Not too bad, if I say so myself!  Time to tighten the mounting bolts and reroute my winch power cables back up to the Optima battery.