Ok my finesse level often hovers just above empty and I am definitely known to drive by braille at times. So after beating the shit out of the corners of my front Savvy aluminum bumper on the rocks in Arizona last month I figured it was time to go with Savvy's "Bumper Hardcore Upgrade" before totally fucking the corners up.
It's a pretty simple kit, two massively thick pieces of aluminum cut and shaped to fit the corners and 16 big flat head screws with nuts. They are cut differently for the left and right sides and they can be placed upside down but then they fit wonky... takes just a few seconds to figure out which goes where and how.
Remove all but one top bolt on the Savvy bumper and swing it open. I inserted one bolt back into a bolt hole to prevent the bumper from going back against the frame while drilling the holes with the specified 5/16" bit. Use a c-clamp to hold the guard in position then level the front part with a bubble level. Drill one hole and insert its nut and bolt and snug it down then drill one more after the bend on the flat part and snug its nut and bolt down. This is so it won't shift out of its level position while drilling the rest of them.
The four bolts on the angled ends can be tightened with a big-ass screwdriver and socket but the bolts on the flat part are harder to tighten since it's hard to get to the nuts unless you have completely removed the bumper. Blaine's instructions, and he designed this, advise the use of an impact wrench with an oversize phillips head driver which is the best way to go. The nuts have a serrated edge on the flat edge so once finger tight, the impact wrench, set to its lowest torque setting, makes quick work of tightening them.
Why didn't I paint them with a nice glossy black paint to match the bumper? Basically feeling too lazy yesterday and since they won't rust, decided to leave them raw. I like the bare aluminum look.
All in all it's a nice way to reinforce the corners of your Savvy bumper if you do rocks and are as inept as I am on them. 12 years of running this bumper with barely touching it most of the time but the last couple trails were just nailing it mercilessly. If that's you, get this!
It's a pretty simple kit, two massively thick pieces of aluminum cut and shaped to fit the corners and 16 big flat head screws with nuts. They are cut differently for the left and right sides and they can be placed upside down but then they fit wonky... takes just a few seconds to figure out which goes where and how.
Remove all but one top bolt on the Savvy bumper and swing it open. I inserted one bolt back into a bolt hole to prevent the bumper from going back against the frame while drilling the holes with the specified 5/16" bit. Use a c-clamp to hold the guard in position then level the front part with a bubble level. Drill one hole and insert its nut and bolt and snug it down then drill one more after the bend on the flat part and snug its nut and bolt down. This is so it won't shift out of its level position while drilling the rest of them.
The four bolts on the angled ends can be tightened with a big-ass screwdriver and socket but the bolts on the flat part are harder to tighten since it's hard to get to the nuts unless you have completely removed the bumper. Blaine's instructions, and he designed this, advise the use of an impact wrench with an oversize phillips head driver which is the best way to go. The nuts have a serrated edge on the flat edge so once finger tight, the impact wrench, set to its lowest torque setting, makes quick work of tightening them.
Why didn't I paint them with a nice glossy black paint to match the bumper? Basically feeling too lazy yesterday and since they won't rust, decided to leave them raw. I like the bare aluminum look.
All in all it's a nice way to reinforce the corners of your Savvy bumper if you do rocks and are as inept as I am on them. 12 years of running this bumper with barely touching it most of the time but the last couple trails were just nailing it mercilessly. If that's you, get this!
