Ute Bullbar installation (pictures)

[JohnMcIntyre]

Ute Bullbar installation (lotsofpictures!!!)

Apologies if you're on a relatively slow 56k dial-up llnk. I've cropped the graphics as much as possible, so just be patient whilst they're loading guys... .



As promised here are (some of) the pictures of my UTE installation earlier today (25th November 2003).....



Starting off with a 2001 2nd gen 3500 Sport 1 ton dually with all it's clothes on ...



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and with the front OEM (cosmetic) bumper removed...



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... and the new UTE bullbar seen from the rear. Note the horizontal bracing bar providing structural integrity to the winch box cradle supports. These all need to be removed from the rear of the new bumper and then relocated to the truck itself. In my case, the horizontal bracing bar is not necessary as I am installing a Milemarker hydraulic winch.



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Special thanks to Neil Holland, who is my "hands model" for this exercise. The availability of compressed-air aided wrenches is highly recommended... .



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and the bracing bar is now history... .



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TDR graphics/images posting rules limit the number of images per individual post so I'll "reply" to myself for the next set of pictures... ...

 

[dresslered]

Uhhh?

No can see?

 

[HVAC]

That new stealth bumper has rendered your otherwise red truck invisible



Glad you got to stop by the meeting John.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 2....

Okay, now we've got most of the hardware relocated... the circular cut-out below in the (rear of the) Bullbar is for the Dodge factory foglights from the standard Sport configuration.



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You'll be pleased to know that this hardware is **VERY** securely fastened to the rear surface of the UTE bullbar - thank God for air-wrenches and patience!



Ongoing transition of the mounting hardware, now relocated to the truck!



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Just to prove that if you don't have ready access to air/impact wrenches, this installation can also be completed with regular spanners and wrenches (and patience!!) .....



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An alternate view point... . relocating the hardware from the rear of the front bullbar to the chassis itself. Note especially that UTE provide LOTS of nuts, bolts, washers so a (red!) tray to keep it all together is quite practical .....



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A side-on view - note the slight (forward)tilt to the right - this is really important - Whatever winch you install, it's important to provide as much installation clearance between the winch itself and the front surface of the AC radiator. By tilting the cradle forward, the winch can then be lowered into the cradle and lined up before the cradle assembly is finally locked down into place.



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[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 3....



To summarise - there's an awful lot of mounting hardware - on each side of the winchbox cradle there are 6 mounting points and then a further 4 mounting points to both the chassis support plates, plus two further sets of 2 mounting points underneath the winchbox cradle and two sets of 3 mounting points to the chassis itself. Everything lined up perfectly, which is always indicative of a good design.



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Okay the rest of the pictures which follow in this section illustrate how the UTE bumper support system is assembled and interlocks. It's a sound construction and well thought out.



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This "birds-eye" view shot shows the proximity of winchbox cradle to the AC radiator.



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[HVAC]

OK, do we need to subscribe to get the pics John, kinda like those porn sites???:-laf :-laf

 

[dresslered]

O. k. , somebody must have given me accesss 'cause I can see the pictures now. Looks awfully purdy John, but you cheated and had a helper.



Nowel, you have too many trucks!

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Self-funding bombs....

Originally posted by HVAC

OK, do we need to subscribe to get the pics John, kinda like those porn sites???:-laf :-laf

That's an excellent suggestion Nowell! It could even fund the the next bomb



JMc

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Second thoughts?

Originally posted by dresslered

O Looks awfully purdy John, but you cheated and had a helper.

I know, I know but it was the best compromise so you see what you might have had David... .

 

[dresslered]

I know, I know but it was the best compromise so you see what you might have had David... .

John, I just figured that in my neck of the woods, I have a greater probability of bouncin' Bucks rather than Kangaroo!



Are we ever going to see that Bad Boy completely installed?

 

[willyslover]

Like Nowel said... . the strip show goes on forever David have some patience [at least you don't have two tin cans and a string for a dial up... . or do you ]





Looks great John... I'm think'in I just might have to be in on one of these buys down the raod.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 4....

The UTE bumper support system is almost now complete



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This show shows how the UTE installation uses two existing chassis mounts from the OEM bumper (which incidentally had the structural integrity of reinforced tinfoil). A further mount is required (both sides) and these have to be drilled.



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It's always reassuring to check how level everything is when everything is all tightened down and before you mount the UTE - obviously the same applies to every bumper of course . We nailed that Left-Right bubble dead center and the Front-Rear and Up-Down ones as well, which is another good indicator of a well thought out design for an aftermarket product.



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Next comes the factory foglights and the original OEM plastic brackets are replaced with substantial UTE items instead.



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[dresslered]

Hey,ehh, John? Isn't that an awfully big bracket for that little bitty flashlight?

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 5.....

Patience David!!! And the second Fog light goes in... .



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The Milemarker winch sitting in the cradle; the sharp-eyed amongst you will detect that its the wrong way around as is (for now). The hydraulic connections will require that both the input and output lines be repositioned and this is relatively easy to do on the Milemarker hydraulic winch, (2 bolts)



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The view from underneath the cradle shows where the four mounting bolts pull down on the winch itself. (three shown in place). Note that the complementary threads in the base of the Milemarker winch are fully helicoiled for extra strength and rigidity. (Worth checking for in whatever winch you decide to go with)



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The Milemarker winch was a very tight fit in the cradle. Look carefully and you'll see that the cradle had to be slightly widened in two locations by a further 2mm. The hydraulic input and output lines will get rotated by 90 degrees to appear on the upper surface for ease of lines' routing.



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[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 6...



The AC radiator had to be slightly relocated vertically upwards by about 5mm, to ensure that the winch when installed, would not excessively foul the lower radiator fins.



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And now we begin the reconfiguration of the winch hydraulic input/output connections... .



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The hydraulic input/output is established through a splined drive which can be roated in 90 degree increments - it's quite versatile and is another factor in considering the best winch type for your application... .



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And then it's all put back together and the hydraulic lines hooked up and connected to the power steering box - through a series connection rather than a T-connection, (apparently) to provide improved winch performance.





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Finally sorted out the additional electrical connections to the front turn signals and side maker lights and offered up the UTE before final tightening down. It was a better fit than Cinderella's shoe!



Unfortunately, we ran out of time to finish off the remaining aspects of the winch installation completely, (bedding down the cable on the drum with a 500kg pull, control box mounting, cosmetics such as cable ties and routing etc). That comes next week, so I'll finish it off and update the thread then.



This is the majority of the finished article. Sorry about the bad light guys, it was getting dark!



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On reflection, there were no major surprises expected (or found)along the way..... with the exception of one the hydraulic lines' fitting that came with the winch. My only other gripe was that the Milemarker winch installation instructions required the occasional use of physic powers as it was not immediately obvious how the winch configuration could be profiled to suit different applications and concealed bumper configurations. A simple phone call to the UK dealer sorted that out straight away.



Because one of the hydraulic fittings supplied by Milemarker USA at the request of their UK dealer turned out to be incorrect, we had to make an unscheduled visit to a local hydraulic lines shop and get a hydraulic adapter fabricated with the correct M/F terminations. This was installed high up in the engine bay to the right of the rocker box, by splicing into the main power steering hydraulic line feed/connection.



I'll pass that bit of feedback (aka undocumented feature) to Milemarker USA via their UK field office so that stupid mistake should hopefully not happen again to someone else - pity really, otherwise it was a relatively straight-forward installation.

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Part 7....





I forgot to mention that the Winch hydraulic control box has been positioned directly behind the UTE bumper, just under the driver's side headlamp assembly. Next week, I'll remove the UTE to complete the winch installation and initial set-up and with the bumper off and the various cosmetic stuff sorted out, I'll take a couple more pictures of the hydraulic control box, the electrical control pack, and the hydraulic line adapter that had to be made up, plus some side-on and front view shots in daylight.



That is currently scheduled for Thursday 4 December, so I expect to post the final pictures and words in this thread by the following weekend... .



Herre's a couple of related UTE links.

UTE Product Flyer

UTE Bullbar Flyer

2nd Gen Dodge RAM UTE Bullbar installation instructions



Since the install, I have noticed that the additonal weight has slightly affected the front of the vehicle's ride height and it got me wondering... . what have other TDR members done to compensate for this when using any other typical aftermarket branded bumper and winch combo? Is it a case of simply cranking up the setting on my Rancho 9000 shocks, or should I be considering a front springs upgrade to compensate, similar to the snowplough prep upgrade? All comments/suggestions welcome.



Cheers!!

 

[dresslered]

John, your UTE install looks very nice and I am really amazed how much smaller the hydraulic winches are compared to their electric counterparts (this only makes sense since they don't have to house a big electric motor and reduction gears). I didn't really notice any sag with my 350-lb upgrade, but I definitely felt it up there. I found extra pressure in the front tires has corrected the feeling (also a little increase in the Rancho setting up front). I no longer feel that the added weight is an issue as I was originally thinking that I would have to upgrade the springs.

 

[C.]

I thought the UTE was not compatible with the Sport grill. I see you have it mounted, any clearance problems with the bottom of the grill?

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Feedback....

Thanks for the feedback guys



David - I'll increase my front tire pressures slightly and tweak up the front Ranchos by one notch and see how it goes.



C - I have had no clearance issues, other than the modest repositioning of the the AC radiator by 5mm upwards. When you pop the hood, the lower edge of the radiator grille cover clears the rear surface of the UTE with plenty of room to spare. HTH.



Also, special thanks to TMTT for this weblink on some of the options to lose that standard ex-factory "nose-down" look, which becomes more pronounced, when you add a heavy duty after market bullbar - even without a winch. Cheers Tim!



Dodge leveling kit







JMc

 

[JohnMcIntyre]

Following on from a previous comment by "C" earlier in this thread, regarding UTE compatibility with the Sport configuration bodystyle. There is one subtle difference between the Sport radiator grille and the standard radiator grille and this has a knock-on effect for the installation.



Because the Sport bumper has a lower profile around the bottom edge, especially around the mid-section, the UTE bumper cannot sit in as close to the vehicle chassis. This difference is something of the order 15mm/20mm. I have accomodated for this temporarily by slightly tilting the bumper forward by a relatively negligible amount and mounting it further forward (approx 20mm) to get the hood latch to operate correctly, whilst I consider how to source an original, stock, factory color-coded 2nd Gen radiator grille..... which would allow me to complete the install to UTE/Dodge factory specs.



Question to Jason Hansen (Silver Cloud) up in Canada:

How did you resolve the Sport grille anomaly please? Also, anyone else with a 2nd Gen Sport and a UTE bumper installed, please feel free to jump in here as well.....



I believe there may be other options than the standard Dodge front radiator grille and was wondering what other front radiator grille styles are out there? Does anybody have any links or pictures perhaps?



Cheers



JMc