It was now time to install the Maximus-3 Hook Anchor & our Rubicon Express Billet Aluminum Hawse Fairlead. Because our winch installation is centered, we will want our Hawse Fairlead to be centered also. The factory cutout on the Mopar bumper is off-centered so we will have to do a little cutting to correct the opening and make it work with a centered winch.
Remove Plastic Trim Covering Removing the factory plastic trim covering is easy however you need to cut off the 4 Retaining Clips using a pair of metal shears. Attempting to remove the Retaining Clips without cutting them will probably result in damaging the Plastic Trim covering so just go right for cutting the clips and save the Rubicon trim covering for some neat wall art.
Prep for Centered Hawse Fairlead With the Plastic Trim Covering removed, we now see the offset factory winch cable opening. Overlaying the centered Hook Anchor we can see the area of material that will have to be removed to allow for a centered winch installation.
Mark, Punch and Drill Using the center of the factory holes as a guide, mark a center line across the horizontal factory fairlead holes (left to right). Then mark a center line vertically through the two outer holes on the passenger side. From the vertical line measure over towards the driver side 48mm (1 7/8″) and center punch that point on the horizontal line. Drill an 1/8″ pilot hole.
Drill, Cut, Debur & Touchup Using the pilot hole, drill a 44mm (1 3/4″) hole using a Hole Saw. Then using our angle grinder we connected the 1 3/4″ hole with the factory fairlead hole, deburred and finally touched up the bare metal with black spray paint.
Install Maximus-3 Hook Anchor Using a 7/32″ Alan Wrench on the front side and a 9/16″ socket on the bolt we installed the Hook Anchor plate using the provided hardware.
Install Hawse Fairlead Then we installed our black Rubicon Express Billet Aluminum Hawse Fairlead. We dig the engraved RUBICON right on the Fairlead.
Reinstalling the Bumper
The next section will reinstall the Bumper, Install the Maximus-3 Auxiliary Light Brackets and the Maximus-3 Classic Hoop Bar and Reinforcement Brackets.
Installation and Review of the Maximus-3 Winch Mount, Bumper Hoop, Hook Anchors & D-Ring Loops The Mopar designed Rubicon X front bumper is a great foundation for a superb, strong and utilitarian styled factory front end. As part […]
Remember the scenes in the 2007 movie Superbad of the cops driving their car at full tilt on a series of misadventures? If the movie were made today, there’s a good chance they’d be racing […]
Jeep show events are fantastic place to checkout some of the greatest one-of-a-kind ideas and innovations in offroad. Whether the ideas are home brewed modifications or corporate sponsored prototype designs, it’s one of the things that makes a Jeep […]