No you don’t have to drop the tank but if you aren’t used to working blind it would definitely help.. I just installed this bumper yesterday. The holes he drills using the template are the extra bolts you may be thinking of.
I have a Shiitybuilt soft top on my TJ and the zippers broke on a side window and the rear window in just about 15 months. Of course, they would not do anything about it.
had this bumper on my TJ when i got it. added the tire carrier, absolute junk- never latched and constantly popped open. also can’t use it without body lift with the zerk fitting installed. swapping to the garvin ats. NO clue how you guys got the inner 4 bolts torqued. for the record, smittybilt says you only have to drop the tank for the two interior bolts on the 97 in the instructions for this
Won’t latch. Is literally like 3/4” away from latching. You have to stand on it and force it down to lock in. If daughter needs to get in trunk no way she can latch it back. Not sure what to do
The tire carrier may not be fully seated. I install this bumper yesterday and it was not lining up to lock at all. I stood on the carrier and that made it drop enough to start locking
Just been watching a couple of similar installs...Tow rating....practically ZERO...designed more for a bike rack or similar type item...it's a 2 inch hitch. Check out the Extreme Terrain version...called Barricade. That is the one that stated the hitch was not really tow rated....and no drilling needed.
My 85 cj7 (what are the odds huh) has a custom rear bumper on it already. We just added this spare tire carrier to it today. Had to do some fab work for the pivot and latch mount but I think it will work out great. The bolt pattern on the wheel mount is different for my cj though. Cut the lugs off and welded some new ones in the proper position.
