Crash bar/body mount chop

[EMBronco]

I’ve seen lots of great post from people who’ve cut off the front crash bars/body mounts and installed kits from JKS, Stinkyfab, Lobo and others. They all seem to be good quality and work for their purpose.

As I’ve looked at my crash bars trying to decide what to do, I keep thinking, if I’m going to pull out the plasma or saws all, why not just cut away the unneeded bulk of the existing mount and leave the rest in place.

has anyone done this? If so, do you have pics? What am I missing?

Sponsored

 

[Brian_B]

You can do that, plenty of people did before JKS and the like came up with their kit.

It's just a bit more difficult to do based on how that mount is constructed, the entire thing leans around the fact that you have to preserve the intercooler mount that is shared on that bracket.

That entire bracket just has a small 1.5" square tube connection to the frame, makes it easy to cut the entire thing off. But you do that and you lose the intercooler mount. It takes a lot more cutting to keep that frame mount and work around the intercooler mount. But it can be done.

I can also say - for most people, cutting off the crash bar mounts wasn't really required. Depends on your tire size and offset. The little bracket that comes with the JKS to pull the front fender liner back was really the only thing I needed out of the whole kit. But I suppose it was good insurance. And the wheel wells look a lot cleaner.

 

[SierraBronco]

Agreed with @Brian_B

It would be way more work to cut around what’s there vs simply cutting it entirely off. I’ve seen a few where they cut off the ends, and it just looks janky. Spending $50 from stinkyfab was worth the money. Looks so much better even if you don’t need the clearance. Those things are an abomination.

 

[EMBronco]

You can do that, plenty of people did before JKS and the like came up with their kit.

It's just a bit more difficult to do based on how that mount is constructed, the entire thing leans around the fact that you have to preserve the intercooler mount that is shared on that bracket.

That entire bracket just has a small 1.5" square tube connection to the frame, makes it easy to cut the entire thing off. But you do that and you lose the intercooler mount. It takes a lot more cutting to keep that frame mount and work around the intercooler mount. But it can be done.

I can also say - for most people, cutting off the crash bar mounts wasn't really required. Depends on your tire size and offset. The little bracket that comes with the JKS to pull the front fender liner back was really the only thing I needed out of the whole kit. But I suppose it was good insurance. And the wheel wells look a lot cleaner.

That's good insight. I'm running 37's and I get a little bit of rub on the crashbar if I have a wheel stuffed at full lock. I probably wouldn't even worry about it, but I'm going to be putting on a new front bumper in a couple of weeks and been thinking about doing it while I have bumper off.

 

[EMBronco]

Agreed with @Brian_B

It would be way more work to cut around what’s there vs simply cutting it entirely off. I’ve seen a few where they cut off the ends, and it just looks janky. Spending $50 from stinkyfab was worth the money. Looks so much better even if you don’t need the clearance. Those things are an abomination.

You do make a good point that the existing kits really clean things up and look much better than the crash bar mount.

 

[bassist]

Just make sure you don’t get into a crash.

Any claim adjuster or litigator worth even half their salary will make sure any payouts are limited as a result of such a modification.

 

[Truckin]

Sorry if covered in countless threads. Sas does not come with crash bars and if it’s not needed, why bother with aftermarket.
Has Ford ever chinned in?​

 

[EMBronco]

Sorry if covered in countless threads. Sas does not come with crash bars and if it’s not needed, why bother with aftermarket.​

Has Ford ever chinned in?​

It's not the crash bar itself, it's the large bracket that holds the crash bar that's the issue.

 

[freebob]

Well I wouldn't alter my 50 k bronco ..Your .Insurance my find out and not pay claim!

 

[Greg2060]

If you haven't already seen it, StinkyFab has a Youtube showing the whole process here Crash Bar Delete

 

[EMBronco]

If you haven't already seen it, StinkyFab has a Youtube showing the whole process here Crash Bar Delete

I've watched his video. Good explaination of the overall process.

 

[Brian_B]

Well I wouldn't alter my 50 k bronco ..Your .Insurance my find out and not pay claim!

You can live your whole life afraid of what might happen.

 

[SierraBronco]

Well I wouldn't alter my 50 k bronco ..Your .Insurance my find out and not pay claim!

This is good advice. Never modify your rig.

 

[bassist]

You can live your whole life afraid of what might happen.

Or can do what you want and cry that it’s not fair when your actions have consequences.

 

[Brian_B]

Or can do what you want and cry that it’s not fair when your actions have consequences.

Or you know .. not cry about it.

Sponsored