coheed Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 Managed to get a set of cab vents, a 1989 owners manual, a set of ROL factory fog lights, a fog light/rear defrost switch panel, and..... a Comanche specific Smittybilt rear bumper. All for the grand total of $36. Completely unrelated, does an anyone know the towing capacity of a Smittybilt bumper? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 That bumper looks like the old factory tube style that almost no one had Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 Just now, eaglescout526 said: That bumper looks like the old factory tube style that almost no one had It has Smittybilt end caps. Did they make the factory option one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 23, 2019 Share Posted August 23, 2019 5 minutes ago, coheed said: It has Smittybilt end caps. Did they make the factory option one? I just looked and the factory is different. The end is straight compared to the one you scored. Still nice. Gonna restore it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted August 23, 2019 Author Share Posted August 23, 2019 Just now, eaglescout526 said: I just looked and the factory is different. The end is straight compared to the one you scored. Still nice. Gonna restore it? At some point. It's pretty banged up, but for the price I couldn't resist it. Probably gonna throw it on the trailer once it's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500 MJ Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 I don’t know if I have ever seen a picture of the factory tube bumper, does anyone here have one on their truck? I have seen it referneced in the parts books, that’s it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saveevryjp1998 Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 I always wondered if they were universal to jeeps at the time from like the factory options brochures. I have seen 1 just recently on junkyard truck but didn't gander close since it was rusted, bent, and just kinda ugly on an mj. They look like the wrangler possibly could be the same. Surely somebody will chime in who has the quick access to the parts numbers on both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 (edited) Hang on. There is so much wrong with the catalogue right now. We will need an actual YJ catalogue as I'm sure that both our trucks and YJ's DO NOT share the same bumper. Maybe the tube set up but can't confirm that with the current catalogue. But the tube bumper is weird. Chrysler shows it to be an 88-88 thing. Here's the Part# for the tube bumper package:55018449. None are left as NOS Edited August 24, 2019 by eaglescout526 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Looks as though the factory tube bumper uses the same bumper brackets as the regular bumper. If its shared with the YJ, then the YJ bumpers would bolt on. Haven't heard of anyone trying that, but I suspect if it was that easy the aftermarket would have figured it out already. The Smittybuilt one on the other hand may be universal fit, much like the Fey/Westin. Photos of the factory tube bumper have been posted on here before... This thread. Possibly others as well, just the first I found. As far as towing goes, I'd assume the Smittybuilt wouldn't be any better than the factory bumper's 2000lb limit. I would also treat it with the same amount of caution as with a factory bumper. Haven't seen one of those yet with enough structure left that I'd trust it with even that much weight. Any bending or twisting in it compromises it, and half of them have the structure rusted out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 9 minutes ago, gogmorgo said: Looks as though the factory tube bumper uses the same bumper brackets as the regular bumper. If its shared with the YJ, then the YJ bumpers would bolt on. Haven't heard of anyone trying that, but I suspect if it was that easy the aftermarket would have figured it out already. The Smittybuilt one on the other hand may be universal fit, much like the Fey/Westin. Photos of the factory tube bumper have been posted on here before... This thread. Possibly others as well, just the first I found. As far as towing goes, I'd assume the Smittybuilt wouldn't be any better than the factory bumper's 2000lb limit. I would also treat it with the same amount of caution as with a factory bumper. Haven't seen one of those yet with enough structure left that I'd trust it with even that much weight. Any bending or twisting in it compromises it, and half of them have the structure rusted out. The one I picked up has brackets specifically for the Comanche. Though it looks like you could adjust the bumper up or down an inch on the brackets. I can't tell if it was welded up by Smittybilt or a home job. I'll grab some more pictures of what I'm talking about tomorrow. I was kidding about towing capacity. If we need to tow something we'll use my wife's Tundra. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogmorgo Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Yeah, the brackets on it look similar to the Fey ones, although those aren't welded on. The Fey brackets aren't gusseted, either. Tough to pick up on humour over text sometimes. My bad. That or I'm too used to the morons in the Facebook groups who want to know if they can pull a car hauler on their twisted up rusty junk... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 Here's some better pictures. Notice the relief for the shackle mount, that's why I assume it's Comanche specific. The fact that the braces for the receiver are welded to the brackets lead me to believe everything was welded up by Smittybilt. Makes me wonder why they put bolts in there at all. Unless the brackets are specific and the bumper bit was universal. 12 hours ago, saveevryjp1998 said: I always wondered if they were universal to jeeps at the time from like the factory options brochures. I have seen 1 just recently on junkyard truck but didn't gander close since it was rusted, bent, and just kinda ugly on an mj. They look like the wrangler possibly could be the same. Surely somebody will chime in who has the quick access to the parts numbers on both. Honestly I don't think they look that good either, but a $12 Comanche bumper is hard to beat... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eaglescout526 Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Looks like some decent surface rust. Might take more than just a wire brush to clean that up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
500 MJ Posted August 24, 2019 Share Posted August 24, 2019 Looks like the bolts were for height adjustment maybe. Say you wanted the bumper to be higher or lower once it was mounted up. Or for shipping it, unbolt the brackets and it would be an easier item to ship around. Looks like a good sandblasting and you’ll have a nice example of a tube bumper there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coheed Posted August 24, 2019 Author Share Posted August 24, 2019 6 minutes ago, 500 MJ said: Looks like the bolts were for height adjustment maybe. Say you wanted the bumper to be higher or lower once it was mounted up. Or for shipping it, unbolt the brackets and it would be an easier item to ship around. Looks like a good sandblasting and you’ll have a nice example of a tube bumper there. If you look closely though, it's welded around the bolted brackets and all the welds on the bumper seem to be the same 6010 or 6013. Now I just need a compressor for a diy blaster. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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