dasbulliwagen Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 I finally got around to installing my Scarfab hitch. Thank you Brandon Scarbrough for this extremely well made hitch. It fit perfectly. But I do have a few issues that have nothing to do with the hitch. First off, my truck was originally rear bumper delete. And evidently this means that they don't tap the holes for the bumper with threads. I started trying to tap the first hole, and was having issues keeping it straight doing it in the tight confines under the bed. Long story short, I broke the tap off in the hole. That stopped my work on it Saturday after work. So off to Lowe's to buy a new tap... I got two just in case. So today after work I started again. The new tap has a larger square drive on its end that ended up fitting perfectly into a 9mm socket, that I then put on an air wratchet. The remaining holes were done in 2-3 minutes with that setup. And the hitch installed no problem. I'll have to deal with the broken tap later though. My next issue has to do with the XJ Cherokee rear bumper I installed years ago. I have interference issues with the hitch and the bottom of the bumper. It looks like I should be able to just cut a couple notches in the bumper and be good, maybe add some spacers to the bumper mount. I'll figure it out, but it's just taking a little longer than I thought. Again at no fault of the hitch. Here are some pictures. The first one is hard to see, but it shows the smooth bore untapped holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krustyballer16 Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 Whoop whoop!Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustEmptyEveryPocket Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 27 minutes ago, dasbulliwagen said: I'll have to deal with the broken tap later though Thats a bummer. If you can get at it with a striking device of some sort you should be able to crack and crumble it out of the hole. Good forearm/ arm workout in there for you. Good luck. Can you post a photo with the cherokee bumper installed when you get it figured out? I'd be curious what it looks like with the hitch mount. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 16 minutes ago, JustEmptyEveryPocket said: Thats a bummer. If you can get at it with a striking device of some sort you should be able to crack and crumble it out of the hole. Good forearm/ arm workout in there for you. Good luck. Can you post a photo with the cherokee bumper installed when you get it figured out? I'd be curious what it looks like with the hitch mount. I will do that. I'm curious myself as well. As for the tap, I'm thinking I'll remove the spare tire, drill a hole in the frame rail opposite the weld nut and try to punch it out from the backside. Then I'll tap the hole and install the last bolt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 I notched the lower edge of the rear bumper, and it bolted right up. It looks pretty good. Now I need to figure out how I want to mount the license plate. Here are some pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 What shocks do you have on the rear? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted January 21, 2020 Author Share Posted January 21, 2020 6 minutes ago, Jeep Driver said: What shocks do you have on the rear? They are Bilstein 5100's that were originally speced for a rear lift on a Ram 1500. I have no idea what the part number is for them. Sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 21, 2020 Share Posted January 21, 2020 4 minutes ago, dasbulliwagen said: They are Bilstein 5100's that were originally speced for a rear lift on a Ram 1500. I have no idea what the part number is for them. Sorry. Upside down. And put a few coats of clear on those or they'll look like S in no time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dan Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 2 hours ago, Jeep Driver said: Upside down. Is that Bilstein only or do you, personally, always mount the shock body towards the frame? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 17 minutes ago, Big Dan said: Is that Bilstein only or do you, personally, always mount the shock body towards the frame? The bottom of his boots, now at the top of his shocks, have drain holes at the eyelet. 5100 series are mounted body up, boot down. Many of us just take the boot off- My next set don't even come with boots- Also note, his labels are upside down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Dan Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Tracking. What I'm asking (as I'm ignorant on this) is, are all shocks meant to be mounted that way or is that Bilstein specific? IE - a different brand of shock could be intended to be mounted shock body towards to ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 1 minute ago, Big Dan said: Tracking. What I'm asking (as I'm ignorant on this) is, are all shocks meant to be mounted that way or is that Bilstein specific? IE - a different brand of shock could be intended to be mounted shock body towards to ground. As far as I know........higher end shocks such as Fox, King, and others are body up. 5100s are at the bottom of the high-end shocks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete M Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 seems like an email to Bilstein would clear this up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dasbulliwagen Posted January 22, 2020 Author Share Posted January 22, 2020 I've never heard of this before. I'll have to look into if it makes a difference or not. I have them on the front too. Ones that are made specifically for XJ/MJ lift. There's only one way to install those, body down. So I guess I assumed that the rear would be the same way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 14 minutes ago, dasbulliwagen said: I've never heard of this before. I'll have to look into if it makes a difference or not. I have them on the front too. Ones that are made specifically for XJ/MJ lift. There's only one way to install those, body down. So I guess I assumed that the rear would be the same way. Yep, fronts only. Bilstein lists nothing on their site but is has been discussed just about everywhere. Listen through the first 1 minute- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeep Driver Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 FYI- If you go to the 5165 in the front, body up, obviously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
89eliminator Posted January 22, 2020 Share Posted January 22, 2020 you can mount monotube shocks either way. they will work either way. body up helps with debris not getting into the seal tho. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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