97+ front end swap question

[CO MJ]

For those of you that have swapped in the front clip from a 97+ and done the factory bumper as well - did you have to swap the front bumper brackets as well? Did you reuse the comanche front bumper or use the cherokee bumper?

I have swapped my front clip, quarterpanels and fender flares and I am now trying to fit the bumper end caps from the 97. I thought I would just need to drill holes in my stock bumper to match the holes on the new end caps, but that doesn't seem to be the case. The outside of the caps line up with the mounting holes in the fender flare, and the top edge of the cap seems to line up with the front clip, but the inside edge of the cap sits a fingers width off the bumper itself. It seems like the bumper on the cherokee maybe sits out a hair farther, but I'm not sure if I will need the bumper, or just the brackets to move the bumper forward to fill the space. Photo attached shows my dilemma. 

[jpnjake]

I believe the newstyle bumper brackets are different and stick out further, and as you know the bumper is slightly different just having more holes 

[75sv1]

I think the newer bumpers have a 'clip' molded into them. That is positioned into the bumper. Also, I think some bolts too. And some screws to attach to the fender.

[jpnjake]

There’s 2 nurserts per fender, I don’t remember clips on the bumper tho 

[CO MJ]

35 minutes ago, jpnjake said:

There’s 2 nurserts per fender, I don’t remember clips on the bumper tho 

There's a small plastic tab on the top side of the bumper end cap that looks like it goes into a slot in the bumper, probably just going to cut it off if I am able to use my factory bumper rather than try to make the hole for it

[CO MJ]

14 hours ago, jpnjake said:

I believe the newstyle bumper brackets are different and stick out further, and as you know the bumper is slightly different just having more holes 

 

Copy that. I pulled up some pictures of both and they looks very similar, but they're pretty cheap so might just go ahead and order them

 

[jpnjake]

I’ll throw some measurements on my 2000 brackets and you can compare them 

[jpnjake]

Wow so the bumpers are very different. 
Top is old style, bottom is newer 

 

Newstyle top of bumper:

Oldstyle Top of bumper

 

Newstyle bottom of bumper 

 

Oldstyle bottom of bumper:

 

BRACKET MEASURMENTS:

 

Also no nutserts on bumper, just nut and bolted 

 

 

[75sv1]

3 hours ago, jpnjake said:

There’s 2 nurserts per fender, I don’t remember clips on the bumper tho 

Didn't know the technical name. 

[CO MJ]

9 hours ago, jpnjake said:

Wow so the bumpers are very different. 
Top is old style, bottom is newer 

 

Newstyle top of bumper:

Oldstyle Top of bumper

 

Newstyle bottom of bumper 

 

Oldstyle bottom of bumper:

 

BRACKET MEASURMENTS:

 

Also no nutserts on bumper, just nut and bolted 

 

 

 

This will be very helpful, thank ya!

So I tried fitting the drive side end cap, and to my surprise, it fit! The cutout for the bumper profile isn't perfect but I just chalked that up to cheap parts, but it looks like it's because of the dimensional differences. It's close enough I think I'll live with it.

Turns out the passenger end cap doesn't fit because my bumper is crooked! Nothing looks bent to me, and the brackets look identical, but the passenger side bumper sits an inch or so closer to the truck than my driver side. Very odd. Going to pull it and measure some things and see if I can figure out where that inch went. 

Otherwise, driver side will require a hole on top for the little clip on the cap if I feel like it, and the hole on the bottom I think will line up with the existing bottom bolt for the bracket, just needs to be sized up to fit the bolt. The two bolts that hold it to the fender line up nicely.

[jpnjake]

10 hours ago, CO MJ said:

 

This will be very helpful, thank ya!

So I tried fitting the drive side end cap, and to my surprise, it fit! The cutout for the bumper profile isn't perfect but I just chalked that up to cheap parts, but it looks like it's because of the dimensional differences. It's close enough I think I'll live with it.

Turns out the passenger end cap doesn't fit because my bumper is crooked! Nothing looks bent to me, and the brackets look identical, but the passenger side bumper sits an inch or so closer to the truck than my driver side. Very odd. Going to pull it and measure some things and see if I can figure out where that inch went. 

Otherwise, driver side will require a hole on top for the little clip on the cap if I feel like it, and the hole on the bottom I think will line up with the existing bottom bolt for the bracket, just needs to be sized up to fit the bolt. The two bolts that hold it to the fender line up nicely.

Interesting, well I’m glad it’s gonna work, I can’t wait to see how it turns out