By Christian Sturtz, [email protected]
Photos by Christian Sturtz
The Jeep Gladiator JT is one of the hottest vehicles on the market. They are being modified even more than their Wrangler counterparts. (Figure 1) The Gladiator is an excellent platform for offroad, overlanding, and hunting, and it even makes a great-looking work truck. They are extremely capable offroad with two special offroad packages, the Mojave and the familiar Rubicon. Yes, they drag on the back and underneath more than Wranglers, but they seem just as qualified. That being said, what can we do to improve the aesthetics and make one even more capable? We started right at the front, with a bumper, winch, and offroad lighting. (Figure 2) Hopefully, this will help with our tires rubbing on the bumper too.
Westin and its sister company, Superwinch, have been making truck and Jeep accessories for years. The bumper we chose for the JT has a full-width design to give you plenty of protection. It has many features, including a light bar or pod light mounts, shackle/recovery points, jack lifting points, rock light mounts, winch mount, 3/16” steel construction with a powder-coated finish, and an available lower skid plate. The lower skid plate works with the Mojave model too.
We chose the SX12 Superwinch because of its sleek, modern-looking design and features. These features include corded and cordless remote, lighted remote and drum, and synthetic rope. As far as the offroad lighting, we chose a single-row Westin light bar; this will give us plenty of light and keep the airflow to the radiator.
We started by removing the Mojave’s factory skid plate. Then the push pins were removed from the back of the bumper caps and the top bumper fascia. Removing the push pins on the bumper caps allows you to access the wiring and unplug the factory fog lights. The eight nuts that hold the bumper on, along with the bumper braces, were removed. *Tip: it is not necessary to completely remove the bumper brace bolts or the braces; we did just to install threadlock on the bolts. Finally, the harness on the passenger side was unplugged, and the bumper was removed (Figure 3).
The original bumper was unscrewed and split to remove the factory fog lights and harness. Then, the lights and harness were transferred to the new Westin bumper. The lights bolt in with long screws and spacers. Westin even gives you a place to run the wires and tie them up. (Figure 4) Next, the fairlead and winch were bolted into place. Before we installed the bumper, we mounted the lightbar and fished the wire through the bumper for it. Westin designed the bumper to allow the wires to go through the brush guard and give you a clean, finished look. Now, it’s ready to bolt on! (Figure 5)
The bumper was then lifted into place, and the fog light harness plugged in. *Tip: The bumper is heavy, ask for help or use something to lift it. The bumper bolts on almost like factory, except it has four studs with nuts and four bolts. Remember to reinstall the bumper braces if fully removed. Tighten the eight bumper fasteners before the four bolts that go into the side of the frame on the bumper brackets. This will ensure the bumper is all the way tight against the face of the frame. (Figure 6)
The skid plate is straightforward; because this is a Mojave we had to remove the outside factory skid plate brackets. The inner factory skid plate bracket/reservoir mount bolts were removed, and the new skid plate lower brackets bolted into place. *Tip: We left everything loose on the skid plate until all fasteners were started. Starting at the bumper, we worked our way down, tightening the skid plate bolts through the bottom flange on the bumper and to the new lower brackets. If this was not a Mojave, installing Rivnuts in the lower bracket mounting locations would be necessary. The top fascia/filler panel is installed. This requires two holes to be enlarged and the Rivnuts to be installed. (Figure 7)
Winch wiring is simple. The ground must be hooked up to the stud with the loose nut on the back of the winch. The negative, positive, and light bar wiring is routed up toward the battery. We removed the air box to give us more visibility. Being a Mojave, the Jeep is equipped with accessory switches, so we tied the new light bar into those. The wires are taped up right next to the battery. The light bar does come with its a harness if you want to go that way. Positive and negative for the winch are connected directly to the battery. It is time to put the hook on the winch cable and try everything out. (Figure 8) The bumper and winch have given the truck a whole new look and improved its offroad capabilities. The tire clearance is an added bonus! (Figure 9)
Parts:
Westin
Bumper: Part # 59-80115
Skid Plate: Part # 59-80095
LED Bracket: Part # 59-88015
20” LED Light Bar: Part # 09-12270-20S
SuperWinch
Winch SX12000SR: Part # 1712201
Sources:
Westin Automotive Products
320 W. Covina Blvd.
San Dimas, CA 91773
1-800-345-8476
SuperWinch
320 W. Covina Blvd.
San Dimas, CA 91773
1-800-323-2031
GEARWRENCH
APEX Tool Group
910 Ridgebrook Rd. (Suite 200)
Sparks, MD 21152
1-800-688-8949
