Thorparts.com H3 Rear Bumper review and install with pics

[006h3]

When I tweaked my stock rear bumper and license plate after only 15 minutes on the first trail I took my H3 on, I knew the weak factory rear bumper was going to have to go. I started looking around on the net and there just aren?t many options out there for the H3. At $499, the Thorparts.com bumper bumper looked like a bargain compared to the only other two rear bumper options I could find for the 3. I have not seen the ARB bumper in person, but from the pictures, I like the sleeker looking design of the Thor bumper much better.

I ordered up my Thorparts bumper on a Wednesday and it was sitting at our warehouse by the following Monday. Nice! I talked to Christian, the owner of Thorparts.com, several times before and after ordering the bumper. He was always quick to respond to emails and answered phone calls.

After receiving the bumper and looking it over closely, I was pleasantly surprised. The fit and finish is top notch. I?ve ordered rock rails and other armor items from "boutique" type fabricators in the past and gotten parts that were bullet proof and good looking but still a little rough around the edges (most likely because they were hand built on a jig in a makeshift fab shop/garage). This is not the case with the Thorparts bumper. The cuts, welds, and bends on the 3/16? steel all look to be done by computer controlled machining equipment as they are all perfect. There is not a burr to be found on the outer surfaces of the bumper and the powder coat finish looks great.

The bumper came in a custom fitted box and had two 1x6 boards bolted to it for protection with a light foam packing material wrapped around it. Despite excellent packaging, my bumper still managed to get a little scuff on the top corner in shipping. No big deal though as I suspect there will be more scuffs soon that will require touching up with a rattle can!

It should be noted that I ordered my bumper with the optional towing package which gives you a cut out for the trailer hitch and a pre-cut hole for the trailer wiring socket. A driver side d-ring kit is also available but I did not opt for it. Check out the Thorparts.com web site for more details on the options.

Now on to the install:

Tools used:
?" wrenches or socket/ratchet (to unbolt the packing boards from the bumper)
15mm Socket and ratchet (for bumper bolts)
24mm Socket or wrench (for the d-ring)
18mm Socket or wrench (for d-ring mount)
Medium sized adjustable crescent wrench (for d-ring and bending tool)
T-15 Torx wrench (for optional trailer socket removal/install)
6mm Allen wrench (for optional stainless bolt kit)
7mm socket/ratchet (for license plate light)
Needle nose pliers
Philips Head screw driver

Total installation time 1.5-2 hours

Here?s a picture of the bumper in it?s box.



Depending on how tight the bolts are, you might need two ?" wrenches to get the packing boards unbolted from the bumper


Here?s picture of the back side of the bumper that shows just how good the cuts, bends, and welds are.



I started off by removing my license plate with a Philips head screw driver. Notice the "character" my plate has from trail ab-use.



Then I disconnected the license plate light assembly by removing the two 7mm bolts holding it in. I just pushed the light assembly back into the bumper to keep it out of the way.



My 3 has the optional tow package so I had to remove the trailer hitch socket assembly. There is a small gray plastic locking clip that needs to be pulled partly out of the wiring harness connector before the plug can be squeezed and pulled out of the connector socket. Use a T15 torx bit to unbolt the connector socket from it?s bracket frame.




I used an adjustable crescent wrench to bend the socket frame back to where it is supposed to be so I could get to the torx bolt heads easier. I opted to get a new trailer socket from Thorparts.com with my bumper as I could not find the part any cheaper anywhere else. Mine was complete trash after exceeding my departure angle a few times on the trail.



Next I removed the d-ring and d-ring mount. I used a 24mm socket and adjustable crescent wrench to remove the d-ring itself.



Use an 18mm socket to remove the d-ring mount.

[006h3]

Next up was removing the plastic bumper cover that runs across the top of the factory bumper. From under the bumper you can see clips that push into elongated holes in the top of the bumper. I used some needle nose pliers to squeeze the easiest one I could reach, then I found that the clips were not that strong and you could easily pull the cover up and off without too much effort. You can see what one of the clips looks like in the picture below. I do not think any of the clips broke off in the removal process. If I had it to do over again, I would just grab the cover with my fingers and start yanking up on it and forget about even looking at the clips.







There are two 15mm bolts on the bottom corners of the bumper, and four 15mm bolts on the top of the bumper that will need to be removed before you can pull the bumper off.





The bumper will not fall off once the bolts are out but it is pretty easy to pull off and light enough that one person can handle it. Take a quick look to make sure your wiring harnesses are out of the way and are not going to get hung up when you pull the bumper. Here?s what it looks like with the bumper off. I took a wet rag and wiped some of the mud off since the bumper was out of the way. If you ever wanted to add a factory tow bar receiver to your H3, now would be a convenient time to do it. Just make sure you ordered the Thor bumper with the cut outs for the tow package ahead of time!



The instructions say to cut the bracket frame for the trailer hitch socket off and paint the bare surface. The Thorparts bumper with the tow option has accommodation for the socket integrated in (a nice touch) and the old bracket frame will get in the way. I was feeling a little lazy so I decided to see if I could just bend the bracket frame back and out of the way. I used an adjustable crescent wrench to bend mine back at about a 45 degree angle. I then test fitted the bumper. There seemed to be plenty of room between the bumper and the muffler as to not cause any clearance problems. A sawzall or cutting wheel would have made quick work of the bracket frame too, your choice.



I got my new bumper on by myself without too much effort but it would not hurt to have a friend there to help lift it on the back of the vehicle. The bumper is pretty heavy. Make sure the wiring harnesses for the trailer socket and license plate light are hanging down where you can get to them and they are not in a place where they are going to get pinched by the bumper when you put it on.
Here is a picture of the trailer socket frame bent out of the way. You really have to get down on the ground to be able to see it once it?s bent back up in there.




Once the trailer wiring socket was sufficiently out of the way, I checked the six bolt holes to make sure they were aligned. I wedged some pliers between the receiver and the bumper and used it as a lever to get the bolt holes lined up laterally. The holes lined up very easily and were positioned perfectly.



I ordered the optional stainless allen head bolts with my bumper. They look nice but repainting the heads of the old bolts black to match the new bumper would look good as well and save you a few bones. If you purchased the optional stainless bolt kit, use a 6mm allen wrench to put the 6 new bolts in that hold the bumper on, otherwise use a 15mm wrench to re-use the six bolts that held the bumper on from the factory.

[006h3]

Use a T15 torx wrench to install the trailer socket into the new location on the Thor bumper. Reach around from the bottom/back of the bumper and reconnect the wiring harness to the trailer socket. Once you have it reconnected, pull on the harness and make sure you have it locked back in good!



Bolt the d-ring mount and the d-ring itself back up to the vehicle using the 18mm and 24mm wrenches or sockets/ratchet and you are done.


Here are a few pics of my 3 with the bumper installed. Notice my 35" X-Terrain spare fits with no problems and has a little room for 37s maybe??? Hopefully I will have some action shots soon!







Since there is no provision on the Thor bumper for mounting the license plate and I have not yet decided what to do about it, I just left my license plate light and harness dangling. Once I get something figured out for the license plate, I will post up some pics of whatever I end up doing with it. I have some ideas but I will probably end up purchasing this kit to mount it in the spare tire as suggested on the Thorparts.com site.
http://www.rockhard4x4parts.com/cart...hp?prod=RH4006

[KenP]

Nice looking bumper and a nice write up.

Now go make those first few pics smaller.

[furblog]

Originally Posted by 006h3

Use a T15 torx wrench to install the trailer socket into the new location on the Thor bumper. Reach around from the bottom/back of the bumper and reconnect the wiring harness to the trailer socket. Once you have it reconnected, pull on the harness and make sure you have it locked back in good!

Bolt the d-ring mount and the d-ring itself back up to the vehicle using the 18mm and 24mm wrenches or sockets/ratchet and you are done.


Here are a few pics of my 3 with the bumper installed. Notice my 35" X-Terrain spare fits with no problems and has a little room for 37s maybe??? Hopefully I will have some action shots soon!

Since there is no provision on the Thor bumper for mounting the license plate bracket and I have not yet decided what to do about it, I just left my license plate light and harness dangling. Once I get something figured out for the license plate, I will post up some pics of whatever I end up doing with it. I have some ideas but I will probably end up purchasing this kit to mount it in the spare tire as suggested on the Thorparts.com site.

Awesome bumper. I always think to get the same bumper but I suck at picking the nice ones out of 10. The cuts were indeed great.

[006h3]

It's been great so far. It has taken a beating already and still looks great. I even backed into a small tree and it hardly scratched the paint.

[fourfourto]

If you could find another place for the lic plate,a 2nd tow hook would look great on the left side.

[006h3]

I ended up making my own license plate mount out of a center cap and some parts from a trailer company. I am going to make another one with a Chrome center cap, this was more a proof of conecpt but it turned out fine. It took me about an hour to run the wires up from the old light to the new location.

Here are a couple of pics:

[Ed G.]

Looks great!!! Also looks like a heck of a lot of work!