Garvin Wilderness Rear Bumper and Swing Away Tire
	Category:	Armor
	Author:	Onkover
	Date:	March 16th, 2004

My Jeep was in need of some recovery points and I was running out of storage space. After speaking with Jack of Redding Four Wheel Drive the answer was going to be solved. Fact was, it was killing more then two birds with one stone. Jack was willing to part with a new Garvin Wilderness Rear Bumper with the swing away tire carrier at a price that I could not pass up. This is a trick set up.

The stock rear bumper.

The bumper itself is constructed of thick square tube with two d-ring plates at either side built in. It also has a 2” receiver built in to the center. This was going to be of great help to me because I currently did not have a receiver. The ends are angled for better departure and it sets a tad bit higher also giving even more departure angle. All the hardware is provided for the install.

The swing-a-way not only holds up to a 33” tire but also holds a High Lift jack, Gerry can, Axe, shovel and has a mount for a C.B. antenna. My bumper came with the attachments for the High Lift jack but other attachments are sold separately. I will be installing them as soon as they come in. This configuration will allow me to place my spare outside to increase my storage space. It will also allow me to remove the High Lift Jack (that was doing damage to my interior) and mount it outside as well. My C.B. antenna is currently mounted to the factory luggage rack and is not as sturdy as it should be. This swing-a-way will also fix this issue. All the hardware is provided for the install.

The night before, I went through all the non-labeled bags of hardware and brackets to identify them and make sure all were there. One of the few improvements that the manufacturer could do is to label the bags of nuts and bolts. I matched all the hardware up to the list provider by Wilderness and ran through the install instructions. Fact, Wilderness not only included all necessary hardware but gave me some spares. I labeled everything and added up what tools I would need.

The swing away gate.

With the aid of a Trail Hunter or two we went to work. This job and be done by yourself, but two monkeys in a garage seem to get the job done faster. The rear bumper end caps were removed to provider better access to the bumper brackets. The rear bumper was then unbolted and removed. We then took a rattle can to the rear end for cosmetic appearances and weather protection. A matching color was chose to blend everything in.

We painted the hidden body parts to protect and beautify.

With all this prepped we started to drill out the holes for the placement of the new bumper. This is where I made the mistake of not following the directions properly and paid for it later. The two inside hole are to be drilled out to 7/16” and the outer holes are too left as is. There are existing nuts in the outer holes that are reused for the install. I made the mistake of drilling out two of them that I shouldn’t have.

Shawn takes care of some mounting hardware.

Wilderness provides great instructions that are easy to follow (when read). Also, many diagrams are included for those that are dyslexic. The bumper set up not only uses the factory locations for install but beefs them up quite a bit. A set of upper and lower 3/8” plates are bolted to an inside support brackets on both sides. This set up is thick enough to be used as a bumper by itself. After these are installed the bumper is ready to hang.

A total of 8 bolt, 16 washers, 4 lock washers and 8 nuts are used to hold the main body of the bumper in place. Not much is going to make it move after all this is tight. A set of plates are also set on each side for stability. These plates were said by the manufacturer to be a mark, drill and bolt placement. It was almost that easy. One side had to be custom adjusted with an angle grinder.

Shawn takes care of the customization.

It was then coated with a shot from the rattle can to protect from rust. Then both sides were bolted into place.

The license plate relocation bracket is a basic install providing you don’t run into any issues. I had a issue of a hole being to big after I remover the plate. This was customized and we moved on. The brackets bolt to the factory holes and the light is put into place. The factory light wires are cut and the ground is attached to the relocation bracket. The positive wire is attached to the light itself. All is tested and the factory light housing is screwed back into place to keep out the elements. The swing-a-way is now placed on to the spindle. A Brown 1/8” washer on the bottom and a 1/8” nylon washer on top are placed. Also a ¼” metal spacer is placed on top before the whole thing is screwed down with a 1-1/4” Nylon Lock nut. A grease zerk is installed and lubed. The tighter the top nut is the tighter the swig-a-way will be.

The tire carrier and High Lift brackets were installed on the swing away at the time I received it. They are simple to install and can be done in less the 5 minutes. Four bolts hold on the main frame for the tire carrier and the rest falls in line. The High Lift is just as easy but with only three bolts and nuts. As for the other attachments I will be installing upon arrival. The tire carrier does not accommodate a factory alloy without another attachment that can be purchased From Wilderness or Redding Four Wheel Drive.

The new bumper provides increased functionality and looks a heck of a lot cooler!

Note: More to be added to this write up and pictures after parts are installed.