Truck owners buy aftermarket bumpers for many different reasons. Some like the look, some just enjoy their versatility or added protection. Our latest project truck will be an ongoing build within Diesel Tech for the next few months. Our goal is to show the average guy how to build a hard-working Ranch Hand truck. The installation will take place on a 2013 Dodge Mega Cab Long Horn edition, which is a great truck that just begs to be modified. The owner uses his Cummins every day for work, plus he builds custom classic cars and tows his horses with it weekly. So for added protection and style, we contacted our good friends at Ranch Hand to help get this project started right.
As you can see in the stock form, the original bumper doesn’t protect much. It only weighs 20 pounds, if that. If you’re in coyote or deer country, you know this can be very expensive if you hit one. Replacing intercoolers and radiators definitely adds up. This is when a heavy-duty bumper pays for itself and then some.
To make this job easier and more suitable for the truck owner contemplating doing this job, we’d recommend a cherry picker to do the heavy lifting. Many people have one and not everyone has access to a four post lift.
The first step was to gain access by removing the core support covers. Using a pry tool made this a lot easier.
Once the cover was removed, we took off the two 10mm bolts that attach to the grill.
We then removed the grill to gain easier access to the bolts for the bumper.
There are four bolts on each side of the bumper that needed to be removed. It’s a tight fit so an open-end wrench was needed.
With a 7mm socket, we removed the bolts that connect the inner fender well to the bumper.
The old bumper was then removed.
Next, we removed the tow hooks.
With the bumper on the cherry picker this is the best time to install the factory fog lights if equipped.
Ranch Hand provided all necessary hardware including nuts and bolts.
We simply swapped out the lights and harness for the fog lights.
This step is one of the hardest parts of the install. Dodge really screwed this up with its design when they could simply have placed the bolts in the opposite direction. But because of this you have to take the intercooler off, which otherwise wouldn’t have been necessary.
The bolts should have been placed the other way.
In further detail, you can see what is needed to be done to gain access for these bolts to be removed.
The truck will be equipped with a winch in the near future, so we added the winch mount that was provided by Ranch Hand.
Installing the winch mount is a breeze since it only requires four bolts.
Next, we installed the provided bumper bracket with the four bolts from the kit.
With the factory hardware, we re-installed the tow hooks to the new bumper.
As you can see, we have perfect alignment with the fog light opening.
Now in the home stretch, all we had to do no was to align the bumper to the new mounts.
We then placed the remaining eight bolts to connect the bumper.
The last steps are to install the grill and shroud cover and we’re done. Now we have a killer bumper on our Ram, which is ready for the road ahead.
Ranch Hand Bumpers
800-366-9712
www.ranchhand.com