AEV RX Front Bumper & 7000 Series Lights - Wrangler JL Rubicon EcoDiesel Build Up Episode 3 of 4

hey Rob here for Quadratech.com over the past few weeks we've been upgrading Matt's three-liter eco-diesel-equipped JL Rubicon from a run-of-the-mill wrangler to an AEV equipped monster that's ready to tackle everything from rock crawling to multi-day overland adventures in our previous weeks we got that new AEV two and a half inch dual sport suspension installed along with the new bore wheels and Mickey Thompson Baja Boss all-terrain tires and we also installed those new AEV heavy duty differential covers if you want to get more information about any of those products you can click the info button to watch our previous videos now today we're going to be addressing the front end in the way of a new bumper winch and some off-road lights but before we get on to the new products well we've got to get this boring factory plastic bumper out of the way and in exchange we're installing an AEV RX stubby front bumper Quadratec q performance series stealth synthetic winch and AEVs 7000 series driving lights before we dive into all the features of these great new products why don't we go ahead and back up just a few steps now with most of the RX bumper skin removed we can check out some of the great features of the ease of install now because it is a modular design that means you don't have to lift one single heavy bumper winch and lights up onto the frame of the jeep it's especially helpful if you're completing the install by yourself the RX bumper can be used with or without a winch the integrated winch plate is available separately but as you can see it sets your winch down nice and low here still allowing plenty of airflow to your radiator positioning that winch down between the frame rails the other great thing about installing your winch at this point it makes the install again very easy for one person you can set that winch into place easily bolt it down and complete your wiring they also designed the RX and the ex front bumpers to be compatible with most winches on the market including the much larger Warn Zeon line of winches now for Matt's jeep you can see he selected the Quadratec Q-Performance series stealth 12,000 pound synthetic winch if you want to get more information on any of the line of q performance series winches you can click that info button of course there's some really great features built into this winch like the integrated drum light and the dual function wired and wireless winch controller now while most of the skin is removed here we can also check out this really great integrated bumper hoop it's designed from heavy duty steel to offer you a lot of protection to the front grille of your jeep which is especially important if you're going to be far away from assistance aiding you and making sure that you can get home get off the trail get to your destination even if something unexpected like an accidental impact to the front of your jeep arises now at this point why don't we go ahead and get some more of the bumper skin in place along with the lower skid plate and those end caps now before we get the last end cap installed as you can see the RX bumper is compatible with the factory fog lights in fact it's compatible with all the different versions of factory fog lights so whether your jeep came with incandescent or led lights in the sport plastic Rubicon or Sahara bumpers or even the stamped steel bumper all of them will bolt right into the RX and the ex bumpers with the included adapter brackets now as you can see we took the opportunity to go ahead and upgrade Matt's fog lights to a set of JW Speaker projector fog lights that will perfectly match the quarter tech premium led projector headlights that we recently installed in this jeep and you can get more information on those by clicking the info button to watch that video that we put together just a short while back now before we get this last end cap installed i did want to mention the material and the forming process that AEV is using to craft their RX and ex bumper now we did see the use of some mild steel for things like our winch plate and our bumper hoop but all of these stamped components in the bumper including the end cap center section and the skid plate are crafted from hot stamped boron steel now there's actually two things there there's the hot stamping process and there is the very specific boron steel alloy that is being used now traditionally boron has been used by OE car manufacturers in key safety components like crush zones and a-pillars AEV is using that boron steel to add a significant amount of strength to their front bumper without adding a ton of weight as you can see on this end cap here the overall material actually ends up being pretty thin and pretty lightweight now that hot stamping process actually forms the material while it's hot and cools it in the die further hardening the material to help it resist things like gouging bending and breaking it also adds an added layer of corrosion protection to the finished pieces with the e-coat and powder coat which should help these pieces resist corrosion for a very long time to come now why don't we go ahead and get this last end cap installed along with all the plastic trim then we can move on to getting our winch fairly installed by first pulling some winch rope out to slip through the fairlead and then secure it in place with the provided hardware we'll also slide an AEV winch hook isolator over our winch line before securing the hook to the rope and that's simply going to prevent any chance of damage occurring to that aluminum fairlead from the winch hook itself but before we move on to installing the 7000 series lights on the bumper we first need to remove that universal style mounting bracket from the back of the lights we're also going to be rotating the bezel and lens 180 degrees that's simply to make sure the AEV logos are the right side up once we install the lights on the bumper next we can install the new mounting bracket to the back side of the light reusing the original hardware and isolators and then attach the other half of the mounting bracket to the underside of the bumper hoop at that point we can go ahead and plug in our light and secure it in place with the provided hardware the 7000 series lights are a 7-inch off-road light constructed from a die-cast aluminum housing with a durable lexan lens and vibration isolating mounting brackets to help ensure a nice long life span from your lights they feature an ip69k waterproof rating and you guys ready 8,000 effective lumens of light output when i tell you these things are bright they are bright in fact AEV supplies you with these covers for when the lights that are not in use and they come with a warning these lights are so powerful AEV reminds you to never turn on the lights with the covers in place because they will in fact melt the covers which could potentially damage your lights as well now the lens projects all of that light in a hybrid beam pattern which is especially great for overland style travel in remote areas that's going to throw that light far down the road and off to the shoulder to help show any active wildlife that may be in the area for you now with the install of our lights that wraps up the install of our RX front bumper Quadratec Q-Performance stealth winch and lights here on the front of Matt's jeep and you can see just what a night and day difference it is to go from that stock plastic bumper to the AEV RX stubby with front bumper not only is this bumper tucked nice and tight against the front of the jeep but it's raised up from the stock position as well to help give us really great approach angles when we're out on the trail plenty of tire clearance of course we've got that hot stamped boron steel skid plate down low to give us some added protection to the front end we've got two heavy duty nodular iron recovery points to go along with our stealth Q-Performance series winch of course now even though that winch is down low in the bumper i really like that AEV has given you plenty of access to your winch not only is it easy to see your winch line there when it's spooling in during a recovery but you've got plenty of room to reach down in here even adjust that winch line if you need to that's a really thoughtful feature to give you that much room around the winch then of course we've got this great integrated hoop to support our lights but also conceal all of the wiring for the lights for a very clean install now if you guys want to get any more information or to purchase any of the products i installed on the front of Matt's jeep today of course you can click that button head over to Quadratec.com and if you haven't already and you like these videos guys do me a huge favor go and hit that thumbs up button don't forget to hit that subscribe button as well as the notification icon so you be sure to catch the next and final video in our AEV series where we install Matt's new rear bumper and tire carrier until next time guys i'm Rob i'll see you out on the trail