Samurai Suzuki Defiant Armor Low-End Off-Road Bumper Installation

Every year around this time, I clean my garage with a garage floor cleaner and other things to prepare for the winter and what I will be working on during the season.

I stood there and looked at my Samurai and considered all the things that were happening to me. Right now the engine is being built (I hope), the factory fender flares are off because I will be putting Bushwackers (to be covered in another article), the factory plastic rocker arm guards are off because I am in the middle of putting on Low Range Defiant Armor Rocker Mount Rock Sliders (will also be covered in another entry in the near future, after some minor body work is done), and then there’s the Low Range Defiant Armor Modular Front Bumper Kit I ordered, which it is still in the boxes.

I wanted to wait until I had a good recovery winch chosen before installing the bumper kit, but it got me thinking …

Since I now have a giveaway in the works for a FREE Suzuki Samurai Defiant Armor Low Range Front Bumper Kit, maybe this is a good time to do a mock installation

… more, I was dying to see what he looked like in person.

Before I knew it, I was under the deck with the Sawzall, struggling to cut the hacking job for a bumper extension that previous owners did before purchasing the vehicle. You’ll see what I mean in a moment. The instructions Low Range provides with the kit state that cutting the ends of the bumper mounting tube is optional, but the way mine was modified already had no real choice.

Speaking of the instructions, they are very concise and written by experts (you can check them out on the product page). Follow my exploration to take the front bumper from weak and useless to strong and useful.

Factory bumper shown with basic bar welded to it as it came to me when I purchased it.

I removed the driving lights and turn signals from the bar and bumper.

Here’s how the previous owner extended the front bumper to clear the 31 ″ tires. Have you ever seen poorer quality welding job?

I have to admit that I have never used a Sawzall this much, but I removed the factory bumper without too much trouble. I was really surprised how light the factory Samurai bumper is. It hardly offered any real protection compared to the low-end kit.

After making the cuts, I shot the exposed areas with some black spray paint to prevent rust to keep it corroded.

After removing the factory bumper, it’s pretty simple from there. Simply attach the winch plate as instructed …

… then screw on the winch plate cover, the bumper ends (and you can choose between them, I ordered the short version) and your choice of stinger bar. Then tighten the supplied hardware to the specifications provided in the instructions and voila!

All in all, it took me about an hour not including cutting the bumper tube. Makes a big difference, doesn’t it? I think I’m going to call Low Range and place another order for the extra stubby ends available to widen it a bit and offer more protection for the tires. Once I have chosen a winch, I will review this with the final installation. Until then, I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those Hella traffic lights. Maybe I’ll find something for when I find out which winch I’ll go with.

Above all, this is a very high quality kit made with precision and durability. It is very well designed and even packaged with care. I’m thankful Low Range made them for the old ‘Samurai!