Rubicon X Bumper + Maximus-3 Light mount = Vibration

[KlausVanWinkle]

I installed a Rubicon X/10th Anniv. front bumper along with Maximus-3's light mounts. On the light mounts I have 7" ARB AR21 LED light clones. The light mounts attach right in front of the winch. Unfortunately, they only mount to an 8mm thick portion of the bumper which causes them to vibrate off road. Maxiums-3 seems to be aware of the issue.

Has anyone else had this issue or figured out a work around? I'm wondering if large washers before the mounting nuts would help, or reinforcing that part of the bumper with a large flat piece of metal to serve as a washer? Or at worst, trying to mount the lights closer to the grill where the bumper is thicker. The stainless steel mount on the light doesn't seem to be the issue. It's very sturdy. Although other LED lights I've owned came with rubber bushings that fit between the light mount and the mounting surface. So maybe that's something to try.

I don't have a detailed pic at the ready. But you can see what I'm talking about here:

 

[Septu]

It's not going to be a rubber bushing issue. Something that the light is attaching to is flexing, thus you're getting the vibrations. A wide thick piece of flat bar might work. If that doesn't, I'd try a similar piece of angle iron (the vert part (which doesn't have to be all that high) might be enough to stop the flex).

Looking at the bottom picture, it looks like the lights are mounted onto little raised tabs? It looks like those are easily removable. I'd suggest having a pair made (shouldn't be a big deal) with thicker metal, or using angle iron. But you need to determine if the issue is those raised mounts, or where those mounts are attaching to the bumper. You could try stiffening up the bumper with a piece of flatbar or angle iron. But if it's the mounts, you'd likely have to replace them.

Hard to say without seeing things in person. Is there any flex anywhere if you put weight on things? I mean how thick is the bumper where those raised tabs mount?

 

[IPA]

Wow. I just wanted to say that bumper / light / winch combo looks great. I hope you get the vibration sorted out.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

Wow. I just wanted to say that bumper / light / winch combo looks great. I hope you get the vibration sorted out.

Thanks! (Bottom picture is a Rubitrux build. Top is mine)

It's not going to be a rubber bushing issue. Something that the light is attaching to is flexing, thus you're getting the vibrations. A wide thick piece of flat bar might work. If that doesn't, I'd try a similar piece of angle iron (the vert part (which doesn't have to be all that high) might be enough to stop the flex).

Looking at the bottom picture, it looks like the lights are mounted onto little raised tabs? It looks like those are easily removable. I'd suggest having a pair made (shouldn't be a big deal) with thicker metal, or using angle iron. But you need to determine if the issue is those raised mounts, or where those mounts are attaching to the bumper. You could try stiffening up the bumper with a piece of flatbar or angle iron. But if it's the mounts, you'd likely have to replace them.

Hard to say without seeing things in person. Is there any flex anywhere if you put weight on things? I mean how thick is the bumper where those raised tabs mount?

Thanks for the ideas Septu. It's actually not the mounting tabs. It's the bumper itself. I'm going to try some of the ideas mentioned above. I asked Rubitrux if they've run into this issue with their builds. They said they haven't heard any complaints about it (Maximus-3 said they had) but recommended trying a piece of rubber between the mount and mounting tab. Might try that as well.

 

[kojackJKU]

Damn, that looks awesome! I wish I could get those bumpers up here....but hens' teeth. I may have to bite the bullet and buy new ones. They are lighter than all the other aftermarket stuff too which is important.

 

[Comanche Scott]

KVW,

is the root issue flicker caused by the movement? If so, the rubber pads would definitely help dampen that movement.
If it is noise caused by the vibration, you might try fab'ing up brackets that pick up from the bumper mount bolts, and run over to the mounting holes on the bumper.

Sometimes making things solid is worse than letting it flex but with damping, especially since there isn't body mounts to help absorb the vibration frequency like there is with the headlights.

 

[KlausVanWinkle]

I think y'all are right. Also noticed that the Chinese hardware is rusting. Whatever was in Mojave river is making everything rust.

 

[kojackJKU]

Everything or just the Chinese hardware. If just the hardware that is understandable, I know people who have swapped out all of it to a huge improvement.