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PROJECT MY2K: PART 10

Buying Used and Getting Back to Basics

Project My2k continues this month with both functionality and cosmetic upgrades all wrapped in one with the addition of a Move Bumper and extra lighting. In previous parts of this build, we’ve focused on many different aspects of the Super Duty platform and that 7.3L Power Stroke under the hood. From the BDS Suspension upgrades to a Bluetop Steering gear to improve the driving feel and stance to adding power through some Edge Products tuning and a higher flowing drop-in turbocharger from KC Turbos. We made some updates to the fuel system with an FRX kit from Riff Raff diesel, who also has some new and improved exhaust up-pipes for the build. In just over a year of ownership, we’ve taken this average local classified find used truck and morphed it into a unique and capable daily driver. Using our elbow grease and industry knowledge to hopefully show other truck enthusiasts and readers that it’s hard to beat what a brand new truck has to offer, there are still plenty of options out there to make an old one better.

The Move bolt together kits really couldn’t be easier to assemble, offering all the pre-fabbed pieces to make getting it out of the box and onto the truck a breeze. For our truck, we opted for the 30” center cutout with the addition of the receiver hitch port.

 

The wing pieces bolt right onto the center section of the bumper. Differing from their weld-it yourself kits, the Bolt Together system has the end wings pieces already welded and sanded down smooth, basically ready for your choice of finish and assembly.
The optional front receiver hitch kit makes for a super simple way to mount a hitch based winch or for backing a trailer back into a tight spot. This setup will come in handy when we’re out in the woods hunting, should we find ourselves in a mudhole too deep, we can easily move our hitch mounted winch to the front or back of the truck.
The pre-fabbed brackets are included with the kit to make this literally a bolt-on installation. We did opt to send our complete bumper kit off to the powdercoat shop for a coating of zinc based primer topped off with a textured black powder, which offers an excellent look and good durability to brave the elements. But we’ve also seen these bumpers painted to match or even covered in a DIY roll-on bedliner material.
Back from the powdercoat shop, this Move kit is ready for final assembly and installation onto the truck. The three main pieces are secured with a couple of high grade carriage bolts supplied with the bumper kit.
While the help of an extra pair of hands would aid in this process, we were able to assemble and install the bumper by ourself with just some basic hand tools and a Sunday afternoon. From start to finish this process only took an hour (not including running wiring for the lights).
The optional front receiver kit bolted right up without issue as well. While it may not be used very often, it’s definitely something we’ll appreciate having when we need it.
The kit also included a grille insert and trim piece to cover our open 30” section with. While a long LED light bar could be installed here, we like the idea of that big open space allowing airflow to our transmission cooler and radiator. Plus, with the stainless hardware, it looks really nice all finished off like this.
Fully assembled and ready for installation on the truck. Well, almost, we are going to install a couple sets of POD lights in those outer wings to help light up the night when we need to.
While the bumper is built to fit just about any brands Pod lights, Move Bumper has a great working relationship with North Lights and these little guys sure pack a punch. To offer the absolute best field of view at night, we opted for one pair of fog lights and one pair of driving lights.
Using the hardware supplied with the lights, the new Pods mounted right into place offering plenty of adjustability within the mounting brackets on the bumper. We were able to position both sets of lights right where we wanted them before installing the bumper onto the truck.
That textured black powder coat and stainless hardware sure offers a stylish look, we can’t wait to see how it fits on the truck.
The first step to installing our new Move Bumper is obviously removing the factory. On this style Superduty truck, there are four bolts holding the bumper to the frame, located here on either side of the tow hooks.
The bumper is also supported with this out brackets that help support the outer edge of the bumper. This center bolt will need to br removed from the bracket located right next to the front leaf spring.
With the stock bumper off of the truck, we then need to remove the factory tow hooks. Truth be told, this was the toughest part of this complete swap. Those tow hook bolts have some serious Loctite on them and it took everything our air impact and a long handled ½” ratchet could give it. This was tough and time consuming, but they eventually all came loose.
With the help of a friend, we were able to bolt on the supplied frame rail brackets, then the bumper. This design offered plenty of room to get tools back behind the bumper to tighten the nuts and bolts up. We were also extremely impressed with how well this bumper fit the bodylines of the truck, its literally perfect.
While the North Lights included the wiring harnesses and switches required to activate them, we opted to upgrade our switch control with an EAS switch kit from Edge Products, that allows our new pod lights to be controlled by the Insight CTS3 monitor we previously installed. This system allows our lights to be wired to their EAS module so we can turn them on/off from the touch screen in the cab.
See what we mean by literally perfect? This pre-welded bolt together kit offered a perfect upgrade for this truck, both cosmetically and functionality. It fits the truck like a glove, offers a tough aggressive look and has exceptional lighting to boot.
The final product really works well with the looks of this truck, the bumper offers better ground clearance compared to the stock unit, and that black powder coat ties in well with our black and machined Anthem wheels. Now it’s time to get it offroad and put that bumper to use, see what kind of trouble and abuse we can give it.

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