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After removing our 2015 Ram 3500's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.

We got serious about our overlanding ambitions the day we bought our 2015 Ram 3500 Tradesman truck. Dodgy II: The Truckening has 4-wheel drive and the power to carry our planned truck camper. What it doesn’t have is the bells and whistles that make for a fully equipped overland vehicle. While there are many modifications we intend to pursue, foremost on our minds is a winch. And to have a winch, we need a bumper designed to support that winch.

Winching a truck and camper out of a deep mud pit can take a lot of force. While it is the role of the winch to real in rope connecting the truck to some stable anchor on solid land, the process is only as secure as its weakest link. So, having a rugged bumper to secure the winch and bind it to the truck’s frame is key.

So, I was over the moon when Warn agreed to sponsor us. They are a leader in vehicle recovery equipment and reaching out to them was a no-brainer. A few weeks later, an 18-wheeler stops by with a 300-pound pallet to drop off. We have the bumper. Now to get it on our truck.

Equipment

Having the right tools for this process is critical. Installing a truck bumper is not like assembling an IKEA bookshelf. You’ll need your standard tool set along with a torque wrench and a mat or creeper for working under the truck.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Tightening nuts and bolts with an automotive torque wrench.

The Build Thus Far

To install the Warn Front Bumper you first need to remove the factory grille and bumper from your truck. We cover this process in past posts and videos. So, check out How To Remove A Truck Grille and How to Remove A Truck Front Bumper before continuing with this step. We’ll be here when you are ready.

Installing Warn Ascent Front Bumper on a 2015 Ram 3500 Truck

While mounting the Warn Ascent Front Bumper is super simple, there are several steps that surround the process. We found ourselves flipping back and forth quite a bit, so I’ve split these steps into a few short chapters to help keep things in perspective.

  1. Preparing to Install the Front Bumper
    1. Diesel Specific Modifications
    2. Removing The Front Bumper Mounting
  2. Installing The Warn Ascent Bumper
    1. Mounting the Bumper
    2. Transferring the Park Sensors
  3. Final Touches
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Mounting in place ready for the Warn bumper.

Preparing to Install the Front Bumper

Before we can install our new front bumper, there is still a bit of cleanup we need to do. When removing the factory bumper, we left the mounting bracket on the truck frame. Now we need to remove that bracket to make room for the new mounting bracket. For diesel owners, this means a little additional clearing to reach that bracket.

We expand our automotive mechanic skills with our latest DIY project: removing the front bumper of our 2015 Ram 3500 Tradesman truck
Sizing up the task ahead.

Diesel Specific Modifications

Since we have a gas engine, there are a lot of diesel specific directions that we skip over. But I’ll include these for reference. In case anyone with a diesel engine is following along.

From these directions, it appears that the intercooler blocks access to important tie bolts. We need to remove these tie bolts to replace the bumper mounting frame bracket. So, diesel owners need to loosen the intercooler to access the tie bolts and attach the Warn bumper mount before reattaching the intercooler and completing the install. Sorry, I don’t have pictures of this process. Our gas truck did not require these steps.

Step 1: Remove four screws and three panel clips to release the intercooler shroud

Step 2: Unbolt and remove the collision brackets from the frame on each side.

We can see on our truck where these brackets would be but there are no collision brackets on our build.

Step 3: Near the base of the intercooler, remove the hose clamp from the intercooler tube.

Step 4: Release the intercooler mounting bracket from the vehicle’s frame by removing two bolts.

With the intercooler loosened, we can continue preparing the mounting for the new bumper. When we are done working in this area and no longer need access, we will reinstall everything but the collision brackets. (Step 2 on the Mounting the Bumper section)

We expand our automotive mechanic skills with our latest DIY project: removing the front bumper of our 2015 Ram 3500 Tradesman truck
Our truck with the front grill and bumper removed.

Removing The Front Bumper Mounting

From this point the instructions for gas and diesel trucks the same. Start by removing the front bumper mounting by freeing the tie bolt plate.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Tie bolt plate on front bumper mounting frame bracket.

Step 1: Unscrew four flanged nuts from the tie bolts, under the truck—two for each front bumper mounting.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Tie bolt nuts to remove.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Freeing the tie bolt nuts.

Step 2: Remove the tie bolt plate along with the two tie bolts for each front bumper mounting.

We expand our automotive mechanic skills with our latest DIY project: removing the front bumper of our 2015 Ram 3500 Tradesman truck
Removing tie bolts.

Step 3: Remove the stock front bumper mounting frame bracket from the truck frame.

We are done with these, so we set them aside with the original factory bumper.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Front of the stock bumper mounting frame bracket.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Back of the stock bumper mounting frame bracket.
We expand our automotive mechanic skills with our latest DIY project: removing the front bumper of our 2015 Ram 3500 Tradesman truck
Frame access point for bumper mounting frame bracket.

Installing The Warn Ascent Bumper

The Warn install directions include beautiful blowouts of the parts and hardware. But we know that there are times that instructions and parts get misplaced. So I’m listing out the specifications of each piece of hardware used in each step.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
There’s a lot of hardware to track.

Mounting the Bumper

Step 1: Install frame brackets using the same holes freed by the tie bolts and collision brackets. Thread through a ½” -13 x 4″ hex capscrew and ½” flat washing and secured with a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut. Only finger tighten at this point.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Left and right frame brackets
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Frame bracket hardware: ½” -13 x 4″ hex capscrew and ½” flat washing and secured with a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut

Step 2: Reinstall the intercooler mounting and hose.

This only applies if you had to remove the intercooler mounting plate and hose in the earlier diesel-only steps. Since we did not, we skip this step.

Step 3: Install bumper mounting brackets, to frame brackets. Bind with a ½” -13 x 1¾” hex capscrew and ½” flat washer secured by a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Bumper mounting bracket secured to frame bracket.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Bumper mounting bracket hardware: ½” -13 x 1¾” hex capscrew and ½” flat washer secured by a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Finger tightening the bumper mounting bracket.

Step 4: With assistance, position the Warn Ascent bumper in place on the bumper mounting brackets. Bolt the top four points with a ½” -13 x 1¾” hex capscrew and ½” flat washer secured by a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” -13 hex nut. Bolt the lower two points with a 7/16″ -14 x 1¼” hex capscrew and ½” flat washer secured by a ½” flat washer, 7/16″ lock washer, and a 7/16″ -14 hex nut.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Mounting in place.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Bumper hardware: ½” -13 x 1¾” hex capscrew and ½” flat washer secured by a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” -13 hex nut.

Step 5: Tighten all hardware from Steps 1, 3, and 4.

For this step, we find it helpful to have one person tightening the nuts and screws while another holds the bumper in place. We first secure everything using our standard ratcheting socket wrench and then use a torque wrench to tighten to Warn’s recommendations.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Tightening bolts and nuts.

Step 6: Secure block heater plug out of the way with a zip tie.

The blog heater plug was released while removing the truck grille. Not in our case, though. This is another feature that appears to be specific to diesel trucks. In which case, you can just skip this step.

Step 7: Trim excess inner fender flap.

Mark out the new desired outline and cut away the excess flap. I used a wood working crayon and a pair of snips.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Inner fender flap to trim. (This shot is a little confusing because a sliver of light looks like a line but it’s really just light!)
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Trimming the inner fender flap with a pair of shears. (We are following a line drawn with crayon, though the line of light is rather confusing.)

Step 8: Install skid plate to front bumper using five 5/16″ – 18 x 1″ button head capscrews secured with 5/16 – 18 lock nuts. Bolt skid plate to frame brackets with a ½” – 13 x 4″ hex capscrew and ½” flat washing and secured with a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Skid plate ready to mount.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Skid plate hardware: 5/16″ – 18 x 1″ button head capscrews secured with 5/16 – 18 lock nuts (B8 & B9) in the background and ½” – 13 x 4″ hex capscrew and ½” flat washing and secured with a ½” flat washer, ½” lock washer, and ½” – 13 hex nut in the foreground.

Step 9: Mount light bracket and light ports to bumper. All are secured using #10 – 24×1¼” socket head capscrews through U spring nuts.

The light port brackets are secured by the capscrews on the left and right sides of the light ports.

Lights do not come with the Warn Ascent Bumper. Fortunately, the brackets are designed to take the very common 3-inch pod lights that most any off-road lighting supplier will carry. We’ll get more into detail about those at a future post.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Placing U spring nuts around bumper opening for light port
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Securing top and bottom of light port to bumper.
After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Hold light port bracket in place behind bumper while securing it in place with cap screws on left and right sides of the light port.

Transferring the Park Sensors

With the lights in place, this would be the point where you remove the parking sensors, harness, and carriage from the stock bumper and install them on your bumper. We have a bare bones Tradesman truck model, however. So, we don’t have any parking sensors.

Step 1: remove the bumper support backing plate from your stock bumper, exposing the harness, sensors, and carriage.

Step 2: Remove parking sensor harness.

Step 3: Remove sensors.

Step 4: Remove sensor carriage.

Step 5: Install sensor carraige into Warn bumper, as it was orriented on the factory bumper.

Step 6: Install sensors and harness.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Tightening bolts and nuts.

Final Touches

Step 1: Plug unused holes for Baja Tubes and parking sensors with provided hole plugs.

After removing our 2015 Ram 3500 truck's grille and front bumper, it's time to finally install our new Warn Ascent Front Bumper for our overland adventures.
Replacing the grill.

Final Thoughts

There is a fair bit of wiggle room when mounting the bumper. So, the first time we tightened the bolts, we thought the bumper looked a little unaligned. By loosening the bolts and having one person hold the bumper in place while the other retightened the bolts, we were much happier with the final alignments.

Of course, we still have more to do. The bumper does not come with lights. So we will be selecting lights to fill those slots on the bumper. More to the point, we are ready for our next step: Installing a Warn Zeon Winch.

Lexi lives in a truck camper down by the river.

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