OK here we go.
Received bumper from thumper fab three days ago. Installing the brackets proved to be a bit of a chore. Maybe not for a class a Mechanic with three hands, but it definitely took myself and a good friend to install. Note that the brackets will contact the tailgate when lowered, not allowing it to go all the way down, possibly causing damage, Unless they are slid all the way forward. Keep that in mind the first time you lower the tailgate and before you fully tighten up the nuts on the U-boats.
Unfortunately, my kit arrived without the rubber bumper stops, which thumper fab, said they will send to me directly. I have not seen them yet but expect them any day.
I temporarily placed some heavy rubber on the heat shield, where the rubber stoppers are supposed to go. I raise the bed to its fully raised position, which I assume is 10% less than before, and it made very firm contact with my home made rubber stops on the heat shield.
I did this to take pictures for this forum, and to finish touching up the undercoating that I applied to my rig.
Lo and behold, when I went to lower the bed, it was jammed up. The worm gear Drive made the normal clicking sound that it does when it is bottomed out, (Or in this case fully extended) but the bed would not come down. We had to remove the clevis pin on the top end of the ram, which was under significant tension, which then allowed the worm gear to reengage.
Retracted the ram slightly and reconnected the clevis. Bed works normally now, with no apparent damage.
So, in quick summary, without having the actual thumper fab rubber stops in place, it is possible to jam the bumper into the heat shield, resulting in too much tension on worm drive to reengage. Don’t know if that will be the case with the thumper fab stops, but definitely something to look out for When installing this bumper.
I suspect, even with the correct rubber stops, that if you hold the tilt up button too long, it will jam into the rubber stops and lock up the warm drive tilt mechanism
I hope that makes sense.