Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Front Bumper 3


Looking to do some offroading with your Suzuki Vitara or Chevy Tracker? The front air dam/valence hangs down really low on these rigs. Read more to see how you can gain 5″ of front ground clearance for free!

I recently got a cheap Vitara dubbed ‘PJ’ (my 3 year old wanted to name it ‘Pizza Johnson’ which we have no idea where he came up with, but we shortened it to ‘PJ’). The intention is to make it a super cheap offroad rig that my boy and I can go mess around with on the weekend.

Until I get the time/motivation to build an actual tube offroad bumper for a winch I wanted more clearance. I had seen some pictures of the ‘cut front bumper’ mod online but didn’t see any writeups on it. Here are some pics of how I did mine.

Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Stock front bumper pre-modifications. I rolled around under the front and found that there is not much behind the front bumper below the lowest horizontal body line short of the one tow hook that is visible.
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Measuring for the clearance gain. Looks like ‘Ol PJ should gain about 5″ in front ground clearance!
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Out comes the box cutter! (please be careful doing this!) The plastic is pretty soft, a firm pressure cutting away from your body is enough to cut across the outer skin following the lowest body line.
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Cut all the way across the front. I just then had to remove the two lower bracket supports and some plastic clips in the wheel wells that were holding it up.
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
It’s off!
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Once the lower part of the bumper is cut off and removed, there are 3 bumper brackets that can then be removed (circled in red).
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Removing brackets…
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Now to trim the inner fenders. I used a combination of tin snips and the box cutter to do this. This plastic is a little harder to cut than the front bumper.

Now, to do something about that low hanging tow hook…

Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
The tow hook is now the lowest hanging object on the front end.

Not wanting to cut off the tow hook since it is pretty beefy, I decided instead to try to bend it up. First I tried just jacking up the vehicle by it, but it wasn’t enough weight. So I used a log chain on my jack with a socket in the center hole to keep it from slipping.

Do this at your own risk if you decide to try it. Please do it in a safe manner. Stay at a safe distance from any parts under pressure when you are working with them.

Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
I removed the cup/rubber pad from my jack and stuck an impact socket in the hole. I then wrapped a log chain between the jack and the frame. It didn’t take a lot to bend the hook up. I put pressure on it with the jack then opened the drives door and bounced up and down to bend it, then would jack it up a couple more pumps and repeat until the hook was about level with the ground.

This was really quite uneventful and worked pretty well. I have a heavy duty jack and chain and stayed at a safe distance. You could probably also do this with a port-a-power or similar hydraulic tool (but I don’t have one, so I was working with what I had). Another option would be to make some pie slices in the top side, bend it up, then weld it back together, or cut it totally off and make a new tow point (which I will probably do at a later time).

Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
5 minutes later we gained 2″ of clearance on the tow hook
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Boom! Look at all that clearance!
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Lookin’ purdy
Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Cut Front Bumper Mod
Gertrude was tired and mean mugging me because she wanted to go to bed…

There you have it. Another free mod to my cheap wheeling toy. Metal fabrication can save lots of money through not having to buy stuff when you can modify or make stuff yourself. Now YOU, go out in your shop and work on something!


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3 thoughts on “Suzuki Vitara/Tracker High Clearance Stock Front Bumper

  • Doug Owen

    I agree that it probably looks better that way, but I think it is misleading to say you gained 5 inches of ground clearance with this mod. The frame/suspension did not change height, therefore there is no additional ground clearance. I could be looking at it wrong.
    Doug