Installation Time
(approx) 2 Hours
Difficulty Level:
Simple installation for anyone.
Installation Guides
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Hey, guys. It's Sara with extremeterrain.com. And today, we have a review and install of the Barricade Dark Star Aluminum Grille with a 20-Inch LED Light Bar, fitting your '18 and newer Jeep Wrangler JL. This is perfect for the Jeep owner who's looking for a metal grille replacement that features aggressive and matte black styling and comes with an LED light bar included. This replacement grille features an angular design that provides unrestricted airflow to the radiator as well as the engine bay. It features an aluminum construction with a black powder-coat finish and has the classic Jeep style cutouts. The grille also includes this 20-inch LED light bar, as well as the wiring harness needed for install and all necessary mounting brackets and hardware. So, as far as price goes, this grille comes in at around $400, which is middle of the road price-wise when compared to other options. And for your money, you are getting a full grille replacement that features aluminum construction, and also includes auxiliary lighting. And as far as the install goes, I'm giving this one a one out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter. It does feature a director of bolt-up installation, but you will need to do some wiring to power that light. All in all, it can be done within two hours. So let's check out that install.For this install, we used an impact gun but a ratchet will work just fine. We also used 13-millimeter and 10-millimeter wrenches, the included 4-millimeter Allen key, 13 and 12-millimeter sockets, and a pop clip removal tool. All right. So, the first step in our uninstall with your hood popped, we're going to grab a pop clip removal tool and remove all the pop clips holding on the top of the grille. Now, you can also use a flat-head screwdriver, but be careful because you will need to reuse these. And now with all the pop clips removed on the top of the grille, pull back on the edges of the grille to release all the pop clips along the bottom. All right. Now, before we can get this new grille installed, we're going to install the light bar in the top of this grille. Now, to do that, we're going to start by installing the brackets. These are side-specific, so make sure you're working on the proper side. This is upside down, so I have the driver one here. We're gonna line it up with the opening in the top of the grille. And with one of the M6 bolts and a washer, go ahead and slide it through. Then, on the other side, we're going to be installing a washer, lock washer, and nut. Now, I'm gonna leave this loose for now until we get the light bar itself installed. Now, you can repeat that on the other side.Now, we're going to get the light bar lined up with the grille, and also with each of the brackets. Now, these brackets are slotted, so there is a ton of room for adjustability here, both up and down and side to side. Now, we're gonna install the two M8 hex bolts through the bracket and into the light bar itself. And we are using a regular washer as well as a lock washer on these bolts. Now, make sure the light bar is lined up evenly in your grille. And then with a 13-millimeter socket, tighten it down. Now, you want to tighten evenly on each side so the light bar does not move. Repeat that on the other side. And now that we've tightened down those bolts into the light bar, we're going to tighten down the bracket bolts using a 10-millimeter wrench and a 4-millimeter Allen key or Allen socket. Repeat that on the other side. And now we will install the brackets needed to mount the grille. We're starting on the passenger side. This bracket is labeled P, around at the top corner of the grille. Now, what we're going to do here is use that M6 hardware with a washer and go through the top. And then on the backside, we're going to do a washer, lock washer, and a nut. Now, I'm going to leave these loose until it's mounted on the Jeep and we'll tighten it down at that time.Moving on to the lower bracket. And now we're going to repeat that on the bottom part. Install the hardware. Same thing as the top bracket. You want to use a washer on the bolt side, and then a washer, lock washer, nut on the other side. And pay attention to the configuration that this bracket is in because again, they are side-specific, comes up into the side. Now, again, we're going to leave this hand-tight until we mount it on the Jeep. And now we're moving on to the driver side. We're going to repeat that process. Line up the bracket and thread in our hardware. Again, we're leaving it loose for now. And now onto the bottom bracket for our driver side, again, we're installing it the same way as the passenger side, but as you can see, the bracket is a little offset to the other side. Now, these brackets should be labeled in case you're confused as to which side goes where. All right. Now that we have our factory grille uninstalled from our Jeep and our new grille prepped and ready for installation, we can check them out side by side. Now, the most noticeable feature here is definitely that light bar. It's a great addition when compared to the factory grille which does not offer one, and is probably one of the easiest ways to get a light bar on the front of your Jeep. This grille features an aluminum construction with a nice black powder-coat finish, which is a nice change-up from the painted grille of your factory.So, with that said, let's go ahead and finish up our install. And now we're back to the Jeep and what we're going to do is remove two 13-millimeter bolts because that is where the brackets will mount to. With your 13-millimeter socket, go ahead and get these removed. And repeat that on the other side. All right. Now, we can start to attach the grille to our Jeep. Now, the first thing we're going to do is take these longer bolts on the bottom and line both of them up. Because they're very long, we'll need to get them both lined up before we get them bolted down. And again, it may help to line up both sides simultaneously and thread them both in at the same time. And now what we're going to do is tighten down the bolts for the lower bracket. We have a 13-millimeter ratcheting wrench here. And just as we're tightening, try to make sure you're pulling up on the grille so that we can get our top brackets in place in just a minute. Now, remember, these are slotted. So if you do need to make any adjustments, you can always loosen this up later on and adjust it. Now, you want to do the same thing for the other side. Again, just to get as much clearance as we can, I'm going to lift as I tighten and I'm using a 13-millimeter ratcheting wrench. And now we can line up the upper brackets. I'm gonna line them up with the factory holes and reinstall those factory bolts.Now, you want to make sure the other side will line up as well, and then grab your 13-millimeter socket and tighten it down. All right. Go ahead and line up the other side, and as I just said, it may be easier if you ensure the side lines up before you tighten either of these down. Once it's lined up, grab a 13-millimeter socket and tighten it down. And now we can tighten down the hardware going from the grille to the bracket. We have our 10-millimeter wrench here, and then we also have a 4-millimeter Allen socket, or you can use the Allen key that came with this kit. And repeat that on the other side. Now, at this point, we're tightening up the bolts going from the bottom bracket to the grille. This may be a little bit hard to see. We have a 10-millimeter wrench on the inside holding down our nut, and we have the included Allen key on the bottom, and we're just turning this in. And once it's tight, we can tighten down the other side. And repeat that on the other side. And now we can start to hook up our wiring. And what we're going to do is route in the general direction where each of these wires go. Now, that was the plug for the light bar itself that's going to go towards the grille area. And this goes for our switch, which will go in the cab, and I'm gonna just put that along the backside of the engine there.We can route these a little bit better in a second. Now, what I have here is the battery terminals. And I'm going to put these right over the positive and negative side of the battery. You can get any power and ground source that you would like, you don't have to go straight to the battery, you can put the ground on the chassis. I'm just gonna go right over top of both of the sides of the battery. Now, peeling back the power side, I'm going to go for one of these auxiliary nuts here. I have a 12-millimeter socket, and I'm just loosening and removing this. Now, what I'm going to do is slide the power eyelet right over top. Now, if you've noticed already a power eyelet on our Jeep. That's fine, we can go right next to the one that's already there. But what I am going to do is just route it off to the side so it doesn't get too crowded in there. And now with the 12-millimeter socket, tighten it down. And the negative side, this one is a 13. Again, we're just going to this accessory point on the battery. Slide it over top. And with your 13-millimeter socket, tighten it down. Now, the last thing we have to do is secure this relay. There's a hole here so you can bolt it up to any of the existing bolts on your chassis. There's even one down there that you could bolt it to, but what I'm going to do is just zip-tie this. As long as it's secured and out of the way, that is totally fine. But again, if you would like to bolt it up, like a more permanent mounting point, you are more than welcome.And now we can route the connector end. What I'm going to do is just lift up on this plastic piece here and route it underneath. You can remove this piece if you'd like, but you can also just lift up and get the same result. Make sure you tuck away any excess wiring. And then what I'm going to do is go underneath the rad support area. Just try to make it as clean as possible. And then grab your connector on the back of the light bar and click it into place. Make sure this is zip-tied out of the way, and all of your wiring is secured away from anything hot, moving, or sharp. All right. Now, we're running the wiring for the switch along the cowl of the Jeep. And then what we're going for is a rubber grommet locking and opening into the cab. Now, this may be hard for you to see. And also you can route this wiring however you like, that's why they've given you length. As long as you're getting the switch into the cab and all of your wiring is secured, that's all we are going for. Now, we're reaching on the other side of the firewall, pulling down this wiring, and connecting it to our switch. Now, we have the switch end, and we can route this up and into the dash. Now, we have the switch here, and again, I'm just pulling it down from behind the dash. You can route this wherever you like. You can mount it wherever you like. I'm going to go right underneath the steering wheel here on the driver side. We're going to peel back the protective adhesive. Go ahead and stick it down and make sure your surface is clean and dry. And then you can operate your switch.And that is going to do it for the review and install of this grille. And remember, for all things JL, keep it at extremeterrain.com.
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Features, Description, Reviews, Q&A, Specs & Installation
Fitment:
Barricade J132135-JL
CA Residents: WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - www.P65Warnings.ca.gov
Installation Info
Installation Time
(approx) 2 Hours
Difficulty Level:
Simple installation for anyone.
Installation Guides
What's in the Box
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