Anybody deal with Rokmen?

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Ok so I started watching youtube videos on how to remove powder coating because as you know I couldn't get a flap disc anywhere because of the holiday, and I wanted to get started I bought a gallon of Aircraft paint remover and wow what a pain it was. I know I am recapping a bit but stick with me I am going somewhere with this.

Fast forward to Saturday and I bought a flap disc for my Dremel to get the powdercoat off of the welds and man you were completely right, I should have waited to get the flap disc. It was amazing it took the powder coat right off. Knowing that now, I wont even mess with the aircraft paint thinner at all next time. That alone took three days.

Anyway I still need to sand some more, but here is a pic of my progress. I have the powder coat gone and the inside/underside cut in with primer. I have a lot of finishing sanding to do, but I am starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Also you are right, underneath all of that crappy powder coat is a pretty nice bumper. I hope I can get the scratches toned down, but it is starting to take shape now.

I am pretty sure I am going to try, and buy all of my bumpers bare from now on. Stripping sucks and the manufactures really don't care about a crappy cover.

View attachment 26053

I always want to buy a bumper new in bare metal, unless its from a company like ARB where their powder coating process is illegal in the US. No joke the bumper that was on my TJ was put on in early 200x & had tons of road salt all inside of it from its harsh life in Maine. They bumper held up really well! Next set of bumpers are coming bare though .

 

[bobthetj03]

You can blend out some of the heavy grinding marks with a red scotchbrite pad by hand.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MBPT0F8/?tag=wranglerorg-20

 

[ac_]

Update: I got it sanded down and has one coat of primer on it. I only have about an hour a night to work on it during the week, so it is slow going till this weekend. But one night is wet sanding then the next night is primer then the next is wet sanding and so on. 3 coats of primer and 3-4 coats of paint, although I am not going to wet sand the paint nor am I going to pain clear. So once I get to that stage it should go pretty quickly. I will update with pictures once it is painted.

I am going to paint it to match my Dirtworx rear. Hammered Black.

Just trying to get a decent bumper has been frustrating but after reading both of your's bobthetj03 and jamesAndTheSahara's stories I feel lucky. You guys sure have been through a lot, I admire your perseverance, and your dedication.

Once I get my bumper/winch on I am going to do a OME 2inch lift we will see how that goes. I am probably going to do an sye over dropping the cross member. I did one on my YJ and it worked awesome and it had tons more lift.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Update: I got it sanded down and has one coat of primer on it. I only have about an hour a night to work on it during the week, so it is slow going till this weekend. But one night is wet sanding then the next night is primer then the next is wet sanding and so on. 3 coats of primer and 3-4 coats of paint, although I am not going to wet sand the paint nor am I going to pain clear. So once I get to that stage it should go pretty quickly. I will update with pictures once it is painted.

I am going to paint it to match my Dirtworx rear. Hammered Black.

Just trying to get a decent bumper has been frustrating but after reading both of your's bobthetj03 and jamesAndTheSahara's stories I feel lucky. You guys sure have been through a lot, I admire your perseverance, and your dedication.

Once I get my bumper/winch on I am going to do a OME 2inch lift we will see how that goes. I am probably going to do an sye over dropping the cross member. I did one on my YJ and it worked awesome and it had tons more lift.

You have some quality plans ahead of you! Excited to see pictures of all of this progress!!

 

[ac_]

It is not going as tall as you, Not really necessary here in the desert, Plus to go anywhere around here is at least a 2 hour drive so I have to make min durable and comfortable. An enduro so to speak.

Not like the old days when I had a 6 inch lift with 38 in Gumbo Monster Mudders on an old 74 blazer, Now that was beast, and those days are long behind me. I just like to ride quads, fish and camp were nobody can bug me except for one of you awesome guys from here. I might get a little stuck getting to that prime camping spot, so that is what the Hi-Lift and winch are for.

I need to leave the hard core stuff to you.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

It is not going as tall as you, Not really necessary here in the desert, Plus to go anywhere around here is at least a 2 hour drive so I have to make min durable and comfortable. An enduro so to speak.

Not like the old days when I had a 6 inch lift with 38 in Gumbo Monster Mudders on an old 74 blazer, Now that was beast, and those days are long behind me. I just like to ride quads, fish and camp were nobody can bug me except for one of you awesome guys from here. I might get a little stuck getting to that prime camping spot, so that is what the Hi-Lift and winch are for.

I need to leave the hard core stuff to you.

Send the hardcore stuff my way when you find it, still searching for it over here. Traveling to stoney lonesum before christmas hopefully.

 

[bobthetj03]

Looking forward to seeing that awesome bumper!

 

[ac_]

Looking forward to seeing that awesome bumper!

Ok here is the finished bumper. I think it turned out awesome. I have the actual finished installed with winch but will put the pic of that in the Winch switch set up thread.

 

[bobthetj03]

Looks awesome brah!

 

[ac_]

Looks awesome brah!

Thanks I appreciate that. It was a ton of work.


It certainly looks better than the powdercoat that it came with. It was a lot of work. I guess now that it is done I can say it was worth it to refinish, but man it was a lot of work. Other than the crappy coating and 3 of the 8 holes didn't line up, it seems like a nice quality steel build. I wouldn't suggest this bumper to anybody that wants to just bolt it on without work, because it was a lot, but if you are willing to put in some work it turns out to be a nice bumper.

 

[lowranger]

Wow! That turned out great! You gotta be happy with that!

 

[Jeeptrash]

Going back to your original topic. I ordered a Mercanary front bumper in the middle of November, after a couple weeks of not hearing anything at all I gave them a call. Jeff answered and said they were backed up and had some supplier issues, same as what he told you. He said he’d have them sorted soon and I should expect to have my bumper sometime in January.

It’s nearing the end of January and nothing has progressed at all. I’m bummed out because I’ve had my eye on this bumper for years and just haven’t really put much into my LJ for the past few years and this was my first step getting back into the jeep mods. I’m pretty tired of looking at my new winch sitting in the box in my garage every time I leave the house.

Guess I’m going to stick it out as I’ve never found another bumper that comes close to how the mercenary looks. Glad you found one that fits your needs.

Just thought I’d share my experience for others in the same position. They REALLY should at least shoot you a email saying your item is back ordered or something, anything to make it feel like they value your business. I don’t usually hand people $500 and just not worry about not having any sort of contact from them for months.

 

[ac_]

Going back to your original topic. I ordered a Mercanary front bumper in the middle of November, after a couple weeks of not hearing anything at all I gave them a call. Jeff answered and said they were backed up and had some supplier issues, same as what he told you. He said he’d have them sorted soon and I should expect to have my bumper sometime in January.

It’s nearing the end of January and nothing has progressed at all. I’m bummed out because I’ve had my eye on this bumper for years and just haven’t really put much into my LJ for the past few years and this was my first step getting back into the jeep mods. I’m pretty tired of looking at my new winch sitting in the box in my garage every time I leave the house.

Guess I’m going to stick it out as I’ve never found another bumper that comes close to how the mercenary looks. Glad you found one that fits your needs.

Just thought I’d share my experience for others in the same position. They REALLY should at least shoot you a email saying your item is back ordered or something, anything to make it feel like they value your business. I don’t usually hand people $500 and just not worry about not having any sort of contact from them for months.

I thought the same exact thing as you.

So far my Warn has been pretty good and after the shenanigans with it, it has been good. It looks good, not as good as the Rokmen, for sure, but nonetheless since I had to settle, I am actually pretty happy with it. It was a lot of work to get there.

Sorry to hear you are still waiting, I hope you don't have to wait much longer but in case you do there is another one I considered before going with the warn that I thought was pretty good looking. They only thing, is I didn't like the non-level deck. I am assuming you wont either, but still worth a look.
Hanson
https://www.hansonoffroad.com/proddetail.php?prod=TJ51202-P

Or the bulldog
http://www.bulldogwinch.com/index.c...ct_id=192/category_id=13/mode=prod/prd192.htm

Or what I settled with
https://www.morris4x4center.com/warn-rock-crawler-stubby-front-bumper-w87700.html
Although the finish was bad and I had to strip it and repaint it. Made it cost as much as the Rokmen, but not as good in my opinion.

Good luck, and show picks if they ever get it built.

 

[glwood]

I've always liked the looks and quality of the Hanson bumpers, but could never justify spending that much. Close to $1200 for front and rear, ouch!

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

I've always liked the looks and quality of the Hanson bumpers, but could never justify spending that much. Close to $1200 for front and rear, ouch!

Some people charge quite a bit for their bumpers lol.

I wish you you guys would stop talking about how much you like the rokmen bumpers, you are gonna make me spend money!

 

[lovemachine]

Some people charge quite a bit for their bumpers lol.

I wish you you guys would stop talking about how much you like the rokmen bumpers, you are gonna make me spend money!

Does this help? I LOVE my Rokmen bumper.

 

[JamesAndTheSahara]

Does this help? I LOVE my Rokmen bumper.
View attachment 30579

Sure as hell doesn’t help, especially with a white TJ!

Looks great!

 

[ac_]

Does this help? I LOVE my Rokmen bumper.
View attachment 30579

Ah ha you are one of the lucky ones that actually got one!

I thought I would buy the Warn to get me by till when/if the Rokmen became/becomes available, but I put so much work in stripping and repainting my Warn stubby, and it looks so much better than it did when it came, that I kind of like it now. I will probably just keep it now.

 

[lovemachine]

Ah ha you are one of the lucky ones that actually got one!

I thought I would buy the Warn to get me by till when/if the Rokmen became/becomes available, but I put so much work in stripping and repainting my Warn stubby, and it looks so much better than it did when it came, that I kind of like it now. I will probably just keep it now.

I’ve had mine for about 3 years, along with their rock sliders and rear corner armor

 

[ac_]

Those rock sliders are nice, but I am not falling for that again!

You know what sucks about the whole deal is I ordered the front bumper last September, and I got my refund in November, and @Jeeptrash said he/she is still waiting on his/her(no assumptions) bumper. If you go to the website today there is nothing about being on backorder or a wait or anything. Then if you just go ahead and buy it like you do on-line, you get no response until you give it a month and go where the hell is my bumper? Then Jeff tells you he has no clue when he will get the parts, and you could wait or get a refund. After a month, and you are on the phone waiting for them to pick up and you are thinking, man it has to be close. Then he says It is on backorder and has no idea when the parts will be available, but when they become available it generally takes another 2 weeks. It deflated me.

So I am not sure how long before I originally ordered mine they became unavailable, but it is January of the next year, and they are still on backorder. To me that warrants a note on the website.

I was also going to order the frame tie-ins for the rear also, but yep you guessed it on backorder too. So the rock sliders look pretty awesome, but I am not going to get my hopes too high.