Narrow front & rear bumpers with winch mount?

Fissel

Fissel

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Eagle River, Alaska
Strange ask perhaps- But I'm trying to build a jeep up without making it any longer due to garage length limitations (pics below). What front & rear bumpers should I look at? American made is a big plus. And I want something durable, but not too heavy. In the front I need to mount the winch as close as possible to the radiator. In the rear I'd like a hitch receiver, but the lack of one wouldn't be a deal breaker. Shackle mounts on both would be much preferable.

I'm also considering a roof rack & relocating the spare to that, but that's a topic for another day & thread.

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies. Its a bit overwhelming how many options there are & no one really lists how much longer any of them are over stock.

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Most of the front options will be roughly the same depth as yours or shorter. The ones with the similar depth lose the bump pads but have D-ring mounts welded on.

Savvy is somewhat unobtanium unless you're patient, but that's probably the tightest front bumper as it's just a bit more than the aluminum thickness (give or take) past the frame rail and the pull points are overhead hooks (similar to factory).

On the rear you're probably looking at a "bumper plate" option, this will be the most low profile once your spare is off the back . If you go this route the bumper is flush with the tailgate (+ a tiny bit for the thickness), but if you want any rock protection you need to look at the couple brands that actually wrap around like next venture. They have some with and without hitches. https://nextventuremotorsports.com/products/tj-457
 
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Fissel said:
Strange ask perhaps- But I'm trying to build a jeep up without making it any longer due to garage length limitations (pics below). What front & rear bumpers should I look at? American made is a big plus. And I want something durable, but not too heavy. In the front I need to mount the winch as close as possible to the radiator. In the rear I'd like a hitch receiver, but the lack of one wouldn't be a deal breaker. Shackle mounts on both would be much preferable.

I'm also considering a roof rack & relocating the spare to that, but that's a topic for another day & thread.

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies. Its a bit overwhelming how many options there are & no one really lists how much longer any of them are over stock.

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I do not have measurement from stock, My rear did not reach out farther than my 31" spare.

My winch hoop sticks out a bit.
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rasband said:
Most of the front options will be roughly the same depth as yours or shorter. The ones with the similar depth lose the bump pads but have D-ring mounts welded on.

Savvy is somewhat unobtanium unless you're patient, but that's probably the tightest front bumper as it's just a bit more than the aluminum thickness (give or take) past the frame rail and the pull points are overhead hooks (similar to factory).

On the rear you're probably looking at a "bumper plate" option, this will be the most low profile once your spare is off the back . If you go this route the bumper is flush with the tailgate (+ a tiny bit for the thickness), but if you want any rock protection you need to look at the couple brands that actually wrap around like next venture. They have some with and without hitches. https://nextventuremotorsports.com/products/tj-457
Click to expand...

Thanks for the lightning quick response. I'm not looking to do any rock crawling & want to try to keep things light, so that (beautiful) Next Venture bumper would probably be a bit overkill.
Googling Savvy TJ bumper.... those front bumpers look perfect (& sexy) but they're not even listed on the companies website?
 
Fissel said:
Yeah, it'd be great if there was some kinda reference showing me how far past some fixed item (the grill perhaps?) the front bumpers will protrude. But I couldn't find anything like that while searching.
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Just don't ask about the bumpers that were on my Jeep when I bought it.
 
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Most aftermarket bumpers are now made in China. The following link is for an American manufacturer I bought my last two bumpers from and their stuff is high quality, strong, and priced competitively with the cheap junk. https://www.thedirtworx.com/shop

And a winch mount easily mounts with most any bumper with a flat surface on top. A winch mount doesn't actually bolt to the bumper, its mounting bolts replace the bumper's top bolts and only pass through the bumper to thread into the frame below that the bumper mounts onto.
 
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Jerry Bransford said:
Most aftermarket bumpers are now made in China. The following link is for an American manufacturer I bought my last two bumpers from and their stuff is high quality, strong, and priced competitively with the cheap junk. https://www.thedirtworx.com/shop

And a winch mount easily mounts with most any bumper with a flat surface on top. A winch mount doesn't actually bolt to the bumper, its mounting bolts replace the bumper's top bolts and only pass through the bumper to thread into the frame below that the bumper mounts onto.
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That dirtworx rear bumper/tire carrier/rotopax carrier is hot. Not sure I have space for it though 😒
 
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I’ve had an LOD 44” front bumper with a Smittybilt raised winch plate since 2016. I’ve also had their rear bumper with swing out tire carrier, trail rack and Jerry can mounts. It’s heavy though, even just the bumper and tire carrier alone. Made in USA also. They have changed some of their designs since then though.

https://lodoffroad.com/category/products-jeep-1996-2006-jeep-tj


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MountaineerTom said:
I’ve had an LOD 44” front bumper with a Smittybilt raised winch plate since 2016. I’ve also had their rear bumper with swing out tire carrier, trail rack and Jerry can mounts. It’s heavy though, even just the bumper and tire carrier alone. Made in USA also. They have changed some of their designs since then though.

https://lodoffroad.com/category/products-jeep-1996-2006-jeep-tj


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That looks tight. I'll check it out. Thanks
 
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Fissel said:
Strange ask perhaps- But I'm trying to build a jeep up without making it any longer due to garage length limitations (pics below). What front & rear bumpers should I look at? American made is a big plus. And I want something durable, but not too heavy. In the front I need to mount the winch as close as possible to the radiator. In the rear I'd like a hitch receiver, but the lack of one wouldn't be a deal breaker. Shackle mounts on both would be much preferable.

I'm also considering a roof rack & relocating the spare to that, but that's a topic for another day & thread.

Thanks in advance for any helpful replies. Its a bit overwhelming how many options there are & no one really lists how much longer any of them are over stock.

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View attachment 507538

View attachment 507539
Click to expand...

It looks like you have room for most any bumpers, but avoid swing out tire carriers. In the front you could stay with your stock bumper and just add a winch plate and use the hook on top of the bumper for a recovery point. The Next Venture rear bumper with receiver is the biggest space saver with a receiver option other than fabbing something yourself.
 
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