A Story of Indecision and Frivolous Spending

@Chris why not the Savvy bumpers? You don't like that style?

I don't like the look of the Savvy bumpers to be honest. I love that they are aluminum, but they're just too "plain Jane" for me unfortunately.

Love the JCR bumpers, those will look great. The three front bumpers I like are the one you have now, the JCR your getting and MetalCloaks modular one. One of those three will replace the one I have now. Maybe when I get that MC gift cert that’s what I’ll do?

Seems like we have similar taste then, because those are the three bumpers I like as well! I just wanted to try something different with the JCR bumpers. I liked the look of the bumper on my old black TJ, I just didn't like that it was made in China, and the metal was obviously much thinner. The JCR ones are made in the U.S. and look to be very good quality from what I can tell.
 
I don't like the look of the Savvy bumpers to be honest. I love that they are aluminum, but they're just too "plain Jane" for me unfortunately.



Seems like we have similar taste then, because those are the three bumpers I like as well! I just wanted to try something different with the JCR bumpers. I liked the look of the bumper on my old black TJ, I just didn't like that it was made in China, and the metal was obviously much thinner. The JCR ones are made in the U.S. and look to be very good quality from what I can tell.

The JCR ones look to be well built, I'm sure they'll look good on your TJ.
 
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I really like the look of those bumpers. Just out of my personal comfort zone price-wise...

They'll look great. I am not one of those who is a fan of the bumpers you are replacing, especially the rear. To me, an aftermarket rear bumper has to have a hitch receiver, or it's just a bolted on hunk of metal.
 
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I don't like the look of the Savvy bumpers to be honest. I love that they are aluminum, but they're just too "plain Jane" for me unfortunately.



Seems like we have similar taste then, because those are the three bumpers I like as well! I just wanted to try something different with the JCR bumpers. I liked the look of the bumper on my old black TJ, I just didn't like that it was made in China, and the metal was obviously much thinner. The JCR ones are made in the U.S. and look to be very good quality from what I can tell.

It’s the integrated cube lights on the JCR that I really like. Just a good looking bumper.
 
I really like the look of those bumpers. Just out of my personal comfort zone price-wise...

They'll look great. I am not one of those who is a fan of the bumpers you are replacing, especially the rear. To me, an aftermarket rear bumper has to have a hitch receiver, or it's just a bolted on hunk of metal.

Yes, I've come to find that I need the receiver hitch, it's a must for me. That's part of the reason I like these bumpers.

It’s the integrated cube lights on the JCR that I really like. Just a good looking bumper.

Yes, I like that you can mount some cube lights behind it like that. I'm going to have to find some 3x3 cube lights that are of a decent quality so I can mount them back there.
 
I put the doors and hardtop back on today. I forgot that even though I'm so used to having it with the top and doors off, the TJs still look really good with the doors and top on, especially the hardtop!

Anyways, I'm dropping it off at Jeep West this Friday morning so @David Kishpaugh can work his magic and install his custom mid-arm suspension, along with the outboard rear shocks.

I'll likely have a almost new set of JKS track bars for sale once this is done, and a complete set of Rancho shocks for a 3.5" lift.

Dave said he'll need it at least a few weeks, but I figure I'll be without it a month, just considering that nothing ever seems to go as planned.

These are also probably the last photos of it with the Mopar Rock Crawler bumpers, as I'm just waiting on the JCR bumpers to get here to replace them.

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I put the doors and hardtop back on today. I forgot that even though I'm so used to having it with the top and doors off, the TJs still look really good with the doors and top on, especially the hardtop!

Anyways, I'm dropping it off at Jeep West this Friday morning so @David Kishpaugh can work his magic and install his custom mid-arm suspension, along with the outboard rear shocks.

I'll likely have a almost new set of JKS track bars for sale once this is done, and a complete set of Rancho shocks for a 3.5" lift.

Dave said he'll need it at least a few weeks, but I figure I'll be without it a month, just considering that nothing ever seems to go as planned.

These are also probably the last photos of it with the Mopar Rock Crawler bumpers, as I'm just waiting on the JCR bumpers to get here to replace them.

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Looks great. Let me know about that front trackbar :)
 
Looks great. Let me know about that front trackbar :)

Yeah, I believe the front track bar won't be reused... I'm not 100% sure, but I think that's what he was saying, that he has his own track bars he puts on with it.

We'll find out for sure, but I'm hoping I'll have it back around this time next month.
 
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Okay, so here's the new bumpers I'm putting on this thing:

https://www.jcroffroad.com/product/SWBB/SWBFC.html
https://www.jcroffroad.com/product/SWBB/SWBRC2.html

A few reasons I'm doing this:

1) The front bumper allows me to install an Antirock without cutting anything (I dreaded cutting into my Mopar Rock Crawler front bumper).
2) The front bumper looks like it should have more clearance, which might be nice in the long run.
3) The rear bumper has a receiver hitch which I absolutely need.
4) The rear bumper has some nice cutouts for some auxiliary lights, which I intend to fit with LED cubes. This should make for some even brighter reverse lights!
5) I also have to admit, I really dig the look of the JCR bumpers.

What do you guys think?

I like the style of those, but one thing I’ve had trouble with is finding a rear bumper with a tow rated hitch, most of them don’t make a claim there or explicitly state it’s not for towing and for recovery only.

Did you see any rating formally on the hitch, or are your needs more recovery/bike oriented?

By the way, nice looking rig!
 
I like the style of those, but one thing I’ve had trouble with is finding a rear bumper with a tow rated hitch, most of them don’t make a claim there or explicitly state it’s not for towing and for recovery only.

Did you see any rating formally on the hitch, or are your needs more recovery/bike oriented?

By the way, nice looking rig!

Thanks!

I don't see anything about the tow rating, but I wasn't too worried as I'd never be towing more than maybe 500 lbs. or so, if that. I'm mostly using it for a receiver hitch mounted cargo basket. I suppose I could ask them what it's rated at. They're very responsive to emails / calls.
 
Thanks!

I don't see anything about the tow rating, but I wasn't too worried as I'd never be towing more than maybe 500 lbs. or so, if that. I'm mostly using it for a receiver hitch mounted cargo basket. I suppose I could ask them what it's rated at. They're very responsive to emails / calls.

I rarely have the need beyond a bike rack, so am thinking about accepting the trade off for style and more importantly clearance. Maybe just keeping the Curt in the garage for those rare cases I couldn’t borrow a buddy’s truck.
 
I rarely have the need beyond a bike rack, so am thinking about accepting the trade off for style and more importantly clearance. Maybe just keeping the Curt in the garage for those rare cases I couldn’t borrow a buddy’s truck.

Makes perfect sense. I would like to get a very light trailer eventually, but only to tow basic stuff like wood I pick up from Home Depot for project around the house or something. I'm certain it could handle something like that.

I thought about just mounting a receiver hitch under my existing bumper, but I like the clearance factor of a bumper like this, with the receiver hitch already built-in.
 
Makes perfect sense. I would like to get a very light trailer eventually, but only to tow basic stuff like wood I pick up from Home Depot for project around the house or something. I'm certain it could handle something like that.

I thought about just mounting a receiver hitch under my existing bumper, but I like the clearance factor of a bumper like this, with the receiver hitch already built-in.

Yeah definitely not worth mounting underneath - I smacked it a number of times when I’d otherwise have 4” to spare.
 
I rarely have the need beyond a bike rack, so am thinking about accepting the trade off for style and more importantly clearance. Maybe just keeping the Curt in the garage for those rare cases I couldn’t borrow a buddy’s truck.

Here you looked at Dirtworx? I just ordered one. He didn'td give a rating, but with the way it's built and how it ties into the frame (and if you add a $50 frame tie in), I don't think there'll be any problems pulling a trailer.

Here's a video showing the design. This one is for Dirtworx's rear bumper + tire carrier system, but if you get the rear bumper only, you get just the same bumper minus the tire carrier part. I really liked how well this is made. I rarely tow stuff and my main use is bike racks just like your use case and I went with this one since it's simple, so well thought out and there is not a single complaint anywhere.

 
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Here you looked at Dirtworx? I just ordered one. He didn'td give a rating, but with the way it's built and how it ties into the frame (and if you add a $50 frame tie in), I don't think there'll be any problems pulling a trailer.

Here's a video showing the design. This one is for Dirtworx's rear bumper + tire carrier system, but if you get the rear bumper only, you get just the same bumper minus the tire carrier part. I really liked how well this is made. I rarely tow stuff and my main use is bike racks just like your use case and I went with this one since it's simple, so well thought out and there is not a single complaint anywhere.


Those look awesome and the price is definitely right. Adding that to the part list. Thanks!
 
Those look awesome and the price is definitely right. Adding that to the part list. Thanks!

@Jerry Bransford and @glwood and several other members have used Robert's bumpers and they all like them. Just do a search and you'll find satisfied customers only. And the price is great for made in US. I'll post my impressions once I get and mount mine in my build thread.

@Chris sorry for the hijack :)
 
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Think about it, if they are putting a receiver hitch on your bumper as a recovery point, then it should have no problem pulling your 4000lb. jeep out of the muck, so a 1000lb. trailer pulling static should be a cake walk.

Good point! I didn't think of that, but you're completely right.
 
When you get your JCR bumpers make sure to give the welds and powder coat a once over. The parts I've purchased from JCR have had less than stellar welds and coating which led to rust spots the first time they got wet. Not too happy with the results and its caused me to shy away from using any more of their parts in the future.
 
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