I've had my JKU for about 6 months now and I am finally ready to put a new front bumper on. There are so many options!!! I was hoping I could get some feedback and suggestions on where to look. There are a few things I am looking for;

Under $800
Winch Mount (although I will not put one on till a later date)
Fog Light Mounts (not a deal breaker)
I would prefer to stay with a mid to full width
I really like the look of the Smittybilt SRC but have concerns over the quality
I also really like the N-Fab JK RWB bumper but have not found a single picture of one mounted up.

And last but not least, I do not do any serious off roading. The extent of my time off road involves getting to hunting camp on logging roads but nothing to serious.

Thanks guys (and gals) for any help!

 

Sound like aluminum is a good choice for you then based on your current usage. I went with a GenRight stubby but they offer them wider. They do have the winch mount and are much more substantial in their mounting and protection than the Smitty/ Rigged Ridge stuff- I've owned them both.

The cheaper brands simply bolt to the front of the framehorns and if you were to hit something they can easily manipulate the framehorns instead of staying solid like you thought when you installed it.

The smitty/ rr have 8 mounting bolts......my GR has 14 on the front.


Again, this is too narrow for what you're asking but it gives you an idea of quality of the products and another factor to consider.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk

 

save the money on the bumper and get a winch, $59 for end caps so winch and winch plate for less then you want to spend.
I know it is not everybody's cup o tea but I first cut my bumper a year ago and was planning on keeping it for a short time until I was able to get an aftermarket bumper. I liked it so much that I kept it off my last wrangler and put it on my new one. I found a free take off bumper to replace it with so when I traded it on my new one I just swapped bumpers.

 

That looks really good, One of the things I've read is that you loose a bit of fuel mileage with the stubby bumpers, Have you had any issues with that?

 

If you like the SRC, I would take a look at the Barricade Front Bumper. The SRC has more tubing, but the over all look and style are similar. The Barricade is out of stock right now, but you'll find some great reviews on our site and other places on the internet. If you can wait for them to be back in stock, it would be worth it for you. You'll have plenty of $$ left over for a winch now, or other accessories.

Like you said initially, there are a ton of options and a lot of it comes down to personal preference. Let me know if you have any other questions about anything on our site!

-Ryan

 

I put 19000 miles on my 2013 jku and made the stubby right away so hard to tell it always got close to 20mpg, I put it on my rubicon as soon as I got it home so not for sure on that either. I get around 16mpg with that. my 13 had 3.21 gearing with 33's and my rubicon has 4.10's with the same exact tires (Toyo Open country 33's). The nice thing about making your factory bumper a stubby is they are light weight and you can pick up stock bumpers for next to nothing. I got mine free and it was a brand new take off. So if you don't like it you are not out anything.

 

I started out with a mid width bumper as I had no plans on going with really big tires

I don't think too many vendors make mid width bumpers

The Ace one is really solid, I mounted a warn winch

The Ace one has holes to fit factory fog lights, or in my case rigid duallys in a bracket that matches the factory fog lights hole pattern

It's also available in regular, bull bar or with a stinger, all at the same price

When I wound up going with 37" tires I ordered the ACE stubby bumper and it had the exact same hole pattern so swapping bumpers was very easy, if you happen to live in New England I've got a mid width bumper for sale

Matthew

 

Fuel mileage? That's a Jeep, not a Prius!

Anytime you add weight or modify/remove the fairings or increase tire size you will reduce mileage.

Steel bumpers are a lot heavier than the roto-molded plastic stock ones (unless of course you use your bumpers to store water).

In the "do as I say and not as I do" department... I went with e-AutoGrilles front bumper with winch mount and fog light mounts plus rear bumper with class III hitch receiver and swing-out tire carrier. Came to under $800 delivered on a palette, everything included. Even shackles. Quality is at least as good as lower end models of name brand bumpers.

Sure it doesn't have a Ws cut into it but it does have Xs !

 

I went with the bestop highrock because it came with the winch for under $900.

 

Here is another one after I received the bull bar that was on back order