Beel_MT

Hey folks.

I just wanted to comment and I have a question about the Warn bumpers that are now displayed on the main page.

As others noted, the first thing I noticed were the stock fog lights were mounted in the replacement bumper. Personally I was glad to see this feature. I was a little curious that all the other bumpers I’ve seen had done away with these lights. I didn’t want to have to find an alternative mounting option or do away with the lights altogether.

Now personally I like the shorter bumpers that do not completely extend to the total width of the Jeep, one example being the Purejeep bumpers that are right below the Warn.

My question is whether there is an advantage to one length over the other? Obviously the longer bumper can offer some protection in a collision, but do they have an advantage beyond that? I would assume the short bumper effectively gives you a greater approach angle because you can approach an object from an angle and avoid contact with the bumper. Am I wrong in my assumption?

Thanks,
Beel

Ge99ne

You're assumptions are correct. With a stubby bumper you can crawl up a tree. With lockers of course. So if you tow your rig to the stomping grounds you'll never need the standard length bumper. These bumpers can take a huge amount of abuse. Around town that bumper may push the car out of your way in lieu of you crawling over it.

wayoflife

Hey Beel_MT, you got it right. The advantage of having a stubby bumper is that it'll allow you maximum approach angles.

I agree that it is nice that WARN has kept the factory fog lights, but I should point out that PUREJEEP and others removed theirs so that you could mount a winch low and inside the bumper. As you can see on the WARN setup, their winch sits quite high and obstructs a majority of the radiator. I can't say for sure whether or not this will be a potential cooling problem but it is something to consider if you're planning on mounting a winch to your bumper.

Beel_MT

Good point about the winch being placed above the bumper. That didn’t click with me even after reading Tom’s comment on the front page.

I guess the advantages of a short bumper and the lower positioning of the winch outweigh the benefit of retaining the stock lamps. Oh well, I do prefer the look of the short bumpers anyway.

Maybe someone will come up with a way of moving the lights to the top of an after-market bumper and attaching them.

Beel

wayoflife

That's what I kinda hoping for as well. And, for whatever it's worth, I have no doubts that they will be coming soon

SpudRacer

Looking at the front of the Warn bumper, it almost looks to me as if they COULD have squeezed those fog lights a little further outwards and still had enough room to put a roller fairlead on the front of the bumper vs. mounting it up top. Of course, this may have made the front look a little cluttered.

Overall I like the design, but once I saw Warn's PowerPlant DualForce, I thought that was the winch for me. I want to minimize accessories carried in the back of the JK such as an AC, and I'm not sure there's ample room under the hood to mount one, especially if I'm considering a supercharger such as Avenger's.

I've been broken into enough to know things out of site are less likely to attract attention.

Having an Air Compressor built into the winch solves so many problems. I like the 12,000 HD winch option as well. I also drive a 23,000 lb RV which will occasionally tow the JK to places (now only dreamed about) to off-road. If I ever get the RV stuck, it's going to take a serious winch to pull it free, and 12,000 lb is much more appealing to me than 9,000 lb.

Pulling 12,000 lb with a winch mounted on TOP of the bumper may put some serious torque on the bumper and may twist it some. Less likely if the winch is behind the bumper.

Tom
Bryson City, NC

JByer323

You guys forgot to mention one thing reguarding stubby bumpers... they're just plain sexy!

del4s

On my 2003 TJ Rubi I used a M.O.R.E. High clearance bumper. It is similar to a stuby with higher fender protection and the recessed winch. It looked great and I liked it a lot, but there was little room for any auxillary lights. I ended up using some small PIA fogs but wasn't very happy with those.

On my 2005 LJ Rubi I used an ARB which is super quality and fit with plenty of protection from deer on country roads. I had a few close calls and thought I needed that instead of the high clearance. It also had a good spot for the auxillary lights so I used some big IPFs, 900xsI think. They were great. No cooling issues, even in Texas. I don't want to be without some good lights again.

Now my JK Rubi has some good headlights that I will not have to replace with the IPFs that I have in the barn. It also has some fantastic fog lights with just the coverage that I want . So I'd like to keep those.

The products out there now are looking good, but I'm going to wait to see whats else will be available before I decide.

Chuck

tuner

One of the dealerships we were at the other day had a JK with a stubby bumper on it I'd never seen before. Unfortunetly I didnt notice it until we were driving out of the lot.

When I got home I did a little internet research. I beleive it to be a mopar.
http://www.mopar.com/cart_utils.jsp

bw1128

the site didnt work for me