I have a 2014 Rubicon Unlimited and purchased a River Raider Off Road Trail Series front bumper. In order to get it to fit on the shop manager of River Raider told me I need to cut off the cross member which is connected to the frame where the bumper mounts on.

Has anyone done this??? What are your thoughts??


Also any thoughts on how this effects the sway bar disconnect??

 

there used to be a couple of manufacturers that required this. The sway bar won't be affected. I'm sure they're bumper has a skid to protect the disconnect. The cross member's job was to protect the sway bar motor and the bumper will be plenty rigid.

 

Had to do this with my crawler customz bumper, no big deal, sawzall takes it right off!

 

It isn't structural. A few high clearance bumpers require cutting that. Tough call man. If it were me (I wheel hard) I'd ditch the Rubi sway bar in a second and cut the crush bar off (crossmember you're referring to).

I don't want junk killing my approach angle. That said, you have the sissy bar and probably want to keep it. In that case, I'd find a different bumper. Or, fabricate your own skid plate.

 

I cut mine off also to fit Roadmaster tow bar brackets below my Rampage bumper. It was a little disconcerting at first but once I decided to go for it, it came off quite easily with a sawzall. The bumper, bolted to the frame, is much stronger than the crush bar.

 

Mine is gone. Its only 1/8" steel so it comes off pretty quickly with a sawzall and angle grinder. As for the swaybar disco, I rotated mine up out of the way with a .70 cent bolt from ACE.

 

It's called the crossmember compatability and it is there to line up with the bumpers of smaller cars in a collision.

When I was installing my Poison Spyder bumper, instructions or their web site, I can't remember which, also say you can cut them off for a cleaner look and a lot of guys do it. But I saw a thread a while back with a member's jeep that was in a crash and that crossmember was bowed in pretty severely and held up. Because of that, I left mine.

 

Mattfl and I did my rear with less than 300 miles on my 10a go for it!

 

bent mine on a rock going 1mph. Cut it off for the new bumper.

 

Like I said, a lot of guys do. I almost cut mine off. I haven't been in an accident in nearly 40 years so do I need it? Probably not. If you never get in a front-end collision it will never come into play anyway.

But I also wonder why it's called crossmember compatibility. Is it's Jeep's way of saying it is compatible with small car bumpers or are they saying it's compatible with federal law? Who knows? But if it's federal law then removing it may be illegal. Do I care? Not really. I know some states are sticklers about measuring the height of the bumpers on lifted vehicles and issuing tickets. I just stuck a piece of armor on mine and if I ever get pulled over, I believe it would meet the requirements. May not.

It's your Jeep. You paid for it. I don't care what you do to it. I believe having more information or knowledge when making a decision leads to a better decision. I just wanted the OP to know why it is there when he makes the decision rather than just relying on you don't need it.

Again, I cannot stress enough, I do not care what you do to your Jeep.