Amen. I love to buy Made In USA whenever I can.

I looked at a lot of bumpers and settled on the 10th Anniversary - Hard Rock skid plate and bumpers.
I bought the take offs from a 2016 Hard Rock Rubicon. I bought them, had them swapped out and put a 20" light bar for about $2,000.
Now the fellow I got the bumpers from didn't have the brackets to mount the rear bumper so I had to buy them and the bolts. Still, about $2,000 for everything.

I am now ready for the Smoky Moutains!

 

These are the take offs I bought from a 2016 Rubicon. Completely changes the look of my Call of Duty.

 

Occasionally, if you play in the rocks, your bumpers have to act as an additional skid plate. Or, if you are playing in the rocks in Texas, at some point you are going to put the front or rear into a low scrubby mesquite tree, huisache, or cedar, and not want plastic up there.

I would rather have a few surface scratches on my street bumper than be looking for a replacement fender flare and front grill.

Another bonus is at the grocery store: when some clown leaves their shopping cart in a good spot, I can slowly push it out of the way and park without having to get out of the jeep, move it, then get back in to finish parking. Some call it lazy (my wife), I call it working smarter rather than harder. Haha!

And again deer and wild hogs.

Back to the original point, yes they are over priced, some more so than others. Some of the fronts run over $1000. There is no way I would ever pay that money. But you don't have to, there are cheaper, better, options to be had if you shop around. They are the same as all other accessories and parts, if you shop around you can find what you like, with out having to have the most expensive option. Can wheels be stupid expensive? Yes. Can winches be stupid expensive? Yes. Can light bars and brake upgrades be stupid expense? Yes. Are some items better deals than others? Yes.

Such is life!

Currently I am running bumperless in the rear as my 35in space doesn't fit with the stock carrier and the stock bumper. My current budget does not allow for either upgrade at the moment. So, until I can get a rear steel bumper I am running without. Turns out if you are careful, even in the rocks you don't really need a rear bumper at all on the JK, however, as soon as the budget allows, I will be putting one on, more for piece of mind on the street rather than the trail.

Happy Jeeping!

Sent from my iPhone using JK-Forum

 

I replaced the stock bumpers and glad I did. Last year a woman that was busy texting rear ended me while I was at a stop light. She put a small scrape on the bottom of my steel bumper and did $4000 damage to her car. Don't think the plastic bumper would have stood up as well. If you are worried about weight don't add bigger tires, lifts, etc.

 

The hitch I bought has the nuts welded on and there is only like less than 3/8 of a gap, So it can't just slide up in there. I wonder if it's because it's a hard rock bumper. I think I'll take the bumper off just to have more clearance.

Thx!

 

fill up the milk jugs with water, they will stop some impact..ha ha

 

That's awesome. I do this all the damn time. The great thing is that you're almost guaranteed a parking spot wherever you go because nobody wants to get out of their damn car to move the cart lol