Anyone have issues with Victory 4×4 installation or quality control? (2 Viewers)

[Avssuc]

I spent the last 6 months planning and saving for mods on my GX, the @Victory 4x4 Blitz bumper being the biggest part of that. I had to pay a shop to install it because after 20 years in the military, I've got 2 degenerative discs that need surgery, and I'm waiting on the VA to fix it. The shop I picked is a 5 star shop, they come highly recommended in the local community, and they helped me with another vehicle I owned after a different shop butchered a lift install and broke steering components. This install did not go as planned:

Now I'm not totally sure it's on Victory here, as I wasn't there to see the shop cut or fit the bumper. The pictures though, they 'seem' to show that the shop isn't to blame. The pic of Victory's example GX next to mine is why I say that. The Victory example bumper sits about an inch further out than mine. The technician at the shop had a lengthy correspondence with Victory, sent tons of pics, and did as they explained, but nothing has worked. Has anyone else experienced something like this?

I'm looking for any advice. Can anyone that's done the installation offer up any thoughts? Anyone else go through the same thing or deal with the Victory warranty department? I'll know more on Monday after heading back to the shop and getting Victory's engineers involved. They said they would send me a new bumper with no questions asked if it was on them, but said nothing about whom might be paying for removing the bad bumper/light bar... and the installation of the new bumper with accessories.

Can anyone help this addled combat vet feel better about this s***ty situation? I'm hoping I'm the only one that's ever had this happen, and that Victory or the shop will mend this situation in short order. I really hope the shop just needs to cut a hair more... but it really looks like there is nothing left to cut.

Oh, and happy father's day to all you dad's out there!

 

[BigSwede]

Not sure I understand what the problem is, from those pics.

I installed a Victory Strike, and the plastic fascia trimming was by far the most fiddly bit to get right. But all in all I am very happy with it.

 

[Avssuc]

Not sure I understand what the problem is, from those pics.

I installed a Victory Strike, and the plastic fascia trimming was by far the most fiddly bit to get right. But all in all I am very happy with it.

Sorry, I added pics to OP for better detail. The bumper sits too far back, forcing the fascia to project out and over.

Here are some more pictures. There's an entire lengthy email and picture exchange between the shop and Victory as well. I figured it was worth bringing up to see if there was an easy fix.

 

[BigSwede]

Okay, I see it now. I don't think more trimming is going to do enough to bring the fascia back to the bumper.

I didn't do the Blitz so I'm not going to be much more help than that. I assume the bumper is mounted to the frame properly?

 

[Victory 4x4]

I believe our customer service team is in communication with your shop (and/or you) about this install and we'll do whatever we can on our end to figure out what's up. I'm out of the office for the weekend/week so I don't have more information than that, but I forwarded your photos on to them as they mentioned they were waiting for them.

~Daryl

 

[Avssuc]

I believe our customer service team is in communication with your shop (and/or you) about this install and we'll do whatever we can on our end to figure out what's up. I'm out of the office for the weekend/week so I don't have more information than that, but I forwarded your photos on to them as they mentioned they were waiting for them.

~Daryl

I've yet to hear anything from anyone at Victory. My emails and calls about sales questions were answered within the hour, same day. How long do warranty issues take to address?

The fascia is under severe stress and we can't take the bumper off because I essentially have no front end. All 3 people that noticed the bumper at the PX and came up to chat were curious as to why it looked so bad, 2 openly wondered when it's going to burst. One even asked if I got paid to put a prototype bumper on.

How long do I roll like this before real tangible action is being taken to fix it? Every time I go on post, this bumper will be roasted in circles where overlanding is more than a hobby, it's our job and life. I'm headed to Ft Hood for a reunion in July. If I were y'all, I wouldn't want that bumper in a parking lot full of soldiers with money to spend, it's pretty nasty billboard. That's not up to me, though.

 

[r2m]

First, my experiences with Victory have been great, but I purchased the MOLLE rear quarter window panels and rear shelf.
There was one of their guys that was posting on here kind of regular, but haven't seen him on here in a while.
To address your issue, are there any spacers (washers??) that can be used to bring the bumper out a wee bit?
That last photo of the fascia deflecting looks like there's more trimming to be done. The trimming may be done with just a Surform file, cheese grader type file for wood and plastic.

 

[Avssuc]

First, my experiences with Victory have been great, but I purchased the MOLLE rear quarter window panels and rear shelf.
There was one of their guys that was posting on here kind of regular, but haven't seen him on here in a while.
To address your issue, are there any spacers (washers??) that can be used to bring the bumper out a wee bit?
That last photo of the fascia deflecting looks like there's more trimming to be done. The trimming may be done with just a Surform file, cheese grader type file for wood and plastic.

There may be more trimming to be done, but the technician said he cut exactly the portions Victory highlighted in their lengthy email/picture correspondence. If you look at OP, you can see how far my bumper sits back compared to the Victory example, but that could be the result of an insufficient cut on the inside I'd assume. I'd like to talk to Victory about it, but I haven't been contacted once, outside of where I contacted them on Friday.

Can washers make up that inch the bumper is recessed? I'm no mechanic, but sounds kinda shade-tree. I'd rather make up the gap with structural metal, seems much better in all respects.

 

[Victory 4x4]

I've yet to hear anything from anyone at Victory. My emails and calls about sales questions were answered within the hour, same day. How long do warranty issues take to address?

Severe weather knocked out our power and Internet at the shop and it wasn't restored until midday today, so they're somewhat behind on a weekends worth of CS requests. I'm positive they'll contact you soon. If you haven't replied to your original tech support request with those photos, please do that as well.

 

[Avssuc]

Severe weather knocked out our power and Internet at the shop and it wasn't restored until midday today, so they're somewhat behind on a weekends worth of CS requests. I'm positive they'll contact you soon. If you haven't replied to your original tech support request with those photos, please do that as well.

I just got a call and got a rundown. Chris made me feel better about the situation. I'll be drawing some measurements tomorrow and we go from there.

 

[Banandalorian]

IIRC the Blitz has some degree of adjustment for the various holes used to bolt to the frame. I have mine installed as high and tight as possible so the bumper and grille are flush, and that required quite a bit more test fitting and trimming than Victory's install video. It looks like your shop just needs to trim a little more, but they may be able to adjust the bumper down and out a little bit. Right now it looks like they followed Victory's install guidance to a T and crammed the bumpers back together without considering that BOF trucks have pretty big tolerances between frame and body fitment so they likely need to account for that. It could also be a Victory QC issue if the mounting arms are too short or something, but "bolt on" bodywork always requires some amount of individual fitting.

 

[re_guderian]

... but "bolt on" bodywork always requires some amount of individual fitting.

This ^^^^ . My Strike front bumper required more cutting than in the video to obtain the proper clearance. No biggie, better to have to make multiple cuts than to try and fill a gap.

FWIW, my Victory came during COVID after a looooong wait, and was missing a bag of hardware. The guys at Victory overnighted it to me after being made aware. Can't ask for more than that.

 

[Avssuc]

My rig is back in the shop and Victory has been working with the techs diligently to get this installed properly. I've passed on all the information that's been shared here. I truly appreciate y'all taking the time to help out.

It's quite literally back to the cutting board.

Anyone got advice on making the parking sensors work with the 2019 grill? They won't stop going off.

 

[Banandalorian]

You need to reinstall the sensors in the same orientation as the factory bumper as much as possible. I think they can get twisted in their little housings when plucking them out and pushing them into the new bumper and they must be calibrated for the angle they were installed. I keep mine off for the most part since I have a tire carrier that blocks the rear, but did some experimenting with no tire swing. Attaching D rings/shackles or a winch hook to either of the front tow points will trigger the parking sensors pretty regularly so if you want to run those all the time for cool guy points, you'll want to turn the sensors off. With nothing hanging off the front bumper, I would occasionally get false parking sensor warnings in the rain/wet but it was uncommon and would go away after a second. I am not sure if that is from some electronic gremlin I introduced in the sensors by unplugging/replugging several times or something to do with water building up on the bumper or wet metal doing some kind of science.

 

[re_guderian]

You need to reinstall the sensors in the same orientation as the factory bumper as much as possible. I think they can get twisted in their little housings when plucking them out and pushing them into the new bumper and they must be calibrated for the angle they were installed. I keep mine off for the most part since I have a tire carrier that blocks the rear, but did some experimenting with no tire swing. Attaching D rings/shackles or a winch hook to either of the front tow points will trigger the parking sensors pretty regularly so if you want to run those all the time for cool guy points, you'll want to turn the sensors off. With nothing hanging off the front bumper, I would occasionally get false parking sensor warnings in the rain/wet but it was uncommon and would go away after a second. I am not sure if that is from some electronic gremlin I introduced in the sensors by unplugging/replugging several times or something to do with water building up on the bumper or wet metal doing some kind of science.

Well that explains a thing or two... Is there a re-calibration procedure for those of us that might not have taken notes in class while we were demo'ing the OEM plastic bumper???

 

[Avssuc]

The bumper went on correctly, because the team @Victory 4x4 helped guide the shop through a very tough instalation. Special thanks to Chris at Victory, his patience and knowledge were deeply appreciated. The best laid plans don't always work out, but the folks at Victory did a yeomans work in contingency. Even with limited access to their shop after a storm damaged it, they were still able to tackle this job.

And thanks to everyone that offered up advice here. The parking sensors work and everything is as it should be, minus some TMPS issues probably coming from the spare, with it being smaller and having a lower PSI. Thanks everyone!

 

[r2m]

The bumper went on correctly, because the team @Victory 4x4 helped guide the shop through a very tough instalation. Special thanks to Chris at Victory, his patience and knowledge were deeply appreciated. The best laid plans don't always work out, but the folks at Victory did a yeomans work in contingency. Even with limited access to their shop after a storm damaged it, they were still able to tackle this job.

And thanks to everyone that offered up advice here. The parking sensors work and everything is as it should be, minus some TMPS issues probably coming from the spare, with it being smaller and having a lower PSI. Thanks everyone!


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Glad it's all done, and it looks great! I think Chris at Victory was the one that has an account and on MUD used to post on this forum.
FYI about the TPMS, tire size doesn't matter, only the pressure. I think the dash light comes on when below 25 psi (?).
The only other reason would be a dead battery in the sensor, which is unlikely considering I have a 2013 and just replaced the sensors in all my wheels about a little over a year ago.
If you want to invest in a OBDII Bluetooth dongle with an app for your phone, you can read each individual tires psi AND temperature, along with getting all the engine and trans temperatures (there are 2 transmission gauges) and any codes that should ever come up.
I use OBDLink MX+ with their OBDLink phone app. I have an old Galaxy phone I have dedicated to keep in the car with only the app on it.

Amazon.com

It's handy being able to see real time the status of your drive train and tires.

 

[BigSwede]

The bumper went on correctly, because the team @Victory 4x4 helped guide the shop through a very tough instalation.

So it was not installed correctly the first time?

 

[WVU fan]

Sorry to hear to aren’t 100% happy with your project. And not to detract from your frustrations but kudos to @Victory 4x4 for chiming in on the thread. We don’t see a lot from vendors chiming in early on / partially in to a build thread

 

[WVU fan]

I do have the victory front bumper on my ‘12 . I chose them because I have a premium with parking sensors, cruise control adapters, etc and couldn’t go with a hoop on the bumper. Victory shipped it great and no damage. Have had issues with the parking sensors triggering in the rain and ended up turning them off as it wasn’t a huge issue. Anyway - more stuff I would buy from Victory and waiting til the budget is right