Front bumper or Rear? Which to do first?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Altaf

Altaf

10 Year 15 Year 20 Year
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
Threads
53
Messages
376
Location
DC area
Not sure which I should go with first, front bumper or rear? :hhmm: I've got no pressing need for aftermarket bumpers today but I'm planning a few wheeling/camping trips this year. They will include typical east coast mud and rock trails, and hopefully a venture to Ouray CO (if I can make the HIH registration before it fills up).

For my needs, lightweight bumpers would be ideal since I'm keeping AHC "forever".

Front bumpers: I'm thinking TJM T15 alloy, TJM T3 or another yet to be announced aluminum variety.

Rear bumpers: Don't know of anything light weight but I'm drooling over Slee's. I'd do the BlueBerry front but I think it would be tough to keep AHC. I've already got sliders and this is a family rig so 5-600 pounds of people weight is normal on the weekends.

Interested in hearing your opinions and experiences. :popcorn:
 
My stance has always been that the lacking departure angle of the stock rear bumper/spare tire causes more hang up issues when wheeling, so as a result, I'm doing rear first.

Additionally, I'm more likely to nail a deer where I live so I'll wait and see if insurance pays for a new front bumper eventually.
 
It's probably a matter of personal preference, but I plan on doing the front first..and probably won't do a rear bumper. I like the rear visibility and I just don't see myself getting a lot of return out of a rear bumper.

But again, that's probably my personal preference.
 
El Cid said:
It's probably a matter of personal preference, but I plan on doing the front first..and probably won't do a rear bumper. I like the rear visibility and I just don't see myself getting a lot of return out of a rear bumper.

But again, that's probably my personal preference.
Click to expand...

I'm with Cid here. Wanted winch and not into 10 steps to get into the rear. When we rip the rear off wheeling I'll deal with it but likely sans swing outs unless need to relocate spare or carry extra fuel often.
 
Rear. Due to the long over hang we have, a rear bumper opens up many more technical trails to our rigs by moving the spare up higher and also providing a platform for hanging the rear off ledges etc.
 
I did fins n things with stock rear and a hitch. However, my winch has paid for itself 10 times over....
 
Try Hells Revenge with a stock rear. I doubt you will have a bumper when you are done :-). It really depends on your wheeling style and who you wheel with. If you roll solo on technical trails then maybe a winch could be more useful.
 
It's pretty much 6 of the one or half dozen of the other.
I first did the front in order to fit the winch and protect the front from stray animals.
Then did the rear to fit dual spare wheels so that 160L longranger tank could go in.
 
i DIDNT go on Hells revenge because i was by myself AND i had the stock bumper!

Buuuut, if i remember correctly my winch pulled a certain someone up a really technical section of poughkeepsie gulch last year? (low blow I know!)
 
Never really saw this as even close - the front comes first so you can mount a winch. My 100 is my first 4x4 in a long time that doesn't have a winch (yet?). Each time I hit the trail in the 100, I feel a bit unprepared. I guess it's what you're used to.

If you're wheeling somewhere you're at risk of ripping off your rear bumper, you're wheeling somewhere you should be equipped for recoveries.
 
I have dfferent trucks for different things. It really comes down to what you use your truck for. If you're going to do Hells Revenge in your 100 then it sounds like you need a rear. We use our 100 for long expedition style trips with lots of gear where we are offroad and may run into a possible "stuck" situation but it's not a rock crawler. Figure out what/how you use your truck for and go from there. Your wife will hate you everytime she has to get into the back if you put swingouts on. Maybe thats a non issue for you but a happy wife means a happy life...
 
ENGINE er said:
Buuuut, if i remember correctly my winch pulled a certain someone up a really technical section of poughkeepsie gulch last year?
Click to expand...

Yep & myself & at least half a dozen other trucks. We thank you!

If the OP plans on eventually getting both rear & front bumpers then ultimately it doesn't really matter which comes first.
 
My preferred order to upgrade armor is sliders, front bumper then rear bumper
 
If you don't plan on getting or needing a winch right away I'd get the rear bumper first.

BIOR rear bumper is great and has easily removable swing arms. You can remove the tire and swing arm in 15'. When my wife drove the LC for a few weeks this winter I took it off. Easy peasy!
 
fireball said:
If you don't plan on getting or needing a winch right away I'd get the rear bumper first.

BIOR rear bumper is great and has easily removable swing arms. You can remove the tire and swing arm in 15'. When my wife drove the LC for a few weeks this winter I took it off. Easy peasy!
Click to expand...

Did you put the spare in the rear cargo?

I really don't like swing arms and would probably see about tucking the tire up further in the stock location.
 
The front bumper can help you get home in the event of a front collision. It will also give you a place for a winch.

The rear bumper will always be a PITA if you have mounts to open and close every time you want to access the back. I'm not even sure if there are aluminum rear bumpers with mounts. Rear damage will almost never keep you from getting home, but a stock bumper will keep you off certain trails.
 
phsycle said:
Did you put the spare in the rear cargo?

I really don't like swing arms and would probably see about tucking the tire up further in the stock location.
Click to expand...

I could've put it in the cargo area or back in the OEM location, but it just sat in the garage. Wife works 5 miles from home and all her driving was in town so I wasn't really concerned about it. I am pretty sure both the BIOR and Slee rear bumper you can still mount the spare just fine in stock location.

FWIW, I got my BIOR rear right away and it is great. It's nice to have the added ground clearance, especially on some of the trails we did in VT in the fall. Plus a space for the spare and a hi-lift. I put the ARB sahara on a month or so ago, and still don't have a winch so it wouldn't be really doing me any good other than looking cool when crushing curbs at the mall!
 
SanDiegoCruiser said:
Rear. Due to the long over hang we have, a rear bumper opens up many more technical trails to our rigs by moving the spare up higher and also providing a platform for hanging the rear off ledges etc.
Click to expand...

I've seen a certain someone scrape their fancy rear bumper numerous times while my oem bumper was unscathed.

duggy said:
My preferred order to upgrade armor is sliders, front bumper then rear bumper
Click to expand...

This is what I did.

Aftermarket rear bumper don't help the departure angle that much. You're limited by the rear crossmember if you move the spare tire.

I would vote front bumper first. It offers important protection in the direction you're more likely to crash in. Provides a winch mounting point to help you get unstuck and improves the approach angle a good deal.

The rear bumper is mostly a place to stash the jack, jerry cans and spare tire. There are a lot of other mods to do before you'd benefit from the rear bumpers ability to act like a rear skid plate.

As far as keeping AHC, you could probably install OEM torsion bars and rear coils and keep the AHC shocks to handle more weight without losing the AHC functionality. People seem to give away the OEM bars and coils all the time on here.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom