[BigGillyStyle]

For about the last month I had been looking for a new rear bumper for my 2004 TJ. My criteria were:

1. Minimum 3/16" gauge steel (was a little nervous about 1/8" steel)
2. 2" receiver welded through center of bumper (not welded to bottom of bumper)
3. Safety chain loops on both sides of receiver (I did not want to use the clevis mounts or shackles as places to anchor trailer safety chains)
4. Vertical "clevis mounts" to attach shackles (a few don't offer these, a few offer horizontal options additionally)
5. Powder-coated, not painted or raw (powdercoated locally was going to cost a minimum of $100)
6. Did NOT need to have swing-away carrier add-on capabilities (not important to me)
7. Receiver needed to be capable of towing 2000 lbs (more info on this in CAVEATS section below table).

I put together an Excel spreadsheet as I searched the various threads here and started exploring everyone I could find that made rear bumpers. Some of my criteria, unfortunately, did not make it into my spreadsheet, as I started narrowing down my mental list once I compiled the "big list" below. I've painstakingly tried to reproduce that spreadsheet here for (hopefully) the benefit of others in my situation. I've hyperlinked each Company Name to their website so you can check the info for yourself. Here it is (see caveats below the table):

Company Name.......Cross Section..Gauge..Clevis Mounts?..2" Rcvr?..Chain Loops?..Coating
All J Products.........2 x 5......3/16.........Y...........Y........Opt............?
AtoZ Fabrication.......2 x 5......3/16.........Y...........Y........Opt............Powdercoated
Big Daddy Offroad......3 x 3......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............?
Durango 4x4..............?........1/4..........Y...........Y........Y..............Powdercoated
Garvin.................2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........N..............Powdercoated
Ground Pounder Fab.....2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Unp ainted
Hanson...................?........3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Powdercoated
HellBentFabrication....2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........?..............?
JC Fab & Design........2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........?..............?
Jeep Builders..........5 x 5........?..........Y...........Y........N..............?
Knoblokbumpers.........2 x 5......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Unp ainted
Koz Off-Road...........3 x 6......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Urethane Paint
LoD......................?........3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Powdercoated
*******..................?........3/16.........N...........Y........N..............?
Mudinyeri Offroad......2 X 5......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Unpainted
Olympic..................?........3/16.........N...........Y........Y..............?
Road Armor.............N / A......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............?
Rock Hard..............2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Powdercoated
Rokmen.................2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Unpainted (kit)
Steve's Jeep Fab.......2 x 4......3/16.........Y...........Y........Y..............Unpainted
TKH Fab................2 x 5......1/4..........Y...........Y........N..............Painted
Tomken.................2 x 4......1/8......... N...........Y........Y..............Powdercoated

CAVEATS!:

• The information may be wrong already or soon (for example...I've heard LoD is switching to 3/16" from 1/8" steel). Let me know if there are any corrections to make.
• This list does not reflect who welds the receiver through the center of the bumper and who welds to the bottom. This was a criteria for me, however, because of the obvious ground clearance issues as well as my own perception of greater strength (when welded through center as opposed to bottom).
• This list obviously does not capture who is currently way behind on orders or who offers better customer service.
• This list does not reflect who advertises their receiver as "recovery only", who states particular towing capacities, and who says nothing about it at all (which is quite a few). I was looking for some confidence that a 2000 lb. towing load would not be a problem. This was a fairly subjective evaluation on my part for several of the manufacturers.
• To keep this list relevant and current I have tried to remove manufacturers who are now out of business or who don't produce rear bumpers any more (like Jeeperman, Bulletproof Manufacturing, Rock-It-Man).

Hopefully the greatest value of this list is for people who are in a similar situation to have a single list of as many different options as possible. If you know of anyone else who offers rear bumpers and would like to add them to this list, just post a reply. I'll edit my post as often as possible to reflect new and/or different information. Maybe this thread will be helpful, maybe it'll just die. I don't know...I thought I'd just try "giving back" to the Jeep community. If I had my own web page, this would obviously be WAY BETTER as an HTML table (display better, easier to keep updated, etc). Maybe some day...

P.S. For what it's worth, I went with the Rock-It Man rear bumper. It had all the features I wanted, a good price, and Chris was quite responsive to my many queries (ask him...I sent him A LOT of emails). I'm not trying to start a religious war here of whose bumper is the best...I'm just trying to present the options I found.

[LoneJeeper]

excellent post... that's alot of legwork...


now for the front bumper

lj

[Oman Jeep]

One more to add:

Originally Posted by JohnP

1. Minimum 3/16" gauge steel (was a little nervous about 1/8" steel) - check
2. 2" receiver welded through center of bumper (not welded to bottom of bumper) - check
3. Safety chain loops on both sides of receiver (I did not want to use the clevis mounts or shackles as places to anchor trailer safety chains) - no but pretty sure they could add them. Bumpers are built to order.
4. Vertical "clevis mounts" to attach shackles (a few don't offer these, a few offer horizontal options additionally) - check
5. Powder-coated, not painted or raw (powdercoated locally was going to cost a minimum of $100) - check
6. Did NOT need to have swing-away carrier add-on capabilities (not important to me) - check, either option available
7. Receiver needed to be capable of towing 2000 lbs (more info on this in CAVEATS section below table). - class IV hitch

Company Name
Road Armor
Cross Section
N/A, bizarre high clearance wrap-around shape, doesn't use box sections.
Gauge
3/16th for the skin, 7/8th for the tabs
Clevis Mounts
Yes
2" Receiver
Yes, specced at Class IV
Safety Chain Loops?
No but could be added before coating
Price
Specced out with a class IV hitch, no tire carrier, and black powdercoating, $870.
I'd add a couple dollars for the safety chain mounts.


HTH... Mine should be on it's way this summer assuming nothing expensive goes wrong between now and then. Gonna have to see if they can ship mine with the tire carrier arm but without the tire mount actually welded on because I pay shipping based on the overall height and width and depth of the smallest regular box that could theoretically fit it... that arm sticking up to hold the tire would more than double my shipping rates!

[BigGillyStyle]

Originally Posted by Oman Jeep

One more to add:
...
Company Name
Road Armor
...

Added. Thanks for the info.

[thenewkid]

fyi, the tkh fab is 1/4" steel and has d-ring mounts. and that price is also shipped to your door.

[BigGillyStyle]

Originally Posted by thenewkid

fyi, the tkh fab is 1/4" steel and has d-ring mounts. and that price is also shipped to your door.

Changed the entry...thanks.

Just so people are clear...what I mean by "safety chain loops" are NOT the mounts out towards the ends of the bumper that you attach shackles ("D-rings") to. I mean the loops directly on either side of the receiver that you use to attach your trailer safety chains. This picture demonstrates both the "clevis mounts" (with shackles) as well as the "safety chain loops":

[Oman Jeep]

Originally Posted by JohnP

Changed the entry...thanks.

Just so people are clear...what I mean by "safety chain loops" are NOT the mounts out towards the ends of the bumper that you attach shackles ("D-rings") to. I mean the loops directly on either side of the receiver that you use to attach your trailer safety chains. This picture demonstrates both the "clevis mounts" (with shackles) as well as the "safety chain loops":

I knew what you meant... and I stand corrected, Road Armor DOES have safety chains on it...

The original cad file I was sent did not feature them:



However this actual photo from the site does have them...



If safety chain loops are important to you I would just double check they are there... there is a LONG list of options on that bumper and many possibilities.

[BigGillyStyle]

Originally Posted by Oman Jeep

I knew what you meant... and I stand corrected, Road Armor DOES have safety chains on it...

Excellent. I updated Road Armor's entry in my table.

[Oman Jeep]

Also bear in mind that Jeep has a body lift, and yet look how much of the body is still covered by the bumper... Without the body lift, the top of the bumper is just below the tailgate opening... the rear clearance is awesome yet somehow it looks big enough to be very intimidating... Say goodbye to tailgaters

And I'd also look at a heavy duty gas tank skid if you play on rocks... that high clearance leaves it exposed.

[thenewkid]

oman, i saw one of those bumpers on a tj here yesterday and it also had the front that goes up over the hood like the old trailready one. didnt look as overdone as i thought it would. rear didnt look bad at all.

[Oman Jeep]

Cool, that former TrailReady overhood one is due to come back into production under the RoadArmor name in the future... so if you liked it THAT much, you could get it...

I assume you're talking about this one?

http://www.oman4x4.com/roadarmor/roadarmorextreme.jpg

[BigGillyStyle]

Rock Hard added.

[Mudinyeri]

FWIW, our rear bumper matches all of those specification - except we sell them uncoated/unpainted. We could certainly have it powder coated to your specifications.

Price for our rear with the following specs is $249.99 + shipping.

59" Wide for excellent corner coverage (other widths available)
3/16" steel construction
45° ends for better departure angles
Integrated D-tabs for shackles
8 cross member tie-ins (you'll need to drill four holes in your rear cross member)
2 frame tie-ins
Unpainted/coated

Here are a few pics of one that's getting ready to go out.







Feel free to PM me if you're interested.

[BigGillyStyle]

Mudinyeri Offroad added.

[U.S.MarineLJ]

If you plan on getting a spare tire carrier, which I'm sure you do I would advise against Durango4x4. Their system rattles quite a bit. Their site claims it is rattle free this however is not so. There are two screws that you can adjust the fit of the latch and this is supposed to cure everything, it however did not do so on my bumper. Not only that Durango4x4s customer service after the sale is TERRIBLE! Please see the following thread that deals with the problems I encountered with the rear bumper system I purchased from Durango4x4. It was a very costly mistake. Here is the link, it is someone lengthy but in depth.

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=164811