I'm Ryan from extremeterrain.com, and today we're gonna be going through my top picks
for an upgraded front bumper on your 2007 and up JK.
We're gonna be doing a couple different videos like this with different categories of parts
for your Wrangler, so make sure you subscribe to check those out as well.
Today, we're gonna be talking about a full-width, mid-width, and stubby option for the front
bumper on your Jeep.
For the full-width, I really like the ARB Front Bumper with the Bullbar.
My favorite mid-width bumper is gonna be the Barricade Trail Force HD Front Bumper.
And for a stubby, I really like the Rugged Ridge Modular Front Bumper with those stubby
ends.
Now, there are a couple of different reasons to wanna upgrade that front bumper on your
JK.
One is just for the looks, because an aftermarket front bumper will make your Jeep look a lot
more rugged and more like an off-road Jeep.
Of course, those bumpers can offer a lot more features than your factory bumper.
An aftermarket bumper will often have recovery points for D-rings.
It'll have winch mounts, additional light mounts, maybe a bumper hoop to provide some
additional protection.
And, of course, an aftermarket bumper you can get in those different widths for varying
amounts of protection.
That factory front bumper is going to be just plastic, and if you plan on going off-road
and getting into a situation where you might bang up that bumper, an aftermarket steel
bumper is going to hold up a lot better than that plastic would.
In the full-width front bumper category, I really like the ARB Front Bumper with Bullbar
that we have here.
Now, this bumper is going to be one of the best-built bumpers on the market.
It has a ton of features, pretty much anything that you would want on a front bumper.
However, it is also going to be one of the most expensive front bumpers that you can
get for your JK.
So if you're looking for a front bumper that has all the bells and whistles and you have
the budget for it, I would definitely recommend taking a look at this one here.
As far as features go, this is one of the only aftermarket front bumpers that I know
of that will keep the airbag compatibility on your JK.
You actually cut out the factory crush cans from that factory front bumper and reuse them
with this bumper, so all of the crash testing that happened with your JK before you purchased
it, all that is going to stay 100% intact with this bumper.
Now, that's not to say, with an aftermarket front bumper that bolts directly onto your
frame, that your airbag is going to be useless.
In fact, that's not the case at all.
However, with this bumper, this was designed specifically so that you can use those factory
crush cans, and the bumper will remain compatible with those airbags.
Some of the other features that this bumper has, even though this is a full-width front
bumper, it was designed specifically to allow you to run a 37-inch set of tires without
having any clearance issues on the front bumper.
This does have the recovery points that we talked about before.
Of course, this is the version with the bullbar that has a couple of light mount tabs up top.
In the center, you can see that this does have a winch mount built right into it.
And something that makes the ARB bumper a little bit different from some of the others
is that it almost gives you a sunken winch style.
As you can see, the fairlead mount is very low in the bumper.
The winch mount itself is set down very low, so it gives a very clean and sleek look that
I like a lot.
This will also accept your factory fog lights, of course, and it also has a call to turn
signal in the wings of the bumper, which, again, is just something that makes this a
little bit unique.
That's not something you see on a lot of the other bumpers out there.
So you are gonna get a ton of features as well as a very high build quality and a really,
really high quality of finish, but you are going to have to pay a little bit more for
this bumper than some of the other full-widths out there.
One of my favorite choices for a mid-width bumper is the Barricade Trail Force HD Front
Bumper.
This bumper here does come with a spot for your factory fog lights, but this is also
available with LED light built right into it if you're interested in that option.
The reason I like this bumper so much is it's still packed full of features.
It's a mid-width bumper, so it's gonna be a little bit shorter than that full-width,
giving you a little bit more of an aggressive style, and this is very affordably priced
for a bumper that has this many features and is as well-built as this one is.
Barricade uses a slightly lower-gauge material, so that this bumper is going to be a little
bit lighter weight than some of the other front bumpers of a similar size.
And that's gonna be a benefit for those of you that are worried about front-end sag when
you go to a steel bumper like this, especially if you're gonna be running a winch.
Speaking of a winch, this bumper does have a built-in winch plate, so you can bolt up
to a 12,000-pound winch directly onto this bumper without the need to purchase any additional
hardware.
And, of course, you have your fairlead mount built right in as well.
This bumper also has a couple of D-ring mounts that bolt directly through the bumper into
your frame horns, giving you a really strong connection.
And it comes with a couple of D-rings as well, which not a big deal if you have to purchase
them yourself, but it is nice that they come in the box, so you don't have to buy anything
additional.
Now, even if you are running a winch, I really like the idea of having a D-ring mount.
It'll allow you to do snatch strap recoveries in the event that a winch isn't the best recovery
option for you.
Or if you are using your winch, you can always go to a snatch block at a tree and back to
your bumper, essentially doubling the pulling power of your winch.
It just gives you a lot more options.
Of course, up top here, you do have a bullbar that's built right into the bumper with a
couple of light mount tabs welded on top of it to give you some space for auxiliary lighting
if you choose to go that direction.
And, as I said before, this does accept your factory fog lights, which is a feature I always
look for.
You already have those factory fog light housings, the Jeep's wired for it, you have the switch.
Why not be able to use them?
And this bumper allows you to do that.
In the stubby bumper category, my top pick is this Rugged Ridge XHD Modular Front Bumper
Kit with Stubby Ends and the Striker Bar.
Now, I really like a modular bumper like this one, because you can always change it around
if you choose to.
If you're running the stubby ends right now and you decide you want a wider bumper for
more protection or just for the look, you can always swap out the ends.
If you get tired of the striker bar, you can go with a more traditional, smaller bumper
hoop.
But either way, you're still going to end up with a bumper that's really well-built
and has a lot of features in it.
This bumper, set up as it is, of course, is a stubby bumper, so even if you're running
a 37-inch tire, you're not gonna have to worry about any tire clearance issues between those
front tires and your front bumper.
You, of course, have a couple of D-ring mounts here that are going to be bolted directly
onto the bumper, through the bumper, and into the frame rails, again, giving you that really
strong and solid connection.
You have a winch mount that's built into this bumper.
The bumper's also available without the winch, but this one has the winch mount, which, of
course, is a great feature to have when you're off-road.
A self-recovery winch is going to allow you to rescue yourself or your buddies from the
sticky situations you find yourselves on when we're out wheeling.
And this has the striker bar up front.
Now, generally, I'm not a big fan of a stinger bumper or a big stinger sticking off the front
of the Jeep, and this does have a little bit of that feel to it.
But because it is their striker bar, it connects to the Jeep in a couple of different locations.
It looks a little bit cleaner.
It's a little bit smaller.
Up here, you have a hoop that you can hook your winch line to when it's not in use.
Now, this bar up here does not have any auxiliary lighting mounts on it, which is something
that might be a nice feature to have, but this bumper does accept your factory fog lights,
and as we've said before, that's always a feature I look for.
You already have everything set up for them.
Why not be able to use them?
So all in all, this is going to be a very well-rounded bumper.
Has a lot of features, has the ability to change the bumper and have it grow with your
build as you're build grows.
However, for all those features and for that flexibility of being able to change it down
the line, you are gonna pay a couple more dollars.
So those are my picks for a full-width, mid-width, and stubby bumper for your 2007 and up JK.
For a full-width, I really like that ARB Front Bumper with the Bullbar.
The mid-width, one of my favorites is the Barricade Trail Force HD Front Bumper.
And for a stubby, I really, really like that Rugged Ridge Modular Front Bumper with the
Stubby Bumper Ends.
Let us know in the comments below which bumper you're gonna choose for your bumper and why,
and, of course, if you have any questions, make sure you throw 'em in down there as well,
so we can help you out.
But, for now, I'm Ryan from extremeterrain.com.
Thanks for watching.