This Rugged Ridge Spartan Rear Bumper is for those of you that have a 2007 to 2018 JK,
that are looking for an aftermarket bumper that's going to be fairly minimalist but also
add a little bit of functionality and a little bit of additional protection over that plastic
factory rear bumper.
This is going to be a very simple one out of three wrench bolt on installation and I'm
gonna show you how to do it in just a second.
So when you're looking for an aftermarket bumper, you're probably shopping for something
that either offers more protection, more features and or a different look to your Jeep.
And this bumper is going to give you all of that.
It's going to be a little bit shorter, which gives it a little bit more of an aggressive
off-road style.
It does have some recovery points built into it and being that it's steel instead of plastic,
it will offer a little bit more protection.
And we'll talk about some of the differences and similarities between this and the factory
rear bumper in just a second.
Now, one of the things I really like about this bumper is how simple it is.
That's really my style.
I don't like a lot of frills.
I like something that's just simple, basic and does the job and that's what this bumper
is all about.
And the nice thing about it is that the price tag matches what you're buying.
So a simple bumper, no frills, fairly low price tag when you compare it to some of the
other rear bumpers that are out there.
So this one comes in and right around that $320 mark, which I think is a very fair deal
for what you're going to get here.
So like I said, pretty easy install.
Let me show you how to do it.
For this installation, we needed a 21-millimeter, 19-millimeter, 18-millimeter, and 17-millimeter
socket as well as a couple of 3/8 extensions all driven by either our 3/8 electric impact,
3/8 pneumatic socket or 1/2 inch drive pneumatic air gun.
We also used a 3/8 regular ratchet driver, a 19-millimeter wrench and an 8-millimeter
Allen head socket.
But you could also get away with the 8-millimeter Allen key that's included in the kit.
The first step we're gonna do in this installation is removing the spare tire.
Now this isn't completely necessary, but depending on the size and width of your spare tire and
the backspacing of your wheel, it might make it a little bit easier to get not only in
the factory bumper off, but also your new bumper on and it's also going to make it a
little bit easier for you guys to see what I'm gonna do, so I'm gonna go ahead and remove
that tire first.
Next thing we're going do is unbolt the factory bumper to get it removed and there are going
to be a couple of bolts that go right into the side of the frame rails that we'll have
to remove.
Now we'll remove the same two bolts on the other side.
With all of the bolts removed, we can just grab the bumper and remove it from the Jeep.
With our Rugged Ridge bumper side by side with our factory bumper, you can really see
the differences and the similarities and in this case, more differences than similarities.
Our new bumper is going to be a little bit shorter.
It also doesn't wrap around to the sides of the Jeep, which some people like the fact
that other bumpers will wrap around because they give a little bit more protection from
the side and this bumper is going to be a little bit more minimal.
It's going to be nice and short.
It has, not crazy angles.
It's not a stamped bumper like some of the other Rugged Ridge bumpers out there, but
it does have a little bit of an angle here just to add a little bit of interest.
It has a nice curve along the backside.
It's not flat, so it follows the curve of the back of the Jeep a little bit, which is
going to be really nice for fit and finish, at least in my opinion.
As you can see, the factory bumper has that same curve along the backside of it.
It does come around to the side.
Not offering a ton of protection because it's plastic, but it does come around the side
there and of course, with the factory bumper and with the aftermarket bumper here, we are
going to have a nice deep cutout here for a spare tire.
In fact, the Rugged Ridge option has a slightly deeper and wider cutout, so if you do have
a bigger than factory spare in that factory location, you're gonna have a little bit of
additional room so you don't have any clearance issues between that tire and the bumper.
Now one big thing that you're going to notice that the factory bumper doesn't have, that
your new Rugged Ridge bumper does have is going to be these recovery points.
Now obviously they're missing here because they're part of the brackets to bolt the bumper
in place and you'll see them more in just a second, but they're gonna come out right
here and they're gonna give you a spot to put a D-ring, so you're going to be able to
use those for recoveries, whereas you can see on the factory bumper, there are no recovery
points at all.
So that is going to be a big difference.
You're going to get a metal bumper that's gonna offer a little bit more protection,
very simple design and does add some off-road functionality with those tow points.
Now that we have our factory bumper removed, we can start installing our new Rugged Ridge
bumper and that process starts by installing these brackets inside of the frame rails.
So these are marked passenger side and driver side.
It's also pretty clear in the instructions which side goes where.
So we'll set it right in the frame rail and then we'll get our hardware ready here.
So we're going to be using a bolt with a lock washer and then a large flat washer over top
of that to go in from the outside.
And there are going to be two threaded holes on the outside and one on the inside of each
of these brackets.
So a total of six pieces of hardware that are gonna hold these brackets inside the frame.
So we're gonna make all of that hardware hand tight, but leave it loose so that we can slide
this bracket and move it around.
That way once the bumper's installed, we can get it adjusted exactly how we like it and
then tighten everything down.
So now we'll move on to the other side and install the bracket on that frame rail.
So as you can see, same hardware on this side, two pieces of hardware going from the outside
of the frame rail, and then the third bolt goes in from the inside.
Now we'll install the bumper onto the brackets that we just installed on the Jeep.
The nice thing about this bumper is that it's nice and light so you can do this by yourself,
don't have to worry about calling a friend over.
We're going to get the bumper attached with the included hardware, which is going to be
one of these Allen head bolts and a washer from the outside.
And then we're also going to have a washer and a locking nut from the inside.
We're gonna get that hardware just started there and then get another one started on
the other side so nothing's going to fall off on us then we'll come back and install
the rest of the hardware and tighten it all down.
Now, we can install all the rest of the hardware that bolts the bumper onto the bumper brackets
and get that all tightened down.
Now we can repeat the process on the other side.
With all of that hardware tightened down, the last bolts you have to tighten are the
ones that hold the bumper into the frame rail.
And as you can see with those loose, you have some slotted holes that give you a lot of
adjustability here.
So you can use a level, a tape measure, your eyeball, whatever you choose to get the bumper
sitting exactly how you like it, and then tighten down that hardware to ensure the bumper
isn't gonna be moving around on you.
So if you do want a simple rear bumper for your Jeep, that's going to be a little less
expensive than some of the other choices on the market, I would recommend this one from
Rugged Ridge and you can find it right here at extremeterrain.com.