This DV8 Off-Road FS-1 Steel Full Width Front Bumper is for anyone with a 2007 to 2018 JK
that is looking for a bumper to replace your factory plastic one that's gonna add a lot
of styling but even more a lot of functionality and that is I'm sure what you're looking for
when buying a new front bumper.
This is going to be a nice easy bumper to install on your Jeep.
It'll bolt up very simply, one out of three wrenches and I'm gonna show you how to get
it done in just a second.
So as I just mentioned, the majority of you are going to be looking for an aftermarket
bumper because you want either a different style and or some additional functionality
and this bumper is really going to provide both of those things and we're gonna get into
a lot of those details when we see this bumper side by side with the factory bumper.
As it says in the name, this is gonna be a steel bumper as opposed to that plastic factory
one.
So it's going to hold up a lot better, it has this textured black powder coat finish
on it which is a really nice job of matching a lot of the other aftermarket accessories
that you might bolt on to your Jeep as well as a lot of the factory black plastic accents
on your JK.
So it is a really stylish bumper, again, a ton of functionality.
And it comes in at what I think is a pretty fair price.
Now this certainly isn't going to be the least expensive bumper on the market but for the
features that you get and just for the sheer amount of steel that's in this bumper, because
it is a full width bumper, I think 550 or right around there is a pretty good deal.
So as we said, nice and easy to get this one installed on your Jeep, one out of three wrenches.
Let's show you how to do it.
For this install we used a 16, 18 and 19-millimeter socket as well as a number one Phillips head
socket with a couple of extensions and we drove all those sockets with a combination
of our three-eighths electric impact and our three-eighths drive pneumatic ratchet, and
we also used a 17-millimeter wrench.
So the first step in getting your new bumper installed is of course removing your factory
bumper.
Now our bumpers have been removed and reinstalled a bunch of times and they're actually missing
a couple of plastic pieces, so if your JK is completely stock, there are a few steps
that you're going to start with.
There's going to be a splash shield on the bottom of the bumper that goes from the crash
bar to the bottom of the bumper and you can pop that off with a trim removal tool just
by removing the plastic clips that hold it in place.
Then there's also going to be a plastic piece up on top of the frame here, a plastic frame
cover, and you can remove those plastic clips with a Phillips head screwdriver.
Once those are gone, your Jeep will look pretty much like ours here and all that's left is
to remove the four nuts on either side that hold the bumper to the frame and then of course
unplug the fog lights.
One thing to note about the fog lights is depending on your year of the Jeep, the plug
will be a little bit different so the process will be a little bit different there but just
make sure you get them unplugged before you go and remove the bumper from the Jeep.
So we're gonna go ahead and get all of those nuts loose, get the fog lights unplugged and
get this bumper set to the side.
Now we'll go ahead and unplug our fog light harness.
On our 2014 it's just a pinch and pull to get the harness unplugged.
With all of our hardware removed and our fog lights unplugged, we can grab the bumper and
remove it from the Jeep.The last thing we need to do with our factory bumper before
moving on to our new bumper is remove the factory fog lights, and they're just held
into the bumper with a few Phillips head screws, so we'll get those screws removed and get
the fog light housings out.
Now it's time to do a little bit of assembly of our new bumper before we can move on to
getting it installed on the Jeep.
And the first thing we're gonna be doing is installing our factory fog lights into this
bumper.
Now this is set up for factory fog lights, it's already for them.
You just need to install a couple of clips first over top of the holes in the mounting
brackets.
And these are gonna be some threaded clips which will allow us to very easily install
the fog lights because we don't have to hold the backside to try and hold a nut, get a
washer lined up, anything like that, this makes the installation a lot easier.
So we'll clip one of these clips over each of the four mounting holes on either of the
fog lights and we can get the fog light set in place and finally install the screws.
The last thing we have to bolt up to the bumper before we can get the bumper bolted onto the
Jeep is our winch plate.
And if you are installing a winch, you can do that at this time as well.
We're not gonna be installing a winch but we will show you how to get the winch plate
bolted up.
So you have some nut and bolt hardware with some washers, simply set the winch plate over
top of the bumper and put the hardware through and we all have some nuts that go on the backside
and we'll tighten everything down.
Now it's time to get our bumper bolted onto our Jeep.
Now the bumper does have studs out the backside of it just like your factory bumper did.
So we're going to use some washers and some nuts on the backside of that once we get it
positioned on the Jeep.
But those studs, they float, they move back and forth, and that's to allow for any discrepancies
from Jeep to Jeep to ensure that this is gonna fit on any vehicle that you take it out of
the box and try and bolt it onto.
The downside to that is you have to get those studs lined up and with it being such a big
heavy bumper even without a winch on it, that can be a bit of a tall order.
So what we're gonna do is get the bumper hooked onto the frame rails, that way we can get
the studs aligned and finally get the hardware hand tight and then go back and tighten it
down.
So when you have your new DV8 bumper side by side with a factory bumper, you can really
see the differences and the similarities.
As far as similarities go, they're pretty much going to be the same width, they're both
going to be full width bumpers, so they are going to give you coverage from end to end.
Of course the DV8 being a steel bumper, it's gonna hold up a little bit better to bumps
and bruises both on the trail and on the road where the plastic, if you look at enough factory
JK bumpers, you'll see a lot of them with caved in corners, that's something that happens
pretty commonly.
One of the other similarities that you'll see is a little bit of styling right in this
area on the end of the frame rail where it has this rounded edge and a little bit of
a bulge and that's pretty similar what you see in the factory bumper.
Most of the DV8 bumper is very angular, has these hard edges, but it doesn't have a little
bit of roundness here and that's something that I think make it look a little bit more
finished, a little bit more refined, and also does mimic the styling of the factory bumper
just a little bit, just a little bit of a nod to that factory design.
Something else that is very similar between the two bumpers is the fact that it has the
fog lights in pretty much the same location and the DV8 bumper does accept those factory
fog lights.
As you can see, we pulled them out of that bumper, popped him right in here, no problem,
comes with all the hardware to do so.
And the fact that the Jeep is wired for it, you already had the lights, it really make
sense to purchase an aftermarket bumper that will accept those factory fogs and this one
will do just that.
The DV8 bumper is going to have a couple of D-ring mounts and it does come with the D-rings
for any sort of recovery where your factory bumper is going to have a tow hook.
I much prefer a D-ring because it's a really solid connection, you know that your strap
or winch line or tow line, whatever it might be, isn't going to come off from a D-ring
until you take it off.
Where with a hook like this, sometimes you can have them slide off and that can be anywhere
from an annoyance to something that can be dangerous during a recovery situation.
So I really like a D-ring mount much better than the hook that comes on the factory bumper.
Of course with this bumper, we do have the winch plate, so that's going to give us the
ability to mount a winch right onto the bumper, no additional hardware necessary, bolt it
up, wire it, and you're good to go, having that additional recovery option where your
factory bumper is not going to have that and because it is a plastic bumper and not a steel
one, if you did want to add a winch plate because there are some that will work with
a factory bumper, there's just a lot more that goes into getting it bolted up to give
it the strength that needs.
This is a nice strong bumper you can build a winch plate right on top, put your winch
on top of that and go do some recovering.
You also are going to have a couple of hoops up on top of the bumper and most of this is
gonna be for styling.
These are going to help push some brush out of the way if you're on a really narrow trail,
so it's not making contact with the grille and the headlight area, but again, mostly
this is for style.
Where these do become functional is right up in the top center here where you have some
additional light mount tabs.
The other thing that DV8 did with these tabs was drill some holes in the tubes themselves
and those holes lead right down under here so you can run all of your wiring inside the
tubing, it's all gonna be 100% hidden, you don't have any wiring on the surface or any
zip ties holding any wiring on the surface, so it makes for a nice clean installation.
Of course, factory bumper, no hoop, nowhere to mount any additional lights unless of course
you're willing to drill a bunch of big holes right in the top of your bumper.
So from a width standpoint and some of the styling a little bit similar, but the DV8
bumper is gonna add a lot of additional functionality that your factory bumper just doesn't have.
Now we can get the studs aligned and finally get the hardware hand tight and then go back
and tighten it down.
Once you get the studs lined up and through the frame horns, you can put the hardware,
flat washer, lock washer and nut over top of the studs.
And once everything is all tightened by hand, we'll go through and tighten everything down.
The last thing we need to do is plug in our fog lights.
So if you are looking to add a full width steel front bumper to your JK to add a ton
of function and some more style, I would recommend this option from DV8 Off-Road and you can
find it right here at extremeterrain.com.