Did they say anything about the rear bumper?
I didn't ask for an ETA but he did say all the "metal parts" are being worked on now. I can ask him when he responds to my email.
Yes, you put the license plate there, but you can fold it down and use it as a step. Look at youtube videos from SEMA of AEV’s JL Wranglers. They show how it works.
No.
We'll, if they wait for others to do the R&D then they don't have the capacity or know-how to do it themselves. I don't buy that. I think their forays into other vehicles and markets left them without the capability to simultaneously support development for the JL. That's not necessarily poor planning as much as prioritizing. They are making big bucks on other platforms, so I get it. Their delay cost them on the JL but only they know if it made them money in the big picture on their other projects. I know this: I would have given them a serious look if they'd had their products out in time for my JL. My suspension mods are now settled, so I won't be shopping them.
I took the mojitodream in the other day to get the free oil change at the dealer and heard the service staff and parts manager talking about the AEV bumpers and how delivery has slipped by several quarters at this point. The scuttle butt is that apparently the tooling ordered for the boron steel stamping was the wrong size and the first pieces off the press did not fit correctly thus forcing AEV to have to junk the dies and reorder. Makes total sense if the stamped items finished too small and were rubbing.
It'll probably be optional, the JK version is. I don't actually like their tire carrier because it mounts the spare slightly off center. I do love the bumper though
Absolutely agree, when I bought my JL this weekend, the I visited the service desk and they told me roughly the same story; production was stunted by issues with getting "tools" to make the stamped steel parts.
