Those of you with the Mopar Steel bumper

[Steph1]

I think one of you guys’ scales might be broken 54.2 and 71.5 for the full width steel bumper is a major mismatch with almost a 20 pound difference.

He must have meant stubby….otherwise my black rhinos are 15 lbs, rather than 27 I always weight at least 3-4 times.

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[zouch]

first idiot to bump into mine on the road hit right on the front corner. had i had a narrow bumper, that contact would have been on something i value more.

i've changed bumpers since then, but would now say if you have the option, leave 'em on on the road, take 'em off for dirt trips.

 

[zouch]

great theory, and i generally abide by it, but it's not even always about what you're *doing*.

i've had vehicles cited (twice!) for not having a front plate,.. while they were parked.
not a lot less i could have been doing.

it just comes down to the LEO, and that's a crap shoot as much as trying to figure out any other human.

I'm in CA and won't run a front plate and I removed the end caps on the bumper. Stuck in traffic today in Fresno and a California Highway Patrol officer 3 feet away across the median gave me a big thumbs up and a grin when he saw my Jeep


Most of the time if you are not being stupid or causing problems of some type the LEO's will leave you alone. If your behaving badly then you get what you deserve

 

[AFD]

I agree. It looks like it had the end caps stolen or something...

Good thinking! I'm taking mine off so nobody steals 'em!

And I'm kinda wondering now, with so many companies making aftermarket Mopar steel bumper accessories, I'm surprised someone hasn't made a set of aftermarket bolt-on end caps that are perhaps raised closer to the fender while still providing full width coverage, or perhaps rounded off end caps that would look subjectively a little better than the angular OEM ones (slightly longer stubby look).

 

[Industrialwrench]

I run mine stubby. But I also wheel the crap outta it. Honestly I don’t like the factory steel bumpers and should not have ordered it with them. It’s ugly with all the holes in it once you actually install a winch. And the rear bumper hits the vehicle so it’s garbage.

 

[Steph1]

Ok guys, although I totally love the stubby look, I’ve decided to reinstall the end caps and see if I can get used to it.

I totally understand the security aspect of running them and must admit that I really really like the Overlanding Jeep JT concepts Wayout and Farout and they run them along with the same Warn hoop as me so if Jeep design Operations came up with that combo, hey I’ll give it a shot.

Cheers and thanks for chiming in

 

[Drytellsr]

I remove my endcaps when wheeling but when on pavement, I prefer to keep them on for greater protection.

 

[Cuyose]

I honestly like the look with the ends on. Unless you are running 40's and trails where you need to air down to 15 psi, the frond endcaps aren't going to prevent you from doing anything.

It's purely a personal preference for aesthetics for 99.99% of people.

Also, my Jeep is caked with mud and dirt from the trails 90% of the time, so I don't have a bunch of polished suspension components to be showing off

 

[jeepster2541]

I have endcaps for sale.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I lived in California for 20 years; drove Jeeps for fifteen of those. I was never, nor did I ever see anyone else get pulled over for the tires sticking past the fenders.

Ever.

Half the people I knew with Jeeps were cops, and all of them had tires sticking out.

 

[GIJL]

I leave them on for possible minor front collisions because I'd rather the bumper take a hit instead if the steering/suspension. If someone backed into your front tire in a parking lot, could bend control arms etc., bumper "might" get tweaked.

Same here. Someone hit my rear bumper and it’s barely a scratch. There fiberglass hood was annihilated.

 

[Cuyose]

Not only that, if someone did do something like that and just made good contact with the tire, regardless of their intentions, if they checked it would most likely look totally fine to them. Meanwhile you have bent sway bar links, drag link mounts, etc.

 

[conFUcius]

For what it’s worth, the removal of the end caps is still wider than an aftermarket stubby like Motobilt’s (for example)…

I switched to the Mopar’s because sans end caps, the ‘mid-width’ look provided a balance of being able to put my tire on something when off-roading and protecting the shocks’ reservoir bodies compared to Motobilt’s true stubby.

 

[Steph1]

Not only that, if someone did do something like that and just made good contact with the tire, regardless of their intentions, if they checked it would most likely look totally fine to them. Meanwhile you have bent sway bar links, drag link mounts, etc.

You cant forget that when people wheel or rockcrawl, their suspension and steering components probably take much bigger hits than a little parking hit.

 

[Cuyose]

You cant forget that when people wheel or rockcrawl, their suspension and steering components probably take much bigger hits than a little parking hit.

True, but having 3 wheels firmly planted on pavement and having a 3000 lb impact 45 degrees into toe in, doesn't happen much on the trails, and if it does, yeah, things get broken

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