96-04 Elite Off-Road Rear Plate bumper

3-4"
There's that much extra tube on the bumper?
Or did you mean you cut that off the ball mount itself because it stuck through the bumper too far?

 

Well, its been a bit since I've had the bumper and I really dont take pics, but here's some from my last get together. It used to be that I'd be leaving my mark at just about every obstacle with the hitch sliding against rocks. I was told the bumper was very close at some descents, but it never touched anything. Couldn't be happier with the bumper.

 

Here is a quick drawing I just did in paint. Where the arrow is pointing, is where I had to cut. There is a support tube for the hitch that runs side to side and the hitch tube actually stuck way out from that. I didn't realize that it was going to hit my spare until I got it painted and installed on the truck. When I pulled the spare up and it wouldn't fit. So I just grabbed the sawzall and cut it off as close to the support bar as possible. There might be an inch left behind the support bar because I couldn't get the saw super close. I cut it off without removing the bumper, I just made sure to spray a little paint on the very end of the tube. Cutting it off did not affect the strength at all because the ball doesn't go very far into the hitch anyway. I have pulled a few trailers and haven't had any problems either.

 

Damn nice work man... If I had the money I would order one today!

 

Ok, that's what I thought at first, but then I saw JLee's picture of it and didn't see enough sticking out to be cut off. Maybe Tim made an adjustment there.

 

Yeah i don't have 3" to cut on mine but I can't put my tire under there anyway so i don't care.

 

Oh ok. Yea I had alot more sticking out than that. Mine is about that length now. I also noticed that mine doesn't have those flat plates beside the license plate and the plate that my chains hook to is behind the support bar. So yea he changed a few things when he made mine.

 

Yeah the plates on the sides are rock guards for the backup lights that i still need to get

 

well quite slacking off and spend that money!!


lol jk

 

Almost ready to order then I noticed everyone is getting wraps. Are they really that necessary, or does everyone just like the look? I'm fairly new to wheeling so maybe this is a dumb question. It seems like it would be pretty tough to hit the bottom of the rear quarter panel, especially with the corner protected and likely to take the hit.

 

Just depends how serious you are about it. The real danger is when coming off a large rock that is higher than your quarter panel, or when you're tight near a rock/tree that would cause scraps from the side, specially if there's any risk of sliding into it. If you never plan on anything that rough, it would be for looks only. That being said, if you aren't sure about it, its easier to get it built on than it is to try to add protection there later.

 

The more I think about it the more I think I should just get the wraps.

So my next question then is how close does it hug the quarter panel? My exhaust is a bit closer to the quarter panel than stock so I want to make sure it wouldn't be pressed up against it. Looks like from the pictures it stays pretty close to the body and doesn't go any lower than the fender flares. Is that about right? If I take a level line from the bottom of the fender flare back that would be how low it sits?

 

i don't really wheel much, so i don't need the wraps from a functional standpoint, but i love the look so i ordered my bumper with them.

 

Just think of them of dumb parking lot driver guards

 

perfect! i've already got the "shopping cart protection beams" (AKA sliders) installed. soon my truck will be rugged enough to take on a wal-mart parking lot!

 

Will the wrap arounds fit? There's 2" between the body and exhaust tip.

 

It should but I'm sure i cut mine off long before i installed my bumper.

 

Anyone feel like measuring how far down the wrap is from the body panel so I can be sure and order one of these bad boys?

 

That would stop you from ordering just cut the tip off it's going to get beat up on the trail anyway.

 

PA says the pipe has to be at least flush with the body. I like keeping everything legal on my truck so I don't have to deal with it.