2022 TRD OR-P Build-ish

Still no front bumper. But the rear bumper I ordered a month or so ago should be here this week or next. Went with Victory 4x4. Got some swang outs for stuff.

Roof rack on. Headunit in. I have a replacement front bumper for my trail boo-boo. I'm going to Raptor Line it, but I know it'll have to be cut for the front bumper install. Not sure how wheel Raptor Liner will hold up to the heat of a death wheel.

 

Got the Victory 4x4 rear bumper installed over the last few weeks. I just did a little bit at a time due to weather and other stuff going on. I don't have a pic right now, but I'll try and remember to put one up later.

I've never purchased a larger item from Victory. And after this, I may not ever. For the money I paid for the bumper and add-ons, I expected a little better. I'm not completely dissatisfied with it, but there are some definite improvements that need to be made. One of the biggest reasons I went with them is that I knew I could save the BSM using their relocation bracket. I was worried about pairing them with another bumper and having issues. It seems silly, but I'd really like to maintain the options I paid for. So here I am.

Victory's customer service is good. They gave me a phone call thanking me for the order(s) I had made recently. I like that. Especially because I'd assume that most places are too busy to do something like this. I got the bumper very quick (I'm still waiting on my front bumper from another vender). The packing and palletizing of everything was nice. They definitely could have taken some short-cuts on that. I really have to commend them on this. Unpacking everything, I looked at construction and the welds look nice and so does the powdercoat. I expected some garbage with the powder. My expectations are probably higher than most as I have a friend that used to do multi-million dollar powder-coating jobs. At that point, I was even pleased with the design.

Here are the negatives: Their instructions need updating. They're not horrible, but they're not great either. Some steps are left out. It shouldn't take much to update the PDF and add a few pictures. My next negative sort of ties into this. I had a mountain of hardware left over. I have no clue what any of it is for, but it's there. It definitely caused some confusion during the install. I can typically figure out what goes where based off the amount of fasteners, and where it goes. Not here. Speaking of hardware, I believe that every single washer provided was oversized ID and/or not needed based off the fasteners used. And here's an item that a lot of vendors do: Stop using SAE fasteners! Just stop please! We all have a limited amount of room for tools to take on the trails. I don't want to add to that because I have to accommodate for SAE nuts and bolts.

I also thought at one point I had quite a bit of hardware missing, but it turned out to be just one thing. Because either the instructions were incorrect or the pictures were incorrect I thought a bolt was being used for something that into one portion, but not where it was being mounted to. I ran up to Ace for more, came home, and realized what I had just paid for wasn't going to work. I'll take the hit on that. I was trying to get things done while it was 30 degrees outside. Another hardware issue I encountered was their washer choice for the major mounting bolts. They're too small by a little. They were making tacos as I tightened them in some cases.

On we go. Victory should provide something to clean up the cut edges on the body. I added some windlace and it looks much better. Unfortunately, along the tailgate I couldn't do it. I was hoping to get away with it. Another suggestion is something for grip on the top of the bumper. It's a flat surface as is. I use that area to reach portions of my roof rack. I see myself slipping off in the rain or whatever. It would nice to have something. I'm not dying on that hill, but it's just a suggestion on both.

I feel like some mounting space on the swingarms is lost. It's probably because they try to make these universal for all of their bumper offerings. It kills some small areas that could be used. I have a 33-inch spare on one mounted as far to the outside of the arm as possible. You can't open the other swing arm without opening the spare tire side first. Minor, but it's more of an example of the overlap. On the empty swing arm, I'll probably just be able to mount my jack and that's it. It's a big jack, but I was hoping to have just a little more room.

Another portion of design that I know I will hate more later. So there's a spring loaded locking pin like a lot of swing arm bumpers use. And like the others, there's a separate plate that the pin slides over until it gets to the locking hole. No problem there. Well the ones for this bumper stick out an inch or more from the bumper. They get hidden a little by the swing arms, but I full expect to open a wound on these things at some point. Again, I think it's them trying to make parts universal to save money. Which is odd because if that were the case, why did they provide me with extras?

Install. Their bumper cut is too high. It leaves a rather large gap on the sides and around to the tailgate. I'm not too pleased with it, but it's too late now. I've seen other vendor's rear bumpers make a lower cut and it looks tons better. I also wish that another approach for the tailgate could've been made. It's supposed to tuck under the steel bumper, but I'm not sure how that was supposed to happen around a few areas; like the support in the replacement bumper and the hoops for the spare tire underneath. I'm going to try and cover this area up with my proposed grip plate or whatever I end up using.

Trying to get this thing to line up with bolt holes was a fight. I don't know if I was doing something wrong or what, but I had to use a floor jack to help me line up the bolt holes underneath near the fender well. I needed to have the bumper slide in more, but it was hitting something and I couldn't figure out what it was. I don't even know what I did to finally make it work, but I can tell you it's not as easy as their install video makes it. Fair warning.

My last gripe. I submitted a review on their website for it. As of today it still isn't posted. I submitted it over a week ago. On purpose? Who knows?

All in all, I'm definitely thinking twice about ordering anything from them again. I really expected much more from this company.