Reviews for Quadratec QRC Front Winch Ready Bumper for 18-24 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
I bought this bumper and the HF Apex 12k winch for my wife for Christmas, and we installed them this weekend. It is a high quality piece of steel for sure. I have no fear of damaging it under any normal use. But here are some hints on installation.
1) The fog lamp hardware included is just silly. We used the included hardware for the outboard mounts, and self driller/tappers for the others. The tiny included fasteners were too big for the holes in the bumper.
2) The rubber hose with a slit is a good protection for the fog lamp harness, but doesn't cover the outboard sides or the back of the lamps where they will be exposed to spray and debris. I need to double back after a trip to the parts store for some loom and some sort of shielding on the back side.
3) Loosen ALL the car side brackets before you attempt to install it.
4) CAREFULLY start all four through bolts into the bumper before you tighten anything. It would be very easy to cross thread these.
5) Then just tighten it up.
Now here is the interesting part. The winch is VERY HARD to install into this bumper once it's on the car. There are two reasons.
A) It's a close fit. If the bumper was 1/2" longer, it would be a lot easier.
B) Access to the winch mounting hardware is horrible. There is plenty of steel here, adding some access holes for a socket is in order. The rear holes cannot be accessed via socket, and can barely be accessed by fingers. It takes both hands and tenacity to get them started, and a 5/8" wrench to tighten them. If there is anything that is just wrong about this bumper, it is access to the rear winch bolts. Yes, it would be hard to steal. For sure, it is hard to install. Everything is blind and you can barely reach them through the tiny access cut-outs.
Overall it looks great, and I dread ever taking it off. It might be easier to install the winch to the bumper before installing to the car, but if you do this you would need a bottom side solution to the inboard bumper mounting bolts. Think about that before you decide. Plus the assembly is heavier yet at that point.
WOULD I BUY IT AGAIN?
I have a 2023 JL that will get something like this also. I like the finished product on the 2021 we just did. I'm still thinking about whether it will be the same bumper or not for the 2023.
The style
good bumper
Fits great, the winch sits right but no issues from it at all. The mounting of the fog lights was the biggest issue. This is also a heavy bumper so expect a bit more sag in the front of you also have a winch. I love it and glad I no longer have to worry about tire rub on the edge but still have full width protection
Nice quality bumper. I was surprised how solid it seems to be. It fit on my 23 Willys Unlimited with a little assistance from a hammer to get the main bolts to slide on (I hammered on the shackle supports and then touched up). A lot of people mentioned difficulty with getting the fog lights attached. I used some self-tapping screws on the metal brackets for the one side of the fog lights to fasten the brackets to the bumper. This worked well as the screws that came with the kit did not screw into the threads as instructed. It was also difficult to get the rear bolts on the winch, as I put the winch on after putting the bumper on - difficult, but not impossible. And last, I mounted the winch control box behind the bumper because it didn't fit well on top my 12,000 ib Badland winch. Now I think I'll order a winch cover.
The tubular look
Looks and price
Style
Style
Overall I like it. It's the design I wanted. Install took a little longer then 5 hours with a buddy. Uninstalled of the factory bumper, installed new bumper and installed a winch at the same time. This was our first time doing and bumper work. The bumper had some scrap damage on both ends in the tube corners that lead to the fenders. After Install, one tube is about 1/4 inch from the fender, the other side touches it. The middle measurements are the same, leading me to believe one side is slightly bent. Install was fairly straight forward and simple. I reused the JT's fog lights. It comes with 4mm bolts, nuts, and tiny washers for the fog lights. You need to get your fingers into a small area to bolt everything blindly witch probably to the longest. I'm guessing an hour, it was a trail and error type situation. With all that said, I'll give it 4 stars due to the minor damage, alignment, and Install process.