Reviews for LoD Offroad Signature Series Rear Bumper with Tire Carrier for 97-06 Jeep Wrangler TJ

Awesome

Great heavy duty rear. I bought the corresponding front LoD bumper as well after running the rear for a while. They should suggest using anti-seize or some sort of lubricant when installing the carrier latch, every single screw seized while going in, even slowly, before I learned galling was a thing. I ended up getting them on, but wish I (as a basic DIYer) was warned.

The bumper is solid, looks and feels like it will take the abuse I will give it off road. High craftsmanship is apparent. They take pride in their work. It will take two people to install just for one part. Because of my time restraints it took about 3 days for me to finish the project. I had to cut and drill my old bumper off as well as new holes in the frame and rear cross-member.

I bought the one with the round cutouts for their lights. They are bright enough for me. I can see how the glass might be fragile off road. You need to install the lights before putting on the bumper. Once the bumper is on, you need to remove the bumper fully to change out the lights.

Like the other reviews say, go ahead and buy it. You'll also want the tie in brackets too if you'll be adding the Jerry cans and rack. They are not included in the main package. Frame drilling required for those on a 02-06 TJ.

You'll also want to be comfortable dropping your gas tank. It's not hard, but take your time and do it right. The instructions says to only drop about 4 inches, I needed more space to work.

LOD's customer service is also on point. I had a few questions about my order and they were able to answer quickly.

Warning! Wall of text! TL;DR Buy the bumper. It is great with a few minor gripes. Will serve you well!

Absolutely love this bumper! Incredibly solid and feels and fits amazing. There are a few things that I have noticed that are some gripes but overall it is very well built and designed.

When I ordered this bumper it took about a month to arrive. The trail rack and rotopax mounts came sooner, but the bumper took quite a while. Order it before you need it.

Speaking of the trail rack it is great. I was able to fit a large 70 Quart cooler on it with zero issues and had some room to spare. Nice!
Rotopax mounts are simple and straight forward but form solid mounting points. Another plus!

The bumper itself is heavy with thick steel and welds. There are holes for water to drain out to minimize rust spots, and you can tell some quality time and work went into assembling it. With that in mind, there is the caveat that it will most likely lower your Jeep about a ½ inch or more once everything is mounted up. Fortunately for me my steel front bumper and winch are heavy enough that they even it out so that my Jeep is completely level. That is something to bear in mind though.
My bumper was the one that has the round hole cutouts, and while I did initially order the LOD light package that fits in the holes, I ultimately ditched them for some LED lights (the LOD ones are halogen with a glass cover. Not great for going off-road). The holes themselves are 3.5 inches wide so as long as you get an upright mounted round light with that diameter, it will fit no problem. Few trips to home depot took care of the hardware incompatibility.

Lastly the tire carrier. My biggest worry was that it would rattle and shake around, as most of these aftermarket parts tend to do. However the carrier is engineered in a way that once the latch is closed there is constant pressure on the mounting points for the carrier and the tire so there is no way for the carrier to move. At all. This thing is rock solid and not going anywhere. I drove it for a camping trip 8 hours on the freeway with a fully loaded trailer rack and rotopax, and I don’t think I heard squeak once. Even when I went off-road and was doing some pretty gnarly rock bouncing it didn’t move. Super, super solid. The design and engineering that went into this carrier/ bumper shows. Feels like it came from the factory.

Now the real major downside. The latch. The latch is a tension style latch meaning that once it closes past a certain point, tension keeps it from unlocking and moving. You have to pull it to break the tension for it to unlock. Which would great, except there is no contingency safety feature for it. No way to lock the carrier closed after the latch and handle has shut. If the latch tension is broken, it will can and will open and the tire carrier will swing open, and while Its likely that it won’t, (again, I took it off-roading and across the freeway for 8 hours, fully loaded) that was always a worry for me. There is a small ¼ inch hitch pin hole on the latch so if you are creative you could probably whip something up to lock the handle in place. Seems like a bit of an oversight, but what can you do?

Overall though, great purchase and I am very happy with it. Time will tell on its longevity and quality but for now I am satisfied! Buy it! You won’t regret it!

First advice is to go ahead and order the Signature Series bumper. It comes with the tie-ins, that really is needed to ensure the bumper is solidly attached to the frame. If you do pulling, it is a must. I also got all the accessories, including the square cutouts (I ordered my own LED lights), the trail rack and the rotopax mount (you must order the rotopax cans separately. I also ordered the locking brackets separately). I had never installed a bumper before. I would say best advice is follow their instructions, as there is not much on the internet concerning the install of these bumpers. Most important steps are lowering the gas tank, and the drilling of the additional holes in the crossmember. The gas tank is tricky, just take your time and remove the nuts but make sure you have something for the tank to rest upon. I used the jack from my jeep. Lowering the tank allows you to work in behind the bumper. For the drilling on the crossmember....Measure 5 times, drill once. And you definitely need a high speed drill with a very good bit. It is best to start with a small bit, drill completely through, and then progressively use a larger bit until you get to the required size (1/2").
I have had the bumper installed for over one month now. It is extremely solid. Not rattling whatsoever. The look is fantastic, and have received numerous compliments on it. The one thing that does not work very well is the locking mechanism on the tire carrier hinge. It is very tight to push up and down (down is to keep the tire carrier from swinging closed on its own). I have it in a permanently open position because I am afraid if I push it down, I will not be able to pop it back up. Maybe I did something wrong, but I played with it a lot, and cannot see that I did anything incorrectly. Overall a fantastic addition to my TJ.