Bumper Upgrades... Where ya at JCR?

[redbucky2022]

I've seen some BS owners spend some serious time fabbing up some pretty sweet looking upgrades for custom bumpers. If I had the time I'd do so myself but would love it if an aftermarket company would come along and build one that would bolt right up and have all the options/brackets for cameras/sensors etc. Sounds like something JCR would be great at, I have enjoyed all of their skid plate's and put them to good use on the trails.

If anything else, are their any BS owners here that have built their own bumpers that have some insight?

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[CloneOBX]

I've seen some BS owners spend some serious time fabbing up some pretty sweet looking upgrades for custom bumpers. If I had the time I'd do so myself but would love it if an aftermarket company would come along and build one that would bolt right up and have all the options/brackets for cameras/sensors etc. Sounds like something JCR would be great at, I have enjoyed all of their skid plate's and put them to good use on the trails.

If anything else, are their any BS owners here that have built their own bumpers that have some insight?

There was a post on here about a bumper seen on a SEMA bronco. Fab Four made the bumper but it was made for the ranger and a 3rd party shop modded it for the BS. It looked pretty BA but i'm not sure how much the weight would effect the daily driving.

https://www.broncosportforum.com/forum/threads/sema-2022-bronco-sport-new-bumper.7486/

 

[Mark S.]

but i'm not sure how much the weight would effect the daily driving.

Not to mention crash characteristics. The bumper on a unibody vehicle is an integral part of the occupant protection system. It's meant to collapse and transfer forces to the unibody in specific ways. There's no way short of destructive testing to know how a solid bumper like that on the Bronco Sport seen at the SEMA show a few years back will affect occupant protection in a forward collision.

 

[RogueRodney]

Personally I wish JCR would just make their Bash Plate to fit the Badlands/1st Edition. Yeah, I know the name implies it works, but take a look at the description on the product.

I've got the entire set of skids/rock rails from them, but when I ordered that caveat wasn't on their website, and I had to send back the bash plate...

Aside from that concern, I really like the JCR skids/rock rails, hate the way they lower the clearance, but for me its likely better than jacking up my ride (I'm a novice at best, accident waiting to happen offroader).

I've been looking at the other bash plates (Rally Innovations and HRG), but not sure if they would work with all the JCR stuff I have.

RR

 

[Horse n Buggy]

Personally I wish JCR would just make their Bash Plate to fit the Badlands/1st Edition. Yeah, I know the name implies it works, but take a look at the description on the product.

I've got the entire set of skids/rock rails from them, but when I ordered that caveat wasn't on their website, and I had to send back the bash plate...

Aside from that concern, I really like the JCR skids/rock rails, hate the way they lower the clearance, but for me its likely better than jacking up my ride (I'm a novice at best, accident waiting to happen offroader).

I've been looking at the other bash plates (Rally Innovations and HRG), but not sure if they would work with all the JCR stuff I have.

RR

Not to Hi-jack the thread but the Rally Innovations Bash plate just uses four of the stock Badlands/FE/HLE engine skid bolt locations. So if you have the stock engine skid then the Rally Innovations will mount fine

 

[RogueRodney]

Not to Hi-jack the thread but the Rally Innovations Bash plate just uses four of the stock Badlands/FE/HLE engine skid bolt locations. So if you have the stock engine skid then the Rally Innovations will mount fine

Horse and Buggy:

Thanks, I have replaced the Stock Skid with JCR's, but I'll lookto see if that will work. Getting tired of waiting for JCR's.

I don't know that I "need" it, but it would be nice to know it's there and complete.

Appreciate the info.

RR

 

[BourbonRunner]

Not to mention crash characteristics. The bumper on a unibody vehicle is an integral part of the occupant protection system. It's meant to collapse and transfer forces to the unibody in specific ways. There's no way short of destructive testing to know how a solid bumper like that on the Bronco Sport seen at the SEMA show a few years back will affect occupant protection in a forward collision.

That was where my head went, too.

When you see how the front end on these is put together, it is... complicated. Making a production off road bumper for all that would be pricey if even possible.

And-- Unibodies are designed like Mark wrote to maximize occupant protection and structural rigidity. Deviating from that with few exceptions is counterproductive to the design in the worst case scenario.

This is another reason why the serious off roaders with few exceptions are body on frame- trail damage. You can easily replace a bumper, rocker panel, fender on BoF. Can't say the same for most unibodies.

 

[endrMinr]

I have reached out to whatever company made that bronco sport for SEMA that had a tube bumper, and they confirmed my fears that it was a PITA to build because the front end is so complicated

 

[Mark S.]

I have reached out to whatever company made that bronco sport for SEMA that had a tube bumper, and they confirmed my fears that it was a PITA to build because the front end is so complicated

It's the nature of the beast with a unibody vehicle. There is no frame, per se, to attach anything to. If you want to add something that can impart stress to the vehicles unibody you are pretty much on your own. Not to mention everything attached to the unibody from the factory is designed to mitigate impact during a collision, and the primary means of mitigating impact is to bend, crumple, and transfer impact energy to surrounding components in a very specific way. When you start adding/subtracting/modifying parts you alter the collision mitigation strategy in unknown ways.

 

[Folkman]

Personally I wish JCR would just make their Bash Plate to fit the Badlands/1st Edition. Yeah, I know the name implies it works, but take a look at the description on the product.

I've got the entire set of skids/rock rails from them, but when I ordered that caveat wasn't on their website, and I had to send back the bash plate...

Aside from that concern, I really like the JCR skids/rock rails, hate the way they lower the clearance, but for me its likely better than jacking up my ride (I'm a novice at best, accident waiting to happen offroader).

I've been looking at the other bash plates (Rally Innovations and HRG), but not sure if they would work with all the JCR stuff I have.

RR

How much do they lower it? Is it drastic? I have a lift and don’t wanna totally negate it. But then again, those dang exposed important bits behind the evap spook me on many normal AZ trails. It’s rocky everywhere.

 

[RogueRodney]

Folkman:

The rock rails cost me about 4" in clearance. It actually feels like more. Before rock rails, I saw people checking out my clearance with some envy... after that doesn't happen anymore.

I'm an inexperienced off roader, I feel that for me the skid plates and rock rails were the right way to go. I would say if you are an experienced off roader, you may want to not do them, I guess it really depends on your use case.

Hope that helps.

RR

 

[Folkman]

Folkman:

The rock rails cost me about 4" in clearance. It actually feels like more. Before rock rails, I saw people checking out my clearance with some envy... after that doesn't happen anymore.

I'm an inexperienced off roader, I feel that for me the skid plates and rock rails were the right way to go. I would say if you are an experienced off roader, you may want to not do them, I guess it really depends on your use case.

Hope that helps.

RR

That really helps. 4in is A LOT. That’s like half stock height. I’m on AZ and the rocks have life and mind of their own at times and crawl around doing summersaults.

Maybe I’ll just stick to the plates to protect the fuel lines and such… and the other so it’s even.
They are supposed to be no lower than the carpet and the tank skids are about that anyway. Scratched as they are

 

[Black Rob]

They claim no loss in ground clearance on the site.

 

[RogueRodney]

Black Rob:

I seem to recall a quote by Truman about lies.... I didn't even install these as I recall I think a professional did (4 Wheel Auto Parts I think in Frisco Texas). I cannot conceive of how they would claim no loss of ground clearance.

Assuming mine are installed correctly (again, see that they were installed by people that know what they are doing), and I've actually used them (OK, only once, but they worked and it counted), then I believe my assessment is more accurate.

But I'm a Data Analyst not a car guy... so....

F

 

[RushMan]

Black Rob:

I seem to recall a quote by Truman about lies.... I didn't even install these as I recall I think a professional did (4 Wheel Auto Parts I think in Frisco Texas). I cannot conceive of how they would claim no loss of ground clearance.

Assuming mine are installed correctly (again, see that they were installed by people that know what they are doing), and I've actually used them (OK, only once, but they worked and it counted), then I believe my assessment is more accurate.

But I'm a Data Analyst not a car guy... so....

F

Truman...or Mark Twain?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_damned_lies,_and_statistics

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