I just installed a ruggid ridge front stubby with stinger. I love it! No winch mount though. I know Venom has the same but a winch mount and he said he likes it. I installed delta fogs in my bumper, had to bend the mount brackets a bit to fit but it eventually got in there. I also installed the xhd rear bumper and very happy with it as well. Phil D is running a stubby...I think...with a huge arse stinger. Not sure what it is though. So far, I haven't heard of any complaints from anyone about the ruggid ridge bumpers.

 

Got one with winch mount....love it.

 

I have a stubby with stinger and winch.AND LOVE IT!!! I have even used my stinger to slide up very steep aproach angles.
good quality welds too.

 

Have the front, rear and tire carrier. They should have put some gussets in the rear bumper ends but other than that they've been awesome.

 

Sweet thanks for the pics, the bumper looks great with Xenon's. I looked pretty hard at those fenders myself but decided to try my hand at a home trim first, if I can't get it right I figure I was going to trash the stock fenders anyway.... I've got the top halves cut & installed, and the front wells installed, haven't done the rear wells yet and I haven't figured out how to tie the two back together. If it would quit raining for thirty minutes I might be able to work on it..... it's been raining 3 days nonstop and it's supposed to keep going all weekend issed: Anyhow, back on topic...... Everything I'm hearing is good and I found a review on this sight as well...... so the trigger is pulled!

 

I've beat the crap out of mine and it is still hanging on there. Don't bother getting the end caps unless you have smaller tires or don't flex, though... I have to take mine off before I go wheeling because they end up rubbing.

 

Just an FYI - we saw this happening on some of the early ends, and have since altered the design to provide a bit more clearance. They will never have the clearance of the stubby, but it is now improved. 37's would still hit, but you'd have to work to get 35's to hit with the updated design.

 

I've got the XHD with the pre-runner and really like it. It cuts down slightly on approach angle, but has already saved me from a broken headlight, smashed grille or worse.

Once, lady backed into me a drive thru lane, ruined her trunk, not a spot on my bumper.

Another time I slid hard into a tree on a muddy trail, with just the stubby it would've hit the passenger side of the grille for sure.

 

ARGHH I hate waiting...... stupid bumper is on backorder.... supposed to arrive in Miami warehouse June 1... having it free shipped to Fortec shop in Jacksonville so I can pick it up and save a few pennies. Hey RR guy this backorder is just a minor hiccup right, not some "we're held up in customs indefinitely and wait til Christmas" kinda thing??? I kinda figured since they've been on the market for a good while that all the supply chain issues would be ironed out by now. I swear I'm like a little kid with this stuff... I have all he patience in the world in every other aspect of my life, but the Jeep brings out that "instant gratification" thing in me like crazy.

 

I ordered the RR rear bumper/tire carrier in June '08. Received it in February '09. :lol: If things haven't improved, it sounds like you better go to your doc and get some Valium.

 

I just wish Rugged Ridge would make a "Stubby" tire carrier bumper.

 

Ditto on that. Once my fund is built back up I may go with the one they have and cut it down myself, but I'd rather get it finished out of the box. I definitely don't want the ends on the rear bumper. My fenders are trimmed down and I think the factory one looks stupid sticking out.

 

the bumpers are worth the wait. I had the front with a stinger, their rock rails and now their front skid. They all have done their job for much less that the price of other companies

 

I'll agree with that. If you're tired of looking at 500+ dollar front bumpers or thousand dollar rear bumpers, the RR bumpers bring a lot of bang for the buck.

 

Anybody know the thickness of the plate used in that bumper?

Their website doesn't say, no writeups in 2 catalogs say a thing about it. The winch mount, the mounting plate for my winch and pre dilled bolt pattern is all built in right? I've been trying to find a shot down into the bucket of the winch bumpers to see. All the above I ordered 6500.00 in everything else but the front bumper because I'm a bit hesitant.

 

Not sure on the thickness but yes the area for the winch mount is pre drilled so just put your winch on it and bolt it up. From when I installed mine I suggest mounting the winch first and the putting the bumper on... It was a little rough picking up the bumper + the SI9500 mile marker winch. The winch was a bit of a tight fit so I had to feed some cable through the opening first, then put on the fairlead with the bolts reversed and then put on the winch. Good thing was the bumper sits on frame rails so you can then put the stinger on it and bolt it all up and not worry with it falling on you.

 

YUP. IN ORDER OF INSTALL...

1. fairlead
2.fog lights
3.cable through
4. winch
5. TOP bolts of stinger
6. place on frame rails
7. BOTTOM bolts of stinger to bumper

TRUST ME. I learned the hard way.issed:

 

Hehe the bumper is in on time and waiting for me... all I have to do now is find an excuse to get up to Jax! I'll post pics as soon as I get it on. I'll have a "tow hook & light hole" bumper to sell here soon, I'll post it in the appropriate spot once it's off the jeep but I figured I'd go ahead and mention it if there's a need out there. Have those of you with XHD bumpers been able to install the factory fogs or should I plan on aftermarkets? It looks like they are in a similar position so I'm guessing I won't need to extend the harness... guess I'll see when I get into it.

 

they fit. it's tight on length, but they fit.

 

Plenty of room with the Delta upgrade harness.

 

Ok picked up all the pieces/parts last Friday and Saturday and had time and help installing the bumper and winch Monday night. Here are some pics for any of you considering the same thing. Notes to follow:

and from inside this is all the stinger you see:

I had 2 problems a more intelligent or experienced person could have avoided. First, I installed the winch on the bumper before installing the bumper. That was GOOD. I did not however install the black negative cable to the winch first. It attaches on the bottom of the motor in the 3/4" gap between the motor and the winch plate, as indicated by the arrow. That was BAD. I had to pull the winch back off after the bumper was installed to fix this, and it was a major PIA.

Second, once everything was bolted up I stepped back and there was the fog light harness, dangling like Christmas lights from the bottom of the bumper. There is a SMALL gap between the skid plate bar and the bumper, as indicated in this pic. You cannot fit the harness and it's plug ends back through this gap, so my brother-in-law had to loosen off the lower 4 bolts and "bounce" the bumper upwards by pushing the stinger while I stuffed the harness and ends up through the gap. This was STUPID and I'm lucky to still have all my fingers for the effort.

Anyhow, when all is said and done I'm very happy with it. Besides my own stupid errors the thing went on very well... all the bolt holes lined up perfectly and I had PLENTY of slack to keep the factory fog light harness, in fact I had to secure the extra with some wire ties.

 

paint that thing black and it would look just like mine!
looks good!

 

I like mine

 

How did you mount 4 lights at the windshield?

 

Sweet. What you need are some lights though

 

When I'm out in the boonies catching rattlesnakes in the middle of the night, I like to be able to see wtf I'm doing.
Still looking at either ordering a KMA low-pro light bar or building my own across the top of the windshield.
I'm spend a lot of time out late at night = lots light is good.

How did you mount 4 lights at the windshield?

The brackets are ugly, but they work.
Some day I'll either redo them or if I get the cash go to 7" HIDs on the corners intead.

Hey Venom, Any chance on some close-up pics on how you mounted those lights on the bumper, they look great!!

That one was easy, just took a piece of 1" angle iron and bolted it over top of the fairlead and mounted lights to it. When I had a roller fairlead on there, I had a piece bolted to the top of the fairlead itself.
Only thing funky is that the fairlead is off center, you have to center the angle iron and let it hang over on the passenger side to center up the lights.
I did a HID conversion on those 2 lights - I found a chevy headlight upgrade kit for cheap and swapped it into the housings.

If I was independently wealthy with money to burn I'd have a big Xmitter across the windshield and HID's everywhere else, but I'm po so it's cheap lights and home made brackets.
Plus with the cheap lights, I don't care when they get tree branched or road gravelled

Everything's filthy, but we've been having 60MPH wind packing thunderstorms almost daily for the last couple of weeks - which reminds me, I gotta replace a bunch of shingles on my roof

 

^^ How can you see at night, man?
Like daylight, na?
Going to be ordering mine as soon as I find a JK to put it on Briana vetoed them for hers- Mark W.

 

XHD front and back

Hello, I am running the xhd pre-runner guard on the front and back with tire carrier. I am really happy with the products except for the fact that both bumpers are designed to have the wiring zip tied. In the case of the tire carrier it doesn’t bother me that much because it is out of sight out of mind kind of thing, but the front bumper is a different story. My next project is adding 2 sets of light to the pre-runner, and after contacting rugged ridge, they informed me that the wires should be zip tied and there was no way I could run the wires in side of the tubing. Does any one have an idea's, or done any thing about this. There are two big reasons I ask, 1. Wires exposed are likely to get caught on some thing on the trial. 2. It looks horrible.

 

Hello, I am running the xhd pre-runner guard on the front and back with tire carrier. I am really happy with the products except for the fact that both bumpers are designed to have the wiring zip tied. In the case of the tire carrier it doesn’t bother me that much because it is out of sight out of mind kind of thing, but the front bumper is a different story. My next project is adding 2 sets of light to the pre-runner, and after contacting rugged ridge, they informed me that the wires should be zip tied and there was no way I could run the wires in side of the tubing. Does any one have an idea's, or done any thing about this. There are two big reasons I ask, 1. Wires exposed are likely to get caught on some thing on the trial. 2. It looks horrible.

I'm thinking if the tube walls aren't drilled at the points were other tubes butt in then you'll be unable to fish wire through the bumper. You can drill/mount all you want on the stubby portion but I'm afraid the tubes will give you trouble... maybe someone with more experience than me will chime in...

 

Yea that exactly the situation. The tubs are not open at the welds, obviously, and are open only at the points were it connects to the main bumper, but the problem lies were the tubing comes off of its self. The tubs with the light brackets on them are the one's that are welded tot he main tube. I figured out a way to run most of the wires inside, and only have to be exposed right before the light. Unfortunately if the main tub would have just been notched, wires could be run very easily with some fishing string and a shop vac. I was hopping that some one had some pic of how they ran the wires? I am planning on putting two sets of delta lights on, with dual batterios and all the trimmings, and mont all the switched inside of a tuffy box. I dont want the finsh product to look cheep on a projet that is over $2000

 

Hey Benny14 I have an idea that might help some... I use something like this for an entirely different application:

These kinds of cable mounts are used most often on circuit boards but could be adapted to your purpose easily. At least you wouldn't have to run a tie all the way around the tube, just use these to tie the wires to a drilled hole on the back side of the tube.

You'll have to google around a bit to source them but you might check Radio Shack or here: http://www.favortron.com.tw/english/tie-mount.htm if they don't stick you for big quantities.

 

Split

 cable mounts are used most often on circuit boards but could be adapted to your purpose easily. At least you wouldn't have to run a tie all the way around the tube, just use these to tie the wires to a drilled hole on the back side of the tube.

fl-mitchells Thank you for the idea, I think that I will use that application on the back tire carrier for the 3rd break light. I am too options for the finish look. I am planning on running the wires as far as I can threw the tubing and then coming out with he shortest run as possible to the light. The only questions is either finishing the wires in a high grade wire wrap, or getting some smaller pipe and fabricate and weld onto the bumper. I know that wire wrap is easier and would lend it self to the project getting finished faster, but piping would protect the wire better. My only concern is that the welding will heat the rugged tubing and crack the finish? I guess it a good think that we enjoy these types of problems. I just need a couple , to make up my mind.

 

I would really like to get the rear bumper but it can't handle a 39" tire. I like my Front RR and a matching rear would be great. Wondering if I could mount the Finishline West tire carrier onto the RR rear bumper

 

Where to put the lights

My next project is adding 2 sets of light to the pre-runner,

I am getting ready to install the lights on the pre-runner, the only problem is I don’t know exactly were I should put each set. I am going to install 1 set of Delta 100, driving lights, and also had an upgraded HID 100 series. I was thinking of putting the driving light over the winch and the HID in front of the head lights. Since I am going to be drilling and running wires threw the bumper I want it done right the first time. Has any one used the mounting plates on the Pre-runner yet? Any comments are welcomed,