Reviews for Rampage Products TrailCrawler Front Bumper Skid Plate for 18-20 Jeep Wrangler JL with Factory, TrailCrawler, or Most Aftermarket Front Bumpers
It's very heavy duty and I love the sleek look. The rivets on the side are PITA, but skid will install with just front bolts .Integrated light bar is a bonus.
Well built, welds are good and it is a really solid skid plate. It is the only one that I found would work with the Rock Slide Engineering bumper on my JLUR.
It would have been five stars but it took much more work than it should have to install because there was a slight misalignment on the bolt points, the rivet nuts took a persuader to fit into the hexagonal mounting points, and the hardware included did not fit with the factory rivet nuts that they were supposed to. The factory bolts did not fit because there wasn't enough room in the skid plate to fit a socket around the head. I had to go to the local hardware store that fortunately has a huge selection of hardware to find the right 3/8 - 16 button head bolts.
On the plus side, when I emailed Rampage with my issues they responded almost immediately. Excellent customer service in that respect.
This is a pretty hefty little skid plate. I think it will go with most aftermarket front bumpers. After installing the Rampage bumper, I didn't like the way the frame horns stuck out below the bumper on the JL- it looks like something is missing. This takes care of that problem.
I recommend getting different hardware than the stuff that comes with it. It's less than impressive, and mine came pre-rusted, although it was in a sealed plastic bag. With only 4 bolts, I expected to install this faster than my wife could ask "what else did you buy for that Jeep." I was wrong. First, the threaded inserts (riv-nuts) supplied were not hex shaped like the holes. You can put them in anyway with a few taps of a hammer, but when I tried tightening the bolts, they slipped. They are pretty easy to tear back out. My jeep already had the threaded inserts on the front, but the provided bolts are too small in diameter. I tried using the factory bolts, but the heads on them are too large to be able to get a wrench or a socket on them due to the angle of the plate as you tighten them. I really don't know how to describe it, but you'll understand when you install it. I recommend getting socket head bolts so you can install them with an allen wrench- I think that would be easy. I was lucky enough to have some bolts with smaller heads and I made it work. However, I never could get the holes on the sides to line up. If you were able to use the bolts that were provided, there might be enough "slop" to line them up since they have a much smaller diameter. The two big bolts I have in front are probably adequate. I didn't notice it until I took the picture for this review, but it's slightly bent. It's been on the Jeep about 12 hours and I know I didn't hit anything on my way to work, so it must have already been like that out of the box.
I don't mean for this review to seem too negative- I like the skid plate and for the price, it's fine. The hardware that comes with it seems to be made in the country where most other things are made these days. It caused what should have been a 5 minute install for me take a lot longer.
I installed this on my '19 JL. Once I figured out how the rivet tool worked (I destroyed one in that process) I was good to go and successfully installed the side rivet nuts with the help of Mr. Friendly-Two-Pound-Sledge. Like the other reviewer posted, the front mount bolts don't match the factory-installed rivet nuts and the factory bolts won't fit because there's not enough room. You didn't need to weld that little shelf back behind the mount holes to the front mount points because that prevents you from installing with the factory bolts and/or getting a tool back there. If I get adventurous, or stupid depending on your perspective, I'll un-mount the plate and take a grinder to that obstruction that prevents me from just mounting via the front rivet nuts.
The front holes on the skid plate do not align to the factory rivets (2019 JLU). I tried 2 different skid plates and both had the same issue. I would not recommend purchasing this product.