Reviews for Quadratec QRC Front Winch Ready Bumper for 18-24 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
I like it! The steel is thick and sturdy. I was able to install it by myself. The toughest part was picking it up and sliding it onto the jeep by myself. at first I thought it wouldn't go on or a bolt hole would need to be widened but I got it to go on with some wiggling. I got the full width one because I like the extra safety and because after you watch the overlap crash test on youtube you might not want a stubby bumper even if they look cooler. I got this bumper in 12 hours from clicking purchase with free shipping! so cool.
This is our 1st wrangler. We wanted to start with easy addon's. Chose this bumper with a Smittybilt X20 comp 10k. Also added the flood light bar and 2 3 in. Cube spot lights. It was almost problem free, expect trying to line up bolts on bumper. The jeep bumper holes were not perfectly round and needed to be redrilled. Installation took about 5 hours for everything. Well worth it. Great looking seat up at a great price.
bumper arrived quickly and was packaged very well. no damage in shipping. the installation instructions were really very good with clear photos of the process. as others have noted the foglight installation was the hardest part of the process due to very small hardware that is really difficult to reach in and around to hold the nuts. material from the powder coat process had clogged up the threads for some of the foglight mounts. of course I didn't have a 4MM tap and it was a Sunday afternoon so I couldn't get the install completed as planned. Quadratec did give me an adjustment for the troubles. Overall a nice looking bumper that I am please with. I haven't installed a winch at this point.
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