Reviews for Rugged Ridge Venator Front Bumper for 18-22 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT

Overal great bumper! Great look and vehicle fitment. The design of this bumper is an amazing pair with the JL and JT. Installed on a 2018 JL.

Box was missing instructions, Quadratec thankfully had instructions posted on their website, however, directions are not every detailed, parts do not exact match what was supplied, had a lot of extra nuts and bolts / washers (Yes I triple checked everything). Lower skid plate (grey) did not light up to mounting brackets and took some drilling to line up, also it seems fairly thin and is stamped steel, which will bend or puncture on the first rock it encounters.

For future bumpers it Would be nice to see nuts and bolts in individual bags and labeled, for simplicity a required tool list, more detailed instructions.
Only major concern is the plastic fog light bezels, if they bolted in or had some type of retaining clip, that would be a huge improvement. The bezel snugs between three different parts, which took some time to get light up perfectly, when the outer wheel cover flexes the bezel pops out so I pop them out and store them in the vehicle when on the trail.

Box was missing instructions. Instructions on Quadratec site did not match hardware included in box. Still fairly easy to assemble.
The plastic trim for the fog lights keeps popping out when the bumper ends flex. I had to add tape to the back side to keep the trim in place.
Good bumper aside from the cheap plastic fog light trim.

Its finally here…. The packaging weighted 105 lbs. and all parts were well packed and arrived in mint condition. The finish quality color wise is good match for the Jeep. The finish itself is slightly textured but mostly smooth see pic. The bumper comes in pieces and I highly recommend laying out each piece and get familiar with their location. You will also need to sort out the nuts and bolts as they are all scrambled inside one bag. The instructions could use some help but hey my wife and I installed the bumper and Quadratec Stealth winch in 3.5 hours.
What would be nice is to have a tool list for the various nuts and bolts needed in assembly. Just off the top of my head 17-18mm, 5/8” 3/4” sockets/wrenches, t45 torx, 2 or 2.5mm allen key, crescent wrench. Hand tools can easily do job.
Wish items for manufacturer to consider would be to have metal fog light inserts clipped or bolted as the ones supplied are plastic and just pop in and I’m afraid these will pop off on trail and turn into a warranty purchase. Also, when trying to get the fogs to fit within bumper pieces and insert hole the fog light alignment on drivers’ side was not perfect. The tiny allen bolts did allow for some adjustment while mounted on the heavy-duty bracket with a firm pull downward as the only option as getting the head or nut was not possible. However, the bracket needed to be outward an 1/8” so light fits perfectly. See pic.
Lastly, if the manufacturer were to build a option to buy shorter style bumper end pieces leaving the fog light in place would be something I’d purchase to change the look up. There is plenty of room in front of tire when on 37s see pic.
Overall love the design and color of the bumper for those looking for a clean non chiseled angular look.

Awesome looking bumper, and a decent weight although not as heavy duty as some other solid piece bumpers I've had on other Jeeps. The installation is an absolute pain. It's modular so getting the pieces to line up just right can be challenging. If you get the over rider bar install it BEFORE putting on the top piece of the bumper or it will be almost impossible. **Also if you're running larger (35+) tires with an offset to stick out they may rub this bumper.** My stock Rubicon with 35s is extremely close daily driving. Offroading and they will rub.

I still like the look of this bumper, but the install was a challenge. No issues taking off my JL bumper and installing the winch tray and tow hooks. Things went south starting with the center bumber shell. The cut around the drivers side tow hook was visibly off and I think this just proceeded to make the rest of the install a pain in the... The left and right bumper shells were just enough off that it became a chore getting them on and a crow bar was needed with two of us lining things up.

I read that the fog lights were a challenge, but the was no way my factory lights would fit. I had the LED headlamp and fog light package. I'm concerned about installing others and if I will have to take off the (L) and (R) bumped shells.

I like the look and the core of the bumper feels strong should I need to use my winch or tow hooks. I installed a Smittybuilt XRC Gen3 9500 lbs winch. It sat deep in the tray and it took a little pushing into the grill to get installed.

Any advice on fog lights that are best for this bumper would be appreciated. Good luck with your hunt for the right bumper!

Mall Crawler Bumper!!!
I purchased this bumper for a 2020 Gladiator. I also have a TJ, so am not planning on hardcore wheeling the JT for a while.
This is a good looking bumper and is very capable of holding a winch. I have a Warn EVO 10k jn it. The winch's fit is extremely tight and I can't rout the wiring to not rub on the grille. The plate seems sturdy.
As for the "Mall Crawler" part. All components of this bumper aside from the winch mount are stamped steel. It is probably 14 ga. but will NOT stand up to ANY abuse. I have a 3.5" lift with 37 x 13.5 tires and they rub going in and out driveways. I am going to try some trimming, but off road you will rip the ends off on the first rock.
I feel, for the bumper you are getting, this is a poor value and should be priced closer to $500 or less. Assembly, is not too difficult, although you WILL be ovaling out several of the holes as the stamped steel pieces do not fit very well. The light bezels attach to 3 different parts and that requires you to align these carefully. I had to adjust 2 hole more than 1/2' to get the passenger side to line up, and not as much on the driver side. I may do some more grinding on these parts to see if I can get another 1/2' of winch clearance to avoid a constant rubbing between the bumper and winch
Over all, It is a good looking bumper, and maybe in the future they will come out with revised shorter ends you could change out to to actually wheel with. I would look long and hard at other options before purchasing this bumper.

We had quite a time with this bumper. The instructions were not great, and it took quite a bit of reverse engineering to install this properly. Second, there loads of extra bolts, but not enough washers, some were even plastic, so we had to go buy our own. Thirdly, there is a large design flaw in the overrider bar, you can’t easily attach/remove the bar, and the grill will not come on and off with the bar on. We had to drill holes in the overrider and put whole covers in. Finally, we were sent two right inserts for the fog lights. We called Quadratec and they said it would be a warranty issue to get us the left side part. We also submitted a ticket on the Omix-ADA site. It’s been almost two months and I still have an incomplete bumper and no indication when we are going to get a replacement part.

We do like the look of the bumper and it functions well, but the design and service for this bumper has not been good. Will probably not do anymore Rugged Ridge products.