[monkeee2002]

I recently bought a set of Dirtworx bumpers, and thought I'd do a review of them.

Front bumper install:
I ordered the bumpers on Oct 5, my front bumper showed up on Nov 3. Needless to say the suspense was killing me!
Here’s what FedEx brought me:

Now, Dirtworx does send them bare steel, so it’s up to you to paint them. I don’t mind this at all. If my bumpers get scraped up, I can just do some touch-up work, or pop them off and repaint the whole thing for about $10.
After cleaning the steel up, I chose to paint my bumpers with the same paints I used on my headlight bezels and mirrors: primer, hi-temp flat black, then clear engine enamel. Several coats of each.
I thought this would help to tie them into the Jeep appearance-wise, and this paint has proven to be fairly durable over the summer.

After an afternoon of watching paint dry [sigh] this was what I got:

Robert was kind enough to send a Dirtworx bumpersticker with each bumper. The one that came with the front bumper got a nasty gouge in the middle of it during shipping, so it didn’t get used.

The welds look great, the bumper looks very nice.
I opted to not have the hoop, just personal preference.
I did get it winch-compatible, with welded in D-rings and 4 light tabs.
Here's a view of the back, you an see the light tabs and the welds on the D-ring mounts:

Robert was very helpful in helping me choose how I wanted the bumper to look.
I did have to drill into it to mount my license plate. I recently moved to Oregon, and they require a front plate.

 

[monkeee2002]

Rear swing-out

Rear bumper install:
Ordered bumpers on Oct 5, my front bumper showed up on Nov 3. Needless to say the suspense was killing me! My rear bumper showed up on Nov 5th.
Here’s what FedEx brought me this time: (some assemble required)

Very stout construction. Everything is made of nice thick metal, and has great welds throughout.
There’s included hardware, and even a grease fitting and two rubber o-rings for the pivot.

Fortunately, I had a couple of gas cans and mounts laying around, but they were in need of some TLC. The paint was peeling badly, but there wasn’t too much rust to worry about. I just had to clean out a wasp nest and repaint. (GASP!) Did I mention I’m allergic to wasps??

Here it is, fully disassembled, and the first black coat drying.

I will likely grab some sort of liquid rubber coating to put on the T-handle, but I can do that whenever.

These two mounts on top had me stumped ( far left and right on the top):

I had to look up his website, and realized that they’re for a high-lift jack.
I’m not a big fan of high-lift jacks. I had one when I was younger, and I think I only used it once.
I do believe I can fab up a cargo basket to utilize those mounts, though!

Unfortunately, a storm front rolled in while I was painting the rear, the humidity went up, the temp went down. Not ideal for spray painting, and it shows. I went to lighter coats to smooth it out, but it looks like I may have to repaint in the spring

Here is the bumper without the swing-out rack. Unfortunately, the hinge wouldn’t clear the taillight when I tried to put on the swing-out, so I popped off the taillight.

There are two bolts on each side that require the gas tank be dropped in order to install.

I opted to do these 4 at a later date, since I don’t plan to have too much weight on my bumper for a while.

I took her for a spin in the desert, and discovered that the T-bolt would unscrew itself every ½ mile or so.

I looked around online, and found no other information about this problem with Dirtworx bumpers. Every comment I saw had nothing but praise for every aspect of his work. So… I decided to try a few things.
I first tried a rubber washer (the bumper came with a metal flat washer for this bolt).
The rubber washer helped, but it would still come loose after a few miles.
Next I tried a star washer. This did the trick. I spent the next four hours trying to shake it loose.

I rattled everything else, but not the bumper. I even managed to send one of my climate control knobs flying – which I had rubber-cemented on in July.

After this very thorough shake-down (pun intended!), I must say that everything works as it should, stays WHERE it should, and makes no noise about doing it’s job.

On a side-note, I had a great time trying to shake it loose!
This is my first write-up / review, so if there are any questions, feel free to send me a PM :wavey:

BTW: I had the front, winch ready, welded-thru D-ring mounts, 4 light tabs; rear- his standard swing-out with gas can mounts, welded-thru D-ring mounts, and receiver, all done and shipped for $660.

Thanks Robert!

 

[coolbreeze]

Looks like good stuff at a fair price, enjoy :wavey:

 

[HyperBuzzin]

Looks good.
I got a Dirt Worx rear bumper (minus the swing-out), and didn't have to drop the tank to put any bolts on?
Maybe mine being an Unlimited has something to do with that??

 

[monkeee2002]

Just a little update while I'm thinking about it -
Both bumpers are still doing just what you'd expect them to - just hangin' out!

The rear bumper still has zero rattles, after adding a star washer to the T-bolt.
Robert at Dirtworx contacted me, and apparently there is another washer that may have been lost (before or after I got the bumper, who knows) that should go on the T-bolt.

The only issue I had was the paint. I was painting in weather that was too cold and too damp for proper adhesion. Therefore, when I washed off the mud pictured above, some spots of the paint stuck to the mud better than the bumper, and peeled it off in spots.
I wasn't really expecting my paint job to hold up well anyway, as I mentioned above.

 

[chop110]

Okay, now I totally can't wait for my rear Dirtworx bumper to get here! Thanks for the writeup!

 

[TwodollarBill]

I am looking into this rear bumper. does the tire rattle at all? Do you need to purchase your own gerry can mounts?
Thanks