I've seen a lot of threads and a lot of products, but I'm looking for new, up-to-date recommendations.

My 3-inch zone lift came with SUPER stiff springs that bounce my otherwise stock 2-door all around the place. I need a bumper in the first place for my tire, and that extra weight will definitely help with my setup. I'm in the market for a solid tire carrier bumper, preferably swing-style that has a receiver...just need to fit a 31x10.50 on the back.

What are some good products out there that you would recommend these days?

Thanks

 

JCR and nates 4x4 make some good looking bumpers.

 

nates has been having issues ive heard. I called last month about his roof rack everyday for a week, literally and no one ever picked up the phone.

 

All the info from the past is pretty much still valid. Only a few people make good ones. Nate's is not one of them. JCR has a good one but it blocks both reverse lights. They do give light holes for aux lights in the bumper however.

Ares Fabrication has two styles of them.

Run far away from Smittybuilt, heard mostly problems with figment and Chinese metal quality.

Dirt bound has a couple too I believe.

I was going to get a carrier but I learned a 31x10.5 will fit in the stock spare location if you deflate it a bit or use a less than brand new tire. I have a new 31x10.5 BFG AT2 in the factory spare location with the factory hardware.

 

I have the smittybilt and it works pretty well and really good for the price. I have had it for 2 years and it fits pretty good. I didn't like the quarter panel armor. But if you need the best bumper out there the smittybilt is not for you.

 

I really like my rock hard bumper. It comes with integrated quarter panel protection, high lift mount, and an optional jerry can holder. Easy to install.

http://www.rockhard4x4.com/product_p/rh-1013.htm

JCR is nice, but its expensive by the time you buy everything. Almost everything else i saw was pretty ugly. Lots of fabricators out there, but not a lot of good designs that go with the lines of the XJ. JCR and RockHard were the ones i liked the best.

 

I didn't know about rockhard4x4. Their design is nice looking. I'd prefer the seam fully welded but may just for looks. The JCR stuff is the most shapely I'd say, seems like the angles and whatnot were really thought out well.

You're right about the price. All said and done,with bumper, carrier and fixings, it's 1700 bucks. Ouch. I know plenty of people who paid not much more than that for their entire XJ.

 

I've ordered the Rock Hard set up for my XJ. I liked the JRC, but the price was just too much!!

 

I like this one - still a bit pricey but I need some extra weight in the back for my springs, a receiver, a place for my spare, and a new bumper to begin with...so might as well!!

Thanks for the recommendation guys.

 

I have the RockHard rear bumper and am generally very happy with it. Very nice design, construction and finish. The swingout took a bit of fiddling to dial in; I have to lift it about 1/8" to put it in it's closed position, but that's ok as the perch should take some of the weight when closed. Also, they provide an adjustable rubber stop to put tension on the latch when in the closed position. It's inadequate for the intended purpose. I'll post a photo of my fix in a few days.

Cheers.

 

I've had a JCR rear bumper with a 33" wheel/tire on it for 50k miles with zero problems

 

Nice bumper!
But why does just about everyone put the spare tire on the passenger side of the vehicle? It just kills any chance of using your back window for backing up!

 

I got a killer deal on the smittybuilt one and it has worked great for the price.

I think the best part of the smittybuilt bumper & tire carrier is that the tire can be mounted at many different height and directly in the middle. I can still see out of my rear window with a 31 at the current height. If I ever decided to do some crazy offroading I could install it ~6 inches higher

 

Careful how much weight you put back there gents, you'll crack the frame. I have a 35" spare and a nates carrier and it's insanely heavy to simply only use the 8 bolts in the stock location. Not sure how the other guys mount their bumpers but making something like nates does as a frame insert is a good idea when installing a tire carrier. I'm ordering a set from Nate but who know's when I'll actually see them. Kinda like the CF stickers lol

 

I have a nates rear bumper, hell that's my jeep on his website, been posts here about it before, but I had to modify it significantly to make it work properly, aka not tearing the rear of the jeep off... Its well made but its large, & cant handle bigger than a stock tire IMO.


A good rear bumper will have nice tie ins to the uni rail, it needs to slide inside it and bolt in there. I got my zj bumpers from G&G http://www.ggcustommetalfab.com/jeep...custom-bumpers
but they don't make a xj rear tire carrier, but everything worked out, customer service was decent, and it was price effective.