10. Wrapping up the rear installation,...
10. Wrapping up the rear installation, we installed our spare wheel and tire onto the new carrier.
11. Moving to the front, the...
11. Moving to the front, the factory bumper was removed.
12. Warn supplied us with...
12. Warn supplied us with its excellent 9.5ti Thermometric winch, which offers a stylish, low-profile housing, as well as an operator-feedback function to prevent overheating of the motor.
13. Before the Mopar front...
13. Before the Mopar front bumper could be installed, the fairlead had to be attached to the bumper and the winch needed to be mounted.
14. The factory tow hooks...
14. The factory tow hooks are then removed from the stock bumper and attached to the Mopar bumper before the whole assembly is mounted to the front of the Jeep.
15. To hide the Mopar crash...
15. To hide the Mopar crash cans, these plastic covers are put into place.
16. Lastly, we installed Mopar's...
16. Lastly, we installed Mopar's skidplate to the front bumper, protecting the electronic sway-bar disconnect assembly.
17. Optima also supplied us...
17. Optima also supplied us with a Yellow Top deep-cycle battery, not only to help with starting and electronics, but also to give us longer and stronger pulls with the winch if the engine stalls.
18. To complement the Jeep's...
18. To complement the Jeep's rear bumper, ARB sent over some bumper clevis shackles to make hooking up for recovery a breeze.
19. As you can see from the...
19. As you can see from the front and rear views, the Mopar bumpers are well integrated into the JK's design.
20. Mopar also supplied us...
20. Mopar also supplied us with these windshield pillar-mounted light tabs and Hella-made auxiliary lights, which can be spliced into the factory harness.
21. This is the new dash-mounted...
21. This is the new dash-mounted switch that operates the auxiliary lights.
22. Mopar also offers these...
22. Mopar also offers these Hella-made foglight replacement lights, which operate off of the factory foglight switch and replace the factory foglights that you lose when installing the Mopar front bumper.
Real-World Thoughts
So far, we have had these bumpers on our JK for six months and 6,000 miles, and couldn't be happier with the performance. They have taken major rock hits without deforming, and the finish only has minor rock rash. Thanks to an errant boulder, we did have to replace one of the crash can covers, but that can be easily done. We think the Mopar bumpers offer several benefits that will be attractive to many new JK owners.