Jeeperman Rear Bumper and Tire Carrier
Well, it was time for a new front bumper, so I decided to go with Jeeperman again. You rarely hear anyone say anything bad about a Jeeperman product, but unfortunately, I've got a few things to point out in regards to their quality control. Keep in mind, I voiced my concerns to Eddie at Jeeperman, and he offered to take care me, but these issues aren't enough to make me want to go through the hassle.
First off, I went with Jeeperman due to all of the advantages I listed along with my rear bumper/tire carrier write-up. Jeeperman products are a well-designed, durable product. That said, any manufacturer can put out something that is not representative of their typical quality.
The first thing I noticed when I opened up my box was that, to my surprise, the seam of the main 2x4 section was placed at the front of the bumper rather than the rear. This is definitely not the norm, and I confirmed this with Eddie. The good news is that the seam is clean and straight, so I'm not gonna let it bother me too much.
When I went to install the bumper, everything was going fine. The winch and fairlead mounted right up without any problems. However, when we placed the bumper on the Jeep, the lower passenger side mounting hole would not line up with the hole in the frame. The lower mounting places each have a large square hole and a smaller round hole. The square hole allows for much adjustment whereas the smaller round hole does not. If this passenger side mounting plate had been welded on as a mirror image of the driver side plate, everything would've been fine, but there was no adjustment in the small hole I had to work with. I ended up slotting this hole so that I could get things lined up. Again, not a huge issue, but something you typically won't be expecting after reading all the rave reviews.
Another problem I discovered was when I tried mounting my big 3/4" Tractor Supply screw pin shackels to the shackel mounts. The passenger side worked, but the hole in the driver side mount was drilled a little too far to the rear, so the beefy shackel was a no-go. If I was going to have to use a smaller shackel, I didn't want to settle on the low-end hardware store variety, so I ordered a set of US-made 5/8" screw pin shackels from McMaster-Carr on the recommendation of 4x4Icon. Got those in, and all was well.
Overall, the bumper is still well-built and serves its purpose. The details I just outlined, though, would probably not go over too well with a lot of people. Eddie was definitely not happy when I expressed my concerns, and he offered to replace the bumper at no cost. Like I said, these problems aren't enough to make me mess with it.