Reviews for Quadratec QRC Front Winch Ready Bumper for 18-24 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
It's a heavy duty bumper I love that part of it. The only complaint I have is the install. The fog lights swap was a holy hell nightmare with the supplied nuts washers and Allen wrench bolt. There was no room hardly for the back bolts on the winch plate. Other than those two complaints it's a very very sturdy bumper that's heavy. It dropped the front of my jeep an inch with my badlands winch install. I just wish they had a easier install for it.
Looks great and high quality, but disappointed. Also, the Quadratec stealth winch fits like a glove. I really like the combination of the two.
Install was simple except for transferring the fog lights. Instead of messing with nuts and bolts in tight spaces, get some self tapping screws to reinstall the fog lights in the QRC.
The big disappointment was when I discovered that we couldn’t use the factory skid plate. The description states that the QRC bumper is not compatible with the factory Rubicon steel bumper fog lights and the Warn Zeon Platinum winch, but it does not mention the factor skid plate either. I’ve looked at a few third party skid plates and they too are not compatible.
Again, the bumper is great. I love the look. I just wish they had mentioned the compatibility issue with the skid plate more clearly. If I would have known that going into the purchase, I would have gone with something else. I do like the look, so I’m keeping it and will probably just trim the factory skid plate.
I love the look of this bumper. Huge upgrade from the plastic one from the factory. I am giving this bumper 3 stars because of quality issues. The first one I recieved was not welded correctly and ended up underneath the fender and rubbing on the plastic. Quadratec was kind enough to ship me another one for free, which was awesome. The second one was much better and fit as should EXCEPT for one minor issue: The threads where I had to attach a bolt were not cut correctly and it stripped out one of the bolts. Not a huge deal, but it just goes to show that QC is an issue.
It looks good and seems to be decent quality but there were some issues with installation. First, the bolts did not line up with the factory mounts so some drilling was needed to get it installed. Second, it is nearly impossible to get a torque wrench on the bolts when installing a winch, they are too far back. Winches such as the Badlands 12K winch sits so far back, the power cable pushes on the grill. Third, the description fails to mention that the Gladiator Rubicon factory skid plate is no longer compatible due to it hitting the winch mount. The website does not mention this incompatibility issue.
Wanted to like this bumper because I love the styling of it. Unfortunately, I went to install my new Smittybilt XRC Gen3 9.5K winch and it will not fit. Well...it will fit and sit in the area for the winch but it was smashed up against the grille so much that the cables had no room to go from the controller box over to the terminals. Now I have to buy a bumper extension to hopefully get enough leeway to install the control box and cables.
Purchased this because of the gusseted winch mount. Great heavy duty bumper but less than two years installed and it is rusting everywhere bad. If you buy it make sure to paint it with a high quality paint before install because the factory coating is junk.
Be advised that you can't mount a winch on this bumper after it is installed on the vehicle! You can't access the winch mounting bolts to tighten them from below. Poor design. There should be some holes cut to be able to access the bolts.
I like the bumper. But mine came in slightly bent. The box was not damaged. I didn’t notice until I was fitting it to the truck. And having a bit of difficulty getting the bolts started. If you order it just check over it throughly. It’s a great bumper. Very heavy. Seems like it’s built to last.
I would give this a 4 star rating but it loses a star because of installation difficulty that appears to be an on going issue. The issue is that one of the wholes for the mounting the bumper, the driver side top to be specific, is about a 1/16 off. It makes it nearly impossible to align the bumper with out pushing it sideways after stating the other bolts. I was aware of this issue prior to purchasing this bumper as I have talked to others with this bumper and also have assisted a friend after he encountered the same situation. Also if you plan on adding factory fog lights, please be sure to enlist the help of someone with small hands and long fingers otherwise your in for a lovely hour or so of 4 letter words just to screw them in. All in all I think it comes down to poor manufacturing.
These are the reasons why I’d only give it 4 out of 5.
1st of all there are some spots where the powder coating missed. These are obviously spots where the hooks held it suspended while the coating was applied, but they should be addressed in the manufacturing.
2nd would be the welds especially on the interior part of the bumper. The welds are incomplete, they don’t travel the entire seam only parts of it. They are more than spot welds, they are just not full length welds. The welds are anything but pretty. And there were quite a few spots where the weld splattered other areas and was not cleaned off.
Other than some poor manufacturing/quality control issues the bumper functions great it is very sturdy and looks great. In my opinion the aesthetics are pleasing and go well with the Jeep.
I’m not disappointed that I purchased this bumper. I knew ahead of time about the poor bolt alignment and was prepared for it with a second jack and and set of hands. I hope this review helps with your decision.
Love the look of the bumper however I am having trouble with installing my winch to it. The back bolts are almost impossible to get to because of the design of the bumper. I have three of the four bolts installed but my hand has no room to bolt on the last one.