I finally got the front and rear bumpers for my '04 Dakota 2wd Club Cab. i don't off-road, but i believe trucks should have steel bumpers, so i put my money where my 'tude is.
Since you can pick and choose features to have a custom bumper built to your specs, I got a Wincher front bumper without the winch attachment, with grill guard, light guards, and offroad lights (since it's an SLuT with factory fogs- can't have a dead switch). The back bumper is a plain steel unit with integral license-plate mount, plate lights, and shackles. Both are painted in gloss black.
First impression- packaging
With gas prices being what they are, i paid $95 to have the bumpers shipped the 300 miles from the factory to my office. They arrived carefully wrapped up in plastic wrap, heavy cardboard, then more pallet wrap secured with tape. It must have taken me 20 minutes to unwrap them. The lights and hardware kit (12 grade 8 bolts, washers, and jam nuts) were tucked away inside the front bumper. Unless i lost them in the packaging, there were no instructions. This actually seems like a logical place for cost-savings- what percentage of the guys that order these things are the type to read the directions before starting work on something? The odds of me actually reading them before something broke were slim.
Construction
Both units are extremely solid. The mounting brackets are 1/4" steel plate, the bumpers themselves appear to be about 3/16". The bends are nice and smooth, the welds well done (though visible), tolerances quite good for low-volume, heavy steel work, and the paint, while not a show finish, was smooth, complete, and attractive. It does scratch fairly easily as you're manhandling the thing around, though. Listed shipping weight for the pair was 242 lbs. i didn't weigh them, but i'd guess they're about 130 for the front and 110 for the rear. A single man can manuever them easily enough, but they do take some upper-body. The rear is fully boxed, the front is three-sided.
Installation
Tools- Good electric drill, 1/2" bit, 3/4" wrenches, floor jack, 18mm wrench, trim panel removal tool. A center punch, jackstands, and measuring tape help.
Installation, fortunately, is pretty straight-forward. The front bumper comes off with 4 bolts, a bunch of little plastic trim-cap things, and the fog light wires. The rear bumper is 6 bolts and the license plate light wiring.
The bumpers are shipped without mounting holes, so that you can align them to fit your tastes and usage. The front bumper mounting brackets actually slide into the frame rails. One nice thing about this is that it means you don't need to jury-rig a collection of jackstands and friends to line the thing up and keep it balanced while you mark and drill- just slide it in, and adjust the angle with a floor jack front and center. I found that the mounting tabs on mine were just a hair too wide- you had to squeeze them a bit to get them both into the frame. I finally did a little precision adjustment with a BFH.
The front bumper fits very tightly to the bodywork- there's about enough room to slide a credit card between the bumper and the fender, and it's pretty much on the fender flare. Looks very good. Unfortunately, the drivers side wanted to ride up about 1/8" due to the mounting tab sliding up the inside corner of the frame rail, and this meant that it (uh, I) scratched up my headlight and tried to rip off the fender flare. I took about 1/16" off of the bottom of the problematic tab with an angle grinder, and that solved that problem.
Lastly, there are distinct edges where the sides of the bumper are welded to the center. The drivers-side stuck about 3/8" further out towards the grill than the passengers side did. So, thinking everything was lined up fine, i slammed the hood shut and tore a trench in the grille on that side. Doh. It'll need a black grille anyway. A couple more minutes with the grinder, and that was fixed too.
I was able to use one factory hole in the frame for mounting, and drilled a second one just above it. There is another hole behind the one I used that lined up on the passenger side, but not the drivers side. Doh again. The bumper is straight, so the tabs must not be the same length. It takes time and a good drill bit to get through the steel- be patient. Don't drill too high or you'll hit the body mount. DAMHIK.
Once the bumper was on, hooking up the lights was an easy splice into the fog circuit, and I had to trim the plastic of the inner fenders, as it ended up hanging down a good 6" below the new bumper, which comes up sharply on the sides for better approach angle. I may eventually fabricate some kind of shield to keep water and debris out of that area.
The back bumper went on very easily. Unlike the front, it needed no adjustment. It mounts to the outside of the rear frame rails, and utilizes the same three holes as the factory bumper mount. It does not interfere with the Mopar receiver hitch, although you may need a longer Grade 8 bolt for the hole that they share. There is a raised portion on the mounting tabs that levers up against the bottom of the bed to hold it roughly in place while you mark the bolt holes, and I used a set of jackstands to level it. You'll want to drop the spare to get a clear shot at the mounting holes, just remember to toss it in the bed to level the truck back out.
Service
I save this for last because I don't like to bitch, but... :sorry: I ordered the bumpers 6/30/05, and was told that if I ordered them that day, and made the 50% deposit by credit card, they were about to start a run of Dakota bumpers, and would be able to get them out in about a month as opposed to their regular 2 months. Great!
A month goes by. I have read in other places on-line that Kyle (seems to be sole owner/fabricator) can be slow. I wait.
Around mid-September I email, requesting an update. No response. :stick: At the 3-month point, I call. Kyle tells me they'll be ready next week. Okay. I'm a little annoyed that they're 2 months late and I had to call, but I can live with that.
Around mid-November I call again. "There's been a problem getting parts for the bumpers", but they should have them finished in 3-4 days. Okay. I'm a bit more annoyed, but I can live with that. :buttkick:
December 6th I get a call from Kyle. The bumpers are now finished, and will be shipped on the 8th. I should have them the following day. I'm so pleased at the prospect of finally getting them, I don't even bitch him out. :banana2:
December 9th, no bumpers. :dammit:
12/21, I finally get an email from the shipping company to let me know that the package is being picked up that day, and will be delivered the following day. This time, I finally get them as promised :woot:
Conclusion
The total cost, including shipping, was $864.50. For the money, I think these are an excellent product- I can live with the small adjustments that had to be made to fit them. Again, the type of person who will buy these probably has the tools and ability to fix the imperfections. But. I am really pissed about the missed deadlines. Missing not one, but three promised ship dates, and running six times the original estimate is ridiculous. :rant:
So, there ya go.
