• Welcome to the new NAXJA Forum! If your password does not work, please use "Forgot your password?" link on the log-in page. Please feel free to reach out to [email protected] if we can provide any assistance.

Proto Fab vs JCR bumpers

F

FearNoFish

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Heber City, UT
The searches I've done turn up some old threads and I really don't like resurecting them much.

I am ready to buy new bumpers, front & rear. JCR makes a top class product and until tonight I was sold on them. There are some things I really like about the Proto Fab Rock Solid winch bumper with the prerunner bar and their rear bumper with tire carrier.

JCR can have extended lead times but I don't know about Proto Fab and since I've got a guy coming to buy my Warn bumpers, I don't want to drive around any longer than necessary with out some sort of protection.

I will call Proto Fab on monday to see what their lead time is.

Any opinions as to the pros & cons of either? How about PF's front bumper mount as far as steering box plating. JCR's front mount takes pretty good care of that.


http://www.protofab4x4.com
http://www.jcroffroad.com

FNF
 
just LOOKING at the protofab bumpers, they look ghetto fabbed, like their use of 2 heim joints around a bolt on the swing away carrier. that and they seem pretty proud of their workmanship, for instance their classic rear tube bumper MAYBE cost them 80 for materials and they want $403 for it.

also theirs a reason why every tire carrier ive seen swings out to the passenger side vs the driver side. think of it this way, if your on the freeway or tight spot on the side of the road and get a flat. you swing out their tire carrier INTO TRAFFIC to get into your hatch for your tools and someone comes around and clips it. it just spells bad news to me IMO. JCR bumpers seem more solid and they have great customer feedback, i have NEVER heard anyone say they got screwed by jcr offroad, their prices are fair and product looks good. if i wasnt going to built my own bumpers i'd go with jcr offroad.
 
MaxxXJ said:
also theirs a reason why every tire carrier ive seen swings out to the passenger side vs the driver side. think of it this way, if your on the freeway or tight spot on the side of the road and get a flat. you swing out their tire carrier INTO TRAFFIC to get into your hatch for your tools and someone comes around and clips it. it just spells bad news to me IMO. JCR bumpers seem more solid and they have great customer feedback, i have NEVER heard anyone say they got screwed by jcr offroad, their prices are fair and product looks good. if i wasnt going to built my own bumpers i'd go with jcr offroad.
Click to expand...

And after talking with Terry at RigidCo, this is the reason why it is not DOT legal to have a tire carrier swing out on the driver side.
 
I love my JCR bumpers, front and rear..There tire carrier with the jack and gas can holder they show on a jeep, thats my wifes jeep..I have hit mine so hard an it took it, didn't hit the body or the tail light..(broke a big chunk off the rock)..Call them to see the wait time, i know AJ's is or was down for some reason ...So alot of folks went to JCR...
 
i had a set of protofab rock rails and i've seen their bumpers first-hand, it's all good stuff. also, they're great guys and i prefer their designs, but that's just my opinion.
no personal input though on their tire carrier.
 
If you do go JCR(which I see no reason why you shouldn't) get the new tire carrier spindle. Its super beefy and is made of Billet steel with Timken bearings. I have one of the first ones with this new spindle and its much stronger than the old spindle which is one of the trailer spindles. Great Products and Customer service with a possible longer wait thats well worth it!

Edit. That tire carrier design does not look very well thought out on the protofab bumper.
 
I had Proto Fab front and rear tube bumpers on my '97. One of the reasone I went with them was the weight. Little over half a plate built bumper. As to how tuff they were... I had the XJ on my really not level driveway (Colorado, what do you expect) when I experienced the ever popular hand brake quadrant failure. The XJ went down the drive, down the street (of course it is all down hill, Colorado) and whacked into my neighbors Chrysler 300. Destroyed the front end of the 300 (it had to be towed out) damage to the bumper/XJ? I took my thumb nail and scraped off the paint from the 300...

On the other hand, the reason he is now using heims on the carrier is that the bushings used in the earlier versions suck. Evidently he dod not understand that oilite bushings MUST be preloaed with oil prior to installation. The cam latch machanism uses the same bushings. I had to drill the latch and install a zerk just to keep the thing from locking up due to lack of lubrication.

So my only concern really is the bearings on the tube style. Strength wise, all good, better than some.

My .02...
 
both me and my dad have the protofab front bumpers, and personally i love them. i have the tube, and my dad the plate steel version, and between the two i like the plate one better; it tucks about 2 inches closer to the body giving better approach angles. as far as strength goes, i have had no problems. i have taken out a deer at 45-50mph with absolutely no damage, and have wheeled reasonably in the rocks, and done a bunch of winch pulls and it has held up great. my sister also backed into it one time when she wasnt paying attention, and as said before, all i had to do was scrape the paint off. and as far as the craftsmanship goes, i have found them to be fantastic. high quality welds and everything fits up nicely.... nothing ghetto fabbed about them.

i have no opinion about the rear bumper, i have never seen it personally.

as for customer service and lead times they were always great. they shipped fast, and it was very easy dealing with them.
 
Protofab bumpers are not ghetto fab at all. Im running their front winch bumper and LOVE the look and beefy as hell.

main.php


I bought mine used so I think the previous owner added this additional plate reinforcement:
2006-11-19+027.jpg


You can see what I did with my vacuum canister:
main.php


You can browse some of the various bumper pics across various vendors at:
http://www.xjdb.com/modules.php?name=gallery2&g2_itemId=7863
 
that bumper is barely tied in. looks a lil sketchy to me. i say go with jcr.
this is how jcr ties theirs in
unibodybrackets.jpg



djblade311 said:
Protofab bumpers are not ghetto fab at all. Im running their front winch bumper and LOVE the look and beefy as hell.

main.php


I bought mine used so I think the previous owner added this additional plate reinforcement:
2006-11-19+027.jpg


You can see what I did with my vacuum canister:
main.php


You can browse some of the various bumper pics across various vendors at:
http://www.xjdb.com/modules.php?name=gallery2&g2_itemId=7863
Click to expand...
 
RoyalXJ said:
that bumper is barely tied in. looks a lil sketchy to me. i say go with jcr.
this is how jcr ties theirs in
Click to expand...

those are not the protofab tie ins. they do come with their own tie in plates; if i am not lazy today i will try to run out and snag some pics. i am not going to knock JCR products because they do have some pretty fantastic stuff, some of which i own, i just liked the look of the protofab bumpers better. i honestly think that either bumper would be more than sufficient as far as functionality goes.
 
Ive got the jcr prerunner bumper and i love it it. It looks great, the welds are solid, its strong has a bunch of tie ins to the unibody and it tucks up really well. If i were you id go jcr.
 
I do have concerns about that front mount. The Proto Fab web site says: Supplied with this bumper are 2 TIE PLATES that will tie the
front bumper mounting bracket to the UNIBODY just in front
of the axle in the same location as the Original Equipment
tow hooks.

I'm not quite sure how far back that goes and whether or not it acts as a steering box plate. That can be enhanced.

What I like best about the Proto Fab is the reduced approach angle built in to the underneath side. As far as the hinge for the rear bumper tire carrier, compared to my Warn, even the heims are an improvement. If they will take the beating in suspension use, I would think they would be more than adequate to swing a tire 120 degrees a couple of times a day on average.

Even JCR admits that their bearing assy is ovekill ( I like overkill).

I am a supporter of JCR procducts. The deciding factor will be lead times.
 
I have had the Protofabs front and rear. The front bumper has wiped out many trees and ripped a Honda Element in two without any physical damage to the metal. The mounting brackets are of no issue compared to the sheet metal it's mounted to.
 
Los Lobos said:
I have had the Protofabs front and rear. The front bumper has wiped out many trees and ripped a Honda Element in two without any physical damage to the metal. The mounting brackets are of no issue compared to the sheet metal it's mounted to.
Click to expand...

That is the concern, the sheet metal it's mounted to. If they only use the front three frame horn bolts it might hold up to impacts but for recovery (especially side pulls) that sheet metal is notoriously weak.

FNF
 
For what 90% of the crowd on this forum does it would work just fine. I have pulled it and winched it and the mounting points they use works just fine. I suppose if you were to repeartedly jerk strap it with a full size truck you could have an issue.
 
MaxxXJ said:
just LOOKING at the protofab bumpers, they look ghetto fabbed, like their use of 2 heim joints around a bolt on the swing away carrier. that and they seem pretty proud of their workmanship, for instance their classic rear tube bumper MAYBE cost them 80 for materials and they want $403 for it.

also theirs a reason why every tire carrier ive seen swings out to the passenger side vs the driver side. think of it this way, if your on the freeway or tight spot on the side of the road and get a flat. you swing out their tire carrier INTO TRAFFIC to get into your hatch for your tools and someone comes around and clips it. it just spells bad news to me IMO. JCR bumpers seem more solid and they have great customer feedback, i have NEVER heard anyone say they got screwed by jcr offroad, their prices are fair and product looks good. if i wasnt going to built my own bumpers i'd go with jcr offroad.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't say that JCR's customers service is great or even good. I understand that they are busy, but if you are too busy to answer the phone and return calls, hire somebody to do it for you. You guys could easily pay for that persons wage and then some in all of the orders you would get. And I'm sure you could find a high school kid who would love to work there. That being said, I think JCR's stuff is very nice and you will probably be very happy with it. But I would also take a look at Rigid...Terry is awesome.
 
FearNoFish said:
That is the concern, the sheet metal it's mounted to. If they only use the front three frame horn bolts it might hold up to impacts but for recovery (especially side pulls) that sheet metal is notoriously weak.

FNF
Click to expand...

FWIW, the stock tow hook brackets are not the same as the basic bumper brackets. They extend back a little further, and use a few more bolts.
 
My wife's jeep has protofab bumpers. The front is fine. It ties in pretty much the same way most do. The three stock holes plus some more a little further back.

The rear is a total POS and I wouldn't suggest anyone buy one. Its loud. It rattles like crazy and the swingout design is just stupid. My wife can not get it open half the time, she just isn't strong enough. I've had to put a highlift handle over the handle to pry it open sometimes.
 
MONSTERxbla said:
I wouldn't say that JCR's customers service is great or even good. I understand that they are busy, but if you are too busy to answer the phone and return calls, hire somebody to do it for you. You guys could easily pay for that persons wage and then some in all of the orders you would get. And I'm sure you could find a high school kid who would love to work there. That being said, I think JCR's stuff is very nice and you will probably be very happy with it. But I would also take a look at Rigid...Terry is awesome.
Click to expand...


i dont want to step on any toes, he asked for opinions and i gave him mine, thats all. i dont own any jcr or protofab parts, i like being able to say i built everything on my jeep. or at least to an extent, i wont build any suspension components.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

X
Help me my Obi Wan Kenobi's
2 3
Replies
47
Views
13K
75SV1
7
X
XR3Z's vs 19 XF2E's (2001 XJ) and so much more
Replies
5
Views
2K
xcm
xcm
Ivan
1998 Cherokee Sport For Sale
Replies
2
Views
2K
Ivan
Ivan
PhillyPhanInDC
2000 XJ For Sale
Replies
2
Views
2K
PhillyPhanInDC
PhillyPhanInDC
N
2000 XJ, high miles, lots of new parts, still have vibration
Replies
10
Views
1K
N8N_99xj
N
Back
Top