Decisions, decisions......new winch bumper

I've pretty much narrowed it down to 2 that I like, both available through Quadratec as well as other major retailers. The first is the Four Real prerunner style, the second is the OR-Fab rock slider bumper. I'm leaning toward the OR-Fab, plus it comes standard with D-rings and light tabs. Just wondering who has any first hand knowledge about either of the two. Install pros and cons? Quality of the product, etc?

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...e/FourReal.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e2...age/OR-Fab.jpg

I saw a set a Foureal nerf bars and the aluminum skin thing was a thin as a street sign and held on buy zip ties. it was just for looks. I don't know about their bumper but dang those nerf things were all show and no go.

protofab makes a nice winch bumper IMHO, i have the tubular one, and my dad has the solid one and both are really nicely made, and super sturdy. they are on the pricey end, but its an amazing product. i live in OH, and the deer population is rampant... i have no worries about taggin one of them with my jeep. they have extended tie ins to the unibody as well. http://protofab4x4.com/products.php?ID=05

Custom 4x4 Fabrication makes a nice one too and reasonably priced. Made my own but designed it around the 4x4 Fab one that I took extensive pictures of. Got some specs from multiple websites and multiple forums and put it all together taking a little bit from each. Built it in a couple of weekends with about $100 worth of steel from my local supply house.
8' of 6" channel iron and half a sheet of 1/4 inch plate and time. All that is involved except standard shop tools like welder and press and grinders that sort of stuff.

I got the Four Real Steel bumper from a friend who had had it a couple years before I bought it from him. We both have the same feelings about the bumper... we both think that it is the greatest bumper ever, it looks great and and works even better. Plus when around other off road friends you will get a lot of attention. Yea it may be a little expensive but if you can afford it or do like I did and find a good used one, I would go with the Four Real Steel bumper.

Here are some pics of it on my jeep, I think it looked good before I put on the 33's and looks even better after the 33's were put on: http://www.sc4wda.org.vt.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1033&start=0&sid=2e4b93635b79809da71f390deb28155d
and here are some later pics of it looking sexy: http://www.sc4wda.org.vt.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?t=1033&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=30

Oh yea the install is pretty easy except for one spacer that goes inside the unibody is kind of tricky to get into place but you need it to keep from pinching the unibody when you tighten down the bolt. Four Real Steel comes with light tabs and you don't need D-rings because the bumper is one big tow point, I know this from the many times I have had to strap up to it to pull people out and get pulled out when I get stuck.

I have an OR-Fab bumper. The light tabs are great for rock lights and rectangle driving lights. I do not have a winch yet, but that is in the near future. You can do the install by yourself because the bumper bolts together. It uses a ton of bolts so it will take a while to do the install. I was a little worried at first how the bumper would hold up if I took a hard hit with rocks. Well I have taken about five hard hits with it and it never dented or bent. I have some deep scrapes from sliding over rocks and it is holding up very well. The one thing I had a problem with was tire rub. My 33’s tires rubbed on the end of the bumper. I was able to fix that by cutting it down a few inches and replacing the rubber end caps. If I bought another bumper it would be the Protofab rock bumper or if I had the $ and ARB bumper. For the money I spent on the OR-Fab it has been worth it this far!

Bumper Right After Install


Before (Tire Rub)


After

If you look close you can see the back of one of the rock lights install on the rock light tabs. They light up the front great!