New Arrival! Stubby Bumper with Bull Bar & Winch Plate $299.99

[Gvsukids]

No, it's junk and the marketing is misleading to the uninformed. This crowd has correctly called a spade a spade, or in this case a turd a turd.

The marketing offers a false sense of security while stating poor minimal material standards, This thing has the durability of a Ikea book shelf.

@Hooke Road® will keep quiet on that.

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[professorkx]

Wow, comments are brutal!

I’ve used a lot of Hooke Road products and I’ve never been disappointed with fit/finish, nor the longevity. I would buy from them again without question.

I’ve also used EVO (and others) products that are A LOT more expensive, and the finish on the Hooke Road pieces lasted longer than the more expensive pieces. Once rust starts to appear on anything, I just remove, prep and coat with Rapter Liner…problem solved…at least for a few years. I’ve even had parts power coated, and they all rust in time given the use environment. Rapter Liner just seems to hold up the best.

I’ve also had bolt on bull bars and have to say that rust was never a problem, even after years on a Jeep, so I don’t view a bolt on bull as an automatic failure point. For me, the bull bar is just athletics, as I’ve never used one for anything more serious than a place to hang the winch hook.

let’s face it, this is not a bumper designed for folks who do hard core wheeling with lots of hard winch pulls, this is designed for the average Jeep owner who might use their low budget winch one or two times in a decade…if ever.

As for parts sourced from China, it’s pretty hard to find stuff that doesn’t have something sourced from china, either in the parts itself or in the tooling to produce the part. Do I like it, nope, but it’s the world we live in, as China decided a long time ago to be the manufacturing center for the world and they have succeeded.

For example, Before I bought the Warn winches for my Adventure motorhome and my Gladiator, I called Warn and asked why the Warn Zeon 12S I was looking at had a price of $1500 (list price is almost $2,000) while similar Warn winches were less than half the cost…the cheaper Warn winches are sourced from China to be able to compete with other brands, so I stepped up and paid for the US sourced winch.

So, I think Hooke Road needs to add a little beef in some areas with high load demands like the mounting point and winch plate (didn’t see a spec on the winch plate), while other areas will be fine as built like the bull bar. I think this could likely be done with only a modest impact to the price point.

 

[Splenda]

While this bumper may not be heavy duty, it probably would work for 90% of the Jeep owners out there. The majority of Jeeps I see on the road have Amazon bumpers and side steps that will never see rocks. I'm sure they are more heavy duty than the stock plastic bumper and probably more heavy duty than the Mopar steel bumper.

 

[KevinC]

I’ve used a lot of Hooke Road products and I’ve never been disappointed with fit/finish, nor the longevity. I would buy from them again without question.

Unfortunately Hooke Road has built their reputation on selling cheap products and the off road community deems it junk. For those that shop Amazon and Ebay for Jeep parts, Hooke Road does well.

I am reminded of the 1997 Jeep resurrection when the TJ was introduced. Steel Horse was johnny on the spot selling product for our new TJ's that looked cool. It took a few years before their reputation became known as the "Rusted Pony"

 

[Splenda]

Side steps that look like this are my angry grill.

 

[professorkx]

“…and the off road community deems it junk.”

interesting comment. I’ve been wheeling since I owned my first 4x4 rig in 1979…an international scout, and I’ve owned and built about 20 4x4 rigs, half of them Jeeps. I spend several weeks wheeling Moab every year, have done trail like the Rubicon and other trails all over the US, as well as rock crawling in areas that are now off limit Wilderness areas, so I would consider myself an OG in the “off road community” since I’ve likely wheeled more trails in the past 45+ years than the vast majority of the people on this forum…and I don’t consider Hooke Road products junk. Their products might be more suited to new entries into the “off road community” or for those whose Jeeps see limited time offroad, but that doesn’t make it junk.

It’s probably more accurate to say that the 10% in the off road community who are serious hard core wheelers are not well suited for their target market…but then a lot of hard core wheelers are also fabricators, so would naturally be removed from their target market anyway.

 

[professorkx]

Side steps that look like this are my angry grill.

Agree, these would be suited for my wife’s Jeep that sees snow and the mall, but would fail on my Jeep in the rocks…as would be any rock rails that are not attached to the frame.

 

[Splenda]

“…and the off road community deems it junk.”

interesting comment. I’ve been wheeling since I owned my first 4x4 rig in 1979…an international scout, and I’ve owned and built about 20 4x4 rigs, half of them Jeeps. I spend several weeks wheeling Moab every year, have done trail like the Rubicon and other trails all over the US, as well as rock crawling in areas that are now off limit Wilderness areas, so I would consider myself an OG in the “off road community” since I’ve likely wheeled more trails in the past 45+ years than the vast majority of the people on this forum…and I don’t consider Hooke Road products junk. Their products might be more suited to new entries into the “off road community” or for those whose Jeeps see limited time offroad, but that doesn’t make it junk.

It’s probably more accurate to say that the 10% in the off road community who are serious hard core wheelers are not well suited for their target market…but then a lot of hard core wheelers are also fabricators, so would naturally be removed from their target market anyway.

I have less of a problem with their build quality and more of a problem with their design. The best offroad accessories are built to perform first. Form follows function. Many of these Jeep Invasion, drippy, eye candy accessories are adored by the people who install them. They're not made bad. They're made wrong. They're made for looks with no consideration as to how they will perform offroad. I liken it to the Harley Davidson crowd with all the chrome and whatnot. I will make one admission though. If I had those droopy side steps, I would not have to carry a folding step stool in my Gladiator.

 

[Splenda]

Don't think I'm kidding either! I call it the princess stool. I told her if she doesn't behave, in going to attach a rope to it and make her haul it up into the Jeep herself.

 

[professorkx]

My wife is tiny at 5’ and has figured out how to wedge her foot where the door meets the frame and hoists herself into the Jeep with the grab handles. She only uses the stool when she is wearing a dress or in the winter if we leave after the snow arrives

 

[Splenda]

My wife is tiny at 5’ and has figured out how to wedge her foot where the door meets the frame and hoists herself into the Jeep with the grab handles. She only uses the stool when she is wearing a dress or in the winter if we leave after the snow arrives

My wife is 5'6" and not nearly as athletic as she once was. (Good thing she doesn't read this forum!)

 

[professorkx]

My wife is 5'6" and not nearly as athletic as she once was. (Good thing she doesn't read this forum!)

I’m 66 and my wife is 63…getting in my Jeep is part of her exercise regiment…. Keeps her limber and strong.

 

[brsnow2585]

I've got young nieces that love to ride, they're short but they are climbing monkeys. When I have the hard doors on they can grab the door tether, I made this up on either side for another climbing point. Got these roll bar grab handles and they came with 2 extras which you're meant to put on the back of the front seat head rests. A little paracord and some eagle scout knot knowledge, they work with the hard doors too.

 

[imallcrawl]

Honestly fellas, why would anyone need a HD bumper unless you're using it to ram into things yes? I mean if you need a HD bumper for off roading due to always crashing into sh!t than maybe you need to learn how to drive? And I would rather have a cheap bumper that will take the blunt force of the hit instead of an HD bumper that could potentially bend my frame - just saying. But what would a "mallcrawler" know about these things

BTW I'm just kidding, @Hooke Road® is probably getting bored with these responses - just trying to stir things up .

 

[Sweetums]

Reminds me of taking our LJ on Steel Bender - which lived up to it's name. I didn't think a 4.5" lift and 35"s would face much they couldn't handle; one nasty undercut was just too much, I couldn't even get a tire on it and just ran straight into it with the bumper.
We ended up swallowing our pride and taking the bypass for that one.

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