What did you do TO your Gladiator today? [ADMIN WARNING: NO POLITICS]

[Delhux]

Bumper installed! Just waiting on the winch to arrive.

First impressions are good on this Rugged Ridge Venator. I do wish the lower “skid” did provide as much protection as the factory skid as they can’t be used together.
It covers the sway bar disconnect, but not by much.

It’s not the kinda armor for tackling the hard stuff, but at a pretty reasonable 80ish lb weight, and the real heavy metal around the winch and hooks, it seems plenty sturdy.

I’m 200 lbs, and was lifting myself off the ground by pressing down on the wings. It has minimal flex and no distortion so I’m pleased with it’s general sturdyness.

Install was fairly smooth. But the nutserts for the factory skid plate remained and required some “coaxing” with a hammer to get it all in. Otherwise it was really smooth to do it all. Instead of being 150+ lbs of a single piece, the trade off here is that it is a bit of a jigsaw. Not particularly difficult, but paying attention will give good results.

The finish is really nice, but has flaked on a few of the non visible areas.

All in all, it’s a neat bumper. Almost makes me wish they had a “signature series” of it that took those extra few minutes and steps in the making to get it OEM fit and finish. To their credit, this is pretty impressive a design to flat pack a winch bumper that is both capable and looks like a factory concept piece all for half the mopar one?


Also, anyone in WA need some take off bits? I’ll put a classified together later once I clean it up.

How did the fog light mounts feel? I’ve heard they seem sort of flimsy, or like the fog lights could fall out without additional reinforcement.

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[Rubi_Rhod]

How did the fog light mounts feel? I’ve heard they seem sort of flimsy, or like the fog lights could fall out without additional reinforcement.

The mounts are fine. It wiggles some, but not in a bad way. The surrounds tho are really held on like a mousetrap. Its juuuust on there and probably less than 1/8”. I spent a goof bit flexing on the bumper and aligning it and getting it set juuust right. But now it seems in. But yeah, I’d have liked a more positive engagement. Will take it off, show some pics, and steal an idea or two ive seen on here to put some tape or something on it to make sure it stays.

It’s the one piece of plastic on the thing, but sadly it does give it a feel of the cheap.

I do Really, really like it so far. There’s definitely some rough edges on it, but I’d rather have it and tinker with it, than not have it at all. It’s that cool.

 

[trust]

Finished wiring the LASFIT switches. Quality is really good, fitment is like a 9.8/10 as the silver trim just barely sticks out compared to the aux kit but i'm overly picky like that. (**The fitment is like that most likely bc I chopped it up to add in the oem sway bar button so no fault on LASFITs part) Lockers are wired into the canbus system so they can't be activated unless in 4L and fronts cant be engaged unless rears are first. Overall great product so far, only thing I can't comment on is longevity.

I like it, I'm installing my r I ght side only set now. Wish they had come with non specific switch labels though, mine say Spot, Side, etc

 

[mazeppa]

Looks great, to clean up the look on that carpet snap on the center console I took apart the one on the carpet one and used the top have as a cover. I highlighted it in the photo.

I'm a copycat.

 

[Veloruche]

I'm a copycat.

I think it cleans up the look.

 

[mazeppa]

I think it cleans up the look.

The installed flooring around the carpet snap on passenger side wasn't as flat as the driver side, so I used a heat gun to bend the snap a little so it would fit flush with the flooring. Glad I didn't dispose of the carpet yet before removing the snaps and reusing them as you suggested.

 

[Kirk_Dirksen]

Last night I installed the Rubicon Express 2” spacer lift along with a set of Mopar steelies and BFG KO2s 35x12.5. I was a little nervous how the 7.5” wheels would look in a 12.5” wide tire but I think it looks really clean.

So happy with how it came out! (Shout out to @AzRob for helping source the steelies!)

 

[SnazzGlad]

Bumper installed! Just waiting on the winch to arrive.

First impressions are good on this Rugged Ridge Venator. I do wish the lower “skid” did provide as much protection as the factory skid as they can’t be used together.
It covers the sway bar disconnect, but not by much.

It’s not the kinda armor for tackling the hard stuff, but at a pretty reasonable 80ish lb weight, and the real heavy metal around the winch and hooks, it seems plenty sturdy.

I’m 200 lbs, and was lifting myself off the ground by pressing down on the wings. It has minimal flex and no distortion so I’m pleased with it’s general sturdyness.

Install was fairly smooth. But the nutserts for the factory skid plate remained and required some “coaxing” with a hammer to get it all in. Otherwise it was really smooth to do it all. Instead of being 150+ lbs of a single piece, the trade off here is that it is a bit of a jigsaw. Not particularly difficult, but paying attention will give good results.

The finish is really nice, but has flaked on a few of the non visible areas.

All in all, it’s a neat bumper. Almost makes me wish they had a “signature series” of it that took those extra few minutes and steps in the making to get it OEM fit and finish. To their credit, this is pretty impressive a design to flat pack a winch bumper that is both capable and looks like a factory concept piece all for half the mopar one?


Also, anyone in WA need some take off bits? I’ll put a classified together later once I clean it up.

Damn that bumper looks great! I got to stay off this page for a month it’s getting expensive!

 

[Delhux]

The mounts are fine. It wiggles some, but not in a bad way. The surrounds tho are really held on like a mousetrap. Its juuuust on there and probably less than 1/8”. I spent a goof bit flexing on the bumper and aligning it and getting it set juuust right. But now it seems in. But yeah, I’d have liked a more positive engagement. Will take it off, show some pics, and steal an idea or two ive seen on here to put some tape or something on it to make sure it stays.

It’s the one piece of plastic on the thing, but sadly it does give it a feel of the cheap.

I do Really, really like it so far. There’s definitely some rough edges on it, but I’d rather have it and tinker with it, than not have it at all. It’s that cool.

The Venator is defintely my favorite looking aftermarket front bumper.

Would you say it’s possible to remove the skid plate without removing the bumper if you don’t need it and want to save weight?

Or even install the front without the skid at all...

Or is it not possible?

 

[AzRob]

So happy with how it came out! (Shout out to @AzRob for helping source the steelies!)

Awesome!!!

Looks great, I was wondering how it was going to turn out. I think after seeing yours others might go the same route.

 

[Courtsm3]

Put some dirt on it.

 

[Deleted member 30519]

Sorry if it was covered--but are those the Smittybilt Atlas hinge steps? How do they fit/do you like them?

No they are the iron cross ones. The brackets are all rusted already and the powder coating on the step bars are chipping all over. It's gonna take some TLC over the summer to get them touched up.

 

[Rubi_Rhod]

Damn that bumper looks great! I got to stay off this page for a month it’s getting expensive!

Thanks! I know. I was good for several months when I took a forum sabbatical. Then I came back and seemed to have made up for lost time LOL. But, I jumped on this as Amazon had it listed for $680 (it since went back up), and theres a $100 rebate from Rugged Ridge (still on till next month) on all their bumpers i had to make the plunge. I saw it posted a few months ago here and I just had to get it. But I can’t pay full retail Ha ha ha.

The Venator is defintely my favorite looking aftermarket front bumper.

Would you say it’s possible to remove the skid plate without removing the bumper if you don’t need it and want to save weight?

Or even install the front without the skid at all...

Or is it not possible?

It’s not possible. The skid is probably 8lbs so there’s nothing to save weight on really. And it ties the wings together for mounting as well.

It’s really not at all a heavy unit. It’s basically the weight of a factory bumper plus a winch plate.
I think the parts you see of the bumper weigh at most 30ish lbs. The real mass is that winch plate and horns. It’s pretty sensible in that regard as while I’m not totally a mall crawler, i do have to commute to the city more often than I crawl Moab so its not a hit to extra weight. Also, its really tucked in. It hugs the jeep a good 3-5” back so mall crawlin parking spaces is easier.

 

[Rubi_Rhod]

And got the front windows done with a precut tint kit. For $20 it’s a nice deal and it’s the IR blocking ceramic which makes a good difference in the heat you feel when the sun shines through.

Additionally, took some pics of the Venator and the fog light mount, fog surround and the skid plate.

You can see the plastic parallel grooves on the fog that clip up against the surrounding metal.
Additionally you can see the fog light mount, its a steel piece that attaches to the inner two fog light tabs. It also has locking nuts so it’s not going anywhere. It does come with both mounts for the two styles of fog as well.

This is with the KC HiLites Gravity fogs, and they mounted perfectly and flush.

 

[Gatorized]

And got the front windows done with a precut tint kit. For $20 it’s a nice deal and it’s the IR blocking ceramic which makes a good difference in the heat you feel when the sun shines through.

Do you have a link for the tint kit?

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