EAG JLU Full Width Rear Bumper with Tire Swing

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ZFrick

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El Paso County, Colorado, United States
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Frick
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EAG Full Width Rear Bumper for Jeep JLU Review

The world of bumpers is a vast and complicated one. There are a ton of aftermarket companies producing a wide range of replacement bumpers for Jeeps, and there has been for years. The features, quality, and cost are all things to keep in mind when looking. With our new JLU we knew we wanted to replace the factory plastic bumper with something a little more robust. Something with a swing out spare tire carrier as the tailgate beef up kits are pricy on their own. With the purchase of 35” tires, our search was accelerated. With some bumpers pushing the $2,000 mark we started to consider the features we were looking for and what we could get away with for our intended use. We use our Jeep for Overlanding which consists of some moderate trails, miles and miles of rough rock and gravel road, and loading our Jeep with tons of gear. For this we needed something that would add a little bit of protection. We aren’t rock crawling and don’t need something that will take that type of impact. We needed options to add gear later on and keep the weight of the spare on the bumper. This will allow us to add more weight via a custom rack on the tail gate later on down the road. With our needs in mind we continued our search. We looked at the Smitybilt Atlas 2. This bumper has many of the features we were looking for but there were a few draw backs. We don’t want to use Jerry cans. Our plan consists of using Rotopax and I didn’t want to waste any space and this bumper was made for Jerry cans. It pushes the rear tire further out then I liked as well. I talked to an owner of this bumper and also received a few mixed reviews from them regarding the hinge. The price point wasn’t bad at $999 but was also out of stock. With all that in mind the search continued. This is when I heard from a buddy of mine that was looking at the EAG rear bumper for his JLU. I decided to look it up and at first glace it didn’t look bad. I like the style, and it had a rear tire swing. At a price point of $679 it left me wondering why. With all other bumpers I was researching why was this one half the cost of most? It had my attention, so I kept researching. The bumper is made form a little lighter gauge steel. Not that big of a deal to me as I don’t plan to be rock crawling as previously mentioned. The reviews didn’t seem to bad. With Amazons return policy I figured why not give it a shot.



I ordered the bumper with the intent to see it firsthand. When it arrived, there was a dent in the tire swing where it slides over the post on the bumper. I can never leave anything alone so of course I decided to fix it myself. 20 minutes later and lots of swinging and whacking it with a 5lb hammer, the dent was gone. The bumper was very easy to install. After removal of the stock bumper (check YouTube for instructions) the process took about 15 minutes. There are two bolts on each side of the frame rail and two that go through the rear crossmember next to the integrated hitch. After that the rear swing drops on to the post and a single bolt holds on the grease cap. A few small adjustments to latch and the installation was complete.

We have had the bumper on the Jeep now for a little over 3,000 miles. Around half of these miles have been off road down rough gravel roads and multiple trails. The Bumper has held up great. I enjoy having a solid place to stand while accessing the rear of our RTT. The tire swing hasn’t sagged at all and that was one of my concerns. The only negative so far is with the tire swing out, the whole bumper twists and moves a little. There is almost no bracing on the back side of the bumper although the top is fully gusseted. I plan to beef it up a little underneath by adding a support from the end of the bumper back to the frame and I think this will make all the difference.

With all things considered. The price point of this bumper, the features and benefits it offers, and the intended use we have for it, its hard to beat.

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