Next Venture Motorsports JL Adventure Series Front Bumper

After shopping around for a cool mean looking bumper for the Jeep, I decided on Next Venture Motorsports Adventure Series. I didn't opt for the stinger bar because I highly doubt I would be taking trails so steep that would risk the Jeep flipping front over and also because it would add weight or possibly crush pedestrians in the head or chest (my son just turned 16 and high-schoolers are on their phone don't look where they walk). I did however opt for the skid plate based on my experience in Moab with the 4Runner last summer (underneath armor is always good*). The Next Venture piece caught my eye for several reasons:

• Bent, shaped and welded in the USA. Colorado.
• Next Venture has a nice website with manuals, specs, weights, links to videos, etc.
• Stubby instead of full width, thus exposing the tires and making the Jeep look more scary
• Three piece. Bumpers are heavy. Three pieces makes dealing with each individual lighter piece easier. Also the design has a separate winch tray, allowing me to ponder about the winch for later without worrying about taking the entire bumper off.

Here are the pieces after several coats of primer. I thought about getting it powder coated, but I decided to paint. Just because it's something to do for fun and de-stress from work. Also, it's not like powder coating makes it impervious to rust or damage. This is a part that is gonna get banged up anyway and I expect to touch it up with paint as time goes by (or just leave it as long as there is no rust).


* I've always wondered about all the shit on Jeeps in town because most of them are posers (no battle damage), but after almost puncturing the oil pan out in Moab (on a "medium" trail - my wife insisted on "easy" - and I thought it was "easy" - but maybe subliminally I chose a "medium"), I totally get it now when it comes to armor.

 

Factory bumper removal. This was super easy. Just a bunch of those plastic push pin retainers, but car trim removal tools makes it easy. Note that I painted the winch tray red. I took over a week to paint the pieces layer by layer, usually while I took short breaks from work.


I painted the bumper white and the skid plate that will go underneath silver. Not sure if the white will work. If it doesn't work will paint it black.


To be continued.

 

Inside of the front bumper. The hardest part was the putting in the fog lights. The bumper I ordered has the cutouts to reuse the stock fog lights. The small hex bolts to mount the fog lights come in from the other side (which is obstructed once the lights are in). The kit included retaining rings, but I couldn't get them to work right. Instead I used some E9000 adhesive to keep the bolts in place and drilled out the four hex bolt holes to a larger diameter at 1/4" for more leeway to push the lights in without popping out the bolts. They needed drilling anyway to fit the new bolts (stock comes with smaller diameter screws)



The other deal was the mounting for the three 1/2" carriage bolts per side on the bumper. The retainer rings sort of held of them place. It was easy enough to align them and then tighten them down after I got the bumper on top of the winch tray.

I guess it would have been easier if the bolts were accessible from the front of the bumper, but this arrangement keeps the bumper cleaner looking.

I had to drill out / widen a few holes on the face of the bumper mounts. They are two plates welded together and the holes didn't align on some of them. Stuff like this is pretty normal with working on cars. You are lucky if everything fits perfectly.

 

FWIW, the guys on YouTube seemed to have a bitch of time installing this. TBH, after I figured it out, it wasn't that hard. To be honest, I will say that this is one of those things that seems hard the first time, but is easy peasy after we figure out all the "tricks".

Channeling the Inner Redneck


The white works. First Order Stormtrooper.


I get even more Jeep waves now.

 

Stellanatisicle means nothing. The JL (2018) was an evolution of the JK design before that. The major parts haven't changed and reliability as always is a roll of the dice. This is 2021 where Jeep already worked out most of the issues. Still some questionable stuff like the steering damper, but Jeep owners either accept it or fix it (like tube amp owners deal with noise): https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...g-stabilizer-performance-series-2-0-ts.14342/

As far as ducks, you mean this? That's a Dumbo variant.


It's customary to ninja rubber ducks on Jeeps while they are in the parking lot. Some people have a lot of their dash because they love to trade or give away.

 

This is why I post stuff like this. I still consider this audio hobby potentially more poisonous than others. I mean people do stupid shit with cars, like get new car loans while being under $15k on their trade-in as @YMO can attest. That's just stupid money and eventually a lesson is learned (usually when the new car is repossessed by Robert DeNiro and one is relegated to a Yugo). Audiophilia leads to unquenchable desire that can perma-destroy relationships with family and friends.

 

Did you do the install yet and try it out? I am tempted to do this (Badlands winch) because as I said, doubt I would be using it much. (Hard to say because my neighbor just informed me of a semi-secret area not far where I can have fun and get stuck in mud). Looked up pricing on Warn, ouch (did inflation make things cost even more). Looks cool with the Warn logo sticking out and all for bragging rights, but then I would be like those studio dweebs who name-drop mic and console brands or audiophile Mc-heads who name-drop McIntosh (nothing wrong with the gear because I generally like their stuff).

 

Final piece. The lower skid plate. Had to wait until my wife and kids got home to hold it up while I bolted it up.



I think it looks badass.

35" tires next year when the treads wear out.

 

Oh shit, I didn't think about that. They do make truss kits to reinforce the axle and my next door neighbor does have welding equipment (or seems to be able to obtain anything related to car work). Hmmm.

Anyway, vids like this make definitely give me an appreciation for the made in USA Warn (I didn't know about the China made EVO series).