First off, I know its been awhile but I am back. I really would like to share with you all as I go on the adventure of building a custom front bumper for my Ram. The truck is a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 SLT Sport OFF-ROAD edition. Well I am trying to help it live a little bit more up to that OFF-ROAD name by making it a little more capable, and we all know that those bumpers are WEAK! Anyhow here goes the first update.

I Received my MOVE Bumpers package in the mail today. Shipping was fast and easy with these guys. I placed my order by phone (custom bumper ill explain later) mid-day last Wed, and it was on my doorstep in Minnesota by the following Wed mid-day. So ya, for a whole bumper the shipping is pretty fast. The Customer service is beyond excellent, they are able to answer any question you have, and if you by some chance stump them with anything, they will get you to a person who can figure it out. In my photo you can see That this bumper is decked out with everything move offers for options except for a grille guard or some sorts. My bumper is for a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 Sport 4x4 OFF-ROAD. If you ask if the bumper fits a sport model truck, the generic answer is NO, (but really with minor extra work it can be done) so Yea, you can do it. Second most important thing to note is that YOU CAN NOT ORDER A BUMPER FOR A 94-02 SECOND GEN DODGE RAM WITH BOTH A WINCH MOUNT AND A LIGHT BAR IN THE CENTER SECTION. Yes, I do have both in mine, but i had to custom order over the phone and practically beg for it. Once she gave in, she talked to the guy cutting the center sections, who said they are no longer producing those centers for the reasons I stated, but said their may be one collecting dust that they really didnt want to sell someone and have someone else complain about it. Well Im just the opposite, I was nearly jumping for joy when I was told I was getting everything I wanted and more! This reason being that there really isnt enough room. Most winch control boxes mount to the winches cable spool or directly over the electric motor taking up the room for the lightbar so one would no longer fit. I intend on making a mount and stuffing the winch control box somewhere else. secondly you will see part of your winch through the light bar hole. On these trucks there is only about 4.5" or so from the fairlead hole and the bottom of the 30" lightbar hole. Most winches 8,000-12,000lbs are around 6" tall. Here are Some more of the things I noted about the kit that may be helpful to others planning their bumper orders and everything else to put in it. The square light bar holes in the wings claim they are for those 4x4 work lights you can find all over the internet, well in fact they are but the 4x4 light will look smallish in them. The light cut outs are a tad over 6" wide. Not really a big issue. The light bar size for the center that I got was for a 30" light bar. A 30" bar will fit just fine in there with room to spare, the height of the cutout is plenty tall, and just a tad over 31" wide. Move Bumpers provides mounting brackets that can be used for both your pod lights in the wings and the center light bar. They also provide a nice filler piece for the center light bar, but I did not receive any filler pieces for the Pod Lights in the wings. Any reinforcements have to me made by the bumper builder if you would like to add them. My honest opinion is that if your building one for a BroDozer or a Pavement princess you will be more than fine just welding your bumper together and enjoying for time to come. If you intend on spending some time wheeling your rig, tugging on the bumper or winching with the bumper I highly recommend that you build some sort of reinforcements for at least the wings. Remember your just welding the wings to the center section. The whole thing is only held onto the truck by two frame mounts. This leads me into the next thing, the Winch mount. It is cut perfect. The fairlead for the winch fits the holes cut exact. In fact all of the cuts are done very, very nicely. Anyway back to the winch mount. The plate they provide is nice, and it fits well. I really like the fact that they give you 4 reinforcement plates to weld into the main winch mount. Once everything is welded there that winch is going to be solid. But again, give it some braces to keep the bumper from twisting on a hard pull. The bumper pieces are clean (yea less prep work). Something to note, don't expect the wings to fit the center section perfect, they wont. You will have some gap to fill and have to tug the sections around as you weld them for a nice fit. And lastly, the instructions leave alot to be desired, so take your time, do it right, and pay attention to where the pieces go. Really they only go one way. I can't wait to get my build started.

 

What is the company name ?

 

Definitely reinforce it, there's a guy on another Ram forum that twisted the same Move bumper winching with it

 

The company name is MOVE Bumpers. They seem very well built, all the cuts are nice and clean, the metal came clean, nicely packaged and the customer service was excellent. And I completely planned on reinforcing the bumper. IMO it would be silly not to, especially if you had a winch and planned to do any off road with it what-so-ever. Basically they give you a nice looking shell and mounts, the rest is up to you, and they even state that in the paperwork. Sorry its been awhile since a update. Ive just been dreaming of it on the truck and staring at that pile of parts wishing I had the time to build it this weekend. I had zero spare time since I received the bumper due to my sister getting married out of town, so I hadn't been around. Hopefully I can get the stock one pulled Mon or Tue then start tacking it together later this week. The last piece to the puzzle (31" lightbar) is supposed to be here tomorrow.

 

I just can't see spending $500 on a bumper that i still have to weld together !

 

If they weld 'em together for ya, it more than doubles the price...... I just can't seem to find a way to justify spending as much on my front bumper, as I spent to purchase the truck.....

 

Well, I started burning together the bumper tonight. Just tacks for now until I get everything fitted and where it needs to be. I have a little extra challenged at the frame mounts that most don't have to deal with due to having a WESTERN Ultra-Mount plow frame bracket there. So far everything has gone very smooth and easy. Just have to take time and play with all the different pieces of the bumper and dry fit them together until perfection, then tack a little at a time. All of the pieces are CNC cut and bent to fit together, trust me it may not seem like it but they do, and you will know when the piece is right and ready to be tacked. The bumper fits the truck very well, perfectly flush with the fenders and lines up to the wheel arch perfectly. I will have to trim a tad bit off of the inner fender liner, but thats not really a big deal. Overall I am very pleased with the project, and I could see if you ordered just the standard bumper and was going on a standard ram you could easily go from in the box to done and on the truck in a day. So far nothing has been too difficult. The bumper came off decently easy and all in one piece.

Center section of the bumper, getting ready to weld on the first wing.


Wing 1 tacked on


Wing 2 Tacked on


Tacking the two end caps on



Shell of the bumper tacked together. Gives you a rough idea of the finished product

Stock bumper removed. It was way too easy. 6 overtightened rusty bolts and 6 small fender well torx.


Bumper just resting on jackstands to get a quick sneak peak



Going to try and tackle the frame mounts tomorrow, then if I have time I can start tacking in the light brackets and such. The real challenge is going to be getting a winch and lightbar in that center section.

 

little more progress tonight. Got the frame mounts tacked on and the bumper lined up straight. Winch mount is in and the winch is sitting proudly on it. Cut down the light bar mounts to fit how I wanted them to and got those tacked in place. 30" light bar looks killer in the center. Taking a little bit of extra time due to custom cuts needed (because I have a SPORT model ram the frame brackets don't line up perfect and I have to leave clearance for my WESTERN plow frame) Now tomorrow I will tack the tow hook points to the front and get my pod lights mounted in. Saturday finish welding and lots of grinding followed by some bedliner!

P.S. Don't judge how it looks right now on the truck. The bumper is just sitting there not lined up or even bolted on. We just wanted to see how our progress looks so far.

Getting the Winch where it needs to be and the plate tacked in. Still need to find a spot for the winch control box.


Light bar mounts made. Coming together piece by piece.

 

Can't believe you went with only a 9500 lb winch ? I would want atleast a 12,000 lb ! These trucks are heavy !