Recently after hearing about Alien Patrol Bumpers on several Forums, and the flaming of it's owner Jim Terry, I became very interested in the truth and obtaining a winch bumper for my truck.
For those that don't know what I'm talking about, I encourage you to do some searching about Alien Patrol Bumpers and their relationship with Jim's old company Road Armor which I will sum up for you in my post.
I contacted Jim Terry (owner of Alien Patrol) by e-mail and stated that I was in the market for a winch bumper and would like to buy one as soon as possible. I told Jim that I liked the Road Armor and Alien Patrol design as well as the Buckstop bumpers and was undecided at the moment. I told Jim about my skeptisism about him and his company based on how he was being flamed on several forums and by Road Armor owners and associates. I proposed to Jim that if he was willing to send a "N/C" bumper I could look at and mount to give my impressions of, then if I liked the bumper I would gladly pay for it.
I did not think that I would even hear back from Jim ( I mean how many business owners respond to a e-mail from somebody that they have never heard from asking for basically a free bumper on just a "promise" to pay)?
I received a phone call from Jim the next day. Jim asked if I wanted to hear the truth behind his circumstances with Alien Patrol vs. Road Armor, and I said sure.
Jim told me that he was one of the founding partners of the original Road Armor company along with three other people. Jim said that he was the chief designer and motivator behind the products and that the other partners provided accounting and general business support. Jim told me that after some time with a successful company and proven track record, his partners began to sour on Jims constant pushing and pursuit to become bigger and better.
This terminated with Jim going on vacation and returning to find out his "Partners" had performed a hostile take over of Jims stake in the Road Armor company and one of his partners also drained his personal bank account (he was his personal accountant too).
Jim was basically finacially ruined. He worked for Trail Ready for a while selling his designs to their conmpany. Trail Ready ultimately went with Buckstop style bumpers.
Jim founded the Alien Patrol company and attempted to get his business up and running, but everytime he thought he had details worked out, he would run into problems created by his old associates who were trying to stop him from selling the Alien Patrol bumpers. Even going so far as to find out where Jim was subletting some of his parts and then meeting with his sublet vendors and convincing them to not do business with Jim.
I told Jim that if he was willing to make me a bumper at absolutely no cost to me, and ship it for free to me for me to inspect and mount, that I would pay him the retail price for the bumper if everything worked out as he promised. Pretty safe for me, and a total gamble for Jim, but he agreed to do it anyway.
The bumper I picked was the Lunar series for my 1999 Ram. I have a 3" body lift on my truck, but after doing some research on the bumpers I found that although they could make one to adapt to the body lift (Jim's Road Armor designs for body lifted trucks have been around for years) they basically make the bumper taller to meet the lifted body, and I did not like that look as it is too big and gaudy for my tastes. Some guys like that look, but I want the bumper to be as small (thin) as possible, or more like the non-body lifted one.
Jim told me that he could design some new brackets for the standard bumper so that I could use it on my body lifted truck. It would have to be notched at the bottom where the frame rails are to allow the non body lift bumper to raise 3", but it could be done he thought.
Jim went out of his way to design these brackets for me. Remember, he's doing this for somebody he doesn't know and for no money down (a real scam artist as posted in the attached thread!).
The bumper was ready to ship in 2 weeks and then I changed the bumper order by adding a pre-runner bar. This caused another weeks delay (my fault, I was the one who changed my mind). Jim ordered the bar, bent it and welded it to my bumper. Again, I have not paid a penny for (this guy should be thrown in jail. How does such a criminal operate so freely?).
Jim sent me pictures of my completed bumper and a Pro number to track my shipment after installing the prerunner bar. (Horrible customer service, I mean who e-mails the customer with tracking numbers without the customer asking for them????).
My bumper arrived yesterday!
Here is the bumper as I ordered it. It is an Alien Patrol Lunar-R series winch bumper for a 1999 Dodge Ram 1500, modified to fit a 3" body lift. Shipped bare metal (I'm going to Line X mine):

I will be test mounting the bumper tomorrow to see if it fits with the modifications I asked him to make. Should the test fit go as hoped, I will be paying Jim for the bumper immediately.
The construction of the bumper appears first rate. Coming from the designer of Road Armor, it looks exactly like one. The construction and welds are very professional looking and the bumper arrived on a pallet very well anchored down.
To be continued after I test fit it tomorrow........................, but I don't anticipate any problems. I found Jim to be very easy to deal with during this whole process. He kept constant communication via e-mail on the progress of my build, and not once did he fail to deliver on any promise he made.
I cannot say enough good things about Jim, being a business owner who would be willing to send a $ 1700.00 retail product out to an unknown person who he had only a couple of e-mails and phone calls with just on his word. I have not payed one penny for this bumper yet. I have not given him my credit card number or any securities in any way shape or form. Just my word that I will pay for the bumper if it looked good and fit right.
I would say the "Myth" behind Jim Terry and Alien Patrol can be put to rest and I would wholeheartedly recommend anyone give him a try if your looking for a winch bumper.
I would also ask the moderators to unlock the previous thread and accept my review as a pavementsucks member as fair and honest review of a product and business that all of our members can benifit from. I want to also clarify that I am in no way affiliated with Jim Terry or Alien Patrol.

 

Here it is installed!

 

Another view!

 

 

I think I like it!!!!

It definitely belongs on a truck that gets it's work done!!!!

 

That's badass. I wanted a buckstop one before, but now I seriously want one that says "Alien Patrol" on it. That's perfect

 

Holy ****! That thing is just crazy! should really get some primer on that.

can I have it?

 

No, you can't have it, but you can order your own.....lol

It's getting Line X'd on Monday BTW

 

looks great, i honestley cant say i would belive his storie word for word (there is 2 sides to every storie and the truth is some where in the middle is how i usally look at things) but that dosent matter looks like he made u a killer bumper, but ive never really liked the looks of road armor too big in my opinion but yours looks good. (looks a bit smaller then road armor but that could be because of your body lift) my only change i would have made to yours is to have the pre runner bar tilted up a bit more (not sticking out do far) but.

just courieous how is the "Alien Patrol" on there dosent look cut in, is it anouther piece cut out welded on?

 

oh one other thing i was gonna ask what thred are you refering to in the end there is it one over at pavement sucks? (i dont go over there too often i have a hard enoughtime finding time for this one)