By Jon Maib
When it comes to purchasing parts for our vehicles, there are generally 3 categories most of us look at. First and foremost is the look. Will this part look good on my rig? Second thing we look at is the price. Can I afford to put this on my vehicle? Last, is the quality of the part you're buying. Is it made well and will it hold up?

The Barricade Trail Force HD Front bumper from Extreme Terrain is one of those parts you can count on to grab your attention in all 3 of those categories; It looks great, finished in a 2 stage black texture coating, the bumper is made from heavy duty 5/32 steel and the brush bar is made from 2" x .120" wall tubing and the price is easy on the wallet. The heavy duty steel and brush bar are all welded up to make one tough bumper. The back of the bumper is reinforced with gussets for additional strength giving you a bumper that can take some abuse and will outperform the factory plastic bumper. Even if you peel off the plastic of the factory bumper like we did with Project Vulture, you are still left with some pretty thin metal.

The Trail Force HD bumper comes with high strength D-ring mounts welded on, (Extreme Terrain even provides you with the D-rings) and a built-in winch plate that can handle up to a 12,000lb rated winch. Another great feature that's incorporated into this bumper is the OE size fog light housing that gives you the ability to retain your factory fog lamps (there is also the option to upgrade to LED lights as well).

Our bumper did not include instructions (you can download them here), but installation of this bumper is so simple; a cave man could do it! Extreme Terrain provides you with all the necessary hardware to install the fog lights and the bumper. You will need to begin by removing all the plastic guards that came from the factory, there are 6 pins located in the splash guard and 2 pins in the air dam cover. You then need to remove the fog lamps from your factory bumper using a Phillips screw driver and then the 8 nuts/bolts (15mm – 19mm) that hold the factory bumper to the frame horns; you can then slide the bumper off the frame.

Before you rush to put the new bumper on, we recommend you take the time to install your fog lamps on the new bumper first. You will need to unclip the lights from the wiring loom in order to get them installed. A magnetic screw driver will come in handy as there is very little room to work with while installing the lamps (find someone with small fingers to help!). Once the fog lamps are installed with the provided hardware, you are ready to put the bumper on. An extra set of hands will again help out here as the bumper is heavy and can be a little tough to line up due to the tight fit nature of the of the frame horns. Once you have it lined up with the frame, you can put the supplied washers and nuts on the 3 built in bolts on each side of the frame. Finish it up with the supplied 4th bolt for the inner frame rail. Finally, you will need to open up the loom of the fog lamps to re-direct the wires to the new fog lamp location (No cutting or splicing of the wires is required) and re-attach the wires to the lamps.

It's then time for our favorite part. Stand back and admire your work and this great looking bumper! It may look a little bare at first but, the great part about this bumper is you can add to it. A winch can be installed down the road and the bumper does not need to come off in order to install. If you are not planning on doing winch, all kind of different lighting can also be installed. Use your imagination and make it unique! (We painted our D-rings a dark grey to match Vulture's secondary color).

This bumper adds some extra weight to the front of your Jeep, but in our opinion it helps our stock suspension ride better. The Barricade Trail Force HD bumper is a quality bumper at a great price that adds some serious protection to the front of your Jeep while giving it a rugged appearance. We have since added the matching Barricade winch to our bumper, so check back for our write up on the winch.