Soon to be How To: Convert from Chrome Bumper to Sport Bumper

[stevo629]

Sport energy absorber 68145441ac

I have a 14 ram sport. I never hit anything. Never hit a snow bank. Somehow, this part cracked? I'm told only cracks from an impact. I can tell you this. This part pretty much holds that bumper assembly together. If cracked, the lower air dam will flex. The fog lights will flicker when you hit a bump. You'll know it! I paid $150 for the part. Quite intense installation.

 

[TRXHemi]

Looks good sir.... as far as the earlier argument on durability..... have any of you picked up the front metal bumper?? It is very light... the metal is very thin. The real 'protection' is on the inside....bumpers these days are NOT what they used to be for sure...

The Sport bumper looks GREAT in my opinion.... of course, I may be a little biased.

 

[SitKneelBend]

Looks good sir.... as far as the earlier argument on durability..... have any of you picked up the front metal bumper?? It is very light... the metal is very thin. The real 'protection' is on the inside....bumpers these days are NOT what they used to be for sure...

The Sport bumper looks GREAT in my opinion.... of course, I may be a little biased.

You are correct, OEM bumpers are fascias and the real protection is underneath (and ugly)...

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[GreenClassic]

I have a 14 ram sport. I never hit anything. Never hit a snow bank. Somehow, this part cracked? I'm told only cracks from an impact. I can tell you this. This part pretty much holds that bumper assembly together. If cracked, the lower air dam will flex. The fog lights will flicker when you hit a bump. You'll know it! I paid $150 for the part. Quite intense installation.

Maybe you got hit while parked.

 

[Ronan]

I may be biased as well , but I bought the sport because it had no chrome. And really"a soccer moms crv " you sir are reaching quite a bit!!its all preference and if you do your homework, the sport bumper does seem to be the stronger choice. But you can only lead a donkey to water, you can't make the jack ass drink!!!


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[jdsmyth71]

I really like the look of the sport better, to me it just looks more sporty and sleek

 

[J Rod]

Thanks for the write up! I'm actually in the process of doing this swap myself. Can you please clarify which parts you were able to reuse from the old bumper? I want to make sure I have everything I need before I get started. So far I've ordered #'s 1,5,6,9,10,11, & 12 from the diagram below. Do I need any of the remaining parts (2,3,4,7, & 8) or can they all be reused from the old bumper? Thanks!

 

[2014moparam]

Thanks for the write up! I'm actually in the process of doing this swap myself. Can you please clarify which parts you were able to reuse from the old bumper? I want to make sure I have everything I need before I get started. So far I've ordered #'s 1,5,6,9,10,11, & 12 from the diagram below. Do I need any of the remaining parts (2,3,4,7, & 8) or can they all be reused from the old bumper? Thanks!

the only other one you should need is #4 to attach the lower spoiler to the bumper. everything else should swap with no issues.

 

[2014moparam]

Havent been on the site for a while, but few months ago(6 months after i did the swap to the sport bumper) it got wrecked... Following my friend in his corvette late at night, he hit a semi tire tread in the middle of the road, and kicked it up at my truck.

took out the bumper, fog light, reinforcement, and inner fender well. I had them all replaced with oem parts(i had bought my bumper cover off of ebay) for a total of $1400 including labor.









love the pic of the cops and me and my buddy trying to get his carbon fiber splitter off his vette so he could drive it home... lol

 

[J Rod]

Did you really have to put him in a headlock to get the splitter off? lol Seriously though, sorry to hear about your truck... that sucks! All that money and hard work when insurance could've just paid for the upgrade a few months later, that sounds like my luck. I guess $1400 sounds about right for having a shop do it though. I'm up to around $800 already, got my parts from ebay and rockauto. I wish I would've seen this thread before I started this project. I put a nice little dent in my front bumper the other day and thought it would be a good time to do the swap, been wanting to switch to Sport bumpers since I bought the truck. I found a pre-painted bumper cover on ebay for $250 and snagged it up thinking that would be the bulk of the cost, told the wife it would be my Christmas present. Hopefully she doesn't notice the other $550 on the bank statement or else this is going to get even more expensive when she drags my a$$ to the jewelry store. lol

 

[2014moparam]

Did you really have to put him in a headlock to get the splitter off? lol Seriously though, sorry to hear about your truck... that sucks! All that money and hard work when insurance could've just paid for the upgrade a few months later, that sounds like my luck. I guess $1400 sounds about right for having a shop do it though. I'm up to around $800 already, got my parts from ebay and rockauto. I wish I would've seen this thread before I started this project. I put a nice little dent in my front bumper the other day and thought it would be a good time to do the swap, been wanting to switch to Sport bumpers since I bought the truck. I found a pre-painted bumper cover on ebay for $250 and snagged it up thinking that would be the bulk of the cost, told the wife it would be my Christmas present. Hopefully she doesn't notice the other $550 on the bank statement or else this is going to get even more expensive when she drags my a$$ to the jewelry store. lol

yep, same thing happened to me.. thought i could do it cheaper than i initially thought. i want to say i spent about 600 total to do the swap initially.

 

[2016 OutDoorsman]

Great write up .... truck looks great.

I'm in the process of blacking out my bumpers as well.

I just ordered all the parts to do my back bumper, unfortunately I have the Outdoorsman with the single exhaust. So i just picked up the paintable rear bumper with dual cut outs and sensors, shipped directly to my body guy.

Already set up an appointment to get duals put on after the bumper is done.

my next project will be the front conversion.......so this will be a huge help.

 

[J Rod]

Great write up .... truck looks great.

I'm in the process of blacking out my bumpers as well.

I just ordered all the parts to do my back bumper, unfortunately I have the Outdoorsman with the single exhaust. So i just picked up the paintable rear bumper with dual cut outs and sensors, shipped directly to my body guy.

Already set up an appointment to get duals put on after the bumper is done.

my next project will be the front conversion.......so this will be a huge help.

Where did you get your rear bumper from? I can only find them in chrome or painted black.

 

[2016 OutDoorsman]

Where did you get your rear bumper from? I can only find them in chrome or painted black.

I got the rear bumper from eBay. Look up part # 68049863AA.

Seller has all kinds of versions and package types. You can buy just the metal bumper or you can get metal bumper with brackets & step pad and so on.

Seller I used is - bestusaautoparts.


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[SitKneelBend]

Where did you get your rear bumper from? I can only find them in chrome or painted black.

Craigslist is also a good place to get paint matched bumpers.

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[2016 OutDoorsman]

Craigslist is also a good place to get paint matched bumpers.

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Very true.....i couldn't find anything on Craigslist for mine, because I have the rear sensors and everything I could find was without sensors.


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[TRXHemi]

Check out LMC Truck also.....they sell them for decent prices!

 

[J Rod]

I got the rear bumper from eBay. Look up part # 68049863AA.

Seller has all kinds of versions and package types. You can buy just the metal bumper or you can get metal bumper with brackets & step pad and so on.

Seller I used is - bestusaautoparts.


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Thanks! I did a search for that part number by that seller but I'm only seeing white and red painted or black powder coated. I don't see any that are just bare metal or primered. Did you go with the powder coated one?

 

[2016 OutDoorsman]

Thanks! I did a search for that part number by that seller but I'm only seeing white and red painted or black powder coated. I don't see any that are just bare metal or primered. Did you go with the powder coated one?

here is the link to the exact bumper i purchased. if you scroll down a bit you can get bumpers with other parts...IE - brackets/step pad and such.

For 09-15 RAM 1500 PICKUP REAR BUMPER FACE BAR BLACK W/ SENSOR W/ DUAL EXHAUST | eBay

It's black powdercoat, my body guy said i can paint to match with some prep work.

 

[J Rod]

here is the link to the exact bumper i purchased. if you scroll down a bit you can get bumpers with other parts...IE - brackets/step pad and such.

For 09-15 RAM 1500 PICKUP REAR BUMPER FACE BAR BLACK W/ SENSOR W/ DUAL EXHAUST | eBay

It's black powdercoat, my body guy said i can paint to match with some prep work.

I guess I wasn’t aware you could easily paint over powder coating, or at least I’ve never heard of it being done. You’ll have to let us know how it turns out.