Howdy All,
Well where to start.... Ordered an N-Fab RSP bumper about a month ago from the 4wheelparts here in Tucson, and it finally came in today. I was giddy, they had told me when i bought it that N-Fab had great quality assurance.
Well... as i started freeing it from its shrink wrap, cardboard, bubble wrap cocoon i found that nothing could be further from the truth.
Where to start, well it was scratched to the metal on one of the outer tube bends, multiple scuffs in other places, and it looked like a two year old painted it, there are drips, and runs, and a 6 inch long by probably 3/16 to 1/4 inch paint collection on one of the horizontal tubes. One of the fastener holes that holds the skid on had a paint drip so pronounced that it limits the plate from sitting flush on the mount. And the aluminum plate itself, the edges will cut you open like a can opener, looks to me like it came strait off the water jet and into the package.
However, before i drag N-Fab through the dirt, I can honestly say that the welds and workmanship of the bumper itself are superb. All defects are in the poorly applied finish. I still love the bumper and will not be returning it. I am going to try and get some money back, so i can take it to a professional powder coater here in town and get it re-done.
I will put up some pics up tomorrow, and keep yall posted on whats happening, its obvious to me that they can let sub par quality of finish leave their shop, true test is will they accept responsibility and compensate me.

 

Or exchange it for a properly finished one. I got a set of N-fab steps a few months ago. The finish was fine, but the two most forward bolt holes on the right side step were not quite properly placed.

 

Put the new bumper on my truck and snapped some pictures.




Don't have lights to put in it, but hate the fact that you can see the frame and old mounting brackets.


A major run in the Powder Coat Finish


The scratch that was on the bumper when i unwrapped it.


The frame mounts seem like an afterthought.


I guess they expect the customer to drill the remaining mounting holes. Out of the box theres only one hole that it can be bolted through. It didnt come with any instructions. The hardware is only grade 5, and is too short to use washers on both ends.

So now my plan is to cut their mounting plates off, and fabricate new ones to fit and match the frame of the truck. I will also be adding some 3/8 or 1/2 inch plate near the frame mounts for D-rings.
Additionally I have to come up with a way to transfer over the 5 brackets from the stock bumper that support the plastic valence, this bumper has no support of any kind for the valence, and it sags in the middle and moves freely when pushed.
I will also be looking into making something that covers up the opening in the middle, where the frame can be seen.
Overall i love the bumper its well made, it just seems like the mounts were an afterthought, i am disappointed that i will have to spend additional time and money to bring it up to a satisfactory level, but when its done i will be very happy with it.

 

Thanks for posting this. I have been thinking about getting one of these. How far does it stick out from the original bumper location? Keep us posted on the issues.

 

Holy track width!
It's disappointing to see that kind of quality control. Have you contacted them yet? Can the store/shop/warehouse/retailer you bought it from do anything? I've been a fan of the NFab stuff but that workmanship/QA looks terrible.

I like the way it looks though, and I hope lights will cover the frame horns a bit more.

Keep us posted...I am curious to see how NFab responds.

 

I would not have accepted that crap. I would have been on the phone with them as soon as I saw that. And all the problems with it, no, no way.

 

Sorry to hear about your troubles, but that is a fantastic looking truck! I love the stance! Keep up the good work!

 

I would say it sticks out about 8-9 inches beyond original.

Haha yeah I got carried away with backspacing i think, if i could do it over i would have gone with 17" or 18" and less backspacing, instead of the 20" with 5" backspacing.

I took the bumper back to the retailer i bought it from (4wheelparts) and they compensated me for the lousy finish, without question, they were great. But i haven't been back to show them how lousy it fits.

I don't want to return it, as i do love it and even through i will have to do some work to it its not a total loss it still looks BA and is well constructed.
I plan on coming up with a way to mount a plate inside that covers the frame horns, and that supports the plastic valence.

I haven't contacted N-Fab yet, i know i cant get any money back from them because i bought it through a retailer, but i can certainly try and enlighten them about its flaws. If they give me a hard time its no skin off my back.

Tomorrow i will start designing the new mounts so my friend can get them cut out on the water-jet and move onto the other little modifications, with any luck might have it ship shape and ready for powder-coat/line-x by the end of the week

I will keep posting pictures as the project progresses.

 

I guess I look at things differently, but the price I paid from the retailer was for a finished product. I would have sent that thing back to NFab and demanded a new/correct unit. That is the best way to get a manufacturers' attention: send the product back defective.

 

rdnk217. You get this thing fixed up yet?

 

Unfortunately no progress on this yet, bumper is still just temp. attached to truck. Just had alot going on, bought a house back in july, had a four wheeler stolen that i am still fighting insurance over, the list goes on and on haha. I hope to get back to this soon. Has anyone else purchased one of these bumpers?

 

Good luck getting them to do anything about a finish issue on a bumper that you have had mounted to your truck for 7 months. You should have called them immediately.

 

Hey man just saw this thread.. I think if your any good or have a buddy who can weld some diamond plating either chrome/stainless or powder coated black would look sick to cover the frame horns.. Just my opinion. Sorry to hear about how it was received I was looking at possibly getting one but I doubt it now.

 

Wow.

 

Decided to dig up this old thread, I cant believe its been 2 years

So embarrassingly for 2 years I have been driving around with this bumper and have finally started working on it.
To recap when I bought the bumper it came with a terrible powder coat finish and the mounting brackets left a lot to be desired, I did take the issue back to 4wheelparts and received something like 150.00 back for the bad finish.

What I did was cut the original mounting plates off the bumper and cut out new ones that mimic the stock ones. Once I had the plates made I bolted them to the truck and used a homemade crib to hold the bumper up and some tie down straps to pull it in while I welded it in place.



https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...0-ready-go.jpg

https://www.f150online.com/forums/me...d-test-fit.jpg

I was able to get the bumper welded in place, but none off the pictures came out I will take some tomorrow when I'm working on it. I am going to add some gussets and drill another bolt hole beneath the outer holes. Also have to finish the brackets that support the plastic valence.