Chassis Unlimited Octane Rear Bumper Review

Spent way too much time under the truck today. The situation has not been resolved as the proposed solution did not make a difference. I am tempted to say (I am not an engineer though) that the brackets are at fault. The bracket holes for the nuts/bolts to mount to the frame where the factory brackets would mount seem to be too large vertically and horizontally - therefore the brackets move, once a significant amount of weight is added. Meaning, even with just the bumper being mounted the brackets seem to shift and definitely shift/move when the spare tire is mounted.

I did sent pictures and a video to Chassis Unlimited (CU), called and left a voicemail, but have not heard back - giving them the benefit of a doubt that they are discussing this internally with engineering.

I went to my local offroad shop and talking to them we may have a solution (adding support to the bottom of the bracket so that it rests on the hitch for good). I emailed the info to Chassis Unlimited as well, but the way this whole thing is going I am probably going to work with my local shop and potentially cut my losses. Again, benefit of a doubt to CU that they come back to me early next week, but who knows.

I politely started mentioning cost and effort to CU in my last email, but I would be surprised at this point if there is anything they will do.

So, I have a way forward with my local shop coming to the rescue. It may take a few weeks to get onto their schedule, but I'll live.

Adding 2 pictures. I am marking the holes I am referring to regarding being too big. And by the way - I am using the OEM factory hardware which is a socket size 22 (not sure what that translates to in M?) - the provided hardware from CU is socket size 19. If I would have used their hardware this would have been even worse. The two bolts in the first picture in the upper right have slightly smaller holes, but are still oversized.

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I think that the in person visit to their facility is the route I would take. I would call ahead and make sure they have a replacement bumper ready to install for you and make them fix the mess that they made of the one they shipped out by replacing it with one that is correct. They should make it right
 
Black Friday 2022 I ordered a dual swing-out arm Octane Rear Bumper from Chassis Unlimited. Initially, I was quoted a delivery shortly after Christmas, but that never materialized. Whenever I reached out, it was almost ready. Then this, then that until it finally shipped on February 22nd.
The pallet arrived at a friend’s business as he has a loading dock/forklift. I went the next day to take look, but felt quite disappointed. The pallet was wrapped in heavy-duty shrink-wrap which was fine. The bumper was “protected” by Smirnoff Ice cardboard boxes and maybe that explains the issues. There was no mounting hardware, no brackets. Just the bumper and the spare tire mount.
I reached out to Chassis Unlimited the same day, but it took additional 2 days before a shipment went out. It looks like two shipments actually, which caused additional confusion. One box came via UPS and one via USPS.

Installation: Ok, time to get this thing installed. If you can hold/operate a drill or impact driver, you can install this thing yourself. The instructions were not provided with any of the shipments, but fortunately I had reached out about it when I requested the mounting hardware. The instructions were extremely generic and it seems to be one set of instructions for all their bumpers. YouTube to the rescue, but there is no install video for this Chassis Unlimited bumper (or for any other one with the right level of detail). Fortunately, I found a video from Chandler Truck Accessories (CTA) for one of their rear bumpers. This video got me 80% to the finish line. Removing the old bumper was easy following the Chandler Truck Accessories video.

Then the problems started happening. Nothing to be a showstopper, but annoying and time consuming and I have additional work lined up as well for reasons I will explain shortly.

Mounting Brackets. I had to guess how they went onto the truck, but figured it out quickly. The CTA video helped. Then I transferred the parking sensors to the new bumper and things turned bad. The cut-out holes are a tiny little bit to small. Just enough that the sensors did not fit back in the holding. I tried all 4 sensors and then called Chassis Unlimited. I was eventually told, that I have to shave down the sensors or the holdings to make it work. This was bad, but I made it work. However, there is a weld on the left side of the bumper near where the sensor is located and the sensor wire connector hits the weld just right to prohibit installation. So, I shaved down the casing of the wire connector for the harness as well. Two of my sensors are now loose and I will need to glue them in, but that is for another day.

License Plate lighting. The instructions barely talk about the LED lighting for the license plate. It feels like some obscure LED lighting. It works, but you have to mount it before you install the bumper and then I wonder how I would ever get the license plate off or install a new rear camera with a license plate bracket?! The provided LED lights feel cheap and the wiring is even worse. And – there are no instructions of how to wire it to the existing harness. Again, the CTA video provided a solution. I will probably work out something different for this, but for now it works.

Rear lights. The bumper has two openings for 3” LED Cube pods/lights. I did buy two Diode Dynamics Stage Series 3" SAE/DOT White Sport LED Pods. There is no way to flush mount these. Even leaving a tiny gap is difficult. I have yet to wire them up, but I have the feeling they are pointing a bit upwards. It’s not horrible, but it is definitely not good or great. I am considering to buy other LED pods that may fit from the outside and drill some holes into the bumper to have them flush with the bumper. I will decide when I have them wired up, but right now I am not sure I like this.

Mounting the rear bumper. My buddy helped me to mount the bumper and we ran into a major issue on my 2022 F250 Tremor. On each side at the tail end of the truck where the original bumper fit like a glove there is some plastic cover mounted. Again, the instructions don’t mention this, but to make the bumper fit so that you can bolt it on you have to remove the plastic pieces. It is a total of 4 fastener clips/fender clips or whatever you want to call them. Once these plastic covers are removed, the bumper fit onto the mounting brackets and I was able to bolt it on. There are now openings in the fender that I need to seal up or cover up. Most people will not notice, but I think it looks like sh!t/sloppy/cheap.

Home stretch. The opening for the trailer hitch plug is too small. It is too low as well. There is no way the standard plug from Ford is going to fit in there. I started shaving off the bottom of the plug, but realized once I had enough height clearance, that the plug was also too wide. I am not even mentioning that the flip cover is hitting the bumper and will not close ever unless I come up with something. But wait – there is more. Not sure if to blame Ford or Chassis Unlimited, but the plug/bumper is now further away from the vehicle body and the wiring harness will not reach the plug – ever. The only solution I see is to cut the wire and make my own extension to get it connected. So, I am debating how to fix this. I do not have a metal grinder, but if I can wide the hole for the plug I may get the plug into the bumper. Not sure what to do about the fold-up lid/cover. It looks like the specific plug section may still be covered if I shave off a bit more. I am not planning to tow anything, but that does not mean this needs to be done properly.

My opinion: So, I am quite disappointed at this point. Parking sensors are pretty much the same – no matter the car/truck manufacturer. Why I am forced to shave down the plastic of my sensors is beyond me. I get that the bumper is thicker, but that cannot be it. This is sloppy engineering in my opinion. If I search on YouTube, other bumper makers get this done just fine. But that the trailer/hitch plug does not fit – I mean – not even close – that is really bad!!!! Really bad. The opening is too low and needs to be moved up a quarter or a half inch. And then it is a tiny bit too narrow. Just enough to make this a super frustrating experience. It took me ~4 hours to install the bumper. Probably could have done it in less than 3 hours. I assume I will need another 2 hours to address the issues mentioned.

Ok, but what about the bumper itself? The right-side swing-out arm had some minor scratches on the powder coating, but those will be invisible once the spare tire is mounted. Speaking off – I had to look at product pictures on the Chassis Unlimited website to find the right way of mounting the spare tire mount. Anyway, everything feels solid. It is a good bumper. The welds look good, the powder coating looks good. The swing-out arms work and feel solid. The truck looks great and probably even more, once I have the spare mounted. Had to realize that I could not use locking lug nuts with my Method 305 HD wheels and had to order other lug nuts. The bumper will grow on me, I love the truck's look, but I had higher expectations.

PS: I wish they would have shipped some of that Smirnoff stuff with the bumper. Needed a drink this evening.

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So glad I read your write-up. I was seriously considering this very bumper. Not any more! Thanks a bunch.
 
I almost beginning to wonder if you were shipped a wrong bumper?
That is a good question. I think the bumper is fine, but probably was not fully checked against a 2022 Super Duty. The brackets is a different question. I wonder if they are for one of their normal bumpers without the swing arms. The arms + then the extra weight from a spare tire - I am pretty sure there is a lot more force and pressure going on. I mean, look at those openings in those brackets. There is no way the brackets would stay in place with so much room in those openings when you have a 220 lb bumper and a 110 lb spare tire "pulling" on it.
 
I have to give it up to you @Chris-DTA, you have invested so much time, energy, and perhaps busted knuckles to be so humble and optimistic about this whole situation.

I, on the other hand, would have been furious and certainly knocking on CU door coming Monday morning.
 
I would have sent it back long ago, and disputed with my cc company if they wouldn't take it back. One you start adding things to "fix" it, all bets are off and you own it.
 
I would have sent it back long ago, and disputed with my cc company if they wouldn't take it back. One you start adding things to "fix" it, all bets are off and you own it.
I know what you are saying and I am prepared to shift gears next week. But before I go down that path of no return, I want to make sure I have done my part to resolve the situation. Unfortunately, this is not a small Amazon package that I drop off at the UPS store. And CU's return policy is not designed to make it easy for me either.
 
I have to give it up to you @Chris-DTA, you have invested so much time, energy, and perhaps busted knuckles to be so humble and optimistic about this whole situation.

I, on the other hand, would have been furious and certainly knocking on CU door coming Monday morning.

I hear ya. I will be pushing harder next week, but also want to make sure I have done my part to resolve the issue.
 
If you had to you could use something like this for your trailer wiring. It would suck to have the hole there though. Or use a smaller 7 way connector if it would fit in the hole.

I would just drill/bolt the extra holes once it was lined up and use bigger bolts in the main holes. It would be pretty solid then. It was supposed to be bolt on though so I understand the issue. I am interested to see what they say.
 

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yeah, no matter what you keep doing, the trailer plug still doesn’t fit right. That alone makes me think you should drive up there, show them all these issues, and ask them to replace the bumper. Way too much money for these things to not work right. I’d count myself lucky to be close enough to drive there. Imagine if you were 20+ hours away. Please, do it so that someone who is 20+ hours away doesn’t get screwed with these design issues.
 
If you had to you could use something like this for your trailer wiring. It would suck to have the hole there though. Or use a smaller 7 way connector if it would fit in the hole.

I would just drill/bolt the extra holes once it was lined up and use bigger bolts in the main holes. It would be pretty solid then. It was supposed to be bolt on though so I understand the issue. I am interested to see what they say.
I added one hole today, but it did not work. I do not want to (should have to) drill additional holes into the frame. I need the frame to be as solid as possible.

I found an extension for the hitch/trailer plug online on Amazon, but it should have been included with the bumper. Still need to get back out there to make the plug work. I shave off some plastic housing already, but probably it won't be enough. I expect to have to shave down some areas of the plug hole as well.

I just prepared an email to the owner or chief executive and will read/ adjust it again tomorrow morning.
 
yeah, no matter what you keep doing, the trailer plug still doesn’t fit right. That alone makes me think you should drive up there, show them all these issues, and ask them to replace the bumper. Way too much money for these things to not work right. I’d count myself lucky to be close enough to drive there. Imagine if you were 20+ hours away. Please, do it so that someone who is 20+ hours away doesn’t get screwed with these design issues.
I have prepared an email to what I think is the ower or chief executive. Will sleep over it one more time, before hitting the send button. And yes - I will offer to them to drive up and have them fix it. Will have to wait to Monday for the next step.
 
Sounds like an absolute nightmare. You want to support a small company that seemingly has a nice product, and then to find out that it's just the opposite, and you have way too much time invested in fixing it.

Crazily enough, I had nearly identical issues with my Nissan Pathfinder and Kennesaw Mountain Accessories rear bumper back in 2000....fast forward 23 years later, it's the same sht.
 
I did email the owner of Chassis Unlimited yesterday and we had a lengthy discussion on the phone today. He was not aware of the situation until my email and I feel properly supported now to get this situation resolved. Will probably take me a couple of days to get back under the truck, but I feel more optimistic about this now.
 
I did email the owner of Chassis Unlimited yesterday and we had a lengthy discussion on the phone today. He was not aware of the situation until my email and I feel properly supported now to get this situation resolved. Will probably take me a couple of days to get back under the truck, but I feel more optimistic about this now.
Are they shipping a new bumper?
 
Each bracket has 2 extra, smaller holes that have no matching hole on the frame/hitch (see attached picture below where the arrows are pointing. These holes need to be drilled into the hitch and then used as well when mounting the bracket. As these holes are smaller, there bracket should not be able to shift anymore. I offered to drive up there, but they are a manufacturing plant and not able to do any installs.

They are working internally on a solution for the trailer plug. I think the main takeaway here is that these brackets are supposed to fit all 2017+ F250s, but that the brackets do not necessarily account for changes or differences along the way (until they run into this problem). They work of the diagrams they get from Ford (and other manufacturers), not necessarily trying to look at an actual production model. I cannot tell just yet what the next step is if there is no solution for the plug, but that is an issue that will get addressed one way or the other!

They will reimburse me for the plug extension that I ordered and for the drill set to drill those holes (he actually initiated a refund to my credit card already). The gentleman left the door open for additional credits or reimbursement once we have these problems solved. I know I am operating on a trust basis with him at the moment, but I am giving him the benefit of the doubt and believe that he is a man of his word.

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I don't buy the excuse about the trailer plug. They have had to do a mock up on a real truck. I'm willing to bet it was just cut out in the wrong location. You are much more patient than me. That bumper is way too much $$ to not have fit for proper.
 
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