When less is more on a Jeep Wrangler

It only takes a bit of serious off roading in a Jeep Wrangler JK to realise that the rear bumper is, well, a pain in the butt. At least that's true of, the version fitted to Australasian-bound JKs with the number plate holder that sticks down to act, in some more-extreme conditions, as a grader blade – until it breaks. The bumper also interferes with the departure angle and seems to dent very easily. There are two ways to get around this. One is to get a built-for-purpose rear bumper from an aftermarket supplier, such as ARB. The other, which has the advantage of costing nothing, is to just take the bumper off and throw it away, or stick it under the house The picture shows what you get by going this route; ground clearance for Africa plus the advantage of super-easy access to chassis-mounted rated recovery points. And yes, the factory front bumper is awful, too, but that's another story.