So if you own an '09 to '18 RAM 1500 equipped with the factory dual rear exhaust and you're
looking for arguably one of the most well-built, one of the most capable and, in my opinion,
just one of the most badass rear bumpers currently available, then you should be checking out
the Stealth R Rear Bumper from Addictive Desert Designs.
Now, if you've been looking at the bumpers on the Category page, yes, obviously, this
one is more expensive than the others.
But you are definitely getting what you pay for, and I say that in terms of functionality,
in terms of looks, and in terms of overall performance and features.
Now, a rear armor bumper like this is meant to take some serious abuse, and this one definitely
stands up to the test better than the others, in my humble opinion.
This is one of the only rear bumpers currently available with a tubular and a plate-welded design.
All the other options currently available, yes, they are badass.
They are all welded as one piece.
But they are all going to be a plate-weld design without a tubular frame.
And from my humble experience,
these things will stand up better because of that tubular design.
They're just better equipped to take some direct hits and direct strikes without deformation
or crimping, or anything like that.
Now, as far as looks go, obviously, this thing just looks really good.
Right?
It pretty much follows the contours of the body of the truck, and it actually matches
the factory bumper in terms of the shape itself, which I'm actually a fan of.
Normally, the logic with these bigger rear armor bumpers is, "Bigger is better."
That's not always the case, though.
Sometimes they can get bulky, and they can get pretty heavy.
This one goes a little bit more minimalist.
It looks a little bit sleeker, but it still does a great job of protecting the rear end.
So it gets high marks in my book for that reason.
The guys at ADD have a ton of experience building off-road armor like this, and that's certainly
the case here - really nice, clean welds everywhere, no blemishes to speak of, and the powder coat
is probably one of the most well-executed that I've seen so far.
Now, in terms of functionality, I like the Stealth R bumper more than some of the other
options because, well, you get a giant step pad up here with these nice perforations.
Right?
Some of the other bumper options do have some steps, but they're not gonna actually run
the full length here.
You might get some steps down here, on the bottom.
But usually, some of the other options are actually slanted right here.
So they kept things simple and utilitarian.
You can use the entire thing as a step pad, which I really like, especially if you're
getting stuff in and out of the bed.
Now, the last thing to point out here, they do have some really nice cutouts for some
cube LED lights that you can wire up yourself.
That's awesome if you're camping out or you're on the worksite, and you need to see what
you're doing back there, behind the truck.
And while I'm on that note, behind the truck here, this does retain the option if you have
parking sensors.
Some of the other options do not, so that's a nice feature there, as well.
Now, the last thing to consider when you're investing in something like this is the install.
Right?
ADD did an excellent job of making sure that this is a bolt-on application.
They do reuse all the factory mounting holes from the factory bumper.
They do throw in new hardware for you, which is pretty easy to get installed.
So overall, the install gets a soft two out of three wrenches on my difficulty meter.
It shouldn't take you more than an hour or two to get the job done in the driveway with
basic hand tools.
Now, it is a little bit heavy, like I mentioned.
So it's helpful to have a friend with you, or maybe have a floor jack handy just to keep
it in place.
But at any rate, again, if you're looking for one of the most well-built, one of the
coolest-looking and, in my opinion, one of the most functional rear bumpers for the '09
to '18 RAM, you should be checking out the ADD Stealth R. And if you've pulled the trigger
on this guy, go ahead and stick around.
I'm gonna show you exactly what tools you need, and I'll walk you through the install
step by step.
All right, guys.
Before we get started, you'll need a standard drive ratchet with a 15 and 19-millimeter
deep socket.
You'll also need a 10-millimeter wrench and a 19-millimeter wrench.
And then, for those license plate lights, you'll want a wire stripper and a crimping
tool.
Now, optional but helpful tools include a cordless impact and an impact swivel socket.
All right.
So before we actually crawl underneath the truck and start working on some hardware inside
the bumper, we gotta remove our license plate.
So go ahead and do that first.
You'll need a flat-head screwdriver.
Once you've done that, there's two 15-millimeter bolts you gotta pull out of there, so you'll
need a 15-millimeter socket.
There are also two little plastic rivets there.
You can pop those out with that flat-head screwdriver as well.
All right. Now, we're gonna work underneath the truck here.
Normally, you would disconnect your trailer harness here.
Ours is already disconnected.
As you can see, we're missing our plug.
So we're actually gonna disconnect the lights for our license plate here.
These are pretty simple.
You just got to rotate them, and they'll pop right out.
All right. So normally, at this point, if your truck is equipped with parking sensors, you would
also wanna disconnect those.
And you're gonna wanna make sure you retain that wiring harness because you would swap
it over to the new bumper.
But our truck does not have that, so we're actually ready to remove the bumper itself.
It's held on with four 15-millimeter bolts.
So you're gonna use that same 15-millimeter deep socket that we were using just a moment ago.
Now, it's a bit of a tight fit under there.
So if you're using power tools like me, it's very helpful to have a swivel.
Let's go ahead and crawl under there.
All right. So we have our factory bumper removed.
You guys can really see a good comparison between our old and busted here and our new
Addictive Desert Designs.
I really like the setup of this guy.
Obviously, you can tell it looks a lot nicer.
But functionally speaking, it's also a lot tougher.
This guy is just a bare steel bumper with a painted finish.
And while that's great for daily driving, if you do take your truck off-road and you
put it through any kind of abuse, this thing will get dents in it.
It will scratch pretty easily.
That's not the case here.
We got this really heavy-duty plate and tube-welded design, all welded as one piece.
This guy is way stronger than the factory one, and you got a really nice powder-coat
finish on here.
Powder coat is actually a baked on and cured finish, not just a painted finish.
It's actually bonded to the metal, and underneath this is stainless.
So even if you do manage to put your truck through enough abuse to take that powder coat
off, you're not gonna have to worry about this thing rusting out on you anytime soon.
A couple other cool things to point out here, we do have some cutouts for some cube lights
in there, and these other cutouts here for additional lighting.
They're actually made out of aluminum.
They got a nice gloss finish on here.
It just adds a little bit of a two-tone.
I think it really makes everything look good.
Then, you got these perforations on the plates here.
That's awesome because if you're gonna be stepping on this thing, you got mud on your
work boots or you're working in the snow, you don't have to worry about slipping on
this guy.
So overall, a huge improvement functionally and aesthetically.
Let's go ahead and show you guys how to get this new one bolted on.
All right.
So go ahead and throw the bumper on top of the tow hitch plate here.
There's a cutout in the middle here.
It should rest on there.
Just be very careful, you don't wanna scratch your paint.
All right.
So once your bumper is in place, you can go ahead and throw the hardware provided in the kit.
There are four bolts and nuts, with a couple of flat washers.
Pretty straightforward stuff.
You're gonna need a 19-millimeter wrench, and you're gonna need a 19-millimeter deep
socket.
Again, if you're using power tools like me, make sure you have that swivel handy.
There are holes inside the bumper, exactly in the same spot where the factory one came
up, so no guesswork necessary.
Okay.
All right.
Once you got one side tightened down, go ahead and do the same thing for the other side.
All right.
Once your bumper is installed, you gotta make sure you install the lighting for your license plate.
It's actually pretty cool the way these work.
These are actually gonna secure the license plate to the bumper.
There's a little 10-millimeter nut behind it, with a little crush washer.
So go ahead and thread the wiring through the license plate and the hole in the bumper,
and tighten it down.
Once you've done that, I'll actually show you guys how to splice this into the factory
wiring for the license plate lights on the truck already.
All right. Now, we're gonna wire up our LEDs here.
You see we got our two positive and negative leads.
We're gonna be cutting off this entire harness right here to expose these wirings.
Pretty straightforward, it's positive to positive and negative to negative.
And because we are working with LEDs, you do have this little resistor that you gotta
splice in there.
So you're gonna need some large butt connectors.
All right. So once you got one of those license plate lights wired up, go ahead and do the same
thing for the other side.
And that'll actually wrap up the install.
Pretty straightforward, right?
That wraps up my review of the Stealth R Rear Bumper from Addictive Desert Designs, fitting
your '09 to '18 RAM 1500 equipped with the factory dual exhaust.
I'm Travis.
Thanks for watching.
And for all things RAM, keep it right here, at americantrucks.com.
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