2004 Chevy Tahoe Z71 Front/Rear Bumper option
- Thread starter gwscot2
- Start date
tennesseewj
Observer
I've always felt that the aftermarket bumper selection for full-size GMs is pretty sorry. Most of them are big, overgrown monstrosities that clearly didn't consider weight, approach angle, or body lines in their design. If you've got the money or skills to go custom I can bet you'll get a way nicer product
Martinjmpr
Wiffleball Batter
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The lack of market options is directly related to the % of owners who seek to make these kinds of modifications to their vehicles.
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Most Chevy/GM trucks are for work, whether that work is hauling materials to a job site or taking the kids to soccer practice or hauling the family trailer or boat up to the mountains or down to the beach. If there was more demand there would be more products.
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The oversized/overbuilt mega bumpers are pretty much for "bro dozers" running 6 - 12" of lift and sitting on 40" tires.
tennesseewj
Observer
Agreed...but that doesn't change the fact that the selection sucks
mccustomize
Explorer
I built my own front and rear bumpers, I wanted to tuck them in as tight as I possibly could. The front bumper only sticks out past the grill about 2 inches and the rear is about the same past the tailgate. I wanted to maximize approach and departure angles while keeping them 100% functional. I think they turned out pretty good.
My good friend has the buckstop front bumper on his and I will say it's extremely well thought out, however does stick out pretty far, but he has a 12k hydraulic winch inside as well.
My good friend has the buckstop front bumper on his and I will say it's extremely well thought out, however does stick out pretty far, but he has a 12k hydraulic winch inside as well.
Jelorian
Adventurer
I keep reading about people taking the ARB bumper for the 100 Series Land Cruiser and modifying it to fit GMT800's. Is this because it looks/fits better than Deluxe model on ARB's website? Are they modding the Sahara model?
I recently went to ARB's website and it looks like the Deluxe Bull Bar Bumper will work on the GMT800's, but you just need a fitment kit.
If you look at their fitment guide, you can see that they offer it for the GMT800's.
The bumper is Part No: 3462010 and the fitment kit is Part. No: 3562020 for my 2003.
I called to make sure and talked to a guy named Mitch. He confirmed the part numbers and said that everything was bolt on. No cutting or welding.
So Martin, in this case, it turns out that it IS made for our trucks!
02TahoeMD
Explorer
Agreed 1000% with that assessment. MCCustomize, you could possibly even sell some if you made copies of it. Well done.
ARB does indeed make a bumper for the GMT800 truck, but to me it looks more fitted to a full size 2500 series pickup or Suburban. Dimensionally. the Land Cruiser bumper looked better to my eye on the Tahoe that I have...and thus I decided to do something that I had not seen done before. HERE is my writeup on Expo that I did explaining the reasoning and process to make the L/C bumper fit onto my Tahoe.
Jelorian
Adventurer
02TahoeMD, thanks for the info. I think your rig is probably the most famous GMT800 Tahoe out there in terms of an Overlander. Love all your write ups and info you've posted and provided along with the details and photos.
Thanks for the info on the LC for the ARB. I knew you had one on yours, but at the time it was because I thought it was because ARB didn't make one for GMT800's
Cheers!
Jel
Jelorian
Adventurer
I do like how it looks for sure. Now, I'm debating on getting the one made for Chevy and be able to just bolt it on, or get a 100 series LC bumper and have to mod it to fit. I'm a bit concerned with the added weight as I plan on getting 12K winch as well. The cheapest route for me at this point would be to get a front mount hitch and use it to mount the winch and just forgo the bumper altogether.
Did you have to do a lot of fab work to get it to fit like 02TahoeMD? Do you have a Suburban or a Tahoe? Any issues with the added weight?
rayra
Expedition Leader
Hey as long as the Suburban Mafia is all here, have any of you seen / found an aftermarket chin skidplate to replace that small piece of fiberglass?
Still not finding anything as trim as the Aries grill / brushguard. Everything seems much larger and much more expensive, much more Bro-tastic.
Still not finding anything as trim as the Aries grill / brushguard. Everything seems much larger and much more expensive, much more Bro-tastic.
02TahoeMD
Explorer
I made up a replacement for mine using a sheet of diamond plate. It only took a couple bends to make at a local metal / welding shop. I made a cardboard template based on the fiberglass original, took it to the shop, they grabbed some scrap plate they had on standby for small projects like mine, and 15 minutes later walked out with the thing, cost me $45 if my memory serves correctly....though that was probably 10 years ago now.