Bumper Stingers. worth it or not?

[wjeeper]

My understanding was that stingers were built for desert racers. On sand and dirt roads you kick up a lot of dust and can't see who's behind you, so if you are the guy pulling up behind someone you used your stinger to give them a tap to let them know you are about to pass. Thats just the story I heard though.

Desert racing bumpers are made to get some lovin'.......but only when accompanied with a stuffed taz doll:sombrero:

My desert buds say the rule of thumb is honk twice and if they dont get out of the way give them a love tap or five till they get out of the way.......yes those dents in the pic are from real life "love taps"! When you see the rear end of the 1600 car that competes against this car the dents tell one hell of a story!
Most desert type bumpers have that forward lean to them so that when they hit something (intentionally to or not) it is suppose to help direct that thing underneath the vehicle.

Crawling stingers seem to be less common than they use to be......last WEROCK event I went to hardly any of the real crawlers even ran them.

I follow a much more a "form over function" kind of mentality. I think the intended use of the jeep, the terrain to be traversed and other factors weigh more heavily than the "bling" factor of a trendy mod.......Personally I think almost anything can become "poser" if done in excess.

 

[just eric]

I really just wanted something to protect the front end i.e. radiator from possible animal strikes and minor front end collisions. That being said, I don't like the aRB or AEV style bumpers that extend all the way out in front of the tires, hence my decision to go with Metal CLoak. Thinking things through- the trails up here can be rather tight and with my already longer wheelbase, the extra foot or so of length added by the stinger may be more trouble then it's worth.

 

[SilverBullet]

The idea is not change your approach angle. In the given picture, the tube extend forward of the bumper, thus lowering approach angle. A rock crawler's proper stinger is matched the the approach angle if necessary and to avoid the front end flip. You don't want to stand on it, jut have it deflect the roll sideways as mentioned earlier.

 

[dumprat]

There is a video floating around here locally of a kid going down a steep bank. The stinger hooks on a stump and pole vaults the jeep up against a tree several feet to one side over a deep drop. It took some careful winch work to get him down safely. Pretty sure he needed new shorts. Could have been very bad.

 

[-XJ-]

 

[dumprat]

Ya not that one. But that one looks like if the stinger hadn't dug into the sand he probably would have kept going forward rather than rollling forward.