Front bumper

[big sky trapper]

I have a very old STOUT brand bumper on my 84. Its very well built. Its made from 1/8 Diamond plate and 3/16 steel. Plenty of room to drop in most any winch into it.

http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5176 (for a few pics)

They have changed names of the company I had to make new brackets to fit my frame but wasnt hard. STOUt is now called HINKEN Specialty Fabrication. there now here.. http://www.hsf4x4.com/ very reasonbly priced. Dont know anything about them now but might be worth a look.

Dont forget the warn combo mount, some here dont like them and they do look a little "erector" set built, but it is strong and functional. I ran one for many years on my old 94.

Its only draw back is my part of the country it's not deer prrof. Any bumper with those little side wrap around wings will destroy your grill/head light area when struck by a deer. For every day exploring its a good choice with/with out the wings. And it will keep the front end weight down some, but like every trade off you'll loose some protection.

 

[hattrik21]

Well I continued posting on Yota Tech about my Shrockworks bumper dilemma.

The long and short of it is that they did not complete the bumper, and I ended up getting my money back. The owner was very apologetic and sited suppier problems as the reason the bumper I ordered was not complete nor would it be complete for another month.

I got my money back and ordered a scratch and dent bumper for one heck of a price. (I bought the scratch and dent due to the fact that I'm going to color match)

Jim's a good guy over all, I just think he has more going on than he has employees to build the stuff. There are several people on some of the Xerra forums who are in the same boat. It took me forever to get my sliders and the entire skid plate set but in the end the quality was worth it.

I'm looking for a front bumper as well and I'm trying to decide to throw some money and wait on a Shrockworks one or wait to see if ARB ever makes one for the 2005+ X's. With the delays, I'm not sure which one would be ready first.

 

[DaveInDenver]

I believe a properly built Tube bumper is every bit as strong and possibly stronger then the ARB. It is the same type material they build race car chassis and roll cages out of.

I've said this before, but will repeat it here. I have no doubts that tube bumpers are certainly strong and /probably/ stronger in many ways than a plate bumper. It IS the better bumper for rock crawling and as a winch support. But there is more frontal area of a plate bumper, so more surface protected. In the case of an animal strike, a tube bumper with enough tubing would probably do fine, as would an ARB. But what about small things, like chunks of ice or rocks? There isn't much surface area on a tube and the part of the tube that will directly oppose the object is small. Most objects are just deflected and will still hit your front end will significant force. Imagine swinging at a ball with a round bat or a 1x6, which has the better chance of making impact? In the case of my truck, I think the chance that my ARB will keep a flying rock or something from hitting my radiator is higher than with a tube bumper. That's my reasoning, right or wrong. The perfect front end protection will also block most of the air flow, so there is no ideal solution. I just looked at the ARB and thought it gave me and my truck the best chance of surviving a more varied range of impacts. I don't think the ARB is the best bumper, just the one that best meets my requirements.

 

[SinCity4r]

This tube bumper didn't fare too well..

http://www.yotatech.com/showthread.php?t=114154

 

[erin]

I wonder how fast the impact speed was on that? Also said the bumper was mounted incorrectly, whatever that means?

 

[DaveInDenver]

That's Lance (Good Times in some forums, not to be confused with our GT). His bumper is (or was) a Demello and his truck was a '03 4Runner, slightly modified.

http://www.chaosedition.com

 

[big sky trapper]

that kind of impact seems to me doesnt matter what brand or how its mounted....

 

[DaveInDenver]

that kind of impact seems to me doesnt matter what brand or how its mounted....

The F350 guy hit a moose at 65 MPH and the Jeep guy got hit by someone running a red light. The caveat is these are from the ARB website as testimonials, so they are obviously best cases.

 

[SinCity4r]

The F350 guy hit a moose at 65 MPH and the Jeep guy got hit by someone running a red light. The caveat is these are from the ARB website as testimonials, so they are obviously best cases.

F350: 1
Moose: 0

 

[DaveInDenver]

F350: 1
Moose: 0

Yeah, if you take the story at face value, that's as good an example of why you need to run a real front bumper. No matter if that is a ARB or a substantial tube one.

BTW, the link:
http://www.arbusa.com/testimonials.php

 

[Davids90toy]

ok guys i called AJ at bent up talked tohis wife

i was quoted 660$
for this on my truck

 

[DaveInDenver]

ok guys i called AJ at bent up talked tohis wife

i was quoted 660$ for this on my truck

That's pretty good. I bought my ARB through Rocky Road when they still did free shipping to business addresses and it cost me about $725. Now an ARB would be more than $800 with shipping or tax.

 

[wesel123]

You bought a scratch and dent bumper from Shrockworks?

Glad they refunded you money without issue.

Acutally I bought a scratch and dent ARB for $750. I didn't care about the scratches due to the fact that I'm going to powder coat it white. I hope it will make it blend into the truck alittle more.

I do like the Shrockworks look alittle better but I NEEDED the bumper. We have a long trip coming up for work and I needed a winch so i couldn't wait. Oh well, Jim said he'll treat me right the when I get back from my trip and decide that the ARB is not what I really wanted.

 

[Nonprophet]

I just ordered my ARB from 4x4 Connection http://www.4by4connection.com/totrsuvarbbu.html for $715--that was the best price I could find. It's about $140 to have it shipped to a non-commercial (read: no loading dock) address, I choose to do a will-call and pick it up in Seattle as I'll be there next week anyway.

My local ARB dealers all wanted $925 PLUS shipping..........and they wonder why the internet is kicking their ******.............:exclaim:



NP

 

[DaveInDenver]

It's about $140 to have it shipped to a non-commercial (read: no loading dock) address, I choose to do a will-call and pick it up in Seattle as I'll be there next week anyway.

I wonder if you could pick it up at ARB and pay no shipping?