Thoughts on brush/grill guards

[stioc]

Great points guys. The problem is that for the type of offroading I do I can't really justify spending $1200 for the ARB bumper. I can justify a $400 TrailGear bumper if they made one for my truck. Although I would have to give up the cleaner stock look that my truck currently has.

BTW, since the cops use their push bars effectively like a battering ram how are they different than the brush guards? I'm thinking they're built more solid but more than that the attachment points are probably different?

 

[stioc]

russ i see you are in oc. i build my own. have done them for chevy, ford, toy. i might be able to give you some pointers for something that actually works if you like. highdesertranger

highdesertranger, I'll take you up on the offer, thank you Oh and I have a welder and I can sometimes make two pieces of metal stick. I have also thought about buying an aftermarket XJ bumper and adapting it to my truck.

 

[reece146]

BTW, since the cops use their push bars effectively like a battering ram how are they different than the brush guards? I'm thinking they're built more solid but more than that the attachment points are probably different?

Yes.

 

[Martinjmpr]

If you go onto rocky trails, the two vertical bars are going to compromise your approach angle somewhat. That's another consideration.

I realize you're trying to figure out a place to mount your hi-lift but I have to ask: What do you carry your hi-lift for? Have you ever had to use it? And if not, why are you carrying it? What kinds of things will the hi-lift do that your factory hydraulic jack won't do?

Modern vehicles don't have a lot of places you can use as a jacking point (although there is a high-lift attachment you can put on an alloy wheel to lift a vehicle by the wheel itself.)

From what I've seen here in CO the hip thing to do if you have a jeep is to mount the hi-lift on the cowl, right in front of the windshield. I cringe when I think of what might happen if they get into an accident and that hi-lift comes flying through the windshield like a guillotine, but apparently it's what all the "cool kids" are doing these days.

 

[stioc]

Martin, as always good points for a discussion.

Agreed on the approach angle, 100%.

Regarding the hi-lift, I don't like the idea of carrying a heavy anchor the hi-lift is and I often don't even carry it if there are other rigs going with me but for a budget rig it serves as a swiss army knife of the recovery tools. I also have the Lift-Mate that you mentioned and have practiced lifting and lowering with it in the garage along with watching Bill Burke's 'getting unstuck' a few times. In regard to the lifting points I have some beefy sliders on it too so with the slider adapter I can use the hi-lift there as well as on the rear class III hitch reciever. After speaking with a couple of guys with the same trucks as mine a hi-lift on the brush guard is not a problem either. So I'm thinking, for a $100 (used) I can mount the hi-lift on it and use it as a jacking point- what more can I ask for? I may even reinforce it like the WARN trans4mer and be able to mount a winch http://www.warn.com/truck/mounting-systems/trans4mer_mount.shtml

And yes I've seen people mount hi-lifts on the hood cowls as well as on the roof-racks which IMHO is just as bad (why I don't want to do that) but hey they look cool. I personally think the best place to mount a hi-lift is lower (to lower the CoG) like on the grill guard or a bumper hoop. As a side benefit if you do get into a crash the hi-lift will project forward from the inertia. Finally I don't plan to drive around town with the hi-lift mounted there, only when I'm heading into the back country.

Now if desertranger can help me build a bumper I'm all for it! I even have several drawings and pictures of the ones I've seen custom built for my truck.

 

[Allof75]

Hmm...I'm interested in seeing how this plays out. I typically don't like the look of them on the R50s but if yours is done "right" and provides mounting and jacking for the Hi-Lift, maybe I could come around.

 

[Superu]

Go for it

It sounds as though you understand what you'd be getting and aren't expecting it be something it's not. If that's the case, I'd say go for it. Mount your hi-lift and a set of aux lights and be happy with it.

I have a Go Rhino grille guard on my 03 Suburban and love it. I got it used for a song and it filled my need for a solid front mounting locating for my Hella driving lights. It's also worked perfectly well to push several stuck vehicles with no resulting damage to the guard or my truck. It mounts directly to the frame where the tow hooks attach and I'd much rather hit a deer with it than without it. Though, of course I'd rather avoid it all together!

 

[njtacoma]

Can the headlight guard portion unbolt? You might play around with it and see. I'm not sure what that would do cosmetically, or with mounting the high-lift.

I agree with breaking it down no matter what.
I use to carry my high lift broken down with the beam and handle bolted to the seat hinges of my old fj60 and the foot and "jack" in an ammo can buried in the cargo area. I "had" to have it to participate in organized trail rides, so I could point to all the pieces and say "See my Hi-lift?".

 

[Caoboy]

If the headlight part doesn't unbolt, it's nothing a cutoff wheel can't fix.

 

[highdesertranger]

hey russ pm me. what part of oc. i'm in placentia. highdesertranger

 

[colodak]

Well, let me throw my $.02 in. Used to have a Manik Grill Guard/Winch mount on my Dakota. It attached at all 4 of the bumper mounting points. Was super strong, put it on in '03, finally replaced it in '12. The upside, it looked good, and gave my truck a different appearance. The downside: loss of approach angle (especially with the winch plate installed), not designed to take an impact (although, I slammed a huge rock with the lower cross bar that would have otherwise take out my trans cooler), rust, rust, rust. The bolts the attached the light guards on rusted after 3 years and could never be removed again. The powder coating lasted about 5 yrs then it started to flake off.

As an attachement point for a tow rope, they are marginal at best, many will bend/deform with heavy pulling. Your better off to save your money and buy a TJM, ARB, or similar. I had about $500 in the Manik and was a relatively simple DIY install, I've got about $1,400 in the winch ready. Install took 3 people, after it was powdercoated, then I had to have the fit readjusted by my local 4wd shop and a custom skid plat fabricated.

This is what my Manik looked like

This is what replaced it.

 

[stioc]

Can the headlight guard portion unbolt? You might play around with it and see. I'm not sure what that would do cosmetically, or with mounting the high-lift.

If the headlight part doesn't unbolt, it's nothing a cutoff wheel can't fix.

Are you guys talking about the thinner grill that protects the headlight lense? those do unbolt. But if you're talking about the whole headlight hoop that would have to be cut-off...but why do you suggest that?

hey russ pm me. what part of oc. i'm in placentia. highdesertranger

I'll do that highdesertranger, I'm near Mission Viejo so a bit far from Placentia but not too bad.

Well, let me throw my $.02 in. Used to have a Manik Grill Guard/Winch mount on my Dakota. It attached at all 4 of the bumper mounting points. Was super strong, put it on in '03, finally replaced it in '12. The upside, it looked good, and gave my truck a different appearance. The downside: loss of approach angle (especially with the winch plate installed), not designed to take an impact (although, I slammed a huge rock with the lower cross bar that would have otherwise take out my trans cooler), rust, rust, rust. The bolts the attached the light guards on rusted after 3 years and could never be removed again. The powder coating lasted about 5 yrs then it started to flake off.

As an attachement point for a tow rope, they are marginal at best, many will bend/deform with heavy pulling. Your better off to save your money and buy a TJM, ARB, or similar. I had about $500 in the Manik and was a relatively simple DIY install, I've got about $1,400 in the winch ready. Install took 3 people, after it was powdercoated, then I had to have the fit readjusted by my local 4wd shop and a custom skid plat fabricated.

This is what my Manik looked like

This is what replaced it.

Very cool. I'm wondering why you say it the grill guard wasn't strong enough for a recovery strap but was ok for the winch? Is it because a yank exerts a lot more force than say an 8k winch would- in a more linear way?

I really like the bumper though! Looks great!

 

[colodak]

I used my winch to recover another vehicle and my own vehicle. Using the winch everything was fine and tight nothing moved, the winch and winch plate are central to the whole thing and keep it together and would equally (more or less) distribute the load to all mounting bolts.

But, look at where my tow hooks are, they are offset and actually are attaching to the mounting plate for the entire unit. Twice I had to be pulled out by them, once was straight on, the other was offside. The straight pull slightly shifted the whole thing at the top mounting bolts to the frame. On the side that was pulled, it tweaked in towards the grill about 3/4". With the offside pull, it actually bent the bracket, the brackets were 1/4" plate. I had to take it off and pund the bracket back straight.