Thoughts on bumpers?

[Superu]

I'm thinking these items made for a Jeep may work with a bit of fitment work on the old Superu.

I'm good with removing the whole bumper cover on the front and rear. The 2" lift should add to approach and departure angles when combined with removal of the plastic and addition of something purpose built.

The Jeeps not that much wider to start than the Subie. The bumper doesn't extend the width of the Jeep and might just work.

Am I completely nuts? :yikes:

I love being in the Ocean State but we don't have nearly the resources you guys out west have for custom off-road work. So, I'd be willing to put in the labor myself to make something like this work. Any input is appreciated.

 

[goodtimes]

Let me preface my reply by stating that while I am far from a expert fabricator, I have been known to build and/or modify bumpers, roll cages, tent mounts, rock sliders, etc, on a somewhat regular basis.

It certainly is possible to find parts that cross to different vehicles relatively easily, but it has been my experience that this is the exception, not the rule. When you are talking about taking a rear bumper that was made for one compact truck and modifying it to fit another compact truck, it is a relatively easy task. The lines are all pretty similar. Front bumpers are a different story...

Yes, you could probably do it...but unless you are REAL lucky, you will be doing a ton of work and end up with a product that looks like, well, like you took a jeep bumper and hung it off the front of a subaru. Personally, I would not do it, even if it were a paying customer who wanted the work done. I would offer to build a custom bumper, but I would not try to retro-fit something like that.

You would be better off with a custom piece--it would fit better, look better, and probably cost much less. If you cannot find a "off road" fabricator in your area, look for custom bike builders. They use the same equipment (literally) as those of us who work on 4x4's.

 

[flyingwil]

Personally, I would not do it, even if it were a paying customer who wanted the work done. I would offer to build a custom bumper, but I would not try to retro-fit something like that.

You would be better off with a custom piece--it would fit better, look better, and probably cost much less. If you cannot find a "off road" fabricator in your area, look for custom bike builders. They use the same equipment (literally) as those of us who work on 4x4's.

Bill,

You will be the most pleased getting one custom made to your vehicle. Get as many pictures of your likes and dislikes and hunt down a fabricator... and get one custom made. It will probably cost you less than getting on shipped and then modified to fit too.

Keep us posted with your results.

 

[Superu]

Ok, here's another thought.

Since the bumper cover on the rear does little but reduce my departure angle and pretty up the look of the car, why not remove it and either paint the aluminum square bumper underneath or wrap it in diamond plate and maybe extend it on an angle up the sides a bit?

Similarly, in the front with the exception of the housing for the factory fogs which I don't need with the Hellas and hardly use, this cover does essentially the same as the back. This is where the fabrication would get tricky in adding a 2" FRH so I could use a portable electric winch mount plate when needed. I could also paint or wrap this bumper which is pretty high up and mount my lights there as well.

:safari-rig:

 

[flyingwil]

What about products that are allready out there?

 

[Superu]

The only options out there are really out there!

:wings:

Either in design like the butterfly from ECB or are currently unavailable for export like the sweet bar from Subaextreme and/or are wickedly expensive to ship over here since they don't have US distributors I pay the full freight.

Good idea though.

 

[shortymav]

there was a company in aus not ECB that made bullbars especially for subaru's i cant remember the name but asking on 4wdmonthly.com.au/forum should yeild an answer or a place to find out. i believe the mag also ran a feature on the company and its barwork

think ARB sahara bar with the single chrome loop for a suby


Tim

 

[Grim Reaper]

I'm thinking these items made for a Jeep may work with a bit of fitment work on the old Superu.

[
Am I completely nuts? :yikes:

I love being in the Ocean State but we don't have nearly the resources you guys out west have for custom off-road work. So, I'd be willing to put in the labor myself to make something like this work. Any input is appreciated.

Those tube bumper come from Omix Ida. I have two friends that work there including the guy that designed it.

I guess you don't want to hear about the Garage sale they had at a Blood drive we did where some lightly damaged in shipping units were going for penny's on the dollar. I almost bought a couple myself but they just didn't line up well for my 4Runner.

 

[calamaridog]

I agree that you should find someone to fabricate them for you.

 

[The BN Guy]

Definitely go custom or something engineered for your vehicle. As was mentioned...taking a Jeep bumper and mod'ing it to your vehicle just won't look right and you probably won't like it either.

 

[MountainBiker]

Nice looking OBW. I'm not sure how I missed your recent posts on this board, but welcome to a fellow Subie expeditioneer!

On my Forester, I've got the SubaXtreme front bumper/bullbar, and a custom rear bumper with integrated 2" receiver. http://expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5811

I'll have to take some pictures of the rear bumper soon! Before I fabbed the rear bumper, I just ran without the plastic bumper skin for about a year. The steel bumper that lies beneath the skin was already color matched to the car.

BTW, it is pretty ugly. The plastic bumper skin covers up a lot of stuff, so when you take it off, it is hard to make it all look decent.