Which Winch Mount Bumper?

[Willman]

Arb!

Another vote for ARB!!!

Great alround bumpers!!!

With any bumper that you choose Wil, make sure that you do the end cap mod! (post #3)

Were still on for the rear bumper right?

 

[flyingwil]

Were still on for the rear bumper right?

Hell Yeah, sounds like fun to me! :friday:

 

[Clutch]

You can try these guys too. I have seen their bumpers on Toyotas. Even though they are not listed. I was going to have them build one for me. Never got around to it.

Nice plate bumper but, very low profile.

http://www.hansonenterprise.com/

http://good-times.webshots.com/photo/2235221450093498191Ovocji

 

[Grim Reaper]

After seeing the results to a TJM equipped 4Runner following a 30mph accident, when it rear ended another vehicle, I'll pass on the TJM. They look great, but it certainly didn't seem to hold up well to impact or offer much protection to the front end. Mounting and airbag issues have been well documented by T100 and TJM owners. The same may or may not be true for Tacomas.

Something has to give...its either the bumber or the frame. I sure would rather bolt on a new bumper then had to total the truck for frame damage. So that bumper crushing may not really be a bad thing.


TJM is designed to work with factory safety equipment like the Airbags. I think TJM and ARB are the only two manufatures that did any sort of crash testing to make sure their bumprs didn't interfere with Crush zones and Air bag deployment.

 

[Bergger]

Something has to give...its either the bumber or the frame. I sure would rather bolt on a new bumper then had to total the truck for frame damage. So that bumper crushing may not really be a bad thing.

I agree.

 

[Clutch]

I agree.

That brings up an idea, has anyone ever built a dampener for the bumper so the truck frame and the bumper can take a slow speed impact, so there is no damage? Still mounting the winch directly to the frame?

Or is that just silly?

 

[cruiseroutfit]

I'm not a fan of armor style bumpers. I think they are big, heavy, ugly, and generally have crappy approach angles. I agree with what cruiseroutfit said about the lack of protection with tube bumpers, but I can't think of a time when I was ever in danger of a branch going into my radiator. I vote CBI minus the stinger.

Arizona might be a bit different than Utah's trails?

Moab's river district in the spring (Tamerisk) or breaking snow in Uintahs is going to inevitably have you breaking through downed trees, etc.

Not likely? Well many of the things we incorporate into our vehicles are to protect against very unlikely events. I bet many snorkel owners are more likely to take some front end damage on the trail than they are to actually submerge their vehicle. But, having been on the repair side of things for the past 8 year I think about it a little differently... "Could I fix a radiator on the trail", not too easily.

Sure the ARB bumper sacrafices a small amount of approach angle (not too much when compared to other winch integrated designs). However I have done plenty of "rockcrawling" in my Tacoma, 4 rated trails in Moab with nothing more than a scrape or two to my bumper. Tacoma's are not a rockcrawlers, so many people compain about the approach angle... ever looked at the departure angle? Equally as important to me.

You need to build a vehicle for its intended purposes. Are you building an expedition rig, or a rockcrawler? It is virtually impossible to build one that performs ideally at both. All this talk of approach angle, etc is purely academic unless the user actually wants to go "rock crawling" with his/her rig...

 

[cruiseroutfit]

That brings up an idea, has anyone ever built a dampener for the bumper so the truck frame and the bumper can take a slow speed impact, so there is no damage? Still mounting the winch directly to the frame?

Or is that just silly?

ARB's bumpers incorporate "crush cans" into their designs. I've pulled a couple of wrecked ARB bumpers off of vehicles and had zero frame damage to deal with.

 

[Westy]

This is one of the nicer bumpers I have seen for the 96+ Tacomas/4runners -

http://www.armorology.com

 

[Lost Canadian]

ARB's bumpers incorporate "crush cans" into their designs. I've pulled a couple of wrecked ARB bumpers off of vehicles and had zero frame damage to deal with.

Some do but not all. The 05+ Tacoma's do not have crush cans, nor do the current 4runner or FJC bumpers. The only thing slowing impact would be the rubber bumpers.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Something has to give...its either the bumber or the frame. I sure would rather bolt on a new bumper then had to total the truck for frame damage. So that bumper crushing may not really be a bad thing.

If what you are hitting is significant all that energy needs to be dissipated somewhere. A 20 lb bumper held on with 4 bolts doesn't take much force to collapse, so in a serious collision what happens is the bumper folds and leaves the body (and my assumption, the occupants) of the truck exposed. In a wreck I'd rather have a substantial bumper with tons of fasteners that dissipates energy right into the frame, which I'm assuming is the most efficient way to spread it throughout the truck. What that means in a lab, I dunno. But, from what I've seen of ARB-vs-animals reinforces my beliefs. When I say 'protection' in this case I mean protection of the driver, passenger and K9. If that means my frame is destroyed, that's fine with me.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Some do but not all. The 05+ Tacoma's do not have crush cans, nor do the current 4runner or FJC bumpers. The only thing slowing impact would be the rubber bumpers.

While they don't physically have the accordian "cans" like some of the other models, they still have the same design theory. They have plenty of room to collapse and absorb some of the momentary impact. They know they could build a more rigid bumper, but they will also be the first to tell you they are not a rock-crawling company.

 

[cruiseroutfit]

This is one of the nicer bumpers I have seen for the 96+ Tacomas/4runners -

I guess its all personal opinion...

But what is the point of that "stinger"?

It provides little or no hood/headlight/radiator protection, at the exact spots they would reastically be needed. I would think mabey a rear bumper would be more important? Stingers are a styling cue that got there start ~10 years ago... I thought they expired a couple years back but now all the aftermarket bumper guys are bringing them back :Wow1:

I don't even want to get into the whole endo-rollover conversation.

 

[jeffryscott]

Wil, there may be another option. Have you seen Shrockworks bumpers? They make nice stuff.

http://www.tacomaterritory.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46498&page=1&pp=30&highlight=shrockworks

Shrockworks is in the stages of finishing up their bumpers and sliders, I just checked with them for my 4Runner. They make great stuff from what I hear.

 

[Westy]

I guess its all personal opinion...

But what is the point of that "stinger"?

It provides little or no hood/headlight/radiator protection, at the exact spots they would reastically be needed. I would think mabey a rear bumper would be more important? Stingers are a styling cue that got there start ~10 years ago... I thought they expired a couple years back but now all the aftermarket bumper guys are bringing them back :Wow1:

I don't even want to get into the whole endo-rollover conversation.

I do agree, the stinger on that bumper is overkill and doesnt do much for protection. I'm not a huge fan of the stinger styles either..but I do think it is still a nice bumper and a good design, stinger or not. Another thing to keep in mind is having good access to the winch.

The TJM channel bumpers (no brush guard) are also a good setup and reasonably priced.