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It isn't a full bumper but I just installed the Westin HDX. I have to say this thing is stout for a brush guard, I'd even say it's better than the Ranch Hand.
Hate to be a negative-nellie here, but does that monster grille guard have a 3rd and 4th point of frame contact for longitudinal integrity? If not, it's entire strength is hanging on those 4 bolts at the end of the bottom of the frame tubes (2 each side). It is, unfortunately, only going to give you a very modest amount of integrity in the case of an animal strike. And the higher the hit, the more flex, and less protection it will offer. And the headlight protectors will just smack the fenders when they fold up in a hit.
You might consider augmenting the support to the frame. Hope all goes well for you.
Hate to be a negative-nellie here, but does that monster grille guard have a 3rd and 4th point of frame contact for longitudinal integrity? If not, it's entire strength is hanging on those 4 bolts at the end of the bottom of the frame tubes (2 each side). It is, unfortunately, only going to give you a very modest amount of integrity in the case of an animal strike. And the higher the hit, the more flex, and less protection it will offer. And the headlight protectors will just smack the fenders when they fold up in a hit.
You might consider augmenting the support to the frame. Hope all goes well for you.
The westin does have two mounts in the center as well as the four on the sides. The bottom mounts also go along the frame all the way to the front body mounts. This thing is solid. Look on each side in the license plate.
Here's an example of what will happen to most (not all) push/brush guards (all true):
Here's the script that accompanied the photo:
Another thing about "brush guards"
In the off-road community, people call them "damage multipliers" because when you get into a crash (low speed) usually you will tweak your bumper, but if you have a brush guard, usually it will bend back, into your hood, and crumple that, and your bumper. They do more harm than good
Chances are if this guy didn't have a brush guard, he would have barely damaged his bumper.
I know the consequences of having and not having one, I have about 70 Ford trucks in my fleet and we run the aluminum Ali Arc guards on 80% of them. On average we hit 8 to 10 deer a year and while there's a lot of variables the brush guards do help most of the time. If we can save the core support and coolers I'm happy, the rest is just cosmetic.
01-21-2017, 12:09 AM
