adkhunter

Anyone know if there's a replacement front bumper on the market that's gonna work with the ecoboosts intercooler?

dejong1

No but I bet if your alright with a torch you can cut a nice hole for it and ad some metal mesh and make it look good.

adkhunter

Well I found out from emailing ranch hand that their Summit replacement front bumpers are Ecoboost compatible. They did exactly what I thought they would and what the guy above mentioned. Cut a hole and added mesh metal. I also read on Fab Fours Facebook page that their 2011 F150 replacement front bumpers work with the Ecoboost and had no affect on the intercoolers airflow. They also said no affect on performance or gas mileage. And said they tested for 2 weeks in over 100 degree heat.

So for anyone looking so far I've only found that Ranch Hand and Fab Four are the only two companies selling replacement front bumpers

First pic is the summit bumper and second is a pic ranch hand emailed me to show the updated hole they cut for the EB

Damn Dirty Ape

iTrader: (1)

little too 'closed up' for me. jus sayin'

texasgator

I disagree, I think it's too open. Those bumpers are solid so that they can handle a few whacks. Taking out too much metal right on the front of the bumper would weaken it.

88RedLX

Modern front bumpers/fascias have very little strength in the center. I'm not advocating cutting holes in them, but I used to run low speed bumper tests on trucks at Chrysler. You're likely looking at a couple hundred pounds of load at most (that it can bear in the center).

The vast majority of the load is in the crush can/bumper attachments in front of the front frame rail. OEMs will use various methods to handle the low speed bumper tests (brackets that yield, tubes that crush, etc.). The idea being you can replace a bumper assembly and hardware and won't have any permanent deformation in the rail or companion brackets themselves.

texasgator

Right, but this isn't an OEM bumper, it's a massive diamondplate bumper/brush guard assembly. It's purpose is to be able to hit things without bending. Putting big holes right in the middle will weaken it.

It does look like the bumper is set up so that it shouldn't be too much of a problem I guess. The bar right underneath the holes would likely be the first thing to be impacted in a front-collision. I guess I just figured that rather than putting two big holes, they'd do something like cut smaller slits in the bumper to help maintain the structural integrity. I can just see someone hitting a hog or something and having its face go right through those holes.

adkhunter

I had a ranch hand brush guard on my 2010 dodge cummins and that thing alone withstood 3 front end hits from deer and it didn't even flinch or do any damage to my intercooler. I don't think the hole in the middle will give up that much strength. Its not going to withstand everything in the world but as long as I can smack a deer and bounce off some trees and rocks it's good enough for me. Not to mention the ranch hand is only $800 compared to fab fours cost of around $2300 I believe (don't quote me but I know it was over 2 grand. Can't remember how far over 2gs though). So for the massive price difference I'm gonna go with the ranch hand. And if I bend the hell out of it then it's still cheaper to buy another one than it woulda been to buy one fab four

mcfarmall

Check out the Peacemaker Full Pipe Oilfield bumpers. They have a nice big hole in the center covered with expanded steel.

Shoalwater

Is anyone running the Ranch Hand Summit bumper on there Ecoboost yet? If so any adverse effects on the fuel mileage? Thanks for the help