DESERT ED

Hello everyone. I'm looking to replace the front bumper on my 13 XLT. I have a buddy that's a really great fabricator-but he's not too excited about building me a bumper(although I'm sure he would). So I was curious about everybody's opinion on Fab Fours, ADD, and Road Armor bumpers. I'm mainly concerned about deer/elk strikes but, don't want a really heavy bumper out there. I think aluminum is going to be too expensive. Help me out-I'm very indecisive. Thanks

SnowDawg

I have the Fab4 vengeance front bumper with the bull bar. Love it. Its clean, well built, good looking and light. I don't think it would let me drive away damage free from hitting a deer, but I think it would be ok. Its a trade off, I didn't want a big heavy bumper and I think they look bad on 1/2 tons, so I get less protection.

STingray1300

Your friend (and your friendship) thanks you, trust me. I built my own rear bumper, and I just started building my own front bumper (see custom fabrication section), and I can tell you, that -while worth it IMHO, it is a LOT of work.

As stated, most aftermarket bumpers are ridiculous looking. And almost all aftermarket bumpers mount very poorly to the F150's frame, almost negating any benefit in something like deer strike.

But here's a website where you can look at a number of different manufacturers' offerings: http://bumpersuperstore.com/c-960581...2009-2014.html

DESERT ED

Thanks for the responses so far. I'm worried about the weight for sure, There's a fine line between too weak and too heavy, which is why I'm leaning towards a custom one. I like the looks of the ARB boxy style, but may settle for a more streamlined Baja tube style. Thanks for that link I'll be doing some soul searching.

AutoAnything

One name I'd want to throw out there for protection against deer, would be Ranch Hand. They are very high quality, extremely beefy, and probably provide the most protection. That being said, the ADD bumpers are probably some of my favorite designs, they just don't have the same front end coverage (besides the Rancher).

If you have any specific questions on anything or would like price options, feel free to ask.

sigma pi

agreed, I like ADD the most.

Blackbuzzard

Had a ranch-hand front grille guard on an older1/2 ton truck.....it added 140 pounds in front. I think that contributed to early lower ball joint failure.

Almost hit deer a bunch of times, and it would have helped some I suspect.

Wintertime road salt took a big toll on it....was rotted pretty good when I sold it

Unless theres a super slick aluminum setup out there, my new truck wont have anything up front.

STingray1300

Let me illustrate something to y'all. How well do you remember 1989 and the Loma Prieta earthquake in the SF Bay Area? Remember the Bay Bridge section falling down? It was all over the TV news. That was one single section of the bridge deck. If I hadn't been on another project, I would have been one of the ironworkers to work on repairing the bridge deck (I was invited to work 7/12s for 5 weeks).

Anyway, I digress... The building codes were severely revamped because of that earthquake. Almost stupid changes in welding, etc. Now, the new bridge deck section (which has now been deconstructed, BTW) was so beefed up it was ridiculous. 3 times the iron - in that one section as compared to the rest of the bridge. Why? "To make people feel safe", was the comment I heard from an inspector. " *BUT*, notice, when you drive eastbound on the lower deck, look up at the new section. What is it attached to?" I said "2 old-design sections." "PRECISELY!!!" the inspector said. "That extra heavy duty section is no safer than any of the rest of the bridge, because it is connected on each end to old, weak sections, which support the one section".

So, I told you that to tell you this: You can have the most ultimate bumper/push guard/grille on the planet, and it will still only perform as well as what (and HOW) it is connected to. Ranch Hand makes some of the nicest, most sturdy bumpers/guards available. But they still just simply connect to the OEM bumper plates - cheesy 10-gauge/4 bolt mounts. The point being, that the bumper/grille will do a great job of surviving a hit. The frame of the truck will survive fine. But the connection between them is total crap, pure and simple unless it has some serious augmentation. That is why I'm designing a totally new 3/8" bumper/grill guard mount, that encases the front of the frame with 3/4" Gr.8 bolts instead of those bumper mounting plates.

The moral of the story is, be careful what you spend your money on and how much trust you're going to place in them.

Havyek

This.

If you're doing something for looks, great. If you're going to plan for or expect it to perform a function you'll need to look a bit further than just the bumper.

A Jeep/off-roader forum I used to frequent had a thread titled Where Is Your Fuse?
Basically, where is the weak point? Where do you want the weak point to be? Do you want to have a bent bumper, a broken headlight, or frame damage?
Do you want to build a weak point in that's safer and easier to repair, or do you want something that's going to put stress on a stronger section that if it fails, will be a more difficult repair?