Is anyone running a Frontier Gear front replacement bumper?

Have to make sure I drive slow if I ever get to road trip out that way someday.

Hope to some day.

 

Exactly! I have my tundra for fun and comfortable road trips. I’ve driven dually’s my entire life, I want comfort lol.

 

If you ever get to the Texas Hill County, you may head home she’ll shocked if you try and drive at dusk or dawn… especially in late October early November during the rut.

 

When I was up in AK, my friend's brother hit a big ass moose heading back to Anchorage after dark. Dodge 3/4 ton truck. He had nothing out front at all. Didn't get killed. Bull moose destroyed his Dodge. The head went through the passenger side windshield. I remember he had wet his Levi's. Could have been worse. A full decent cattle bumper would have absorbed the impact. He had nothing. Google moose vs vehicle hits in AK...crazy shit.

 

I spent some time in Valdez, it’s crazy how big a moose can get. I can’t imagine hitting one, goodby truck for sure.

 

That sounds wild lol.

Can I kevlar wrap my Tundra first
Otherwise I might have to rent a domestic truck and put a wrap on it that looks like a Tundra

 

That's insane!

I once had a deer hit me in my modified 96 turbo Eclispe.
50+ mph low to the ground, no other cars on the road which is unusual.
He came at a dead run across the wide median from the left in the dark 1.5 miles from my house otw home from work 2.5 miles away lol.
I had the window down and all I saw was this head coming into my face.
I ducked down and jerked the wheel left at the same time.
He ended up broadsiding my front fender which is why I saw his head flop into my vision.
Somehow did not hit the windshield or hood.
Totally crushed ds front fender, ripped off side mirror, just gone, and pushed in the skin of my door so you could see the support beams outlined a bit.

I was cussing at the top of my lungs as I had recently finished several expensive hp mods and was riding high

Pulled over, and went to find his body and shoot him dead

Nowhere to be seen, he ghosted me.

Sob broadsided me at a full run, with me doing 50+ and he ran away.

Deer are the dammedest thing sometimes.

So far that is the only animal to hit me.

I have run over a squirrel or 2 over the years though lol.

 

I'm not sure I agree with this statement. Factory components are built to a deceleration/energy absorption standard that dissipates the force of an impact to protect the occcupants and rest of the truck (i.e., the frame). To do this, factory components are meant to basically explode. Deceleration is slowed, and the SRS accurately decides whether to deploy airbags or not. Protecting the passenger compartment is paramount.

The way I understand it, a heavy, rigid steel bumper that is not built specifically to absorb impact force and decelerate the mass that hit it more slowly is going to transfer more of the impact's force directly to the truck, particularly to the frame because that is where it is mounted. The strength and rigidity results in better cosmetic protection in lower speed impacts but also faster deceleration and more force transferred to the vehicle's frame.

It seems to me that more rigid mass ≠ better force absorption. Rather, more rigid mass = better force transfer, as in transferred to the frame. As I understand it, this is the appeal of the airbag-friendly ARB bumpers (they make a version that is not airbag friendly as well); it is built to crumple and dissipate impact force much like a factory bumper. For low speed impacts the ARB responds like the factory components and airbags will not deploy if the sensors recognize it as the same slowing of deceleration as factory components.

But with a rigid steel bumper, a low speed/low force impact could trigger the airbags because its rigidity causes a much faster deceleration for the rest of the vehicle (including occupants). This is...not good. In addition to the two vehicles colliding, there is the collision of the occupants with the items in front of them, and the collision of the occupants' internal organs with their own skeletons (rib cage, skull). All of these are taken into consideration very carefully when constructing factory bumper components to crumple, explode, dissipate force, and slow down the process of deceleration to a survivable rate. A giant steel bumper kinda throws a lot of that out the window. Just my two cents.

 

I get your point, but I've personally witnessed what can happen numerous times in my short 66 years on this planet. These bumpers do absorb a major hit and save lives. A fact. They wouldn't sell so many of these high end bumpers if they didn't. Logging trucks that I came across in BC and Yukon Territory had the same type of bumpers with protection up high. While driving up to AK, just north of Muncho Lake, Canada, I came across a log truck. He was pulled over to the side of the road and some onlookers too. I stopped. There is a bison herd that was reintroduced there. The log truck took out two. Minimal damage to the truck. The bumper wasn't even fazed. Two dead very large bison laying in the roadway. Took several of us to move the dead bison out of the way. A RCMP showed up and made a call to have the very dead bison picked up to be utilized for food. An animal is mostly water, some flesh and bone. Hitting a solid object is a different story. Like I said before, these bumpers are ubiquitous in cattle country in the USA and parts of Canada for good reason. The folks that buy them aren't buying them to look kuul. My 2 cents.

 

The Yukon moose in northern AK are even bigger! Especially the bulls.

 

Sorry, but like said above, my real world experience disproves all the hypotheticals listed. I have run them for many years, and they are about the most common thing done to a truck here, never seen an airbag deployment that wasn’t necessary, even after driving a wrecker for 4 years. I also have a couple of friends claim they wouldn’t be here today without one, that I can’t claim as fact but it moves the old gut meter.

 

That’s just bonkers! Sure wouldn’t mind one in the freezer though. What I got to eat while I was there was fantastic… but I really miss fresh salmon.

 

I always go with my gut. Especially now that's it's a bit bigger. Beer had nothing to do with that....

 

A moose sirloin is quite large....fresh made sockeye salmon dip is literally to die for. I'm still breathing tho. Ha!

 

Same brother, same

 

Post up pics when you get the bumper on, I'd like to get a visual. My first choice would be an ARB but might be overwhelming on my Tundra. Looks great on my tacoma however. I'm 60 miles north of OP and believe us, the deer and hogs are hard on bumpers!! Grill guard is money well spent.

 

Will do, hoping late this week, or next week it will be here and on the truck next Friday at the latest. Here is a stock pic that shows a little.

 

Kuul. BTW. That center "screen" is just like what Ranch Hand does. "punched steel." There is no give to that. Take my advice..... call Runnin4Tacos, runnin4tacos.com, 303-909-6047, and ask for Hugo. Repeat.....ask for Hugo. Tell him what Frontier bumper you are getting and you need some heavy duty springs. Just do it. No longer recommending T,o,ytec from a good source here.

 

Probably gonna go 2.5 Elkas with 700lb springs. I’m gonna get this and the skids on and use my buddies 4 corner scale to dial it in, nice to have friends with a full race shop. Toytec has been a little off, but I still really like the Aluma series though.

I wish R4T would get some more of their battery terminals back in stock though lol.

 

Excellent......still call Hugo. He has a history here, not only on this forum, but with us CO members that know him personally. A Mod here that I know personally will vouch for that.

 

Nice, will do. I like their stuff a lot. I used them for some Tacoma parts in the past.

 

Lets just say if you call T.o.y.tec and ask for Hugo....you called the wrong #. Hugo has a new Yota chapter in his life. He knows my grandson. Great person to know and deal with. Hugo knows Yota. Lives and breathes Yota. @T-Rex266

 

I don’t think I’m making any hypothetical claims, but I admit finding actual data on the issue is pretty difficult. Most of what I’m finding is forum arguments like this one, lol. But, there were a couple of pages worth mentioning:

Here’s a study regarding the benefits of plastic bumpers as being a shock absorbing structure and dissipating force in a lateral direction in a crash. From the summary:

“There are many effective factors in selection of a bumper system. The most important one is its ability to absorb impact energy especially in high speed crashes according to legal standards [R8]. Weight, manufacturability and price have secondary importance. Although the bumpers are designed for low speed impacts, in high speed crashes, bumper is the first part for energy absorption and also replacement.”​

And here’s a page from a law firm saying you may be liable for more damage caused by a heavy steel bumper on an 18-wheeler or, conversely, entitled to more damages if your vehicle was decimated by an 18-wheeler with a heavy steel bumper. Are Steel Truck Bumpers Dangerous? Excerpt:

“A mechanical engineer in Texas recently determined that steel bumpers on 18-wheeler trucks are significantly more dangerous than those made from energy-absorbing alternatives.”​

I do wish he had provided a link to the mechanical engineer’s study, and I’m left wondering how much of his findings translate to light duty pickups.

Seems to me that it would make a great Mythbusters episode. Which bumper is better, and does the kind of collision (animal or another vehicle) or speed of one or both participants in the collision change the answer?

 

hmmmmm, less than I thought .

 

With the world being what it is Frontier didn’t see the value in producing the tundra model after I waited 4 months, they are focused on the big 3’s models only. That said, ordered a Ranch Hand and had it the next day. Got it mounted today, just need to finish brackets and fog lights. Weighs in 185 over the stock setup… worth it.