Not that I PLAN to crash

Has anybody had a front end collision or been rear ended while running heavy duty off road bumpers? How did it go?

I'm imagining the impact would be stronger, stock bumpers must have some sort of give to "cushion" the blow. I don't think there is any crumple zone going on with the frame, I've looked at mine and don't see any intentionally weak zones.

Thoughts? Input? Tips before I go into designing and building tube bumpers for my first gen?
Thanks.

 

Personally I think the protection outweighs any increased impact. This was prob a 30 mph impact. Totalled the Prius, and only did about 5k damage to my truck. I think the stock bumper would have resulted in much more damage.

 

My uneducated guess is that the bumper itself should not be stronger than the frame or mounting brackets. Otherwise, the frame may bend or the mounting brackets may fail, pushing the bumper further in and causing more damage. Instead, I think it’s best if the bumper is designed to absorb more of the impact and bend before the frame bends or the mounting brackets fail.

Although I’ve never crashed the Tundra, I did accidentally crashed into an earthen berm at around 40 mph in a 1st gen Tacoma with a modified Duffco Enterprises prerunner tube bumper. Before the crash I had a local welder strengthen the mounting brackets and fabricate side support tubes for added strength. It worked as I had hoped it would. The tube absorbed the impact and bent ever so slightly, saving the frame and front end from damage. Only damage to the truck was when it subsequently flopped on its side given the angle of the crash and uneven terrain.

I’ll note, though, that I don’t know how the Tacoma would’ve fared in stock form with what I presumed to be a front crumple zone designed to absorb an impact and reduce passenger injury within the cab. I’m aware that adding stronger front and rear bumpers could affect what the engineers designed for in-cab protection, so I take that into account when considering such a modification.

With that said, I’m considering mild steel 1.75” OD prerunner tube bumpers front and rear for my Tundra given their relative strength and lighter weight.

 

In cab is more what I worry about and that's exactly the feedback I was looking for. I'm looking to run 1.75" for the main tube across, the main supports running from the frame forward, and a cross bar at the bottom. Any other supports will be 1.5"

 

Yes, I agree. I forgot to mention that the same Tacoma that had the Duffco prerunner bumper also had a heavy duty Stout Equipment rear bumper. Back in the 90’s, Stout Equipment was known for making really heavy duty bumpers for older Landcruisers, like FJ40s. As most folks know, the older Landcruisers were overbuilt with heavy duty axles, frames and diffs that many likened to at least 3/4 ton, if not 1-ton, pickup strength.

Tacoma frames, especially 1st gen Tacos, were not built as heavy duty as the older Landcruisers. In fact, the rear part of the Tacoma frame is more prone to bending given its design. I didn’t know much about that at the time I added the Stout Equipment rear bumper. I could easily tell, however, that just the mounting brackets themselves were much thicker than the Tacoma C-channel frame. It wasn’t until later that I learned that the Stout Equipment bumper probably wasn’t the best pick for the Tacoma’s rear frame design, so I fish-plated it to add a bit more strength to the frame. Sure enough, a couple of light rear end hits caused no damage to either the bumper or the frame, but did manage to lightly dent the rear bumpers of the Chevy and Ford 1/2 ton trucks that bumped into it. Also, a gentle landing/scraping of that rear bumper on a rocky, 4-diamond rated uphill trail managed to protect it. Even so, I would’ve instead gone with a tubular prerunner rear bumper on that Tacoma if I could’ve done it all over again knowing what I now know.

 

I’ve hit two deer, had a semi truck drag a trailer across it at an intersection, and hit a tree on ice. I never had more than scuffed paint until I hit the tree and that bent the frame from the bumper to about 6” behind the core support mount on the drivers side. I Think mine has paid for itself by now.