Front-end protection

ahunt01

ahunt01

New member
Hi all, I was thinking about getting some sort of pretection for the front of my Jeep, maybe bull bars or something. My question is, is there a particular bar that would offer the most protection? I do a lot of slow to average driving on back roads with a lot of deer, so I'm hoping that this would help in the eventual event of hitting one. Any recommendations?
 
I wish someone would figure out a cheaper, though not mechanincally inferior, way to make tire-carriers. It nearly makes me cry to think of spending a grand on something that's only tangeable benefit is holding a spare. My mind keeps going back and forth between a tire-carrier or a Springfield "loaded" TRP. I have a feeling that my tailgate is going to not be happy with my decision.
 
Interesting. I kind of like the Jeep bumper, and am just looking for some bars to mount on it. I'm not looking to replace the entire bumper. So let me ask two more questions lol.
1. Would any of the steel tubular protectors make a deer bounce off at, say, 25-35 mph?
2. A friend of mine said there are hollow ones, and ones that are solid metal. She said to only go with the solid metal ones, and avoid the hollow ones when seeking protection from deer. Is that true?
 
If you hit the deer head on they would protect you Jeep as long as you werent traveling fast enough to push the bars into your hood. However, the problem is that a lot of the time they either get you on the right front clip or they get you when they're in the air trying to leap over your vehicle. In those situations a bumper really isn't going to help unless your vehicle is really tall.

Jeep Essentials sells a bold on bumper bar the connects to the bumper with the 4 bolts your tow hooks use, but then you loose your hooks.

I've never seen any that weren't hollow, for most types of metal the physical shape of a tube is actually more rigid and strong than a solid metal "pole" of the same diameter, while at the same time being much lighter.
 

 
From what I've seen in person and read from several places and people on the net, avoid the ARB Bull Bar like the plague. It's incredibly overpriced, incredibly underengineered, and the paint fades and chips faster than you can say "ripped off", then the rust starts....oh, and then I've heard 3 or 4 people say they actually bent theirs back towards the grill just by leaning against it!!! As far as the others, I couldn't tell you which is better or worse, just know from word of mouth to avoid the Bull Bar.

I had a Smitty Bilt push bar and brush guard on my Toy from '85 till I sold it last year, and it was excellent. Even broadsided an F-150 hard enough to knock it off the road in a blizzard one night (at about 10 mph) and it didn't even bend.
 
"I had a Smitty Bilt push bar and brush guard on my Toy from '85 till I sold it last year, and it was excellent. Even broadsided an F-150 hard enough to knock it off the road in a blizzard one night (at about 10 mph) and it didn't even bend."

Wow, that's what I'm looking for :) Thanks for the tip about the ARB!
 

I'm confused. I was doing some new searching for some protection and I've heard nothing but praise for ARB. I've heard people say that it plows through 6 inch trees without a scratch, bouncing off rocks without a scratch, and rear ending cars without a scratch...
 
ahunt01 said:
I've heard people say that it plows through 6 inch trees without a scratch,
Click to expand...

Maybe 6 inch tall trees.....I dare you to show me a Jeep bumper that will "plow through" a 6" diameter tree without a scratch. Besides that, if you follow the "tread lightly" creed, you shouldn't be plowing through trees at all.......
 
Oh I completely agree man, I don't know why anyone would do that. I guess the guy who stated that probably did it by accident. I don't know what kind of retard who would seek out trees to run into lol. I think the praise for ARB was on the "toughest bumpers for $$" thread.
 

ARB makes a solid bumper, but your gonna pay. There are just as strong if not stronger products for less $$$
 
I nailed a dear going 25 on a back road with the tubular smaller bumper below on my old YJ and all it did was scratch the paint and bent it a tiny bit. I guess it would depend on how and where the deer hits the bumper....

image-missing.png
 
Wow, is that pic after the accident? I can't even tell you hit anything... I didn't think those tubular bumpers would be that durable.
 

image-missing.png


this bad boy bought the ass-end of an eclipse, and it's not even hooked up to the frame, only the bumper! just don't buy something made out of aluminum (saw a guy on campus with an aluminum ram bar on his blazer, it was bent to conform someone else's bumper! LOL)

although a ram bar like that won't save you 100% from a deer, but i'd say your chances of driving home go up 10-fold, simply because your radiator is protected.
 
ahunt01 said:
Wow, is that pic after the accident? I can't even tell you hit anything... I didn't think those tubular bumpers would be that durable.
Click to expand...

You can't really tell from the pic. I repainted the bumper and there is a dent that is not visable. Again, I think it depends on how you hit it. Ever think about getting some deer whistlers as well?
 
i have a grill gaurd from olimpic, its looks plenty cool but its not the most durable thing in the world. its has helped in many cases but i wouldnt test it. i would stick with something other than olimpic.
 

My dad made one for my YJ out of 2" steel tubing. I hit a deer going around 35-40 and it bounced off. You could always make up your own design and have it made by a fabricator? Just my 2cents

LR
 
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