Bull bars!!

Damage multipliers are bad news. I highly recommend against them unless you plan on pushing shopping carts around with it.

Bad hombres....

 

Post #22 cover this as well...

 

Just my 2 cents here. The aesthetics (and street cred) of a BB aside, it sounds like you are looking for an off road front bumper for protecting the front of your Taco. BBs offer very little in the way of protecting your front end. A BB with a light bar will not offer more protection and you'll end up with a mangled front end, BB and a ruined light bar should there be any sort of meaningful impact with your BB and a stationary object(s).
Because you indicated that you will have to "save up" for a new off road front bumper, it also sounds like your personal finances are playing into your decision to purchase protection for the front end of your truck. If you search around through the various TW threads that focus on off road front bumpers, you will notice that a good front end bumper that offers a correspondingly good amount of protection is considerably heavier than your factory front end bumper (A good, off road front end bumper that provides both protection and a winch mount is even heavier).
Keep in mind, our trucks were designed for a relatively light front end bumper in order to allow the Toyota bean counters/marketers to both make the truck at a lower price point (well sorta') and advertise better gas mileage (well, sorta' again).
Because of this design incorporating a lighter front bumper, when you add the heavier after market front end bumper, many of our esteemed members have noticed a dramatic front end sag once the newer, heavier front end bumper is installed. This, in turn, now requires the purchase/installation of heavier duty front end components such as new shocks, perhaps a front end lift kit and so on. This issue is exacerbated considerably if you decide to add a winch onto your new, off road front end bumper.
Then you have the issue of gas mileage to contend with when dealing with the extra weight of an off road front end bumper. To some in these forums, gas mileage is a holy grail of sorts...but because you seem to be concerned about your personal finances (and no, I'm not your personal accountant so please forgive me if that's how I sound), increased fuel costs may also play into your ultimate decision to purchase/install a BB vs. a quality front end bumper.
Again, just my 2 cents worth, but it seems that just getting a quality off road front end bumper entails far more cost than simply buying an aftermarket, off road bumper and installing it.
Of course, if you do purchase/install a BB, while you may be sacrificing the added protection of a quality off road front end bumper (and allegedly be maligned by any passing TW member for making an aesthetically incorrect decision) , you will still have more front end protection that you currently have with your factory front end bumper and you will recognize some financial/fuel/ front end mods savings down the road.
It ultimately comes down to what your long range plans for your truck are.

 

Do what you think looks cool and fits your needs and budget. I got a Lund with a light bar in it.

 

I'm guilty... i got a bull bar too (in my pic), just saving up for the pelfreybilt or demello bumper, can't decide as they're both great.

Either way, best of luck with your saving OP

 

These are all excellent points, and stepping away from the tongue firmly lodged in cheek previous posts I've made in this thread...I would advise against a bull bar purchase for all of the above common sense reasons, as well as actually saving for the real goal of said Pelfreybuilt bumper.

@CleanupBoss is also correct, as I purchased an OME lift specifically designed (spring rate choice) to support an ARB front bumper, winch, and skid plates. Saving for a steel plate/recovery point/winch mount front bumper is more the tip of the iceberg, as folks often discover this fact when their OEM/factory suspension is no where near adequate to support (literally) that weighted platform.

Which is why a lot of folks opt for the bull bar, as it is a convenient way to dress up and provide a mounting point for additional lights on the front end of your Tacoma.

The other stuff about mopeds and forum cred are just forum ba** busting...because we have all been there.

 

I got a bull bar to mount some lights... could care less about the damage multiplier bs.

 

I don't have a clue why people get on here and ask for advice when they already have their mind made up.

 

I'm guessing there will be some that want to get other people's perspectives.

 

Because we're all from different places and there may be better looking/better quality brands that I haven't heard about here.

 

It looks good! Thanks man! I hadn't heard of demello before your post. Not I think I'm stuck in the same boat as you are.lol Both numbers look so good!

 

Oh god noooooooo!

 

Thank you for your input! This was extremely informative. You answered a question I've had about what kind of effects the weight of a bumper would have on my front end. I assumed that it would sag a little but I didn't realize that it was that bad. So I guess my next question is what kind of suspension modification do I need in order to keep my 3" lift while still providing adequate support for the extra weight? Because it sounds like if I add a heavier bumper I'll have to level it off all over again.

 

Truth is you can completely disregard the "damage multiplier" bullshit. Its purely anecdotal and irrelevant anyway. Tacos are great looking, great offroad and great reliability. But they are shit in crashes. Any crash that will bend a bull bar back will total your truck anyway. Tacos dont take much to get totaled. Just look at the crash threads here. Minor hits on the bed and the shits totaled. Minor hits on the front and the shits totaled. They just dont take impacts well. Get the bull bar if you want one. It wont help in a crash and t wont hurt. If you really want to eventually get a plate bumper, dont waste money on a bull bar.

 

Thanks for the input! They do have high safety ratings but after reading your post I feel like it's for the same reason that Altimas do. They fall apart in just the right places to lessen the impact.

 

Right? That's my thoughts about it. If my truck is taking a hard front end hit then I feel like I'm boned wither way.

 

Think about it this way: You have a small accident, maybe you rear end some one at relatively low speed. Normally, the bumper would absorb the impact, and protect the frame. With the bull bar mounted to the frame, the impact is now transmitted directly to the frame. It happened to a buddy's SUV years ago. The bumper looked untouched (other than the bull bar being pushed into it), but the front of his frame got tweaked (where the BB mounts to it). As was stated already, in a bad front end impact, it likely won't make a difference either way, but it can make a smaller accident a lot more expensive = Damage multiplier.

Don't care either way. Your truck, your decision. But that's one incident I saw first hand, that sealed my opinion.

 

Wow... bull bars are that strong? I thought they'd pretty much crush on impact. So, no other aftermarket front bumpers or light bars mount to the frame?

 

You do realize all the plate bumpers mount directly to the frame as well.

 

Wife bought me mine for a b-day present form the family, I simply wanted something to hang some lights on. I ended welding the bracket so the bar was up higher and did not have so much of a chin look. Check the video- link below. I think this is a dee zee. I will eventually go aluminum CBI