Aluminum front bumper

We always say, if strength is a major concern than don't go with anyone's aluminum. Steel is going to be stronger over all. That being said the only failures we've seen with our aluminum was someone hitting a dune on the lower section of the bumper and it folding under a little. But we believe that speed and hitting a dune was a major contributor to that. Upon inspection it was noted that the bumper didn't have all the supplied mounting hardware (FJC) and we've had a few of the older models that bumper into trees and suffered damage that was a little more than expected.

If you look at the internals of the bumper we build them that way for a reason. We looked at some of the weakest points of the bumper and tried to fix them.

1.) the shackle pull, often are welded onto the face of the bumper or even pass through it and weld on both sides. When we did our revamp of our bumpers a couple years ago we decided with not only the steel but the aluminum to make that one piece. We had noticed over the years that side pulls and hard forward pulls could damage the skin of the bumper due to that design. We also notice that instead of pulling from one little area that it was way more effective to pull from the whole bumper hence why those 1 piece up rights vien off into different directions in the bumper creating the skelton.



2.) Weight, not only are our bumpers light they are what we'd refer to as "smart light" it's no secret that you want most of the weight in your truck either over your axles or as close to it as possible. We decided a long time ago when designing the bumpers that the skin of the bumper or the part you see doesn't need to be the heaviest part of the bumper. The internals of it that hold the winch should be. Plus making these parts the heavier parts helps keep the weight more centered over the axle and pushed back. We also for this reason choose to mount the winch as far back as possible.

3.)Clearance, You will notice our bumpers have very little over hang past the grill, it's just enough for a set of hoops in most cases to be mounted to it. We believe less is more. I come from a back ground of rock crawling and desert off roading where weight and clearance are very important. We don't believe in having a huge hunk of steel hanging off the front of the truck is the best approach to obstacles. Not only could the size of that bumper impede climbing an obstacle but the sheer mass and weight bouncing around could cause damage to other components. So we work hard to keep everything clean and light as possible.

Here is a picture of what the uprights look like before they are welded in. They are so thick that a normal laser won't cut them, we have to get them waterjetted in a separate process.

Anymore questions let me know.

 

Regarding the weight distribution -in case anyone on the fence of alu vs. steel for weight/strength...I just installed the newest Demello designed, 3rd Gen flat top bumper with light bar cutout (steel) on @OmegaMan73. We installed it with a Smittybilt X2O 10k synthetic winch. Confirmed---the winch mount is pushed back and yes you can tell the weight is better distributed over the cv axles. We still had the 600lbs King springs installed and it dropped/sagged an 1/8", running 33" tires, set at 2.75" of lift. The steel version is lighter than most out there but built like a s.o.b. Once we backed out the weight of the stock bumper trimmings and alu re-bar (about 25-30lbs) the net weight of the steel bumper/winch was about 125lbs.

 

HAHAHHA. Go look at any Demello product, the welds are beautiful and strong. Find any bad weld out there by that shop and I'll buy you a burger.

As far as strength goes, the aluminum holds up to abuse much better than stock, but noting is invincible. Approach angles and craftsmanship is as good as it gets. If you're going to be landing on granite rocks and knocking over trees with your bumper, get their steel version.

 

Love when a vendor is forced to defend their product.. and suceeds viciously!

 

So, stock front bumper for a 2nd Gen is maybe 30 ish lbs? And a demello aluminum is maybe 60-70? Netting an increase of 30-40? Is that the rough ballpark? Hence coils might need to be swapped?

 

No need to upgrade coils based on the weight increase of an aluminum bumper like this... That said, I think Toyota should have sent their 2nd gen trucks out with 650s and a better shock from the factory.

 

I went down to 550’s on my ‘05 RC because I have the stock leaf and couldn’t get the nose low enough to even reach level with 600’s. I guess I won’t know if 550’s are too soft until I try out the bumper? I definitely won’t mind gaining some rake back. It’s higher than stock right now.

Anyone know how hard it is to swap front bumpers on a 2G? I spent way more time than I expected doing the rear on my 2016, super tight fit.

 

Super easy

 

The stock bumper and hardware weighs in around 29-32 lbs if I remember correctly. Our aluminum bumper is around 42lbs our steel bumper is just under 100lbs. Let me know if you have anymore quesitons.

 

Id argue that I would rather have an aluminum bumper give out in am impact than a heavy steel bumper sending all that loading to the frames crumple zones. If you are hitting hard enough to bend up the aluminum bits posted above, the truck's frame isnt just bouncing off the object with a steel bumper.

 

Greenlane off-road make aluminum bumpers and armor. It’s a Canadian company.

I’ve got their stump bumper with a hoop, about 45 pounds.

 

Thanks for the numbers.

I think I might try to get my own weights if the swap is easy, then see how the ride is impacted.

While you're here, any thoughts/plans/interest in 2G or 3G Tacoma rear bumpers? I'm guessing the market is saturated but it seems you have some nice FJ options in the back?

 

Aluminum bumper vs big pine tree at a decent speed. I'm sure steel would have held up better but would have transferred more energy into the frame and rest of the truck. I only needed new fender and light (and spindle, but that broke first and caused the rest to happen)

 

We have it on our list of things to complete. Should have something to show soon.