Bumper, keep my BSM

Man, I read through this whole thread and feel like I learned something, but I also feel dumber. Agree with the thought that it is a compromise between saving the truck or the passengers.

Anyway, interested in the outcome. Although I don't find the BSM particularly useful, someone else might if they drive my truck. I too have the fear of ripping my bumper off, but so far it has held up just fine.

Personally, I'd likely go with a full steel replacement bumper, but I'd wait until I actually damaged the OEM bumper. Keeping the BSM would be preferable, but I don't even use it. Any kind of caging seems to be a guess as to whether it would hurt or help in either a life or property damage situation. And if I did it, it would look like crap.

OP, if you can HiLift from whatever you build, I'd say it is strong enough to protect the bumper from trail damage.

 

Again, not a fabricator, but would it be possible to "thin" the metal in the rear corners of the bumper to something equivalent to the stock bumper for the BSM to sense through? Versus cutting a hole. I feel like cutting a hole for the sensor to get a good read should work, but was wondering if having the thinner metal for aesthetics would work as well. Depends on if form follows function or vice-versa for you.

 

As for cutting the bumper for the sensor and still keeping aesthetics, I thought this Warn bumper could do the trick. Not what I would want personally, as I'd prefer the rear panel protection that a high clearance bumper allows.

 

The entire corner of the stock bumper is plastic as per here:



This allows for an unobstructed radar pattern... If anything solid gets in the way, it will set off the BSM. Anyone?

 

What about the chrome bumpers? I'm genuinely asking and not trying to stir anything up.

 

Either they have chrome colored plastic or they don't have BSM.

 

They're not chrome, they're plastic.

I'm curious where on your perspective on larger tires comes from. I run 33s to INCREASE passenger safety and offroad capability. Rollover risk is the only substantial detriment I can think of.

 

You know - drag you bumper on to steep of a departure angle. The OE bumper will not handle that.

 

Our shitty stock bumpers are made to comply with higher fuel efficiency stds (less weight, saves mpg's) and also to comply with safer collisions with pedestrians/cyclists. I have no clue what you're going on about. Cage for the sensor? Yeah do that, then make a little miniature blanket and pillow for it.

If you are trying to spare the occupants from serious injury I don't think the bumpers "crumple zone" is going to make that big of a difference. The stock trailer hitch and front crash bar are going to do the same shit as any heavy ass aftermarket bumper would...fold the frames crumple zone and or deploy the airbags. The only difference with steel off road bumpers is, now you can actually off road your truck without annihilating all that plastic bull shit.

Yeah dude, have a beer, make some sketches, cut some cardboard , mock it up, and start welding up some bumpers, relax. You don't need to calculate trajectories for sending a rover to Mars.

 

You can just mount the BSM externally. Just water seal the connectors.

 

Wonder why C4 quit doing the BSM bumpers? Sensor might be too finicky and they were getting a lot of calls about the sensor failing.

 

They dont want to be in line when someone sues that they got into an accident and BSM didnt work.

 

That makes sense.

 

Can't find any without BSM

Place your head on a steel bar, then have a friend hit the steel bar with a sledge hammer 3 ft away.
Now place your head on a mattress and have your friend hit it 3 ft away. Big difference to how many teeth you have left. And how much impact the alignment screws take that are holding the BSM sensor.
My theory is they're falling out of alignment on regular potholes day in day out. Because all the force is transmitted directly to the sensor instead of deflecting because the bumper is plastic.

Right, the impulse. And the plastic bumper will again do nothing, but you'll have more dwell on a piece of 150# steel, less impulse, less decell. It's also basically decoupled because humans are attached to seats which are decoupled from the seat belts which are decoupled from the airbag which is decoupled from the frame. It's a huge rediculous vibrational analysis involving 150 different masses and spring ratios and shock absorbers. Fck that. The plastic bumper is insignificant overall.

Thanks, that's what I'm thinking since no one who knows better is saying anything haha.

Don't know how bigger tires increases safety. The 1.5 inches for increased rollover risk are also negligible imo. Its a linear equation, offset if you have a wider tire. Offroad capability is a no brainer.
I would have gone with 33's if they weren't twice as expensive as the very next size down, which I got.

The problem is when you want to run 33's that aren't pizza cutters, need to chop the cab mount, which is there to prevent the tires from saying hi to your kneecaps in a collision.

 

Do a trip calculation with the different cg your larger tres give you. Of.course it will roll easier.
Final thought on steel versus stock bumper.

Build a steel tube cage, strap in and get dropped from 20 ft. Now build a foam and corrugated cardboard cage, get in and get dropped from 20 ft. Which cage will get destroyed? Which cage will destroy.you?

Good.luck and have fun with it.

 

Just did more math, I've never been 4% from a rollover in my life. And, as I said, if his tires end up being wider that will offset the increased rollover chance and may in fact decrease it.

The quarter inch of foam won't do anything lol. And the cage will absorb some impact, Then the foam that's still there will do its nothing on top.

Don't see how we can still disagree that helmets with a hard shell and foam inside protect less than just foam.

 

To bad Toyota did not put the sensors in the tail light housings . then we could keep BSM and install good bumpers .

 

I’m no scientist, but i’m damn sure that’s not how it works.
Besides, they used to put these sensors in factory steel bumpers (f250’s) and i saw plenty of them dented with the sensors still intact.
As far as i’m aware these sensors just clip in, there’s no alignment screws. It faces whichever way the opening faces

Plus, the tires and suspension are what absorb the impact from a pothole — what force is left is transferred to the entire chassis, as a /whole/ — it’s not like the bumpers moving separately

 

Are you talking about the parking sensors in steel bumpers? I.e. the sensors that sit flush on the exterior? BSM is a brick looking thing behind the bumper cap and is mounted by 3 fasteners.

 

That's literally how it works. Every part of the chassis is made up of different materials, thicknesses, fasteners, different fasteners, welds, etc. Nothing moves perfectly rigidly. Part of the reason alot of people even have tacomas is the frame flexing for Offroad.
The bumper is made up of plastic. If you hit one end of plastic it transfers that vibration to the sensor alot more gently than attaching it to steel. I'm talking about the impulse here, very specific term. Also the thing that kills people in crashes.

If you've ever hit a pothole where your tires and suspension absorbed everything and you didn't feel a thing, please tell me where to buy your magic shocks. Your also sitting on a mattress (seat) compared to your sensors (bar).

If you are in fact talking about the BSM and not the park sensors, I admit I don't know how they attach. I only know they fall out of alignment, and it costs a shit ton for the dealer to fix. Which means there's some way they can fall out of alignment. And it's never a good idea to violently shake something that costs alot to align.