mount gear to front bumper?

Anyone done this?

 

Looks like a great utilization of space.

but if it gets into a car crash I see it as a massive flying-liability-metal-stick just begging to impale someone.

Street = no
Off-road = mabey

 

I was thinking about mounting my shovel to my bumper for an adventure trail camping trip and then taking it back off. I feel a little like a poser but it would sure help with space. It's the shovel for digging a hole to squat. I haven't decided. Well see.

 

I thinks that's a decent place to mount a jack. I'll probably mount ours at that location when we get our bumper.

 

I've seen a lot of jeeps that did this over the years; some of the things I've seen or heard -

If you live in a rust belt, it will get pelted with salt spray over winter; then when you go to use it, it will be rusted on to it's mount, or even itself seized up and/or rotted parts. Of course it may do this if mounted externally anywhere; I've seen plenty of rusty jacks and shovels on the backs of jeeps too.

If you wheel in muddy areas, it will get caked with mud; that mud will dry; then when you go to use the jack it's going to be a huge pita to chip all the caked mud off.

It will likely become a bug target; so when you go to use it, it will probably be caked in dead bugs. Probably not a big deal, hijacks are usually worst case scenario/emergency use kind of thing anyways. I always recommend using a traditional jack whenever possible.

If on the hood, it will probably whistle as you're going down the road (or other wind turbulence noise).

In a crash, it could become a projectile. I've known one instance where someone had it mounted on their hood, one of the mounts broke, and the jack swung in and cracked their windshield.

And of course the fun one... some Karen will see it and think you've mounted an "assault rifle" on your hood and call the cops, LOL. I've heard that story before, but not sure if it was fabricated or not.

Of course on the upside, it's convenient from the storage perspective, and it looks expoaf.

 

woah. Very valuable post here. Thanks. You’ve changed my mind for the practical reasons you have shared!

Greg

 

technically for that purpose Walmart Ozark trail brand has a tiny handheld folding shovel. I think a big shovel is more for digging in a recovery situation

Damn these are all good points not to.
I know Hi Lift makes a Jack boot. I’m not sure if it covers enough to protect important parts of the Jack. But crap will still get in. And treating it as a part of the truck during a car wash is just gonna expose it to things it wouldn’t be where I have it in the bed right now.

It actually isn’t what takes up the most space, and what I kept/didn’t put in storage.

more of the awkward stuff I put in storage and ran out of room for was:

-axe
-Krazy beaver shovel
-badlands off road Jack
-cheap knockoff traction boards

I probably need to figure out how to make mounts like this for the shell

no idea how the guy water sealed the new bolts after drilling in for exterior T slot rails (I imagine this drills in through the frame, big rubber seal, and maybe shell fiberglass as well)



The interior one looks simpler
Brackets to mount on existing inside screws, and mesh panel of the right size (likely mounted towards front instead to allow access for window opening by hand)



big badland off road Jack there’s probably no better way than on a roof rack or mounted vertically to the rear on a swingout, either bare and locked up or in a wrap case thatd have to be custom made since HFT doesn’t make one now

or, given their Jack is similar to Pro Eagle that’s been around with products longer, their cover would likely fit

 

You probably can't buy one of these today. Same concept.

 

I don't want anything on the front of my truck that weighs that much in the event of a wreck. It also messes with your vision over the hood.

 

I seen a guy use a trunk mount bike rack on the hood of his tacoma with the bike mounted on the front of the truck. I thought it was a cool idea.

 

I broke one of those pretty much instantly on the last trip. This time I took a normal shovel (an extra one I had on the wall) and cut it down into a camp shovel. Strong and free which ticks all the boxes for me. But I honestly don't think I'm going to put it in the front.

 

My only thought is you’re just adding more weight to the front of your truck. Between the ARB bumper add a winch it’s gonna be a bit much. There are tons of pics with HiLifts mounted in the bed.

I did this on a Saturday afternoon real quick and cheap.

 

I have a 60” in the bed on flipped upside down RCI mounts to clear a platform. but the more room in the bed for other things the better.

I might keep the hi lift there but definitely going to be looking up creative cheap solutions to store other stuff like jack and traction boards.

traction boards I might try overhead rear cab seats like I saw a guy do on a Jeep forum using ball end Home Depot bungees to the grab handles

 

Bungees are the devil, especially at head height. See also pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov or the American Academy of Ophthalmology (aaojournal.org) and bungees/ocular injuries. I still keep a couple on hand but rarely use them; the black rubber ones seem to be more dangerous (they're typically stronger) while the other style seems to break more often. If you are going to use them, inspect them regularly and discard at the first sign of wear or damage and wear safety glasses. Just my two cents worth after a couple decades working EMS.

 

Leave it to the Russians to go making even more badass trucks