Winch bumper thoughts

I'd only believe it if I heard it coming from an engineer himself. I give the engineers more credit than that and I believe the system is alot more complex than everything believes it is.

Regardless.....as I mentioned earlier, anyone who is concerned about safety and airbags - should consider the ramifications of installing an aftermarket bumper. I don't think anyone truely knows (for certain) how the truck and airbags will function with an aftermarket bumper in any given situation.

 

Why does everything have to be more complex? It is actually pretty simple really, as it should be, less things to go wrong.

 

A solid steel bumper will not crumple like the OE aluminum will. This means a quicker deceleration on an impact. This means the airbags will deploy more easily with the steel bumper, since they go off based on how much deceleration the crash has.
This is just basic physics. They MAKE the truck crumple to take up the impact before it reaches the passengers so the deceleration is lower and your spleen doesn't explode.

 

They will always deploy when the set amount of g-forces has been reached, doesn't matter if you have one made of cardboard or one made of steel, yes they will go off with a smaller impact when you have a steel bumper since it won't absorb as much force, but they will still go off at the right time.

 

I have a Relentless and it has an extra bracket and mounting bolts just for that reason.

 

TW member Bulhaus had his Demello deform from winching

 

Ah yes, back to the original topic.

 

the renentless bumper is a very strong recovery bumper. u just have to deal with all of the issues of this manufacturer. after powder coating, u can see all the grinding marks and the pitts in the welding. embarrissing when your friends point out these obvious defects. mine is also approx 1/2-3/4 out of square.

 

I am kind of having a hard time finding a bumper that really fits my needs.

I want a strong winch mount, but an overall lightweight bumper. I don't need 1/4" steel plate on the entire thing. I am just not planning on crashing through any abandoned buildings.

Ideally I would just use a hidden winch mount under the stock plastic bumper, but I still do want the improved approach angle given by all the plate bumpers (bottom of my bumper is getting pretty torn up). Any suggestions.

 

CBI is great. I love my rear and sliders from them, got them in 3 weeks, plus their customer service was fantastic.

 

You could look into a hybrid style bumper. Better approach angles, winch capable, and lighter than a plate bumper.
I just ordered one from Brute Force Fab, they are bad ass

 

Also, they make alot of custom stuff.

 

All Pro APEX or Bruteforce plain and simple. IMO

 

Brute force does make a nice hybrid. ATO makes one as well, not sure what their lead time is though.

 

We use a 1/2in bolt on each side to secure it to the frame along with the 4 on the front of the frame. Everything has it's breaking point, it's a fine line of over built and weighing a ton and under built and falling off the truck. We are always looking for way to improved our bumpers and products, while still maintaining the lowest weight possible and keeping the strength high. We actually just changed the ends of our Tacoma bumpers on the last batch to make the ends of the bumpers stronger and follow the body lines of the truck better.

The bumper on my 4runner is the older design bumper (very similar to the Tacoma bumper in strength) I've used it multiple times winching and never had an issue with it coming loose or breaking anything.

Were actually going to be replacing it soon with a aluminum version to save weight.

 

Good to hear

 

This bumper mounts from the sides as well with a 9/16 F911 bolt going through a 1/2" thick sleeve welded to the frame that has been gusseted as well. Not going to have any issues with this bumper tearing off. At least not on my truck.

 

I like the new Apex except that they started using heavier steel. I wonder if I could get them to build a 10g version.

 

Nice! That's good info.

 

do any of the bumper manufactures use 1/4" for the entire bumper? I though that was just for the frame and winch mount areas...

like others have said, maybe hybrid or an aluminum one?