need a bumper for 3rd world, help

Hi a buddy of mine will be going over seas in a 3rd world country and he was wondering what bumper would be best for overall protection, but mainly for escape and evasion. Imagine you get into some crap in a dodgy african nation and had to push a toyota van out of your way and bounce off a couple small cars; what bumper would you guys want on the front of your taco?

Thanks in advance. He really needs some good recommendations. He was looking at ARB.

 

Don't have any personal experience but knew I came across an interesting thread. This might help! I thought it was pretty sweet.
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...xtreme-tacoma-build-guyana-south-america.html

 

Don't have a ton of first hand experience, but the ARB is designed for impact with animals, objects, etc. It is geared more towards expedition and protection than high clearance, recreational off road use. I am sure there are some other manufacturers out there, but from what I know and my previous experience with ARB, it would probably fit the bill as well or better than anything that isn't custom made.

 

That is definitely an interesting thread

 

If you are looking for protection then that version of the All-Pro plate bumper is not what your friend is looking for. The ARB is nice but (1) It has no recovery points (2) It's clearance is not that much better than a stock bumper.

From personal experience get a full one piece plate bumper with beefy headlight guards. My new bumper fixes all of the issues that my last bumper had. It's (1) stronger, (2) one-piece (3) better clearance for larger tires.

 

Just build one. I used 4x4x.25 square tube and .25" plate for most of my bumper. A bit heavier than I'd like, but oh well

 

sub'd. Diggin' that bumper MrGrimm.

 

being just a bit nitpicky, but the biggest problem with that AP from just looking at it is that the fairlead is at an angle. Your winch line is constantly dragging over the top of the fairlead.

With how much space there is, I would have liked to see a more squared off face with the option to mount the winch in the feet-forward position, which is the strongest possible placement for the winch (if you look from the side, feet first means winch is pulling forward instead of trying to rotate forward). It's a minor point and I have only seen one bumper actually allow for that option.


I very much agree on all Grimm's other technical points. Note also how Grimm's has cutouts for hi-lift usage and a large viewport for the winch line.

 

Any more input on a tough bumper that could push a vehicle if it had to?

 

Any of the one piece design bumpers should be fine

 

Any more bumper whizzes care to weigh in

 

ARB can handle the abuse as far as the bumper is concerned, but pushing a van out of the way and bouncing off of a few cars? That's going to take it's toll on the frame.

 

My ARB crushed the back of a Honda Accord & just got a few scratches.....this was around 20 mph.

 

Personally I'd add some dimple died 1/8 to the back of the wings of the ARB and maybe a little more bracing where I could. Then plate the crumple zones on the frame.

 

Brute force. You will win.

 

Frame come out alright?

 

Where at and how large are these crumple zones. Just curious

 

From descriptions of various folks installing their bumpers, ARB wins hands down, not so much in the construction of the bumper (granted it excels there) but in the amount and strength of the fastening of the bumper to the frame.

Relentless bumpers, for example, are beautiful and marvelous sturdy. But I watched Kevin have to loosen and realign it after a borderline tough "stuck" yank recovery.

Caveat - I'm giving you this advise as one of the guys still running a stock front bumper. It's the one piece of armor I don't feel I need for my intended usage. (skids, sliders, high clearance rear bumper etc...) which is much different than your friend's described usage.

 

I'd get any one-piece bumper
add as many gussets as possible
then gusset the shit out of your frame

 

Yup