Deer Trouble

I live in South Carolina. I have a 2022 TRD Pro. Anyone know where I can get a steel tube bumper/grill/lighting guard with rubber bushings for mounting to frame of vehicle? I'm thinking that the rubber bushings will absorb some of the impact. Toyota is the only place that came close except, they don't have the rubber mounting bushings.

 

What Toyota bumper are you taking about?

I don’t know any real steel plate bumpers that don’t hard mount directly to the frame, and that is what you want, with full hoops, to protect against deer

 

I want to get an accessory. I think that's the best way to put it. It will go in front of the truck to protect against deer damage. As far as hard mounting it to the frame, yeah that's what I want. I want it bolted to the frame but I've got to have rubber bushings around the bolt to absorb some of the impact so that there's less risk of frame damage. Toyota has the accessory I'm looking for but no bushings to absorb shock. That's the tough part. Any further ideas?

 

Look on McMaster-Carr for “rubber bumpers” and see if that’s what you’re looking for.

But I can’t imagine what you’re trying to do would actually make any difference.

 

If you're hitting a deer hard enough to cause frame damage rubber bushings aren't going to do anything to help you.

If you want some actual protection get a real steel bumper that bolts to the frame, not a Toyota brush guard that'll just smash itself back into the bumper, grill, and hood when you do eventually need it to protect you.

To protect the frame from damage (not that a deer is really going to bend your frame) you'll need to use something like this that adds strength at the bumper-to-frame connection: https://c4fabrication.com/products/...cNnl-tWQiSDbY4dDlq0Atkov9h_H0ETuZwRetk0Zc-NDm

 

Get an Australian steel bumper. Cant remember the name right now. I can't see a deer damaging your steel frame.

 

A rubber bushing isn’t going to help in this situation.

 

ARB has the best aftermarket bumper which is one of the very few that are designed to work with the crash impact systems of the truck. Ironman has one.
All others will cause more damage to the truck.

 

Arb

 

ARB bumpers are the only crash/impact tested aftermarket bumpers available to my knowledge.

 

Fellow SC guy here, buy once cry once and get a steel bumper. I hit a deer with my 07 Tacoma and it destroyed a coilover, lower control arm, bent spindle, torn CV boot, crushed factory bumper cover, and more... 6 months later I hit a bigger deer with an ARB bumper and it bounced it into the woods. Truck had zero damage.

 

ARB bumper

 

Rubber bushings won't do shit, you'll need some old tires strapped across the front of your truck.

 

My experience is they usually attack you from the side to commit suicide. If they're in front you can usually see and avoid em.

 

This C4 support bracket is for pulling, not for a collision.

 

No shit man. This'll still give more protection than some rubber bushings.

 

Sorta, the problem with big steel bumpers directly mounted to the frame is all of that energy is the transfered to the frame putting it at much higher risk of damage.

As far as I know ARB is the only bumper that offers a lighter boxed section that will act as a crumple zone in the event of a collision. Thst in turn allowed them to make it a crash rated bumper

My 2 cents is prevent the impact before it happens I increased my lighting set up with h9 bulbs wide angled fogs and good ditch lights. I drive a ton of back roads with heavy tree cover at night and those ditch lights have saved my bacon more times than I would care to admit. Just don't run them on main highways and obviously turn them off the second you see oncoming traffic and so far I have had no issues. When I inevitably do get stopped for it I'll take the ticket as it's cheaper than hitting another deer like I did with my old ranger.

 

To be clear, my mention of the C4 bracket was not intended as an endorsement for any sort of crash protection or a way to prevent frame damage. Its just the first thing that came to mind that was better than rubber bushings on a crash bar like the OP seems to want. The ARB bumper is a good idea for sure since it has the crumple zone you mention.

In my experience deer tend to hit me from the side. I live in SC and those things are all over the place down here. Anyhow I highly doubt a whitetail, even a big one, making contact with a steel plate bumper is going to cause any frame damage.

 

Sounds like thr first of 3 deer that my ranger met. Middle of the day buddy is saying deer I'm looking forward in the ditches see nothing just to find out it's running next to us and takes a hard right into the drivers door. Not much can be done in those situations.

I can confirm a 150lb deer at 100km will cause frame damage even with a full crumple zone intact.

I was originally going to fix this truck and keep it untill I found out the entire drivers side was shifted back about 2"

 

Might as well go full tug.