ARB Bumper and Smittybilt Winch vs. Stock Suspension

Planning on installing a new bumper and winch on my 2014 stock access cab.
The ARB weighs in at 240lbs and the winch at 85lbs.

Any tips on some proactive suspension work to accommodate? Not looking to turn my baby into any kind of rock hopper any time soon. Just looking to not throw off my balance too much and maybe make some trail and forest road travel a little smoother.

 

Where are you getting that weight for the arb? That seems excessively high.

 

^What he said. That 240 lbs must include the winch. ARB dry weight is like 175 lbs

Call @HeadStrong Off-Road and they will answer your questions OP

 

Seemed high to me as well. That is what is listed as the shipping weight. A quick online forum search gives me weight anywhere from 90-160.

 

So lets call it 250lbs. Any upgrade needed?

 

It’s closer to 160 lb for the bumper. 85 lb for the winch. It will make your front end sag on stock suspension. You could always install the bumper then upgrade suspension by getting stiffer coils and adjustable shocks as you see fit. I’d steer away from spacers if you go off road frequently.

 

My truck came with the ARB bumper(no winch) on it with stock suspension. It rode fine, but I lived in the mountains so it felt like a sloshy boat on the winding roads.

I'd recommend adjustable Bilstein 5100s and Eibach coils for an inexpensive beefier suspension.

 

I’d definitely upgrade. I was running a lower weight coil, and when I upgraded it was a night and day difference with how well it handled the weight. I agree with @Sandman614 that the eibach coils would be a great solution, when paired with the bilstein 5100 on 0. You’ll only get like 1” of life or so, but it’s a 620 lb coil.

 

FWIW, the last time I checked the ARB rang in around 175ish so you may be looking at the ship weight. Now that isn't to say that something hasn't changed but I thought I would at least throw that out there since it is different then I remember and could at least be worth double checking. If you have questions about suspensions feel free to PM me too and I will do what I can to help you out

 

Thank you so much for your recommendation @honda50r we truly appreciate it !

 

I have the ARB with steel line SB winch on OME springs and shocks. Still sags

 

time for synthetic!

 

I wish, too poor haha

 

An ARB bumper net weight difference on my 2013 was 131lbs. I weighed the bumper, mounts and hardware prior to installing and weighed what was removed to obtain the 131lb difference. Add the winch weight on top of that.

 

Thanks for all the advice! And thanks to vssman for doing the math that I got too excited to do before putting the bumper on. Not sure if it would have been too precise anyway as a lot of my front end was scattered across the road after a run in with a suicidal deer. All this is new to me so was wondering as well if it was worth it to buy the bilstein 5100 kit for the front and rear or will I not need the rear?

 

If you lift the front you'll want the rear. Even if you get stock height out of some 5100s up front you'll want matching shocks in the rear. It'll make it handle better.

 

Possibly my last noob question (on this thread at least). What size coils should I be looking at? I will eventually want to lift the truck a bit when I go with some beefier tires in about 40k miles but for now I don't plan on lifting at all, just keeping the front end from sagging. Should I just wait until the new tires and the lift for new coils? Will the stock do what they need to do for a few years without hurting the 5100's?

 

Don't band-aid it.. If you want to lift then lift it.

 

So what are the cons of leaving the stock coils with the new 5100's if I don't want to lift it just yet?

 

You might as well leave it stock for now. I don’t think the benefits of doing the shocks alone will make the ride that much better. The springs are what keep it from sagging. Lots of people on my neck of the woods drive around stock with the ARB bumper. If time/labor is not an issue, you could always install the bumper then see how you feel about it. My second thought is that you can easily waste a ton of $$ on suspension over the years if you don’t focus in on what you want. Better to have a long term goal, save up, and get the complete set up as you want it. Good luck OP.