Keystone State Thread

I hope that’s a good “last day on the job”. Best of luck to ya, and hope to see ya on Microsoft. But where do ya store ya med/first aid kits? I know some people have molle racks and others have some sort of hanging off the back of the chair thing. Looking through ya build thread random question: what size are your running boards? 3”?

 

@TinyTech626 looking for a fire ext. too carry in the truck. Whacha recommend?

 

What would you change to make it more appealing?

 

@Redmann happy birthday buddy. Hope you have a great day.

 

Good morning, Has anyone done the ecgs needle bearing swap to there truck?

 

Happy Birthday @Redmann

 

Dealer did mine when I lifted truck

 

Again, opinions are like assholes.

I don't like the winch fairlead on the angled area. I really wish someone had one that went straight across the grill like the ARB but didn't stick out so fucking far. I like the look of the ARB from the front but really don't like it from the side.

I feel like a straight across cut would let you still fit a lightbar in the flat, but also let the winch move up onto the flat portion as well. It would also offer some more protection to putting a deer through the grill.

 

I can also recommend Fusion 360. It is very intuitive and very powerful. I just started using it last month. In 2015 I found a product called 123Design. It was free and awesome. It stopped being supported about two years ago. Found out it was by the same company as F360, Autodesk.

I currently just started the 'start up license' for persons or businesses that make under 100k per year, should be good for a year with y to y after that. You can use it for free for thirty days before having to go for the yearly.

 

Understood. I appreciate the feedback. I don’t want to sound defensive, but in the interest of continuing the dialogue, I responded to a few of these items below.

You mean you’d like the bumper to not follow the bottom outline of the grille, but to just go straight across? I think there are a few bumpers that do this. I assumed it was to simplify the manufacturing not necessarily for style or function. Good to know that some people dig that style.

Any particular reason? A lot of bumpers do this.

Looking at it purely from a finctional view, I wouldn’t personally want to move the winch up. We nested the winch as far down between the frame rails as we could. This limits the bending moment on the frame. The higher you move the winch, the more torque is applied to the frame. I understand you aren’t a fan of the fairlead on the angled face, but I’d rather change the angle of that face than move the winch.

Would a hoop help for this as well?

Happy to hear opinions since we have a lot more bumpers to design. Thanks.

 

What are you trying to design? Every package excels at something different.

 

The lines broke because we used the same cutout that we did for the 2nd gen bumper and the line rubbed on the bumper. It didn’t break because of stress on the line from the angle of the bumper. Even with a flat opening, in practice you are almost never pulling straight on anyway. It’s really not an issue if we would have made the opening the right size on the first 3 bumpers we sold.

 

I'm not sure if you really should take my opinion seriously, since my truck is my DD and that is where I base my opinion. I can't decide whether I should get get a Slimline for looks and weight, or full bumper for IF I actually decide to take my DD on blue trails....
What I was talking about is this comparing to .
Yeah, pics are pretty horrible but it's whatever I found on here.
Anyways I know nothing about designing stuff, and apparently you had a reason to do it certain way, and since people like it why mess with it...

 

Happy birthday @Redmann

 

The size difference really was just a styling thing. I always felt like the 2nd gen bumper look wimpy so we made the 3rd gen bigger. It does make the corner stiffer and didn’t make it that much heavier. But it could in theory have been any size.

 

Yes, straight across the grill.

The winch line honestly gets harder to access in odd places, especially in a wet and wild situation, or any time you're nose down.

Your (and most 3rd gen bumpers) hoops still leave way too much open area for things to get into the grill. Maybe if some sort of additional grill protection was added but I'd be worried about the strength of a cross bar there.

 

I understand that you’re marketing bumpers to a lot of people who don’t know what is best, or who will not really do any serious off roading.

Regardless of stress in the line, the fair lead coming off the angled part is less than ideal to say the least.

On a third Gen, where approach angle is already compromised, you’re going to be dragging the fairlead over rocks. Which means you’ll be dragging the winch LINE over rocks.

Unless, of course, you use a flat link, or something of the sort. THEN, it’s only sticking down more, hindering approach angle even further.

I also understand the desire to put a spot for a light bar. If other companies are doing it, and customers want it (even it’s ridiculous) you have to give them what they want. I get it.

For anyone who’s going to be rock crawling though, even if they don’t realize it yet, they want the fairlead as high as possible. Period, no way around it.

Jame’s line, running over, and hooked to, the shackle is a problem waiting to happen at that angle.

Hell, I screwed up my winch line like that, and mine comes straight out the front. This is why I switched to a flat link.

I will say that your third Gen bumper LOOKS good IMHO

 

Does anybody want this? We used it all the time when we owned mini vans and station wagons. It has a soft foam bottom, and all of the strap hardware is plastic, but are all there. It is water resistant. Just come and get it!!

 

Boy do I feel silly answering about some styling whimpiness...
Opinions, lol

I was wondering what was an advantage of using flat link (or whatever else) over a hook, since you now need to use additional shackle.
And now I know

 

Soft shackles FTW