Armor Front bumper

[TacoBori]

With weight always being the enemy of any vehicle, is it worth going aluminum on the front bumper vs steel? Do you sacrifice much strength say for a jacking point or to attach a wintch?

 

[ShikyoX]

With weight always being the enemy of any vehicle, is it worth going aluminum on the front bumper vs steel? Do you sacrifice much strength say for a jacking point or to attach a wintch?

Thats good question .
for the most part the aluminum bumpers will be fine for a jacking point and for wincing aluminum can be strong and the rule of thumb is it has to be double the thickness as steel in order to achieve equal strength , whether or not these company's are following rule of thumb beats me . It is the thing holding me back on that very topic ! I need to see close up in person.

 

[mh.meier]

Our aluminum bumpers are a combo of 1/4" and 3/16" and are more than strong enough to winch and use to jack. The real issue between strength comes to impact most of the time as steel and aluminum transfer vibration differently. Aluminum absorbs it and tends to crumple but transfers much less to the frame and vehicle where steel is a little different. It is going to dent less but will transfer a lot of the impact to the frame and vehicle. Steel is also much more easy to work with, IE if you dent it you can normally pull it out but with aluminum it tends to crumple and typically stays dented. The amount of weight you save should be proportionate to what you do with the truck. Rock crawling is better suited to steel while "overland/camping" is better suited normally to the aluminum.

 

[mcharfauros]

I’m staying tuned to this thread, since I’m in the market for a bumper. There’s guys runnin’ “light bars with no lockers”, and winch bumpers with no winch, it looks like I’m the guy with a winch and no bumper. I Pulled the trigger on a Warn Zeon 10k, going on a theory that if I get into some shit the truck can’t handle, I now have a winch more than capable of doing the job. Going over multiple options, I went with the US made Warn Zeon choosing quality, reliability, and serviceability over price. Lifetime warranty, sign me up.

 

[TacoBori]

Our aluminum bumpers are a combo of 1/4" and 3/16" and are more than strong enough to winch and use to jack. The real issue between strength comes to impact most of the time as steel and aluminum transfer vibration differently. Aluminum absorbs it and tends to crumple but transfers much less to the frame and vehicle where steel is a little different. It is going to dent less but will transfer a lot of the impact to the frame and vehicle. Steel is also much more easy to work with, IE if you dent it you can normally pull it out but with aluminum it tends to crumple and typically stays dented. The amount of weight you save should be proportionate to what you do with the truck. Rock crawling is better suited to steel while "overland/camping" is better suited normally to the aluminum.

Thank you for a great answer

 

[mh.meier]

I’m staying tuned to this thread, since I’m in the market for a bumper. There’s guys runnin’ “light bars with no lockers”, and winch bumpers with no winch, it looks like I’m the guy with a winch and no bumper. I Pulled the trigger on a Warn Zeon 10k, going on a theory that if I get into some shit the truck can’t handle, I now have a winch more than capable of doing the job. Going over multiple options, I went with the US made Warn Zeon choosing quality, reliability, and serviceability over price. Lifetime warranty, sign me up.

A great winch! The ZEON series really has some awesome technology put into it and has a much better "water-proofing" than most other winches including their VR and M series winches.

 

[mh.meier]

Thank you for a great answer

Absolutely! I figure that is what us vendors are on here for. Selling stuff is great but being able to pass along the knowledge we pick up is also something I very much enjoy.

 

[Taco_primo]

I went bumperless to save weight and a clean look.

CBI hidden winch mount and a Smittybilt X20 10k synthetic.

 

[Jay]

I went bumperless to save weight and a clean look.

CBI hidden winch mount and a Smittybilt X20 10k synthet

looks killer brother

 

[Taco_primo]

looks killer brother

Why thank you good sir.

 

[951_yota]

I went bumperless to save weight and a clean look.

CBI hidden winch mount and a Smittybilt X20 10k synthetic.

Those are such a great option along with sso and sos concepts two streamline bumpers like the one i have. 60lbs is all it weighs full steel. I pulled trigger in Pelfreybilts aluminum bumper to shave weigh as i noticed a huge difference in take off speed when i switched from steel skids to aluminum. It all does add up. I too will be adding a winch and they are heavy as all hell combined with larger battery. Luckily im already running heavy springs

 

[Taco_primo]

Those are such a great option along with sso and sos concepts two streamline bumpers like the one i have. 60lbs is all it weighs full steel. I pulled trigger in Pelfreybilts aluminum bumper to shave weigh as i noticed a huge difference in take off speed when i switched from steal skids to aluminum. It all does add up. I too will be adding a winch and they are heavy as all hell combined with larger battery. Luckily im already running heavy springs

Yeah I am running OME medium springs....I will go heavy later down the road.

 

[mh.meier]

Hidden winch mounts are a great way to add self recovery with less weight (depending as our aluminum full front is about 65# so not much more than a hidden winch mount) and less profile (and typically significantly less expensive haha!)