MOVE DIY Front Winch Bumper

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NightMares

NightMares

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For now the N-Fab rear runner accompanies the TireGate pretty well in my opinion, so for a while that's how it'll stay. In the future I'm planning on having Fusion build a rear, only it will have a fairlead slot where the license plate is. License plate is already relocated to the Smittybilt I Rack. I'll put a matching 12k Engo synthetic winch where the spare tire is supposed to go and have a rear winch setup. I'm also going to have Fusion incorporate steps in the ends of the bumper like the Premium line from FabFours.

This will happen in the far future as I have other projects I want to focus on with the truck, like bumping to 7" lift, 37" Trepadors, and trussing my axles.

Fusion

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Steps from FabFours

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License plate relocation

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Bubs

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Truck is looking good

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Stangshcky12

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Talking to some guys about Move bumpers they insist that Move will tell you that their bumpers needed to be reinforced before they can be useable, was anything ever mentioned to you? One said the plans for his said across the top that modifications need to made to use the winch.
Just seems odd to me that no where on their site mentions that their bumpers sold with a winch mount are not in fact winch ready. Especially since you seemed to talk to them quite a bit before purchasing your bumper about your plans for it.
 
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NightMares

NightMares

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Talking to some guys about Move bumpers they insist that Move will tell you that their bumpers needed to be reinforced before they can be useable, was anything ever mentioned to you? One said the plans for his said across the top that modifications need to made to use the winch.
Just seems odd to me that no where on their site mentions that their bumpers sold with a winch mount are not in fact winch ready. Especially since you seemed to talk to them quite a bit before purchasing your bumper about your plans for it.
Nothing was ever mentioned to me about reinforcement for it by them. In fact the guy I talked to after everything happened (not Lacey) basically told me because my weld broke on the passenger side, it tells him it was my fabricating skills that caused it to fail, not their design. Basically it weakened it is what he tried to play it off as.

Regardless, i was questioning it before it even failed and looking into others right after I finished it. If i would have kept it, it would have been reinforced along with other add on's, such as a full engine skid plate and more. Unfortunately, it didn't last to see its makeover. As I stated earlier here, at least for the 2nd gens (as I'm not sure how the brackets are for other model trucks) a universal 1/4 inch winch plate welded to the top of the brackets and then welded to the face of the bumper, along with some 1/4 reinforcement on the outer parts of the brackets to the wings should more than suffice. The main failure of it was a combination of the winch plate and mounting brackets being 3/16 steel which isn't thick enough to support the load of a winch. 1/4 plates should solve that, although I'll never take credit for this advice due to the fact that it still has the potential to fail regarding inadequate material.

But all things a happen for a reason. If it didn't fail when it did i wouldn't have what I do now. I'm completely happy with the fusion and I'll never look back.
 

carlt2000

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First off I'd like to thank you for this detailed review of the MOVE bumper. I just received my front MOVE bumper yesterday, and I'm waiting for the rear to arrive soon.

With the amount of pictures and descriptions you've given, it sure has helped me with questions I have had.

I wanted to point out a couple things for anyone else who is also reading this thread as far as the MOVE bumpers are concerned.

I'm assuming that between the time that you built your bumper and the time that I ordered mine, MOVE might have changed some things.

This is a quote straight form their website now when you are going through the build process and click on the question mark next to "Include Offroad Upgrade".

The offroad upgrade features 1/4" center, 1/4" frame mounts and larger clevis hooks

Our offroad with winch mount also includes 1/4" winch mounting plate

The way I read that, it looks like they have upgrade the areas that you had mentioned were weak, such as the center section, the winch mount and the clevis hooks.

I have measured and confirmed that my center section is 1/4" and the winch plate is 1/4", the wing sections are 3/16", and the clevis hooks are 1/2"

And it also comes with a half-ass manual, which it does have highlighted in there stating that it is the fabricators responsibility to reinforce the bumper, so kind of takes the liability for failures off of them unfortunately.

So it looks like it's just one of those things that can't be rushed, and more steel the better!

:word:
 
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NightMares

NightMares

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First off I'd like to thank you for this detailed review of the MOVE bumper. I just received my front MOVE bumper yesterday, and I'm waiting for the rear to arrive soon.

With the amount of pictures and descriptions you've given, it sure has helped me with questions I have had.

I wanted to point out a couple things for anyone else who is also reading this thread as far as the MOVE bumpers are concerned.

I'm assuming that between the time that you built your bumper and the time that I ordered mine, MOVE might have changed some things.

This is a quote straight form their website now when you are going through the build process and click on the question mark next to "Include Offroad Upgrade".



The way I read that, it looks like they have upgrade the areas that you had mentioned were weak, such as the center section, the winch mount and the clevis hooks.

I have measured and confirmed that my center section is 1/4" and the winch plate is 1/4", the wing sections are 3/16", and the clevis hooks are 1/2"

And it also comes with a half-ass manual, which it does have highlighted in there stating that it is the fabricators responsibility to reinforce the bumper, so kind of takes the liability for failures off of them unfortunately.

So it looks like it's just one of those things that can't be rushed, and more steel the better!

:word:

I don't doubt that they've stepped it up as far as structure goes. I also received a reply from MOVE on Instagram when I stated they refused to take care of me after my failure, that they now have a fine print stating that it's the builder's responsibility to reinforce the bumper for heavy winch use. They did not reply when I asked why it's the consumer's responsibility to reinforce the bumper that's designed to house a winch, and why they can't supply the material themselves since it's obviously a fault in their product.

As I've stated before on this thread, I'm not bagging on MOVE. I'm disappointed in the customer service I received after the failure, but I'm one failure out of several thousand happy consumers, so my voice is obviously shut out, and it is my fault for believing a DIY bumper made 100% of 3/16 steel was suitable for off road use. I'd still recommend them to those on a budget, however I will never personally recommend them for those wanting to use a winch with wheeling in mind.

I did highly consider going back to them for my rear bumper, as since I've last posted in this thread I've done some modifications to my truck that put me in a situation where a standard bumper will not work out, and I was looking to have to purchase and do modifications after receiving it. Just seemed easier to build it starting with MOVE and making my own modifications, but let's face it. I'm lazy.

I called around to several companies, including Fusion, regarding getting a custom rear bumper built, and I've finally found a somewhat local company to build it for me.

Come February I'm dropping the truck off in Spokane, Washington, to have FlyFab build my new rear bumper. They offered to build it, including my ideas and designs, for $1300 compared to next best price of $1800 from Fusion and it not including everything I wanted.

Essentially, I did what's called a "Comp Cut" which is the removal of the lower portion of the truck behind the rear wheel well. I came down off a drop and smashed my tailpipe into the lower section of the bedside, which required me to first cut off the tip, then it looked goofy having a radius from the damage done by the exhaust. I had thought about cutting it for a long time, after that happened it just seemed appropriate that I finally pull the trigger.

FlyFab is building me a high clearance bumper matching the height of the Fusion, along with tail light guards and bedside guards, rear winch mount where the spare tire was located, Dually slots for lights, driver side recessed step for a ladder I'm going to build for my All Pro Pack Rack, and passenger side 3.5" hole for my tailpipe to come out so I don't smash it again.

This is what the truck looks like now in the rear. I did trim and reinstall the N-Fab Rear Runner so it didn't completely look like something's missing, but the spare tire drowns it out.

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This is what I sent to FlyFab showing what design I wanted.

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Oh, and just for a chits n giggles update, I'm still using and abusing the Fusion with ZERO issues.

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carlt2000

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About every other sentence in their instructions now says highlighted in yellow "IT IS THE FABRICATORS RESPONSIBILITY TO REINFORCE THE BUMPER, MOVE HOLDS NO LIABILITY".

I agree with you, they should at least offer reinforcement options with the kit.

Here's how I reinforced my front bumper, after I took that picture I also added gussets from the top of the bumper to the frame mounts.

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NightMares

NightMares

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Yeah, I don't think I'll be purchasing their products again. I've thought about it for my rear bumper, and I've though about it for my Bronco, but it's not worth it to me.

Like I said before. They're better than stock bumpers. They could handle off road with a winch if reinforced. But they've lost my respect as a company due to their refusal to take ANY sort of responsibility, and then continue to tell me it was my fault even AFTER they acknowledged the bumpers need reinforced.
 
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