Hit a Dog... Upgrade or Stay Stock?

[SilverStreak88]

As the title says, I hit a dog Friday night going to my land. It did a little bit of damage like throw my alignment way out, crack my sport bumper, broke my fog light and coat every bolt the protruded on the suspension with fur.

I've been thinking of a Ranch Hand full bumper for a while, but I love the look of my factory bumper and fogs. Wanted to see if folks think a HD bumper would be nice or get another sport overlay? I just wanted to get some opinions from folks about options.

 

[Space Monkey]

My opinion.. I think saying you hit a honey badger would have sounded cooler than a dog.. cuz a honey badger will f*** you up!!

On a serious note.. I feel bad for the dog cuz it could have belonged to a kid somewhere, but if you've been thinking about upgrading the bumper anyway.. might as well do it now.

 

[SilverStreak88]

My opinion.. I think saying you hit a honey badger would have sounded cooler than a dog.. cuz a honey badger will f*** you up!!

On a serious note.. I feel bad for the dog cuz it could have belonged to a kid somewhere, but if you've been thinking about upgrading the bumper anyway.. might as well do it now.

Trust me, I'm a big dog lover. I wasn't very happy about it and it happened out in the hill country at night and no houses for miles. I came across the top of a hill at 70+ and it was done before I could touch the brake.

I want the RH, but I'm afraid the weight would pull the 1/2 ton front suspension down to easily and wear out my springs and struts.

 

[Jimmy68]

Sounds like you need a cow catcher.

 

[SilverStreak88]

Sounds like you need a cow catcher.

That would've been ideal, I'm sure when I locked up the brakes the guy in the 4th Gen Cummins behind me **** his britches.

 

[ST-8]

I love dogs as much as the next, but if I have to choose hitting one at highway speeds or swerving out the way an probably crashing my ****... Sorry pup bout your luck.


But yes might as well upgrade now since you got an excuse

 

[SilverStreak88]

if I have to choose hitting one at highway speeds or swerving out the way an probably crashing my ****... Sorry pup bout your luck.[ /QUOTE]

Pretty much how I feel about the situation, any swerving and I would've rolled.

 

[SilverStreak88]

How many folks are running full RH bumpers on their 1/2 ton's? Wanting to know how much it'll pull the front end down.

 

[usaf2006]

Those things have to weigh quite a bit. I've been torn back and forth with lowering or lifting my truck due to different "toy" vehicles in the future. If I decide to lift it, I'm pretty sure I'm going with a pre-runner style bumper. They're light, can be awesome looking, and you can still have a winch plate added in. The Ranch Hand is one bad@ss looking bumper, but I wouldn't put one on my 1500. I'd rather have one on a 3/4 or 1 ton. Maybe even a 5500

I think the Coopers you have (in your sig) would look pretty sick peekin out from behind a pre-runner bumper. If you have access to a pipe bender and know how to weld, you're way better off making one yourself since the only quality one I've seen was around $900. However, if you want to spend the money feel free, I'm just biased to my broke @ss.

 

[usaf2006]

A quick search on Amazon and one rated for a Ram HD (assumingly the 2500 and 3500) has a shipping weight of 255 lbs.

 

[usaf2006]

You could have jumped the dog...
I think the prerunner bumper adds 8" of vertical lift for our trucks..

 

[SilverStreak88]

A quick search on Amazon and one rated for a Ram HD (assumingly the 2500 and 3500) has a shipping weight of 255 lbs.

225 ain't bad I weighed more than that and when climbing the bumper it didn't drop that I could see.

 

[SilverStreak88]

Those things have to weigh quite a bit. I've been torn back and forth with lowering or lifting my truck due to different "toy" vehicles in the future. If I decide to lift it, I'm pretty sure I'm going with a pre-runner style bumper. They're light, can be awesome looking, and you can still have a winch plate added in. The Ranch Hand is one bad@ss looking bumper, but I wouldn't put one on my 1500. I'd rather have one on a 3/4 or 1 ton. Maybe even a 5500

I think the Coopers you have (in your sig) would look pretty sick peekin out from behind a pre-runner bumper. If you have access to a pipe bender and know how to weld, you're way better off making one yourself since the only quality one I've seen was around $900. However, if you want to spend the money feel free, I'm just biased to my broke @ss.

I'm broke most the time also... I have access to and can weld so that's no issue. I don't have a pipe bender though.

 

[usaf2006]

I'm getting a welder (arc) for Christmas, so once I get better I want to attempt to make my own bumper. It'll be a while, but that's the plan. Just have to convince the wife to get rid of the chrome bumpers. I want to kee low center of gravity for my truck with as large of tires as possible. Doing a pre runner helps with clearing the front part of the front fenders, and looks sweet.

Harbor freight has a cheap enough pipe bender with decent reviews. I plan on grabbing one if I go that route.

 

[Beauregard7765]

My full replacement ranch hands weighs 36 lbs more than the stock bumper. They aren't as heavy as you think they would be.