*squeals like a little girl* She demanded that I buy a brush guard!

[Ratket]

I have the Ranch Hand on my Ford F350 and my Ram 1500. Above posts saying they get pudhed into the rill, aren't stout enough,

Get some coffee then try again lol..

Or maybe I need some coffee..

 

[John Jensen]

Get some coffee then try again lol..

Or maybe I need some coffee..

Yeah, I hit send by mistake.
You are quick as I immediately edited the error.
Then I had the coffee

 

[ram1500rsm]

Dear whistle is a lot cheaper and likely to do the work if you’re cautious ? Or, perhaps something like a Road Armor stealth bumper if you’re aiming for dears on purpose.

 

[John Jensen]

Yes, deer whistles do work. I used to have a pair on the front bumper and many times witnessed deer stopping or freezing on the roadside, obviously "alerted" by the whistle.

That said, the only deer I've hit was already spooked and panicked. I had already seen the panicked herd so had slowed to nearly a stop, yet she jumped and landed right onto my bumper (had a winch bumper).

After that 2005 episode, I got my first Ranch Hand and hope it never happens again. The bonus is a few jerks have been surprised when they hit my Ranch Hand in a parking lot and see what it did to their car.

 

[Truck Fun]

Westin HDX

View media item 26400

 

[Truck Fun]

The only thing I wish I had done different for my Westin HDX was to see about using Rebel tow hooks instead of the standard versions. Shop that installed my guard put the standard hooks on for me at the same time and felt it best to reverse the hooks so there was room to get a strap on.

 

[buddy guy]

Now that I saw your bush guard, I recall my boss's being an HDX too.

 

[Skrap]

Yeah, just think about how much energy is involved in a collision... anything that can totally withstand that would likely be pretty dang heavy (could be 200lbs+ added), to the point you may worry about the effect on handling/fuel economy.

I'd focus on mods that help you avoid a strike, maybe some better lighting, higher friction brake pads, fresh bled brakes, and high performance tires. A more maneuverable Titanic would have fared better against the iceberg than an uparmored one.

Disagree on most of this. If the original poster is wanting a heavy duty bumper to help protect his truck from deer strikes then one of the aftermarket bumpers like the Ranch Hand are exactly what he needs. These bumpers protect in two ways. First, they protect against animals like deer and other game that venture out onto the road or try to cross in front and not quite quick enough. Protection should be good enough that no damage to the truck and minimal, if any, to the bumper itself. Second, these bumpers help save lives and to prevent sever injury in a frontal crash with another vehicle or stationary object. These bumpers offer a greater frontal area to absorb the impact of the crash and to help spread it across a larger portion of the front of the truck. With these types of crashes the bumpers job is to safe lives. Damage to the truck is a given.

When a collision with game animals in eminent you don't swerve or try to drive around the animal. Trying to avoid a collision with a deer by swerving is the last thing you want to do. Doing this most likely will be more dangerous for you, the drivers around you and cause more damage to your truck from hitting other objects on the side of the road.

 

[John Jensen]

Skrap,

I totally agree. Jessica obviously has never experienced an animal appearing out of nowhere and right onto your vehicle or just in front of it.

And to say, "I'd focus on mods that help you avoid a strike, maybe some better lighting, higher friction brake pads, fresh bled brakes, and high performance tires." makes me laugh out loud. None of those suggestions help to preclude hitting an animal that suddenly appears. "fresh bled brakes"? That's hilarious.

 

[Jessica Smith]

These bumpers offer a greater frontal area to absorb the impact of the crash and to help spread it across a larger portion of the front of the truck. With these types of crashes the bumpers job is to safe lives.

The bumper cannot be both stiff enough to avoid grill/body damage from a deer strike while also soft enough to deform and be a sacrificial layer to absorb damage IMO. This was one of the problems with cars in the 1960s, they had strong front ends that helped prevent damage in minor fender-benders, but it meant that the cab became the weakest link and it would crumple before the front did. The stock Ram already does this a bit if you check the small overlap IIHS test result.

The newest crash test ratings also consider pedestrian impacts, since they are increasingly common in urban environments, and chances are pretty good a "deer destroyer" heavy duty guard probably isn't going to save any human lives outside the vehicle when going through a neighborhood and some dumb kid runs out between parked cars chasing a ball.

When a collision with game animals in eminent you don't swerve or try to drive around the animal. Trying to avoid a collision with a deer by swerving is the last thing you want to do. Doing this most likely will be more dangerous for you, the drivers around you and cause more damage to your truck from hitting other objects on the side of the road.

Wasn't advocating for violent swerving at speed, although avoidance can work at lower speeds (I know from personal experience avoiding an impact).

Point though was less weight, higher friction brake pads, freshly bled brakes, and high performance tires can increase stability and reduce stopping distances in emergency braking.

If you do hit a deer without reducing your speed, you could lose control if it jumps and hits the windshield (they can jump 6ft high in the blink of an eye to avoid a predator's pounce) or goes under a tire and disrupts the chassis.

 

[Joes1500]

I have the Ranch Hand on my Ford F350 and my Ram 1500. Above comments that say they get pushed into the grill, aren't stout enough, metal is too thin are all crap. Those folks obviously have never had one or seen one in action.

My brother has a Rancher on his Ram 3500. It is very similar to the Ranch Hand but the bottom bar is a flat step rather than a round tube and the bars within the headlight loops are much stouter than the Westin. A while back a new Ford F150 tried changing into his lane. The entire right side of the ford was destroyed. My brothers Ram 3500 didn't have a scratch and the Rancher only had some powder coat scuffing.

Here is what your bolt on brush guards do when you hit a deer at speed. If you want something that is going to protect your truck you need a full replacement. Just look at the bolt on ones, no support on the area that is supposed to protect your headlights. Pretty self explanatory.

 

[John Jensen]

Those all look like Westin guards.

When my brother's Rancher was hit by the F150. It didn't bend, dent or tweak anything. Just white Ford paint on the driver side headlight loop.

In any event, you are correct, a full replacement has the best chance to survive when it hits something head-on at speed. The pics above all look like head-ons.

It looks like the Westin mounts collapsed and the guard folded into the truck in the top 4 pics. The bottom pic is nasty, looks like the center tubing was bent too.

I have seen Ranch Hand guards that hit deer at speed and there was damage but the mounts never collapsed. The guards remained upright. And the trucks were able to continue on their journey.

 

[Ram Wagon]

I know your area well, and i would be more worried about elk than deer. Like a lot of guys here say, get a new heavy duty bumper with the brush guard already as an integral part of the bumper. I like these guy's bumper set up. https://www.throttledownkustoms.com/

 

[naumaa1]

Here's mine, bumper and guard in one. My dad has a bolt on and its way too flimsy to really do anything other than give you a place to put lights. Mine is solid and I'm curious what kind of damage I'll do if something does jump in front of me.

 

[Random_Walk]

Couple o' bits...

@Ram Wagon - yep, Elk are mega-common around here (I'm about 15 miles off from the elk reserve in Clatsop County). Fortunately, they tend to keep to the other side of the (Nehalem) river in my neighborhood (I have yet to see one on my side of the river in the years since I moved out here; now the other side? they hang out, migrate, etc.) And while I have a greater chance of hitting a loose horse than an elk on this bit of OR-47, I think Id want the crumple zones to do their thing with that much flesh.

--

As for the arguments pro or con? Okay...

Out here, avoidance is a very narrow thing - swerving (or even breathing on the steering wheel) is a guarantee of smacking into a cliff, falling off of one, eating someone else's grille, flying off into the river, putting a tree trunk into your glovebox... when it comes to swerving, let's just say that we don't do that. Nope - currently, my big defense strategy is two-fold: make sure I keep the brakes in kick-ass condition, and the common sense to take it a bit slow around blind corners, especially at dawn and twilight.

Good news - I can almost always slow down to nothing or practically nothing when something is in the road... 98% of the time it works. That other 2% of the time, I'm going mega-slow by the time contact is made. So, I'm not too awful worried about building a rolling battleship, as much as I am in putting something in place that's a bit stronger than the ABS plastic used to make up the grille. Something that can give an errant deer (or horse, or goat, or...) a shove, without having to go out and buy Yet Another Grille.

HTH a little

 

[Bfisherman]

I hit a deer with my 2014 Ram w/o a grill guard. It caused 5K in damage and of course took out the drivers side headlight. I added the Westin HDX (installed myself) and fortunately it was never tested. I eventually traded that Ram off, I don't have one now but it is like playing Russian Roulette. The grill guard might buckle some in a deer impact but I think it would have prevented some of my damage. That would be justification enough for me. Might have saved my headlight at the least and I could have had a easier time driving home.

Bill

 

[1pieceatatime]

Here's mine, bumper and guard in one.

You really going to just post a photo of this beauty and not tell us what it is?

 

[naumaa1]

Duplicate

 

[naumaa1]

You really going to just post a photo of this beauty and not tell us what it is?

I hate it when people do that and look at me go. Its the Fab Fours black steel elite front bumper with full guard option. They also have a prerunner option that doesn't look bad at all.

 

[22hemi13]

Random, lots of deer by me. From what I have seen, add on brush guards just get pushed into the grill so both have to be replaced. You need a heavy bumper with the brushguard built in. You could google Buckstop bumpers. Unfortunately they are more than 500.00.

This is 100% correct. A brush guard is really intended to keep you driving after hitting the deer. Radiator and key components don’t get ruined. A full front bumper replacement now will take a deer hit and keep on trucking. All the good replacements I’ve seen the corners of the guard where it wraps around the headlight is welded to the bumper to keep it from pushing in on the truck.