Reinforcing OEM brush guard

[sewebster]

So, apparently the OEM brush guard is a "damage multiplier" such that when you hit something with it, you end up doing more damage to your truck than you would have if you didn't have it on. Obviously this is not ideal. I'm not entirely sure why this happens, but I think someone posted that the upper mounts aren't very good and it ends up bending over and hitting the grille?

 

Anyway, I am wondering if I can solve this problem by reinforcing the guard, or the mounts. It seems to me that it just mounts into the large hole in the front of the bumper mount. One thing that I could do is weld the plates on to the bumper mount rather than using the clamping type action. Big bolts could be used. Would this work? Is the brush guard itself too weak? Of course perhaps that could be reinforced as well.

 

A "real" bumper would be better, but buying one is $$$ and probably I'm too lazy to do a good job with making my own right now (not to mention that I don't have anywhere to do it, no garage )

[adamzan]

If you look it should also be bolted to the frame underneath with four bolts, you can reinforce it but when I did my BL I just gave it away as I didn't want to be bothered.

[JamesRich]

The biggest problem with them is they are bolted to the frame down low and then it extends up high enough to make a pretty good fulcrum or lever. Basically it doesn't take much force on the high side to bend the front of your frame up. If you hit something hard enough to bend it back against your grill, your frame will be bent too. A lot of titan guys found this out the hard way too.

James

[sewebster]

Hmm. Don't some people bolt their "good" bumpers to the frame down below as well?

 

It seems to me that the ideal bumper would absorb energy from impacts by crushing, but most "good" bumpers just seem to be designed to be strong. Won't you bend your frame if you hit something with these too?

[Slartibartfast]

How do the legit upgrade bumpers solve this? All I can think of is bracing the top to the body (so it can't fold up as easily) or adding some kind of sacrificial link that'll fail before the frame bends.

[nunya]

I don't have a factory brush guard but from what I understand they mount where the tow hooks do at the bottom of the frame and possibly a bolt through the bumper (which is basicly cosmetic and there to say there is one and mount turn signals to). not even at least using all the factory bumper bracket mounting points which would distribute some impact to more than 1 single point of the frame. Aftermarket bumpers are generally designed to optimize their mounting layout FOR strength to help WITH their ability to protect the front of your truck.

[silverton]

The L brackets that bolt in behind the bumper is very weak. My dad accidently drove over my old one with his pickup and it bent that L out of whack. and that was just one corner of the back of his truck, not a whole lot of weight back there. Now imagine a 5000 pound pathfinder giving a civic its business "real" bumpers get major reinforcment up top by having plates welded to the frame

[sewebster]

Well, my idea was to reinforce the upper attachment to the bumper mount, because I agree that it isn't great. But I guess perhaps the stock bumper mount is weak.

 

At the moment, for me it is not an issue of oem bumper+brush guard vs "real" bumper... it's just whether to keep the brush guard on. I think it looks ok, and I DO drive through brush, so I figured I would leave it on, but I want to avoid causing major damage if I get in some minor incident (more likely with a tree or rock or something than a vehicle accident I figure, but...).

 

Maybe I'll take the bumper off and do some more investigation. I need to replace a rotten bumper end anyway. Of course I don't want to spend too much time because then I might as well make a cheasy bumper. Did anyone end up posting their pattern on here? I've seen a bunch of the bumpers posted and talk of patterns, but...

Edited October 24, 2011 by sewebster

[Nefarious]

I have a brush/grille guard on my pathy but it is not the oem one. it is a lot bigger from another truck. i am currently in the process of making custom mounts to reinforce it all to the frame from the bottom and the top with some triangulation for strength, ill show ya what i mean when i get done with my engine swap and get time to finish it.