Brush Guard Decision

tyhuck · June 21, 2011

Some of you may remember, I bought a brush guard a few months ago and after a couple of weeks of running it, I decided to build a custom bumper and grille guard. So, I got the bumper built but I dont have the guard put on because I am trying to make a decision. I have one of two options.

1. I cut the headlight guards off of the purchased brush guard and weld them to my custom bumper and grill guard. This would give me a more professional look with a headlight guard that wraps around the fenders. The only problem is, I dont know who would buy a grille guard without the headlight guards.

2. I could make a headlight guard similar to the one I built for my old GMC. I liked it but it didnt offer any protection from the side. Plus I could keep the entire guard for sale.

Heres the guard when it was still installed on my truck.

Heres a picture of what the old bumper looks like.

Which route would you choose?

Stevens03 · June 21, 2011

Sorry, but my opinion is neither. The one one in your first picture will destroy the entire front end if you ever hit anything solid. In most cases they cause more damage with them than without. Now if your just looking for "brush protection, then I'd leave well enough alone and run what you have installed on the first photo

tyhuck · June 22, 2011

Sorry, but my opinion is neither. The one one in your first picture will destroy the entire front end if you ever hit anything solid. In most cases they cause more damage with them than without. Now if your just looking for "brush protection, then I'd leave well enough alone and run what you have installed on the first photo

Youre probably right about them causing more damage than without. And in a highway speed collision Im sure that no matter how much steel I put up front, its gonna hurt the truck in a big way. But, Ive been building these for a while and even tested one, unintentionally. I dont build these things with the intent of hitting giant oak trees or trying to move cars out of my way in traffic. I just want more protection than what a regular brush guard can offer. The main thing that Im trying to avoid is damage caused from animal strikes, especially ferral hogs. I figure that if I can hit a deer or hog and not have to pay for a new plastic bumper, or file anything on my insurance, then it was worth it.

Plus, I know for a fact that these things can take a lick because I hit a Ford Taurus head on at 35mph (well she hit me at 35mph because I was turning and not moving) in the truck I drove in college. The bumper needed repair, and the truck was damaged (mostly plastic and some sheet metal), but drivable. And, the truck is being driven to this day by a friend of mine, and neither of us did any repairs to the truck after the wreck. It was a 96 Chevy 2500 Cheyenne package with a 350, and he just rolled over 200K. I bought it with 85K in 02, and brought it up to 145K in 07 when I sold it. Theres no way that I would have had anything left to sell if it werent for the bumper.

So, I guess what Im saying is the bumper is going on, for better or worse. I just need some help on what to do about the headlight guards.

Stevens03 · June 22, 2011

Is there anyway to "up" the strength of the headlight guards. Most of them I've seen fold like a pretzel. They just aren't worth much. I get where your coming from.... I like what you did in the second photo with the full custom bumper, but not a fan of the headlight guards in that photo. What could you do to add strength to them? Maybe heavier tubing and an extra piece of tubing connected to the bummer sort of like whats going on with the light guard now, but wrapped around the sides some. Know what i mean?

tyhuck · June 22, 2011

Sort of. I have some ideas on how to beef it up. I just need somebody to talk me into cutting up a perfectly good brush guard.

Stevens03 · June 22, 2011

Make your own

KMGZ400 · June 22, 2011

as wimpy as my brush guard looks compared to yours, it has actually saved my front end/headlights multiple times and it allows me to safley push things and bump into things without damaging anything. it has actually saved my airdam from being ripped off too. just my expirience with them.

your 2 options are tough, becasue i like them both, but im leaning towards number 2.

&CDFiXER% · June 22, 2011

Nice work.

I like the bottom one but agree it could use a bit more side protection. I drive through (slowly of course, lol) wooded areas from time to time and I tend to pick up little nicks, scratches, and gouges in the plastic lenses and such on the front. The one truck I had with a brush gaurd did not do this. The brush gaurd I had, as Stevens11 pointed out, would do nothing in a crash or an animal hit and would probably have made the damage worse.

tyhuck · June 22, 2011

Here is what each one looks like from the front end. Of course the square tubing guard has decent wrap around protection, but the full bumper was for more of a glancing blow. It seems like it would have worked pretty good for a head-on animal strike (which I never encountered). However it didnt do crap to protect from birds. I took an owl to the headlight a few days after installing the bumper and it cost me $150 for a new headlight.

And after doing some searching again last night, I found a design I think I like for the headlight guards. Its much like the design I had before but kinda kaes a little wrap on the fender. Im gonna try that first. If I can get that right, Im gonna leave the brush guard alone.

Its kinda hard to tell what it looks like, but you can see more pictures at the Alien Patrol website.

Stevens03 · June 22, 2011

NOW thats what I'm talkin about

KMGZ400 · June 22, 2011

Its kinda hard to tell what it looks like, but you can see more pictures at the Alien Patrol website.

that is one hell of a brush guard. more like a tree guard

Stevens03 · June 22, 2011

Bet that thing weighs a ton too... might have to regear after installing that

tyhuck · June 22, 2011

Im not gonna use the tubing guard in the center. Basically the center section of the brush guard will be like the on pictures on the white crew cab. The headlight guards are gonna be like the bare bumper I showed last, but with a dividing tube between the headlight and the blinker/DRL.

tyhuck · July 1, 2011

Ive been working on this for a while. I used 1/4" plate for the impact zones, 3/16 for anything that might catch an impact (basically all the skirting) and 1/8" plate for the flat portion under the grille and headlights (the part that is parallel to the ground). I did run into some snags when putting it all together. A few of my design features had flaws and had to be redesigned on the fly, so some of the things I would change if I ever did another one. Stuff like the angles being off and resulting in the grille guard being really close to the grille. But overall Im pleased with it and it will offer tons more protection from animal strikes than the factory piece of plastic.

Also I tried bending the grille guard around the front fender but my bender isnt set up for that kind of compound bend, so I had to go back to my original design from the GMC bumper I did. All in all, I think it looks kinda tactical. What do you think.

PS. Total weight 156lbs.