Brush guard, good or bad???

sballmann45 · March 16, 2019

I bought this ranch hand used early January mainly for the looks but figured it would be helpful in case of an accident. About a month later I got to test it out on a Camry. I am curious what y'all think. Would I have been better off without it? The impact pushed it bar back and screwed up the fend er, hood, headlight, and grille. I'm not sure what to think. Luckily the bar was not damaged and bent back into place.

wforrest08 · March 16, 2019

You can see clearly that it did absorb some of the impact. With that said we’ll never know unless you’re willing to duplicate the accident without it... I’d have to guess without it at the minimum your bumper would have ate that tire for lunch and probably taken out the headlight assembly as well?

IMO without combining that type of guard with a aftermarket steel bumper your not gaining much protection. Even if you had hit one of those miniature deers you have in Florida with that corner you’d still had some kind of damage to the body/bumper let alone a Midwest buck during rut. You’d need to get the guard farther out away from the body to actually help protect the body.

Think of it it like a face mask on a football helmet. Would you want the mask a 1/2”from your face?

jaxcam02 · March 16, 2019

I had one of these on my first truck in high school. Never again for the reason you just experienced. If that thing is not welded to the frame it's just going to bend into the entire front end of your truck and cause more damage than just some front bumper damage and possibly grille and headlights.

Good luck recovering from this event, I'd ditch the brush guard though.

1SLOW1500 · March 16, 2019

this has been talked about a thousand times the answer is most all of the time the brush guards are BAD. They mount to the frame and don't allow the crush zones of the truck you be used. most of the time we see totaled out trucks from brush guards. the frame get smashed up and a new frame is about $5,000. then grill headlights fenders and hood. that is basically a new front clip. On say a older truck a 10k repair bill is closing in on half value and insurance writes it off. I know people will say but the damage doesn't look bad and grill is saved but there is a ton of space in that grill and the grill cost and radiator are cheap compared to frame.

On a denali the headlights a 1k each and grill is $600 so to say 4-5k just for the bolt on parts and if they get in and the frame horns are smashed or folded then it can double the price. Or they go cheap and just weld in new horns in hopes the frame isn't weakened.

Now on a farm use or off road truck i would run one to keep the brush away and for small bumps into trees and such. May be the only reason you get the truck home and off the trail. But on a daily street truck no.

SS502 · March 16, 2019

All three replies are excellent! This also adds weight and interferes with parking sensors if you have them. I personally don’t even like the look but as mentioned, they do serve a purpose in and off-road vehicle or farm use.

TXGREEK · March 16, 2019

All three replies are excellent! This also adds weight and interferes with parking sensors if you have them. I personally don’t even like the look but as mentioned, they do serve a purpose in and off-road vehicle or farm use.

That’s correct and depending on the height of your truck a brush guard may not be necessary.

With a Manic front brush guard which I had installed because I actually did go off road and helped push tall brush away from my whole front end, I once rear ended a Camry in one of my LandCruisers, totaled the Camry and because the land Cruiser was lifted, just damaged the front bumper but the brush guard actually damaged my front end even more, it smashed into the hood, lights, grill and both fenders. I haven’t added a single brush guard since that day.

Sent from above

gearheadesw · March 16, 2019

If a bumper is attached to the bush guard, then the impact is spread just like the stock bumper, into the brackets and frame. This bumper is designed to ward of a large deer strike, something we don't haver in central FL, large deer. It holds my cheap winch, scares the locals, I'm good. Haven't the faintest idea if this thing would help in an accident or not, but without the winch it weighs in at 220 lbs, is super well built, and even though it's just a bit to big, I like it. Haven't seen another on a truck yet.

I think the OP's guard helped, in not getting the tire and fender smashed to undrivabilty. Look at the back of that Camry

Edited March 16, 2019 by gearheadesw

garagerog · March 16, 2019

To the OP, from the description and picture of the accident, I think you have more to worry about than whether the brush guard did more damage to your truck than if you hadn't had it. In most always cases when a driver has rear-ended another driver (the camry) the driver (you) that has rear-ended the other is at fault, whether you could help it or not. Hold onto your hat if the Camry driver hires an attorney and said attorney gets into the non-stock (aftermarket) equipment causing more damage or in extreme cases loss of life. Maybe those that feel the need for extreme lifts ought to keep this in mind also, ie. non-matching bumpers, but wtf I know, I'm an ole bastid.

Ravenkeeper · March 21, 2019

'15 Silverado v '99 Corolla, without at "cattle-killer" on the nose.

I'm thinking that he would have done just as much damage with it. He hit me more from the side, anyways.

spenpet · March 21, 2019

my truck was less than 6 months old and I was slide down a hill with ice (going less than 5 mph) I bumped an older jeep cherokee, absolutely no damage to the cherokee and my bumper was toast! the bumpers on these things are damn near 1 guage away from plain sheet metal...they are flimsy and weak (we could literally twist my stock bumper when it was off the truck!!!)

I opted to replace it with an upgrade (see sig pic) I wanted a relatively lower profile bumper...and am really happy with the looks...

when I was doing my research, there had been several testimonies of people in accidents that this bumper either (probably) saved the truck from being a total loss or maybe even saved the persons life...who knows though, right?

having said all that, if you would have had this bumper on the corolla, i think you would have had minimal damaged (of course this is speculation on my part)...but if you hit a deer with my bumper, it is probably smashing it in half, and the top half is going through the grill...

link to their website if interested I some more info...I did go through a reseller when I ordered...

http://www.ironcrossautomotive.com/index.html

TXGREEK · March 21, 2019

my truck was less than 6 months old and I was slide down a hill with ice (going less than 5 mph) I bumped an older jeep cherokee, absolutely no damage to the cherokee and my bumper was toast! the bumpers on these things are damn near 1 guage away from plain sheet metal...they are flimsy and weak (we could literally twist my stock bumper when it was off the truck!!!)

I opted to replace it with an upgrade (see sig pic) I wanted a relatively lower profile bumper...and am really happy with the looks...

when I was doing my research, there had been several testimonies of people in accidents that this bumper either (probably) saved the truck from being a total loss or maybe even saved the persons life...who knows though, right?

having said all that, if you would have had this bumper on the corolla, i think you would have had minimal damaged (of course this is speculation on my part)...but if you hit a deer with my bumper, it is probably smashing it in half, and the top half is going through the grill...

link to their website if interested I some more info...I did go through a reseller when I ordered...

http://www.ironcrossautomotive.com/index.html

Fully agree with you, much better than any “BrushGuard”

Sent from above

AJMBLAZER · March 21, 2019

It’s called a brush guard. It guards against brush. It is not made to stop the impact of what probably totaled that Camry from damaging your truck. Since it is a Ranch Hand guard and is actually made of good quality, thick steel and mounted firmly to the frame I would bet money it saved you some damage. Look at that Camry, if the brush guard wasn’t there absorbing some of the impact and pushing against the Camry what makes you think that car wouldn’t have been further up into your truck?

Now, if you had one of those cheap, chromed-exhaust-tube-bolt-together brush guards that just bolt to the bumper then I bet you’d see a lot more damage.

If you had a full bumper/guard combo like a Ranch Hand/Iron Cross/ARB/TJM/etc I bet you’d see even more destruction on them and less on you.

Billsshop · January 9, 2024

Did you really think that you would not have any damage after a crash like that. look at the Camary, it was hit hard.

I would say that you had very minimal damage compared to what you would have had with no Grill Guard.

chalk up one for the grill guard. you would have had a lot of radiator and possible engine damage. way worse than what you got.

AndrewD · April 19, 2024

I've heard these arguments go back and forth all day. I do and will always run a Ranch Hand because they are proven to work. They have updates now for parking sensor compatibility, and even being just the grill guard IMO saved you from some airbag deployments. Idk if im the only one who looked at both these pictures more that once ut that car was hit hard. I'm a firefighter and have done extractions on vehicles. It's amazing sometimes what these bumpers and grill guards will take/protect you from. Not to mention the animals I personally have had just bounce off mine. Well worth the money. I'm just pissed that my wife's suburban couldn't get one due to the radar system up front (adaptive cruise etc). I will figure out a way to re l ocate it though where it's still functional. Kinda like when they told me that the Ranch Hand grill guard and the RC hidden winch mount couldn't work together. They are both mounted properly on my truck...