Ranch Hand Front End - Ruffneck Rear Pics

HDCrew4x4 · March 9, 2005

OK I will do this for the second time... the first disappeared with a "nice server not found" and I could not get back to it!!! It took me 30mins to take the pics - resize them, host them, and insert them here with comments. Now I get to do it again! I think it would make even Santa Claus vomit with rage.

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*cracks a beer open*

OK now that I am in a better mood I will see if I can remember everything I wrote...

I drove home yesterday with the Ranch Hand Legend front end and the RuffNeck 8" rear bumper so the factory hitch can still be used. I had these rolled in the purchase price when I bought the truck so I went ahead and had them mount it. I think I would have had a hell of a time getting that thing in position by myself! It took 3 guys to pick the thing up for mounting at the dealership. I would have posted last night but the wifey wanted to have some drinks and hang out!

I took some measurements to see how far the front end would drop with the extra weight:

Stock Bumper:

LF: 37 5/16"

RF: 37 3/4"

Ranch Hand:

LF: 37"

RF: 37.5"

So that gives us about a 1/4" drop on the front end. I also notice that there is 1/2" difference in height from driver to passenger side - what the heck causes this? I guess the t-bars can be adjusted? Maybe it's a tire issue. I'll have to look more at that later.

The front end is installed with a couple Grade 8 bolts and a several Grade 5's. The tow hooks are repositioned slightly and mounted to a braket on the bumper replacement itself.

The front end also comes with fog light mounting brackets, don't have any lights yet - anyone know a good brand - the more waterproof the better!

The rear was installed with Grade 5's.

Ranch Hand Legend Series with 2" Reciever...

Ruffneck 8" rear bumper...

Front with the cargo carrier (needs a matching coat of paint!)...

Squirrel's view...

The front end replacement is stout and it looks like the receiver will work well with the cargo carrier and winch. I'm pretty happy with it.

Now - 2 questions:

What to do with the old bumpers?

Which fog lights should I mount?

Frank S · March 10, 2005

Looks good.

Same brands on the front and rear of my wife's '02 Duramax as well. Keep an eye on that Ranchhand. Ours had powdercoat wear within the first few months and Ranchand replaced it with one that was spray lined at no charge.

R Dogg 56 · March 10, 2005

Sweet pics. For the old bumpers, try posting them in the For Sale thread on the board. For the foglights, IMO, PIAA's would be a good choice. My brother has thwm on his '96 Z71 and they look real nice with his pre-runner front bumper.

antig24 · March 10, 2005

Looks awesome, pretty scarey from a squirrels point of view

skey · March 10, 2005

lets get huntin.. looks like a killin rig to me !!!! awesome look, looks south texas to me am i close or not.

MIREALTOR · March 10, 2005

As for lights check out Lightforce. They make a really durable light and it is what the australian "train" tucks use. Not to mention they look really cool. I have gotta imagine if they can stand up to the rigors of the outback they should last about forever here in the states.

HDCrew4x4 · March 10, 2005

frank S Same brands on the front and rear of my wife's '02 Duramax as well. Keep an eye on that Ranchhand. Ours had powdercoat wear within the first few months and Ranchand replaced it with one that was spray lined at no charge.

frank S - What should I look for? Does the powerdercoat wear everywhere or only on certain spots? The one that you got that was spraylined - is that similar to the spray in bedliner? If so I'd much prefer one of those.

skey lets get huntin.. looks like a killin rig to me !!!! awesome look, looks south texas to me am i close or not.

You are the next contestant on The Price is Right! You nailed it - on the coast up toward Houston! I laughed out loud when I read that!

Thanks for the lights info and compliments!

I got a lot of stares driving down the road with that cargo basket on today - pretty funny. Plus, I passed 4 cops or troopers and they didn't seem to care. I guess they're just looking for bumper height.

Frank S · March 10, 2005

Yeah it was sprayed with like Rhino Liner or Line-X.

Hers had some pin holes around the welds on the brush arms. After it rained you could see water bubbling out of them and it started rusting there and around other weld areas.

By the way, I'm also in the Houston area if you ever what to check out the spraylined bumper. I'll happily meet you somewhere and you can look it over if you wish.

skey · March 10, 2005

i thought i had it rite i'm from the motor city but hunt south texas regular, around corizo springs!!!! also was in on a lease around pala pinto west of dallas area untill last fall. great truck & look, take it easy but take it