A Christmas Story

[thebrandon]

Well I guess this is a post Christmas story.

Tonight while I was driving home I had a surprise appear while going around a wide turn on my way home. I was traveling down the road doing 55 MPH, which is the speed limit by the way. This is a two lane road in the middle of no where. Near this turn I was going around, there is a "Christmas tree dump" where people bring their trees they don't want. The nights have been very bright lately with great visibility. Tonight, it was extremely windy, raining, and the clouds blocked the moon light so visibility was low. The wind had swept several trees out of the "dump" and one, about the size of my 4runner had blown into the road right in the middle of my lane. I absolutely smashed into this bad boy going 55 MPH, STUMP FIRST. Luckily, I have a giant skid plate on the front of my bumper that the stump hit directly, and shattered. The tree then got stuck under the runner after it was deflected down, and I dragged it about 100 feet to a stop.

I hopped out into the rain, ripped the tree from under my truck, maid sure nothing was damaged, then drove home. If I would have had the factory bumper on, I don't think I would be typing the same story. I would hate to see what would have happened to my radiator if I had the factory bumpers.

Like I said, it was raining, so I didn't take any pictures of the shattered tree stump, or where it hit my bumper. I don't want to leave you all pictureless, so here is the bumper that saved my truck!

Does anyone else have any Christmas related items they have ran over this season?

 

[shootmymime]

by the looks of your amazingly built strong bumper. your could have made the story up. (that was a compliment to your bumper)

 

[digital022]

I once hit a christmas tree, stump first, driving in the fast lane on the freeway.

It put a pretty good dent in the bumper of a T100 I owned at the time.

 

[audiness]

I really like the bumper, but doesnt the skidplate reduce airflow to the radiator too much? I guess in a cold climate its ok, but here in the Summertime - might be a different story.....

 

[poleclimber63]

Wow

Great story! You're lucky you made the decision to install that bumper in the past. You're right, the old bumpers are akin to tissue paper in any sort of collision. I removed my bumpers this summer and coated the inside of them with a rust inhibitor. After reading stories like yours and other situations where a 'real' bumper made a huge difference, I'm now struggling with my priorities WRT what to do first, second, third etc.

 

[thebrandon]

I really like the bumper, but doesnt the skidplate reduce airflow to the radiator too much? I guess in a cold climate its ok, but here in the Summertime - might be a different story.....

I was thinking the same thing too. But then when you look at it compared to the factory bumper, there is a ton of space for air to pass through over and to the sides, and the hole for the hitch in the middle(not much but some air gets through I'm sure). I haven't had any heating/cooling related problems yet and the summers here get pretty brutal.

I forgot to mention, this bumper also saved my truck, and fiance from a javelina in the middle of the road. It did not save the javelina.