Big Murth
New member
Shrockworks Bumper on "stock" '14 Trail, more comments
I appreciate all who weighed in with compliments, constructive criticism, and...just plain criticism. In response to some of you who questioned my motivation for adding a bumper to complement my BudBuilt Beefy sliders, in my first wave of upgrading the vehicle...especially in light of the vehicle's primary use as a daily driver, here's my only explanation as to why I went with the SW bumper and why I didn't go with anything else, or less:
1) The stock front end is useless in the event that you need to experience anything more than getting winched up onto the back of a flatbed tow truck, as the frame-mounted tow-hooks would render serious damage to the plastic facia if you were involved in weird-angle recovery efforts, helping someone else or yourself, out of a jam somewhere.
2)I live in and travel extensively throughout the Rocky Mountain West. Again, how will it go if I end up colliding with a deer or elk at 50+mph? I'll have a better chance of the vehicle (and it's occupants) surviving with minimal damage in that event vs. the stock plastic folding in and enabling a 150-800lb. animal to enter the engine and radiator zone, or worse.
3) Again, it's armor and functionality. Those swoopy headlights that wrap from front to side are highly vulnerable as you're negotiating tight and heavily wooded trails, and the bumper's window hoops are more stout than some lousy bull-bar's light "protection" bars that will likely fold in like clothes hangers in any significant impact with a tree-limb, etc.
4) Back to recovery........where are you going to have any use for a Hi-Lift jack if you need to get the front end up and it's a piece of plastic hanging there? The bumper gives me the confidence to do that, as do the sliders on either side. The stock rear bumper and receiver hitch give me an option that doesn't beg for immediate improvement yet...so I'm covered for most situations that I could possibly encounter, for now. And, this is a platform to retro-fit a winch down the road, if I feel the need to do so.
Bit by bit, I'll add things to enhance functionality first, form second. Right now, the next thing to address is springs/shocks to compensate for the added weight out front, and to eventually accommodate bigger rubber, down the road.
For me, it's getting to where the Winnebagos and Cadillacs, ain't. And to get there in one piece, in-out....no drama, and nothing broken in the process. I'm not looking for the steepest grade to climb or the gnarliest boulders to crawl over---I just want a vehicle that can weather the journey and not disintegrate along the way, and back.
lane:
"Out of the way, WalMart shopping carts!"
I appreciate all who weighed in with compliments, constructive criticism, and...just plain criticism. In response to some of you who questioned my motivation for adding a bumper to complement my BudBuilt Beefy sliders, in my first wave of upgrading the vehicle...especially in light of the vehicle's primary use as a daily driver, here's my only explanation as to why I went with the SW bumper and why I didn't go with anything else, or less:
1) The stock front end is useless in the event that you need to experience anything more than getting winched up onto the back of a flatbed tow truck, as the frame-mounted tow-hooks would render serious damage to the plastic facia if you were involved in weird-angle recovery efforts, helping someone else or yourself, out of a jam somewhere.
2)I live in and travel extensively throughout the Rocky Mountain West. Again, how will it go if I end up colliding with a deer or elk at 50+mph? I'll have a better chance of the vehicle (and it's occupants) surviving with minimal damage in that event vs. the stock plastic folding in and enabling a 150-800lb. animal to enter the engine and radiator zone, or worse.
3) Again, it's armor and functionality. Those swoopy headlights that wrap from front to side are highly vulnerable as you're negotiating tight and heavily wooded trails, and the bumper's window hoops are more stout than some lousy bull-bar's light "protection" bars that will likely fold in like clothes hangers in any significant impact with a tree-limb, etc.
4) Back to recovery........where are you going to have any use for a Hi-Lift jack if you need to get the front end up and it's a piece of plastic hanging there? The bumper gives me the confidence to do that, as do the sliders on either side. The stock rear bumper and receiver hitch give me an option that doesn't beg for immediate improvement yet...so I'm covered for most situations that I could possibly encounter, for now. And, this is a platform to retro-fit a winch down the road, if I feel the need to do so.
Bit by bit, I'll add things to enhance functionality first, form second. Right now, the next thing to address is springs/shocks to compensate for the added weight out front, and to eventually accommodate bigger rubber, down the road.
For me, it's getting to where the Winnebagos and Cadillacs, ain't. And to get there in one piece, in-out....no drama, and nothing broken in the process. I'm not looking for the steepest grade to climb or the gnarliest boulders to crawl over---I just want a vehicle that can weather the journey and not disintegrate along the way, and back.
lane:"Out of the way, WalMart shopping carts!"
