Replacement Front Winch Bumper - 18/06/04

When I was down at Rhino Rays checking out their leaf over conversions Ray showed me the bumpers they produce. These are designed to completely replace the original bumper and have several features very useful for off roading. Not only are the bumpers very strong being made of much thicker steel than the original but they are also shaped very specifically to help ride over and slide past anything they might come into contact with. Bars on top protect the front of the vehicle and two very strong recovery points underneath can take large shackles or an A-frame for towing. I really liked the look of the bumpers and decided I wanted one, it turned out to be an expensive trip with everything I was having done! I chose the winch version, so I can fit one later, which has a dropped section in the middle to take the winch.

The bumpers is bolted to the four holes in the front bars of the chassis but these were first enlarged and then tubes were welded in to make them much stronger. I know it's all very strong because they hung the truck up by the recovery points to do the leaf over conversion! I've seen a few vehicles with rollcages painted very different colours to the body and I think it looks good so I decided to have the bumper painted white. It really shows up as an obvious mod and I think it looks great!

Here's the bumper on the truck. It holds the original lights which I like though I might think about flush mounting them somehow for some protection. I've fixed the number plate in the winch slot for now but I'll have to come up with something else with the winch in place.

Here is one of the recovery points. These are seriously strong! You can also see the shape of the bumper which helps it slide past things.