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I’ve got a Fusion on the front of my F250. You can get it a few different ways. Not a megastructure like the ranch hand but I think it would do well vs deer. IIRC it weighs about 175lbs. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/183699/2C06CE02-E7E8-46DE-947A-13EC4408976D-642876.jpg Doesn’t stick out far but can carry a winch, my main reason for it. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/183699/50BC4AE8-771D-44D0-B114-96DFB2DEE7E1-642879.jpg View Quote New gen of f250s just don't do it for me. Looks like they took the 2015+ f150s, made them more square and slightly bigger. |
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I have the grill guards on both of my 1/2 ton trucks. Up here during rut those silly bastards are everywhere. Driving a 20 mile stretch down Hwy 71 one morning I counted 52 deer either ON the highway or right on the shoulder. So. I figure the guards are cheaper than a radiator, core support & hood. Just wish State Farm would give a discount for having them.
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They are a lot tougher than the factory bumpers, they provide more protection from wildlife, and some like the way they look. View Quote |
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They're cheap and they make people think they could push over a mountain with their truck. That's why they're everywhere. I want one because they're cheap and deer are fucking idiots. View Quote |
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Go with a Ranch Hand summit, but level the front end out first to help offset the sag you're going to get. The white/black contrast will look good. Lots of the other aftermarket front bumpers (Road Armor and the like) are obnoxiously huge, and almost always make trucks look worse IMO. https://www.ranchhand.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015-Ford-F150-Summit-Front-Bumper.jpg View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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So what other companies should I consider? Lower profile / weight is a priority. Truck for reference. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/164007/6EB2F7FF-38AF-491E-B1A5-80B1950927F8-642834.JPG The white/black contrast will look good. Lots of the other aftermarket front bumpers (Road Armor and the like) are obnoxiously huge, and almost always make trucks look worse IMO. https://www.ranchhand.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/2015-Ford-F150-Summit-Front-Bumper.jpg I'll see about some different coils to bring up the front a smidge if I go with a RH. |
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I got a frontier gear spcifically because it was lighter than a ranch hand.
I figure the $780 I paid for it (super easy to install yourself) is cheap insurance against a deer hit. Or having someone back into you. With all the plastic and flimsy factory bumpers anymore, a slight bump is $1,200 and a deer hit at 70MPH will put $4-5K on the bill easily. |
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It only takes one. My cousin has hit eight since he got his bumper. Not a scratch. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
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Ranch hand has a selection for 150/1500 trucks and a selection for diesels that is quite a bit heavier.
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The tough country deluxe grills look really well built and not BRODOZED too terribly.
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I put one of the RH brushguards on before driving up to Alaska. Only hit one deer on the way, guard did it's job OK, no damage to the truck. That being said, I think their build quality sucks. Mounting brackets were fucked up and misaligned, so-so powder coat job, etc. Everyone else seems to love them though, I went with it because it was the only unit I could find without sitting around for five months, waiting for another company to build one that'll fit my old '99 F350.
I wouldn't buy another one, I'd take the time and find something else. |
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I bought an F250 and had the Ranch Hand front and rear bumpers on it. I thought they looked like shit.
Removed them and sold them for an AR and cash. And put the stockers on. BTW i had to use a engine hoist to get the front bumper off. It was around 300lbs if i remember correctly. |
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My last truck had them front and rear. I rear-ended someone (thinking about tacos ), smoked a deer, and had someone rear-end me and neither bumper was much worse for wear.
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New truck bumpers are mostly plastic, and don't survive a scrape or run in with a deer like they used to.
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There's a brush guard that I really loved when I saw the movie "Wind River" on Netflix.
Anyone know what grille guard on this Silverado from Wind River movie? It's this one: https://www.goindustries.com/46749-rancher-grille-guard-black.html I'm sure there's a Ford version. I love it for its simplicity. |
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There's a brush guard that I really loved when I saw the movie "Wind River" on Netflix. https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-2.jpg https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-1.jpg https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-4.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMrN25A808g It's this one: https://www.goindustries.com/46749-rancher-grille-guard-black.html I'm sure there's a Ford version. I love it for its simplicity. View Quote The replacement bumper assembly is stout, I pushed an 18,000lb LMTV military truck out of the mud with one of the upright supports on mine, RanchHand paid me for my testimonial/video/stills and is supposedly using the video on Social Media. I bought my front and rear RanchHand bumpers through Hendry's. |
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I used to work for the factory that makes them. They are made right across the street from the Shiner beer factory. Very interesting story on how the company came about and they cant seem to make them fast enough.sS View Quote |
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Quoted: The company that actually makes them is Kaspar, which is a contract manufacture. Years ago they were doing a large amount of work for a small company making truck bumpers etc. That company went out of business and to settle the debt Kaspar took them over. Then the way I remember, they renamed them with the Ranch Hand brand that they owned and started selling them through those locations. Nobody in their wildest dreams thought it would grow like it did, it went from a small accidental acquire to by far their largest generator of sales. View Quote That’s the story told to me by people that have been in the business longer than me. |
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My buddy has bought a couple for his Ram 2500´s
He buys the bumpers which look like they stick out an additional 10”. He drives like an ass and usually bends the factory bumper within 6 months. That means he buys a ranch hand every 3 years. They are definitely solid. |
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Quoted: I have been in the business for 20 years. Kasper wire works made a shit ton of money making shopping carts and newspaper racks. They were in the grill guard capital of the world so KRG was started. Kasper Ranch gear made a superior product to ranch hand but never got the name recognition. After RH moved production outside of the country the quality took an expected hit. That combined with poor truck sales due to fuel prices allowed Kasper to purchase RH and move all production back to Tx. They can not come close to keeping up with demand but the quality is predictable and consistent. That’s the story told to me by people that have been in the business longer than me. View Quote |
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I put a Warn bumper on my F-150 to mount my Warn 8274.
When I exchanged paint with a log truck it basically saved my life. I hit the log truck right in the drive wheels, the steel bumper pushed me out to the opposite side of a two lane raid. If my truck had the original plastic bumper I think the results would have been worse. The truck was totaled. |
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I put a Warn bumper on my F-150 to mount my Warn 8274. When I exchanged paint with a log truck it basically saved my life. I hit the log truck right in the drive wheels, the steel bumper pushed me out to the opposite side of a two lane raid. If my truck had the original plastic bumper I think the results would have been worse. The truck was totaled. View Quote |
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fun fact.
ranch hand is made right across the street from the brewery that makes Shiner beer Eta. Looks like its already been noted |
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I’ve got a Fusion on the front of my F250. You can get it a few different ways. Not a megastructure like the ranch hand but I think it would do well vs deer. IIRC it weighs about 175lbs. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/183699/2C06CE02-E7E8-46DE-947A-13EC4408976D-642876.jpg Doesn’t stick out far but can carry a winch, my main reason for it. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/183699/50BC4AE8-771D-44D0-B114-96DFB2DEE7E1-642879.jpg View Quote |
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Work great for bump gates. For those that have never used a bump works just like it sounds. Ram the gate and it opens up and the cable twist around the support pole and it will self close. Bump it hard enough it will open, you drive thru, and it will close after you get the truck thru. You can spot people who have never done it pretty quickly, they are the ones with a giant slash down the side of the truck. The support pole lets the gate swing both directions on one side or the other, so you can go and come without having to open the gate. Pretty popular in south TX ranch country for gates between pastures that don't require a lock but have to be kept closed for cattle and you come and go pretty often. View Quote |
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Unbeleivable that Ranch Hand doesnt make a replacement bumper, front or rear, for lare model Tahoes or Suburbans. They offer a grill guard not not the serious replacements. Unfortunate but undertandable since GM barely sells any of these vehicles
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After more or less being all over east and central Texas for the past two weeks I noticed these seem to be state issued for truck owners. What makes em so good? Do I need one for my truck? I’ve had ARB stuff in the past but they don’t make anything for the F150 platform. Learn me folks. View Quote |
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So what other companies should I consider? Lower profile / weight is a priority. Truck for reference. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/164007/6EB2F7FF-38AF-491E-B1A5-80B1950927F8-642834.JPG View Quote |
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Good looking truck. I had the exact same wheels and tires on my 4Runner. Sorry, can't contribute on the actual subject though View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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So what other companies should I consider? Lower profile / weight is a priority. Truck for reference. https://www.AR15.Com/media/mediaFiles/164007/6EB2F7FF-38AF-491E-B1A5-80B1950927F8-642834.JPG |
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I put one of the RH brushguards on before driving up to Alaska. Only hit one deer on the way, guard did it's job OK, no damage to the truck. That being said, I think their build quality sucks. Mounting brackets were fucked up and misaligned, so-so powder coat job, etc. Everyone else seems to love them though, I went with it because it was the only unit I could find without sitting around for five months, waiting for another company to build one that'll fit my old '99 F350. I wouldn't buy another one, I'd take the time and find something else. View Quote |
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Put a Ranch Hand on my wife's new Tahoe. She tells me that people always hit the brakes when she comes up behind them. Must think it is a police vehicle.
We hit a deer with our former Tahoe at about 65-70. The doe was looked like it ate a grenade. Not a scratch or dent on the guard or Tahoe. |
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Ranch hand had a Tundra,on a trailer at the Spring Natl's. this year.It had endo'ed and rolled ,several times.Fucker was trashed !
It held up to all that,the driver was setting on the trailer talking with people about it.It was leaned back into the truck,but it was still together. |
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Quoted: That would be one hell of a set of sliders... View Quote People around where I live give zero fucks about giving you door dings, dragging their bags along your paint, or a lot of stuff like that. I have a huge drag line I need to buff out. I've since ceased taking that truck to work because people are absolutely douchey about other people's stuff there. |
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I used to work for the factory that makes them. They are made right across the street from the Shiner beer factory. Very interesting story on how the company came about and they cant seem to make them fast enough. View Quote |
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It's the cool way to turn a minor fender bender into a major collision repair.
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Quoted: as one who made them - is the quality there? View Quote They have a special building for each operation, from punching raw parts out, tube bending, welding, shot penning, and a massive powder coat line and then to storage. They use a lot of jigs to control quality but QC on something like that is not my specialty. All welding is done by hand as they probably cannot get anybody to operate robotics way out there. The last time I was there, the storage building was just getting up and going and it was at least an acre with racks going up as high as the forklifts could go. I bet the have outgrown that. I might have overheard reports about trucks with ranch hand that were involved in some very bad car accidents....the ranch hand trucks came out very well and the other guy, not so much. |
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When you hit a deer or other large object, a grille guard is going to fold back into your radiator.and crush the front rnd of your truck. The replacement bumper assembly is stout, I pushed an 18,000lb LMTV military truck out of the mud with one of the upright supports on mine, RanchHand paid me for my testimonial/video/stills and is supposedly using the video on Social Media. I bought my front and rear RanchHand bumpers through Hendry's. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
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There's a brush guard that I really loved when I saw the movie "Wind River" on Netflix. https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-2.jpg https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-1.jpg https://productplacementblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Chevrolet-Silverado-Pickup-Truck-in-Wind-River-4.jpg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMrN25A808g It's this one: https://www.goindustries.com/46749-rancher-grille-guard-black.html I'm sure there's a Ford version. I love it for its simplicity. The replacement bumper assembly is stout, I pushed an 18,000lb LMTV military truck out of the mud with one of the upright supports on mine, RanchHand paid me for my testimonial/video/stills and is supposedly using the video on Social Media. I bought my front and rear RanchHand bumpers through Hendry's. It did take a while to get it all washed out from the wheel wells and off the rear axle where it bounced up. It was a Ranch Hand. |
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keep the feedback coming.
When I get home tonight I'll open a bottle of Weller and see where my credit card takes me. Any more alternatives are always welcome too |
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I have a frontier gear bumper and brush guard on my truck. I put it on about 4 years ago and the powder coating has been pealing for at least a year. Other than that, it’s well built.
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You can easily tell the people who have never hit a deer with a brush guard/ranch hand.
I hit 3 before I was 20 years old. Drops em dead without ruining your truck |
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I used to work for the factory that makes them. They are made right across the street from the Shiner beer factory. Very interesting story on how the company came about and they cant seem to make them fast enough. View Quote |
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I have one on our dually with a few deer and an antelope under its belt.
If the front suspension of my cars could habdle the weight, they have one too. |
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