Ranch Hand Summit Bumper

Took a while to get it, but the Summit series Ranch Hand turned out good. I was looking for something not as heavy as the full pipe versions. They claim 220 pounds. Frontier has a similar one that's supposedly 196 pounds and it reuses the OEM mounts and its thinner metal. The Summit is mostly 3/16" steel diamond plate. I don't see any quality issues with it, the welds look fine. Hopefully I won't test it out anytime soon, my old bumper had seen better days. New headlights?&src=tdr">head lights and driving lights too.

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How's the clearance for head light adjustment/removal? I'm looking to get a bumper similar to this used.

 

Looks like an inch, its not tight below the head lights. Those were easy to adjust. But, I can't get to the driving light adjustment screws good enough. I'll have to adjust the brackets up on mine, its just one bolt on each side that the driving light bracket pivots on. If the rain stops I'll get under there one night and get those driving lights in a useful position, they light up the ground nicely right now.

 

That bumper brought me to the bumper I have now. Same style as the ranch hand, just not the diamond plate look. Ranch hand has a good design and they seem to last a long time. I can take diamond plate on toolboxes or some bed trim, just not a fan on bumpers.

 

Hopefully it will keep that front end protected from the forest rats.

 

SD Truck Springs offers HD coils to compensate for those heavy bumpers.

 

Nice bumper! I went with a Fab Fours bumper made in South Carolina. Had it Line-Xed and installed by them. Happy with it, except it had large mesh screen over the fog light openings and they Line-Xed it. Blocks off half the light.

What headlights are you running?

 

You could easily cut the mesh out...

 

That's the plan. I think I can re-use the original plastic grommets that went around the fog lights in the original bumper.

 

I'm running the DEPO replacement headlights and DEPO replacement driving lights with the bulbzilla wiring adapters. I've gone through two sets of OEM lights and the DEPO brand is the same quality IMO. Geno's has the good stuff...

I was running 35 watt HID lights, but the driving lights were too bright for road use and the headlights had too much scatter. So I'm back to halogen bulbs from Walmart!

The bulbzilla upgrade is nice and the thicker o-rings make a huge difference for me. No water in the driving lights with the thick o-rings. I went through two sets of driving light sets before I figured that out, so I replace those o-rings occasionally as a preventive now....

I haven't tested the bumper out so far, but it still looks good.

 

Thanks! It looks like the DEPOs from Geno's are the way to go as my original lights are clouded over. The only thing that worries me is that the lights were never very good even when the truck was brand new. Will using these with halogen bulbs be any improvement? I know there are a lot of aftermarket LED replacement bulbs that replace the 9007 halogens, and there are several LED projector light units out there too. I just don't want to buy something unless someone else has tried them and is really happy.

I installed the Fogzilla modification years ago and am extremely happy with it. This is where the fog lights stay on with the high beam? HUGE improvement over the high beams only!

 

The bulbzilla mod gives you the brighter 9005 driving light bulbs. This is what I'm talking about: https://www.genosgarage.com/product/bb-BFH-6-5/accessories-lighting

You may have that done already, I don't remember if the brightbox came with the harness adapters for the 9005's. It was called Fogzilla years ago, not the box for fogs and highbeams, just the driving light bulb adapters.

The stock headlamp housings are still not great, but the 9005 driving light upgrade has a nice fill once you adjust them right. I think if you really want some good highbeams, just install some high quality auxiliary off road spot beam LED's relayed off the highbeam circuit.