Vehicle safety and aerodynamics have made major advancements in the last 10 years. The body lines are smoother to reduce wind drag, and air bags surround the interior to provide the occupants with instant protection in an accident. Our Project Deepwoods Toyota Tundra Double Cab 4x4 is a prime example of such technological leaps.
However, those very same advances that give our trucks greater safety and fuel economy complicate matters when it comes to adding some types of aftermarket parts - especially front bumpers.
Before the advent of crash sensors and crumple zones, you could bolt any type of bumper to your rig in a matter of minutes. Now you have to remove body facia and skid plates put on new trucks to help reduce frontal drag. Then you have to contend with removing the bumper assembly that typically integrates a number of sensors, foam inserts, and special mounting brackets that are part of the occupant protection system.
Consequently the aftermarket bumper manufacturer must figure out how to keep all of those factory safety features working with the replacement bumper. That complicates the installation - and raises the cost - of the new bumper.
A BULL OF A BAR
These safety issues hit home when we dropped the stock bumper on our Project Deepwoods Tundra and replaced it with a winch-ready, powder-coated, heavy-duty steel ARB Bull Bar from the lads Down Under.
This isn't your ordinary winch bumper. Sure it has provisions for a winch, factory fog lights, dual CB antennae mounting tabs, and mounts for auxiliary driving lights, but what makes these bumpers worth their $1,800 price tag goes beyond the obvious.
ARB (www.arbusa.com) has gone to great lengths to make sure passengers inside the new Tundra are still afforded every safety feature Toyota offers while still making their Australian-designed-and-built winch bumper aesthetically appealing. Not an easy task, but one well done.
The ARB bumper mounting brackets are designed with a wave pattern so in a head-on collision they crumple at a rate consistent with what the factory bumper would absorb. They also work perfectly with the Toyota air bag system.
ARB has invested heavily in vehicle crash barrier tests to validate the performance and compliance of its air bag compatible bull bars. As a consequence, their bull bars offer a far greater level of protection than most standard brush guards and grille guards.
This design in no way reduces the strength of the ARB bumper for normal self-recovery uses. In fact, this is one of the stoutest winch-ready bumpers you'll find offered anywhere in the world, which is why we chose it for Project Deepwoods.
Another nice aspect of the ARB Bull Bar is it's laser-cut to fit the unique curves and body shape of the new truck - right down to the sculpting around the grillework that is now a part of the hood. The ARB winch bumper also includes additional marker/turn signal lamps to improve the Tundra's visibility to other drivers.
WINCH WAY TO GO
Of course the Aussies never leave home without a winch at the ready. Neither do we.
Winch-ready ARB Bull Bars have all the necessary cut-outs and mounting holes to accept the biggest winch they think is needed for whatever vehicle the bumper is designed for. In the case of the new Tundra, ARB has designed the bumper to accept a 12,000-pound-capacity model.
We thought a light-weight, high-tech winch would be fitting for the types of off-road adventurers we have planned. So we selected an SX9.5 Mile Marker (www.milemarker.com) to reside inside Deepwoods' ARB Bull Bar.
The X-Series model is the newest generation of winch offered by Mile Marker, one of the World's premier winch manufacturers.
Here's the functional skinny of the X-Series: Its can deliver 9,500-pounds of pulling power; the winch is low-profile, fitting easily inside the ARB bumper; it weights 95 pounds; the planetary gear system utilizes an automatic load-holding brake; and a transistorized M.O.S.F.E.T. (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor) Control Pack is utilized for long life.
From a convenience standpoint the SX9.5 also includes LED lights on the control box to show at a distance what mode the winch is in; it features cordless operation using the provided Illuminated Standard Wireless Remote; and it has Automatic Power Down and a Hi-Temp Warning Buzzer to keep the operator well-informed in extreme use conditions.
INSTALLATION HIGHLIGHTS
When its time to put winch to bumper and bumper to truck, have some weight-lifting buddies around. The ARB winch bumper is cumbersome and it's heavy.
We never put ours on a scale because it was all two of us could do to move it from the shipping crate to the air bumper lift that Spears Auto Repair had handy. Let's just say it's about 150 pounds-or more. Then add in the 90-plus pounds for the winch which needs to be installed in the bumper before putting the bumper on the truck.
Make sure you tape over the Tundra's fenders at the point where the ARB bull bar's "wings" will be located once the bumper is in place. The bumper has to be slanted at a downward angle as it is set on the special frame-to-bumper brackets.
The fit is so precise there's no room for a miss-step in positioning the wings beside the bodywork as the bumper is lowered into place. If you aren't careful you'll put a nice deep scratch in the fender's paint. (Deepwoods has a vinyl camo body wrap, so our miscue was absorbed by the 3M material instead of the paint.)
TEDIOUS BUT SIMPLE
Lastly, this installation takes time, so allow for it. There are a lot of screws, bolts, and plastic keepers that need to be removed before getting the factory bumper and fascia out of the way. Then you will need to install the new bumper mounting brackets, setup the winch, wire in any auxiliary lights you might want (we added Rostra ultrasonic parking sensors and PIAA fog lights), and mount the ARB-supplied turn signal indicators.
The nice part is there's nothing technically difficult about this winch/bumper upgrade: The instructions that come with the bumper and winch are well-detailed. Air tools are always nice to have around, but ordinary handtools are sufficient to do the job.
When the ARB bumper and Mile Marker winch are in place you can rest assured there'll never be a problem getting this big bull moving should it-or one of the other trucks with it-need a little extra pulling power on an off-road adventure.
WINCH BUYING TIP
Buying a winch is an expensive and long-lasting investment so you should make the right choice the first time. The most important decision is what the winch is goingon and what type of winching situations do you think you'll get into? Here's how to choose how big a winch you need for your 4x4.
Begin with the vehicle's "Gross Vehicle Weight Rating" or GVWR, which is noted on a metal tag riveted on the edge of the driver's door. (Project Deepwoods' GVWR, for example, is 7,100 pounds.) A good rule-of-thumb in winch selection for light- to medium-duty use is to get one that provides at least 30-percent more pulling power than the GVWR. For our Deepwoods Tundra that figure is 9,230-pounds of pulling capacity. The Mile Marker SX9.5 is has a single-wrap rating of 9500, so it meets this criteria.
