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Have the opportunity to purchase a brand new Ranch Hand Grille Guard for $300 delivered.
Currently I have a front receiver hitch and a light bar on my truck, I can't say that I am crazy about the receiver hitch as it sets pretty low under the truck. The light bar is a nice solid mounting bar bracket for mounting tabs for 4 individual lights.
I'm driving myself crazy trying to decide if I want to change over to the Ranch Hand Guard. I don't think that I can leave the receiver hitch attached in tandem with the RH Guard.
Do I need the guard, no not really. Do I want it, maybe. Guess what it comes down to is being so satisfied with my truck I feel the need to keep adding to it or changing features on it.
As soon as I can afford it, I will have the new Westin HDX on my truck. Looks very similar to the RanchHand you are talking about. Only difference is, the Westin has a winch tray that I can put a receiver on the bottom of and carry my kayaks(with Goal Post rack), bikes and 5er all together! I personally love the idea of protecting all of the coolers in the front of the truck.
I told the guy to go ahead and order the Ranch Hand grille guard for my truck thinking at the very least I will be adding some front end protection to my frontal area of the truck.
Of course right after that I came across a NIB Fab Four complete bumper grille guard replacement that will fit my truck. It has the option of adding a receiver hitch on the top of the bumper as well as a winch mount. Cost for the bumper would be $600 plus what ever the receiver option would cost. The receiver bolts on the bumper so I figure it would cost around $40.
I'm just not sure how my truck would look with a complete black front bumper grille guard sitting out front on a platinum white over gold F350 Dually truck. Right now I am pretty well balanced between Black and Bling. This may boil down to choosing between function vs. fashion.
some of those heavy duty grill guards look like they are good for deer at least if drive at night in an infested area. Might work for Elk, moose maybe questionable - semis with the big bull bars seem to handle them though.
some of those heavy duty grill guards look like they are good for deer at least if drive at night in an infested area. Might work for Elk, moose maybe questionable - semis with the big bull bars seem to handle them though.
One of the things that I like about the Ranch Hand brand is that they not only mount to the frame at the bumper mount, but also have metal straps that attach on the lower frame rail to keep the guard from folding rearward.
A full bumper replacement is what you want, hit white tail deer at 70 with no marks. I've had grill guards in the past that weren't bumper replacement and they fold over and do more damage usually taking out both fenders and the hood, but they will save radiator and trans cooler and maintain drive ability.
Personally I don't care for the ranch hand look of diamond plate and square tubing, it looks cheap, and it is but they are very strong. I've seen many better looking ones out there but they can get up to 4x or more the cost. I went with an Ali arc myself and love it. Solid Aluminum, hit a couple deer with not do much as a mark.
A full bumper replacement is what you want, hit white tail deer at 70 with no marks. I've had grill guards in the past that weren't bumper replacement and they fold over and do more damage usually taking out both fenders and the hood, but they will save radiator and trans cooler and maintain drive ability.
Personally I don't care for the ranch hand look of diamond plate and square tubing, it looks cheap, and it is but they are very strong. I've seen many better looking ones out there but they can get up to 4x or more the cost. I went with an Ali arc myself and love it. Solid Aluminum, hit a couple deer with not do much as a mark.
I love the look of your Ali arc front set up, matter of fact I contacted you a while back and asked about it. Beautiful and Pricey.
A full bumper replacement is what you want, hit white tail deer at 70 with no marks. I've had grill guards in the past that weren't bumper replacement and they fold over and do more damage usually taking out both fenders and the hood, but they will save radiator and trans cooler and maintain drive ability.
Personally I don't care for the ranch hand look of diamond plate and square tubing, it looks cheap, and it is but they are very strong. I've seen many better looking ones out there but they can get up to 4x or more the cost. I went with an Ali arc myself and love it. Solid Aluminum, hit a couple deer with not do much as a mark.
This is true.....
I live in a very deer heavy area out inthe country and all of the guys I've seen so far with grill guards that have blasted a deer of 100# or so have still sustained a Substantial amont of damage to the front end.. The plastic grills they put in these trucks won't even hold up to a turkey hit let alone a small deer...
This is true.....
I live in a very deer heavy area out inthe country and all of the guys I've seen so far with grill guards that have blasted a deer of 100# or so have still sustained a Substantial amont of damage to the front end.. The plastic grills they put in these trucks won't even hold up to a turkey hit let alone a small deer...
Amazing what a deer can do, I have seen a couple of moose hits - not pretty and one had fatals. 1200 Lbs of meat is a massive hit. I try to avoid night driving in moose country. Maybe I will take the consensus advice and save up for the heavy bumper / guard combo.
Seems incongruous that these large trucks can be damaged and shut down by a relatively small meat torpedo.
Yeah, I would say that a Moose hit would be substantially worse than deer..
I guess the good thing about the big brush guards is that they may protect the radiator well enough to get you home or to safety after a pretty good hit. Most of the nice looking ones are generally made of some pretty thin material in order to keep the shipping weight down. If you're going to do it - might as well do it big....
I'm looking for something to stop a deer or large dog from totally incapacitating my truck in the middle of God knows where. I was never a fan of the 'punch' style center piece of the RanchHand and similar guards until a few years ago when I saw a 6.4L that had hit a deer while pulling a trailer full of cars. No damage to the lights, just centered the grille and an antler went through and punctured the radiator and the CAC...the truck was dead in the water. Made me rethink things and realize of all of the weird places I go, not having to worry much about that, makes it all worth a guard on the front. Besides, now all of the ones like the RanchHand and Westin are really growing on me...
I had a RH like the one pictured below on my previous 2011 SD and it withstood a tractor pulling a trailer with 40,000# of frac sand across my front end while I was stopped at a red light. I'll never have another SD without the Ranch Hand bumper replacements. Too much oilfield equipment and critters traveling the same roads as I do.
I have also wondered which would look better longer, The way it comes with the powder coat or have it Line-X'd like you did? I love that front end, I could do everything I want to do with a full replacement. But I just like the chrome on the front...my main reason I don't care for King Ranch trucks. Plus, the bugs here kill the paint on the bumpers pretty quick.
I have also wondered which would look better longer, The way it comes with the powder coat or have it Line-X'd like you did? I love that front end, I could do everything I want to do with a full replacement. But I just like the chrome on the front...my main reason I don't care for King Ranch trucks. Plus, the bugs here kill the paint on the bumpers pretty quick.
Gotta say that I agree with you, I have tried to be very careful in keeping a balance between chrome bling and black accessories added to my truck which by the way is the same paint job as your truck.
I have also wondered which would look better longer, The way it comes with the powder coat or have it Line-X'd like you did? .....
My 2011 with the same bed liner coating and looked like day one three and half years later (when I sold it). That was with the Adobe color, only time will tell on the new Caribou color. My son had his 6.4 with the same RH, but painted Adobe. His had rock chips where I didn't. Ranch Hands are not for everyone, but I obviously like them.
12-02-2014, 06:35 PM
