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Just brought home an 04’ 6.0 4x4 XLT with 148k and have a couple questions regarding the aftermarket bumpers she’s wearing. One just because I’m curious and the other because it could be a life safety issue. Since I’m ordering new X/C springs from ATS here in the next few days I’d be interested in knowing the front bumper weight just to see how much it effected the lift gain vs what others have posted on their X/C packs. As for the back bumper, oh my. Now that I own it and have started to really crawl all over the X I realized that the rear bumper has been welded to the frame. This alone would not be cause for concern but the bumper replaced the stock hitch with one built in. In fact the PO or their hired gun actually cut the factory hitch off since apparently lowering the fuel tank is to much effort for just a few bolts. Red wrench for the win. My concern is how much is the rear bumper rated to tow, and if even rated comparable to the factory hitch should I trust it being welded. I don’t even want to imagine the potential tragedy if the bumper or welds aren’t up to the task when towing.
Looks like a Ranch Hand or at least that style if not the brand.
stock bumper is rated at 500lbs tongue weight, based on what i can see of your mount I think that is asking to much. I would consider it suitable for a bike rack but not towing.
Torched off the hitch and welded on the bumper? It might have been a bumper from another vehicle that was repurposed, quite horribly.
Those do look like ranch hand though.
Not only is the rear bumper not even remotely close to safe for towing, it isn't safe for an accident either. With that one being done like that Ibwould be suspect of the front one also.
Not only is the rear bumper not even remotely close to safe for towing, it isn't safe for an accident either. With that one being done like that Ibwould be suspect of the front one also.
The front looks to be bolted up in what I would assume to be the factory mounting points, but it was definitely a detriment to the truck overall. Even the slightest bump will have the front end smacking off the stops. Yay for clapped out springs with a boat anchor added as a lever.
For the rear it looks like the consensus is the same as what I was feeling. The really irritating thing was that I drove 5 hours to get the Ex and then used it to tow the car I drove up in home. Guess I can color myself lucky nothing happened and hit the pick and pull this weekend for a bumper and hitch.
