I was looking at putting a bull bar on the truck, and since i have to have a front license plate i would need to get the plate mounting bracket with the bull bar...my question is if you put the license plate bracket on, can you still put lights in the light brackets without it covering up the license plate??

I was looking at the westin or aries bar....let me know!

 

yes

the plate hangs below the lights and doesn't interfere with anything


I've got the Hunter Bull Bar (eBay seller from Texas) and love it. About $50 cheaper than the Westin as well


got some pics in my gallery

 

I notice that your hunter bull bar doesnt have the skid plate like the westin and aries have, by the looks of it the license plate would be in a different place with the skid plate...

 

The westin or aries bar bull bars have a bracket that puts the plate between the lights, and from what i've read the hunter bull bar is more of a heavy duty bar that will stand up to an impact better



i know it's on a ranger but gives you the idea...

 

yeah, the Hunter I have doesn't have the skid plate. they offer one that does however. I like how the Hunter looks, and I don't think I have pics of the front of my truck with the liscence plate installed. That gap between the bottom bars perfectly frames the plate...but they included a relocation bracket just in case

Westin makes good stuff, but I couldn't justify spending $250+ for one. I paid $189 shipped for the Hunter. It's pretty damn sturdy. I weigh 275 lbs and can jump up/down on mine and it doesn't flex at all.

 

Some one is selling aries bull bars on ebay for a decent price, 159 for black powder coated with stainless skid plate and 189 for all stainless, +shipping, also 23 bucks for the license plate relocater bracket

 

I like the way bullbars look but I've seen what happens in a fender bender. I walked outside of class and saw this...

Silverado got rearended by a Tundra with one which was rearended by an Acura.

The Acura's hood was all pushed up. Tundra's rear bumper brackets were bent and his bull bar was bent touching his front bumper. The Silverado had no damage at all.

-rockstate

 

edited this out

 

I saw that, for the stainless it ends up being 229 shipped for the stainless and the hunter bull bars like tylus has in stainless are 239 shipped i believe, so i dunno what i would prefer??? any suggestions?

 

???

I personally would go with the Hunter...but that is because I already have 1 of theirs and really like the product.

You find anybody with the Aries who can comment on their quality?

The Hunter is made here in the USA by a weld shop in Texas...where is the Aries made from?

 

Im not for sure where they are made, but i want to say that aries is out of california for some reason?

I havent heard really any feedback on the aries bar, so i dont know. I do have a question on the hunter though. It lists a 2 different bull bars for 97-04 and then one for 05-08....any idea why there would be a difference between the 04 and 05?

 

In 04 ford still made the F150 Heritage. Its prolly their way of not listin two part numbers for the same year

-rockstate

 

x2 with Rockstate

alot of people don't know that the F-150 had 2 different styles in 2004. So it's safer to list 05-08 stuff on the off chance a guy with an 04 Heritage tries to order something that says it fits a 2004 F-150.

see it alot on the net websites