Grill / Brush guard reccomendations

[Novak]

Hey guys I need your help. I've been searching for a grill guard for the past few months and I'm at a loss so I need your guys recommendations.

First off I'm trying to keep it in the rage of no more than $500, I know some of you are saying you can't get anything good for that but I'm hoping...

So I've heard hunter grill guards are the worst and so I'm not going to get one of those, do any of you know of or have heard about steelcraft? I found a steelcraft for $325 but I can't find any reviews on it.

If worst comes to worst I've found a Westin grill guard for $452 (heard Westin is one of the top) but shipping is just murderous on a grill guard.

I was also looking at a manik but I can't find one in a black powder coat. If any of you know of any other brands that you recommend and wont break my bank please let me know

Thanks!

 

[Donner]

Which type are you looking for? Are you covering the lights and grille, bumper, etc? or just a bull bar type?

 

[Novak]

ah my apology, full brush guard, lights, bumper, grille, etc. not looking for a bull bar

 

[Donner]

no prob... have you tried JCWhitney.com

 

[steventadams]

I would keep your eyes open in the For Sale Forum. Every few weeks someone sells one and they disappear pretty quickly. I got my brushguard in there for 125 bucks from a guy that lived 45 minutes away from me.

 

[FHBasketball]

If i were you i would try looking at www.flowpowerexhaust.com

They have pretty much anything you can think of for any car or truck out there, and any order you place over $50 has free shipping. I know they sell westin grill guards too. It's just a matter of finding the one that you want.

 

[seeyalater]

try this one, bigapple has it on his and im thinking about getting it too

http://www.dealsofsteel.com/product_info.php?products_id=506

 

[patrick112390]

just installed my brush guard today! it was $250 with free shipping from www.huntertruckwholesale.com and man, its pretty darn tuff and so easy to install check it out..

 

[Glen4X4]

So its been over a year hows the hunter brush guard holding up for ya as far the paint goes and strength?

 

[patrick112390]

well let me repost a newer picture since the old one got deleted,


overall i am VERY satisfied, it has held up to pushing over bushes twigs, no chipping of the powder coat. slight fade but nothing abnormal for what ive put it through. i only use capitals for things i stress.
THIS BRUSH GUARD SAVED MY FRONT END FOR AT LEAST WHAT ITS WORTH.
*****story*******
going to a movie with my girlfriend late at night we were traveling down a straight country road when all of the sudden a good-6 point, 200~ or so LB buck ran out and i CLOBBERED him straight on! i hit him in the side as he was running driverside to passenger, hitting the body first, then his head wipped back and hit near the passenger headlight. the truck did a little shimmy and i thought i had serious front damage as i was going about 45-50. got out to look and--------the middle crossmember was bent, the large tube covering the passenger headlight had a dent from where the antler hit, and the passenger corner light was cracked from an antler.

the corner light cost me 6 bucks at the junk yard, and i straightened the middle crossmember at work with a hammer and such.....the powdercoat STILL hasn't chipped, even after straightening it back out.....

had i not had the guard, i would be replacing AT LEAST, front passenger headlight,cornerlight front grill, header panel, and possibly a radiator/condensor.

feel free to ask any questions!!! :

 

[Glen4X4]

Alright, thanks for the response, I was looking at these on ebay and looked nice and was curious how the powder coat stood up to hitting limbs. Guess its time to get one now .

Oh yeah and how'd it go with the body lift? Did you drill new holes to accommodate the body lift.

 

[patrick112390]

i did a kind of custom lower bracket, that goes up and bolts through the frame, i believe its made of 1/4'' thick steel. i explained it in another thread but cant find it. here is the picture i made a while ago of it...

 

[Glen4X4]

Hmm...ok well guess when I get to that point I'll just have to do some messing around to get it to mount right. Thanks

 

[patrick112390]

i forgot to add, if there were one thing i would have done differently, i would have put some anti-rust stuff on the hardware, the bolts/nuts/washers are rusted which i may replace...

 

[ThisMeanMachine]

so i have a 95 explorer and under the bumper is a big plastic guard to prevent damage to the bumper. Did you have the same thing? cuz i need to know if it is wise to remove it to put on a bull bar i have

 

[obie]

You could remove it if you want to, but if you have fog lights in it you'll need to find another way to mount them. You don't have to remove it though, with some patience and good measuring you can cut a little bit out of it to allow the brackets to slip right through it and if you're careful, you wont even notice it's cut.

 

[interscope8]

" So I've heard hunter grill guards are the worst "

Irritates me when people say this because the bars are cheaper than the WAAG or Westin ones. IMO you pay for the name with Westin... A metal tube is a metal tube. My hunter bull bar saved my front bumper when I was messing around OffRoad. I was coming down a steep hill and didn't see a rock at the bottom and the faux skid plate actually saved my cladding and possibly my radiator fan. Put a huge dent in the plate which I hammered out to make it hardly noticible. Worth the $100 I paid IMO. Cheaper than a bumper facia

 

[obie]

I was really impressed with the Hunter grille guard I have for my 98. The welds were beautiful, powdercoat was spotless, and was still perfect even after getting whacked a bunch of times. I had a minor bit of trimming to do, but I don't think it was the fault of Hunter, since my bumper mount was bent in slightly. If I could go back, I would have just pulled the entire bumper to hammer it back instead of cutting the mounting bracket. Other than that, everything fit perfectly.

I'd recommend them. Though I would swap the bolts out to some plated grade 8s or metric 10.9s.

 

[NewTrac17]

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[frankcal]

So I had a hunter grille guard on my sport for about a year and was fairly impressed with it. The headlight portion of it is kinda cheap and that broke on me first. But i just got into an accident today and it protected my car pretty good. It did bend my hood a bit where it came into contact with at two points, but it looks pretty fixable, maybe with a sledge and block. But my front bumper cover and everything else was perfectly fine other than some scratching. On the other side the taco I hit had its tailgate pushed in, the bumper falling off and the left rear panel bending out. So all in all i think it was a pretty good brush guard for the price.