Steel that mounts right and sits level
Out here a deer on FM 407 at dusk is a real hazard, and a front bumper is the difference between a body shop week and driving home. We install Ranch Hand front and rear replacement bumpers, grille guards, brush guards, bull bars and headache racks. Ranch Hand builds theirs in Shiner, Texas, and the fit on factory frame horns shows it.
Steel and aluminum are a real tradeoff, not a preference. A full steel replacement front bumper runs 150 to 300 pounds over the plastic and foam it replaces. That weight sits ahead of the front axle, which is the worst place for it, and it will settle the nose an inch or more on factory springs. Aluminum cuts that roughly in half and costs more.
The install itself is the easy part. What separates a clean job from a rattling one is the wiring and sensor work: relocating parking sensors into the new bumper, moving the front camera, retaining or replacing fog lights, and running a WARN winch feed with proper fusing and grommets. We do all of that in-house in Argyle and we quote it in writing before anything is ordered.
Legend, Sport and Summit series, plus rear bumpers with step and receiver. Texas-built, powder coated, and cut for factory sensors on most late-model applications. We stock the common ones.
Bolt to the frame, not the bumper cover. A properly mounted guard takes a deer strike into the frame rails. A poorly mounted one folds into your radiator support.
WARN winch mounted, wired with a fused feed off the battery and a solenoid location that stays dry. We size the winch to the truck's actual weight, not the badge on the tailgate.
Parking sensors, front camera and the wiring behind them get moved and re-secured properly. No dash faults, no taped splices, no sensors pointed at the inside of a steel bumper.
Factory fog lights retained where the bumper allows, or replaced with Baja Designs or Rigid pods. Switched, fused and wired to a proper circuit rather than a fuse tap and hope.
Cab protection racks, plus WeatherGuard boxes, Westin steps, N-FAB bars and BakFlip or ReTrax covers. It all mounts the same day if you want it done together.
The nose sits down after the install. Two hundred pounds of steel ahead of the axle compresses the front springs and the truck ends up with more rake than it started with. On a half-ton it is usually an inch. The correct fix is a leveling kit or heavier front coils sized for the added load, planned as part of the bumper job rather than discovered afterward.
Parking sensors screaming at steel. Move an ultrasonic sensor into a bumper that has metal or a bracket in front of its cone and the truck throws a permanent obstacle warning. Some owners just unplug them, which sets a fault and can disable the rear camera guidelines. The sensors have to sit in the openings the bumper manufacturer cut for them, aimed the way the factory aimed them.
Untorqued frame bolts and the rattle that follows. Bumper brackets bolt through the frame horn and those fasteners have a spec, usually well over a hundred foot-pounds. Snug is not torqued. A bumper that was run down with an impact and never checked will elongate the holes, work loose over a few thousand miles, and start knocking on every dip. We torque to spec and re-check them.
Winch wiring run cheap. A 12,000 pound winch pulls serious current and the cable has to be sized, fused at the battery and protected everywhere it crosses metal. We have pulled bumpers off trucks where the positive lead ran through a bare hole in the frame with no grommet. That is a fire waiting on a pothole. Proper routing costs an hour and prevents a very bad day.
Steel if the bumper's job is protecting the truck from livestock, deer and parking lot damage. Aluminum if you care about front end weight, fuel mileage and keeping the factory ride height. Ranch Hand steel is the standard around here for a reason, but on a truck already carrying a winch and a heavy front bumper, aluminum is a legitimate answer. We will weigh the tradeoff with you.
A properly designed replacement bumper keeps the factory crash sensor mounted where the manufacturer put it, and we transfer it. Parking sensors and cameras move into the openings cut for them. Where a bumper deletes a fog light or a sensor location entirely, we tell you before you order, because finding out on the lift is a bad afternoon for everyone.
Often, yes. Figure an inch of front sag from a full steel bumper on a half-ton, more with a winch in it. A level or a heavier front coil brings it back and keeps the headlight aim and ride height where they belong. We measure your ride height before and after, and if the truck needs the correction we quote both together.
A straight bolt-on rear bumper is a short job. A front replacement with sensor relocation, camera, fog lights and a winch is most of a day, sometimes more if the truck fights us on frame bolts. We schedule realistically rather than promising a two-hour turnaround and keeping your truck overnight. Our door rate is $150 per hour and the estimate comes in writing first.
Our shop is at 4020 Trey Ln, Unit B in Argyle, and we work on trucks from Argyle, Flower Mound, Bartonville, Copper Canyon, Justin and Northlake, plus Denton, Roanoke, Trophy Club, Keller, Haslet, Highland Village and the wider Metroplex within about fifty miles.
Open Monday to Saturday, 7:00 AM to 6:00 PM. Closed Sunday. (940) 240-1958
More of what we do: Wheel Alignment · Winches & Recovery · Off-Road Lighting · Running Boards & Steps · Tonneau Covers · Brakes · Diesel Service · Lift Kits · Vehicles we service · Fleet service
Authorized dealer for all 42 brands below.
Authorized dealer for every brand listed above. Running something that is not on this list? We can source and install almost any major aftermarket suspension, wheel, tire or accessory line — give us a call and we will price it out.