Brush guard/farm truck modifications Here's another option to consider. Here on the farm, we have a lot of brambles and brush. This little truck will spend a lot of time in the woods and I wanted to protect the front end. I found a brush guard for a full sized pickup on Craigslist. Only cost 70 bucks. I simply chopped 5" out of the center, welded it back together, cut the wrap around light protectors off, shortened and flipped them to protect the protruding signal lights on the scrum/carry. I added heavy one inch square mesh that I had laying around. (originally protectors for industrial fluorescent lights). Mounting was accomplished by removing the round tube attached to the frame/front end, strengthening it extensively with gussets and cross bars, and also adding a bit of skid plate to it. I decided not to put a receiver hitch or winch mount on the front, but may add those later on. Next will be a roof rack and runners from the brush guard up to the roof rack. (gotta protect that windshield). I'll also build a rear bumper with receiver soon.
I like it. I'm going to start looking for one myself. I've been looking for a rollbar to shrink down to size as well. Thanks for the pictures.
I built my roof rack three years ago to carry spare tire and mount led lights, on the bush guard it took 3 tries at mounting till I got the best clearance so that receiver did not hit in the woods.
Very cool dwlb! That's right along the lines of what I was thinking of. I also intend to run rails from the brush guard up to the rack. Too many "big enough" branches and low hanging stuff not to. I was concerned about sacrificing ground clearance with this guard. I did lose about one inch and it does stick out forward a little, but it hasn't (so far) seemed to be a problem. What kind of lights are those and where did you find them?
The lights are Oledone , the center one is a 8" 36 watt spot beam and the 2 outside ones are 6" 24 watt flood beams. The rear facing lights are 8" 36 watt euro beam on the roof rack and I have 3 leds mounted on back bumper as reverse lights. You can find lights on Ebay or Aliexpress , Cree leds are brighter and whiter than Epistar chips and have a longer life span (50,000 hrs) so you not have to replace them. All the lights on truck draw about the same as one set of 55 watt halogen fog lights. Hope this helps , the photos don't do the lights justice. There is a thread about rack on site Roof Rack / Tire Mount you can see how I mounted it. Doug
Pretty, I think that the worst thing that I have seen guys doing for the mini's, is that they drop the receiver or general mount for a skid, lower than the already low profile of the minis' front end. Rad protection is a must, not from a front strike, but from a bottom-end squish, do to obstical "wedge" type drags, and front-end rams, coming out of ditches or washouts, or over logs... rocks. The front end always tends to take the "bang", and then... the "drag", the squish. The protection needed, is here. Protect the rad from any kind of structural manipulation, weather that be a squish or a drag, or even just the general draging of the front end, as you force the truck up an incline, or out of a hole (or maybe into one). In general, the minis' tend to be more than powerfull enough to force themselves through a hole that will rip, or manipulate the rad and housing out of the way, during that off-road excursion... THIS... it looks good though, and may just do exactly that.
I like the looks of that one Spaner. Much prettier than my zombie shedder I was concerned about losing that front end clearance with my contraption, but it's pretty negligible. Actually, the only loss was about an inch with the two gussets that extend below the existing OEM crosstube rock rig. That seemed pretty tinny to me and I strengthened it extensively. Even though it did drop below the existing tube, it shouldn't hang up as it'll act like skids and I curved them to deflect. I guess I should take pics. With the myriad branches and sticks here on the farm, I was very concerned with punching a hole on the radiator (did it before) and that's why I went with the heavy mesh. I completely agree with the radiator being very exposed from underneath and thus incorporated a skid plate to the existing OEM tube assembly. (This, along with gussets made it much stouter). I really didn't want to cover the whole front end, but function overcame aesthetics. With this setup I can confidently push it through the rose bushes and as soon as I get the toprack/windshield runners in place, low hanging branches as well. This truck will be used strictly as a tool here on the farm. While there will be some sticky spots, I'm hoping to go relatively easy on it and make it last. My wife drives it a lot and I figured I needed to make the front end woman proof
I was at a equip. sale yesterday and your build got me to thinking. I bought four crown vic grill guards for 15.00. Law enforcement cars. Its time to get the cutting torch & welder out.
Looking forward to the refabrication photos Trax! I finally finished this one up. The intent was functionality rather than looks. I repurposed an old trampoline (gotta love the factory bends) and built the roof rack and windshield guards/branch deflectors out of the trampoline. Much heavier guage than I thought it would be and easily up to the assigned task. Why have the deflectors out so far forward? Well, to be honest, it just worked best that way. I was able to take two pieces of the pre-bent trampoline frame, and incorporate them right up to the top of the roof rack. I could have kept them closer to the windshield and that would have been sexier. But functionality says a branch will come across the front.....ride a continuous rail....and glide harmlessly over the top. Had I put them in closer, there would have been a snag spot on top. probably not a big deal. But I want to be able to drive through stuff and know it isn't going to yank my rack off. The old trampoline was stout enough, that I'm actually going to use the remaining pieces to build a branch deflector for my tractor for bush-hogging. Again, functionality over aesthetics.
Added a stake bed to allow me to get a little more wood/"stuff" in the back. I might also devise a bowed top that would allow us to transport our sheep in it. Stakes are trampoline tubing, the bed can be easily removed. Since it's a dump truck, I hinged the rear gate on the top.
So here is the first Crown Vic retro fit brush guard. Hadn't really decided what to do with the mounting yet. I cut it down 11" to shorten and still have to cut down the head lts. wrap around. I'll shorten them back to where it barely meets the door when door is fully open. I think I will come off the roll bar, over cab just to help the support.
Dwlb your roof rack looks good. I'm also a fan of the truck box/seat in the back. A little foam padding and some vinyl covering looks like it would work awesome.
love the truck. I just imported one for Yokohama. 96 carry. I was looking yesterday how to attach bush guard. please send pictures of attachment or wise words. thanks
If you dwlb in search it will bring up a list of posts, look at the one that says Roof Rack/ Tire Mount . That post has photos of how I mounted my brush guard. Doug
Love your roof rack, definitely will need to buy/build something like that. Well, first I have to get a Kei truck, but THEN the first thing will be the rack...
Guard/bumper in progress, will have integrated skid plate when done. work keeps me from building/ playing. Got plans for rear. Designed to Bolt on/off in case needed repairs are ever needed
I tried to do the search and found this post! Does anyone have a link to the pics of how to mount the brush guard?
As you can see there is not much meat you can tie in to. But it is possible. The best place is to weld bottom supports to the outside of left and right frame members. What I have done a number of times is to go to city, county surplus sales and by brush guards that come off law enforcement vehicles. Usually about 25 to 35 dollars. Cut them down and reduce length plus a little bit of fabrication. Just a ideal. Sorry for know pictures, out of town.
Well I bolted mine together last night! I went with 2" angle iron and took the front mounts for the suspension supports and put it under so that it will come straight out! Then drilled a 1 1/4" hole in them as well as a piece of 3x3 angle. I used 1" sch 80 black pipe as my uprights and then threaded pipe to a T and then around the head lights! Im a plumber so I plan on going up from the outside of the head lights in line with the A post to tie into a pipe/ ladder rack! If I knew how to post pics I would, can anyone give me a link to a How to post pics?