BrushGuard

[SouthJ1]

Where can i find a brush guard for my vx? im looking for a resonable price...

[VXorado]

Westin makes a light bar- a search should give you the part #

OR

I believe JoFotos has a mercedes ML series grill guard on his VX

Don't forget, you'll will need to fab up some custom frame mounts or used some good duct tape to actually put the brush guard on your VX :razo2:

[Hiredgoon]

My brother in law made me one, he figured with materials and labour it woulda come to about $500 for a completely custom unit. Do some drawings and take em to a local fabricator? Can't hurt to ask around and it'll make your vx that much more unique.

[Riff Raff]

Go to the member's list, and look at the photo gallery of "WeKilled". Then send him a PM/E-Mail of where he acquired his front brush guard. I believe they were once available from TONE prior to his passing. The majority of VX owner's have opted not to get a full-front brush guard because it detracts from the VX's natural front end beauty.

:bgwb:

[JoFotoz]

This thread may help..


Where can i find a brush guard for my vx? im looking for a resonable price...

...follow it through and it gives details of how I modified an ML320 B/G to fit.

jo

[JoFotoz]

I must of missed the poll...


The majority of VX owner's have opted not to get a full-front brush guard because it detracts from the VX's natural front end beauty.

:bgwb:

...that gave you this "info".

:jump:

jo

[wekilled]

I copied JFotoz, so I can't take any credit for that. But I agree, I saw his guard and my first thought was it complimented the VXs lines rather than detracting from it. We each took differing approaches on the Merc Guard. I didn't chop mine in the center, and prefer that look. I also went with a stabilizer tab in the center through my grille.

Of note, I purchased my grille guard off eBay - so its not a really high end guard. But I also don't do any serious off roading other than the occasional mudbaths.


The majority .... because it detracts from the VX's natural front end beauty.

I won't try to sell anyone on grille guard, and don't do mods based on popularity---I like it on my vehicle and I think that's the point of this site is there are a variety of personal takes on the VX.
I've been in other car clubs where the rides all look like a bunch of customized-clones which is truly ironic.

The only other caution, which I accept, is if I crash I'm sure the guard will really do some serious damage to my front end.

[vt_maverick]

My brother in law made me one, he figured with materials and labour it woulda come to about $500 for a completely custom unit. Do some drawings and take em to a local fabricator? Can't hurt to ask around and it'll make your vx that much more unique.

Speaking of... don't you owe us pics of the final product? ;)

[Marlin]

For 1K you can get a fully functional Darlington bumper with shackles, winch mount, made to your specs. Meaning, if you want that road armor stealth bomber look, he can do that, you want tube style baja look, he can do that, and so on.

Brush guards look cool, but as mentioned, could result in more damage to your vehicle in what would have been a minor fender bender. A bullbar, or push bar on the other hand....

[WormGod]

For 1K you can get a fully functional Darlington bumper with shackles, winch mount, made to your specs. Meaning, if you want that road armor stealth bomber look, he can do that, you want tube style baja look, he can do that, and so on.

Brush guards look cool, but as mentioned, could result in more damage to your vehicle in what would have been a minor fender bender. A bullbar, or push bar on the other hand....

I can vouch for that. Tech was pulling my VX into the bay a couple years ago when I had Tone's brushguard on. He claimed, "the brakes gave out", and slammed it into a row of toolboxes and actually pushed them through the cinderblock wall. Sounds a lot worse than it is described, but regardless, the brushguard wrapped around the fenders and hood, causing more damage than there needed to be. In all reality though, these were "show bars", not truly functional. A single mount point on both lower frame rails hardly makes it functional. But, ya, they looked good, heh.

Hitting a 120lb deer even, would cause more damage than just letting it get pounded by the cladding. :bgwo:

[tom4bren]

A long time ago, some member (can't remember who) was going with these guys to have one fabricated since they wanted one functional & bullet proof.

http://www.ironpigoffroad.com//index.php?main_page=index&cPath=4

The company is near me & I volunteered my VX for the fab/fitment process. I rekin the member lost interest since they never set anything up.

The offer still stands though. If anyone is interested in having these guys fab anything, lemme know & I'll help out in any way I can.

BTW, I have no interest in the company and have never done any business with them so this is not an endorsement.

Tom

[SouthJ1]

does anyone have any pictures of a vx with a Joe Darlington bumper? and how much would it cost?

[Marlin]

http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a347/1988SAS/Uwharrie%20DEC%202010/100_3324.jpg

http://i31.photobucket.com/albums/c369/Curtis-J/DORRodeoBumpeSAS.jpg

http://independent4x.com/encapsgallery/rwx_gallery/93RSMARCH20092.jpg

Joe fabs a ton of stuff for isuzus. If you order sliders and whatnot from indy4x, Joe usually is the one to make them. He is actually active duty airforce. He has been bugging me to leave him the VX to make a sweet bumper. He toldme for a top notch, fit the VX curves, winch mount, shackles, light guards... and so on, would run 1200ish. I wanted a road armor look, that would be 800ish. Just depends what you want. He has never made a VX bumper, I would probably have to give him mine for a few weeks to make it happen.

The second photo is a top end bumper he made, the first pictured runs 600, the last is probably also 600 plus the shackles.

[SouthJ1]

I really want one like jofotoz has but i want a winch mount,shackles, and lights... is there any way he can make that happen?

[Marlin]

I really want one like jofotoz has but i want a winch mount,shackles, and lights... is there any way he can make that happen?

See pic number 2. You can't have both, Jos looks cool, but has no structure to it to support a tow point or a winch.

[pbkid]

just my 2cents on the subject as i did serious research on the subject when i bought my bumper...

1. Most shops have LONG waiting lists for something quality to be made.

2. Consider shipping on a 150+ lb bumper is gonna cost you a pretty penny.

3. if your going to spend enough money to have one custom made, look into the following shops, they make great products. When i bought mine, i found that your looking at 1k plus shipping... which brings it up to around 1,200.

I paid 1,250 for a local shop to make it and they had it done in a week. (all the other shops had 6 month to 2 year waiting lists)

look at-
Armorology (thats where i had mine built, its of the highest quality, looks great, and is definately functional)

shrockworks- they are highly recommended by a lot of people in the toyota offroad community.

and of course ARB...(they wont custom fab anything, but you make be able to make a trooper bumper work)

i dont have any personal experience with joe darlington, nor am i saying his work is bad.... just presenting other ideas and sharing what i've found.
in fact, what i have seen from him, is all top quality.

[JAMAS]

One note of caution:

I was just reading some articles and information about brush guards and there is some concern about whether or not they could prevent the airbag from being deployed.

[tom4bren]

Interesting. I always assumed that the air bag sensors were accelerometer based. If they are actually crush switches, then it may be true. Does anyone know for sure?

[etlsport]

Interesting. I always assumed that the air bag sensors were accelerometer based. If they are actually crush switches, then it may be true. Does anyone know for sure?

The sensor for the vx air bag is behind the glove box iirc.. Which would make it acceleration based for sure

[tom4bren]

Aaaaaall righty then. JAMAS' bunk is now officially de-bunked. Sorry dude:)

[deermagnet]

Our ABS G-Sensor is under the rear part of the center console.

Mark

[WormGod]

2. Consider shipping on a 150+ lb bumper is gonna cost you a pretty penny.



And consider that added 150+lb on your vehicle, with whatever fluff you may already have on it. (sorry, i am all about keeping a light load). ;)

[DeepSilentComplete]

Looking for a bumper/grille guard for my VX. Something simple but has mounted lights. Any ideas?

[vt_maverick]

Looking for a bumper/grille guard for my VX. Something simple but has mounted lights. Any ideas?

There's about three conflicting ideas in that sentence (VX, simple, mounted lights). ;) This topic has been heavily discussed, but since you're a Foxfire brother I'll spare you the "use the damn search engine" comment. :)

If you're strictly looking for off-the-shelf there's nothing out there. Generally speaking, catalogs/websites for the major manufacturers don't even list an option for the VX, so you're kind of guessing at which model will fit. (Those that got their push bar from Tone may have the number though.) If you figure that out you'll need to fabricate custom mounting brackets for the bar, as well as run the wiring and switch for the lights.

Food for thought... brush guards may look cool, but depending upon the closeness of the fit and the degree to which it wraps around the front, even a low speed impact can result in much more extensive damage since the force would be distributed across the cladding, grill, hood, headlights, etc. If I was serious about doing this I would look at a push bar rather than a brush guard, since the smaller/lower stature means that an impact would likely only affect the cladding/bumper (which would be damaged anyway). Hiredgoon's home-made model is pretty sweet - now if we could only get him to post a pic of it after he painted it black. Ahem... ;)

Link to Hiredgoon's Push Bar Thread (http://www.vehicross.info/forums/showthread.php?t=18512)

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/Final_Fit_Small.jpg

[JAMAS]

I wonder if the "Super Bumper" guy could make a brush guard with the same technology. Absorb some percentage of front end impacts.

[VX KAT]

One note of caution:

I was just reading some articles and information about brush guards and there is some concern about whether or not they could prevent the airbag from being deployed.

Was also told that, but don't actually know where the sensor is on the FJ. So we went with a certain brush guard for the FJ that didn't stick out further or have bars over the bumper.
I know, very illogical...:slap:

[wekilled]

You can do guard and lights but I would never put a winch on it. You'll rip it off in 5 seconds unless someone builds a full custom one. I'd go with the hidden winch where my license plate is located. http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/thumbs/PA270320.JPG

[vt_maverick]

Larger version of Doug's pic...

http://www.vehicross.info/gallery/data/500/PA270320.JPG