Atlanta motorist with rifle case

[Borderland]

Wow- the Slate article was REALLY slanted.

True. I would say the economy of the country is based on one's ability to move their person and cargo from point A to point B without protesters interfering in that process. It's bad enough that we are letting our transportation infrastructure deteriorate well beyond any reasonable effort to restore it, we now have to deal with protesters shutting down an interstate corridor or keeping people who have to drive a vehicle to carry out their normal daily activities to earn a living and take care of their families.

If certain activists want to close certain parts of a city to thru traffic they should probably organize and petition their city council to do that instead of threatening motorists with firearms. I wonder how many of these armed insurgents even vote.

[Totem Polar]

Just make sure you bring the hand lotion.

This... would go a long ways to explain both my eyesight and your hair.

[NGP]

You and me both. Well, FJ Cruiser for me - but same thing.

I'm looking at a MetalTech 4x4 with the Bash Plate...

I'd look at getting something custom fab'd, a lot of the off the shelf bumpers (rogue racing, ADD, etc.) I've encountered seem pretty chincy for the cost. A custom job from a decent fabricator will be lighter, stronger, and most likely an equivalent or lesser cost than off the shelf. If your situation dictates you go with an already available option, I'd stick to ARB, WARN, and Ranch Hand. expeditonportal.com and the racedezert.com forums are good resources.

[Joe in PNG]

Wow- the Slate article was REALLY slanted.

That's pretty much the case for all the Slate articles. Or Vox, or NPR...

[blues]

That's pretty much the case for all the Slate articles. Or Vox, or NPR...

All things considered.

(I mean, how often do you get to do an NPR joke?)

[Totem Polar]

All things considered.

(I mean, how often do you get to do an NPR joke?)

Your joke was definitely on point.

[LittleLebowski]

Wow- the Slate article was REALLY slanted.

Well, it's Slate so...

[blues]

Well, it's Slate so...

"Well, they sound hideous!"

[Welder]

A custom job from a decent fabricator will be lighter, stronger, and most likely an equivalent or lesser cost than off the shelf.

Just a quick note: Myself and people like me can build a strong bumper. My most recent bumper went on a tractor because the factory John Deere grille guards folded up like tin cans when being used on scraper tractors inside of barns. When an 8,000 lb tractor being driven by hired help bounces off of telephone poles set in concrete, stoutness is needed. The one I built has withstood those impacts for 2 years now, no damage to it or the tractor.

So yes to your middle part assuming that fabricator has a basic understanding of force application and how to strengthen against it.

Most likely no to the first and last, though. Strength is ideally derived through design first and brute material thickness second, using the lightest possible components to withstand predicted forces from predicted directions. Seeing something flex, for example, is usually fine. Seeing it yield is not fine. The good factory bumpers likely have gone through some amount of computer design looking at force vectors. I played with some software like this a long time ago, and it's fascinating to put in different material types, cross-sections, and thicknesses and then watch them deform under simulated loads. Your 'decent fabricator' has likely never been exposed to anything like this and will simply use thicker materials in a simpler, less-than-ideal design. The same ends may be accomplished, but it won't be lighter than a design aided by computer simulations. It'll be heavier....possibly much heavier. And if that fabricator hasn't seen many examples of failed structures, it also may be weaker.

Finally, and this is the big one....there's no way that any fabricator can produce, profitably and at a competitive price, on a per-piece basis, anything that is also made on a factory floor. Someone who makes 100 of something has jigs, templates, batch-cut pieces, and the speed borne of repetition. R&D costs are spread over many, many pieces to the point that they approach zero on a by-the-piece basis. But if I'm going to make one part, all of that R&D gets applied to that single part. This can be hours' to days' worth of expense by itself depending on the part....R&D is a billable expense on a single part. There are no jigs, no templates, everything is from scratch. A single part that takes 30 seconds to stamp out and punch on a purpose-built machine (that costs $100k) can take hours to make by hand.

Can someone like me make you a strong bumper? Yes. Specifically to *your* individual needs and for your individual vehicle? Absolutely, and this is where the factories take a second seat to me. Will it be lighter than a Warn or ARB? Very unlikely. Will it be less expensive? Absolutely not. If someone like me can make something for less than a factory can make and sell it for, there's something terribly wrong with the factory or the middleman selling it *OR* I'm not including all of my true costs.

[Suvorov]

I'm unmoved...

How in the hell is it legal for a protester running a illegal roadblock to draw his rifle on the guy on the motorcycle? If I pulled something like that I could kiss my 2A rights, most of my savings and career goodbye!