Phillip Berk
Active Member
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2020
- Messages
- 48
- Reaction score
- 54
Saw this bullbar on amazon for a pretty attractive price of $169.00 ( got from tac website) https://www.tacautoparts.com/produc...ar-mesh-version-for-2019-dodge-ram-1500-truck and thought, why not, it's pretty cheap and looks pretty cool and I'd give it a shot. Well about a week and a half later it came, Fully disassembled, with some pretty crappy instructions but enough to get the job done. For a fairly inexpensive product the quality is pretty high and it's designed very well. Instal took me and my buddy around 3 1/2- 4 hours, if we did it again, we could probably do it in under 2, this was with no ramps or jacks, at night with fairly basic tools. An hour of that was taking off the horrible stock valence, what a PITA! the electronic air damn was 4 bolts and took about 15 minutes, the valence has like 15 nuts, and clips and other crap, they are also in annoying places, took the fender liner screws out to make my life easier. We have little experience in stuff like this, but we've both worked automotive jobs in the past. Side note, to loosen the tow hooks, we HAD to use an impact, my friend is STRONG and could not remove the 18mm bolts.
This is a subframe/ frame mounted bull bar but don't expect to be pushing cars out of your way. While it does use the factory tow hook mounts to mount and the subframe to bumper mounts, and for the most part is fairly sturdy, compared to the $1500 bar on my dads tahoe that's fully frame mounted you can't compare. It has a place for a 20" light bar that I plant to mount soon. it does not have any room to mount a winch unfortunately but I don't do any wheeling alone so I'm not too worried, may do a rear mount one eventually. I chose to keep the air damn and valence off, I think it looks a lot better and I am not too worried about .5 mpg loss I may or may not get.
Overall, this was much better then expected, the install wasn't bad, but then again, were are two 18 year olds LOL, I think it looks pretty good, especially with the valence gone. if you are bumping something at slow speeds and light, it'll give you a little protection. I think it's better for having a no drill or cut solution for mounting a light bar, and again, as an aesthetic piece. They do have a really good warranty so that's a big plus. You can also choose to to remove the top or upper bar, I don't know how solid it will be, but it is modular in that sense. Overall, I'd say 7/10 for quality, 7/10 for ease of install, 8/10 for the design, and for under $200 bucks, 10/10 price, granted I just saw Barricade HD bumper is on sale for like 450 bucks from 1,000, I regret wrapping my factory bumper and getting this. ( https://www.americantrucks.com/barricade-ram-extreme-hd-front-bumper-r109856.html ) Here as some photos, sorry for the dirty truck, took it on a trail this weekend and it was raining so she is very very dirty. Next install is my VIAIR air compressor and electronic gauge.
This is a subframe/ frame mounted bull bar but don't expect to be pushing cars out of your way. While it does use the factory tow hook mounts to mount and the subframe to bumper mounts, and for the most part is fairly sturdy, compared to the $1500 bar on my dads tahoe that's fully frame mounted you can't compare. It has a place for a 20" light bar that I plant to mount soon. it does not have any room to mount a winch unfortunately but I don't do any wheeling alone so I'm not too worried, may do a rear mount one eventually. I chose to keep the air damn and valence off, I think it looks a lot better and I am not too worried about .5 mpg loss I may or may not get.
Overall, this was much better then expected, the install wasn't bad, but then again, were are two 18 year olds LOL, I think it looks pretty good, especially with the valence gone. if you are bumping something at slow speeds and light, it'll give you a little protection. I think it's better for having a no drill or cut solution for mounting a light bar, and again, as an aesthetic piece. They do have a really good warranty so that's a big plus. You can also choose to to remove the top or upper bar, I don't know how solid it will be, but it is modular in that sense. Overall, I'd say 7/10 for quality, 7/10 for ease of install, 8/10 for the design, and for under $200 bucks, 10/10 price, granted I just saw Barricade HD bumper is on sale for like 450 bucks from 1,000, I regret wrapping my factory bumper and getting this. ( https://www.americantrucks.com/barricade-ram-extreme-hd-front-bumper-r109856.html ) Here as some photos, sorry for the dirty truck, took it on a trail this weekend and it was raining so she is very very dirty. Next install is my VIAIR air compressor and electronic gauge.
