Thoughts on winch bumpers for a Discovery 2?

Some Dude

Adventurer
never offroad like the rest of the trucks?

1)OP asks what bumper to get for his Discovery
2)Everyone recommends RTE or similar. OP says "too ugly, how about ARB?"
3)A couple people post "lol" and a couple other people warn against it.
4)OP buys an ARB anyway and vows that his won't bend or move because he's "gunna weld it."
...
5)6 months and one crooked bumper later OP is now one of those guys that warns against ARBs in bumper threads.

Full disclosure: I have an 03 disco with the 03-04 ARB bumper.
 

getlost4x4

Expedition Leader
I love how you think you know my driving style and how I treat my equipment.

Reasons why:

1.I like the look of it.
2.I got a hell of a deal on it. $800 brand new. I drove down to the shop and hauled it home. I didn't have to pay $300 to have it shipped to me. only about $20 in Diesel.
3.It really doesn't weigh that much more then anyone else's design. I can pick it up myself and put it on. Can't be more then 150 LBS. plus I have the OME HD springs upfront already.
4. The winch is located inside of the bumper and out of site
4. Nice mounts for lights and antennas



So in conclusion. I'll modify the bumper extensions and never have an issue. If you can't fathom the idea, that's why there are guys like me who come up with design solutions every day. Just because someone can't think outside of the box, doesn't mean there isn't a designer somewhere else with a simple solution to the problem. I did plenty of research and feel i know the issues and how to resolve the issues. pretty easy, well, for me. I have been welding and fabricating for about 15 years. I used to design and sell bumpers as a business.

IT'll be fine for my needs because:

1. I'm not an idiot and have used a winch many times.
2. I don't intentionally ram my vehicles into stuff just because I have a bull bar. I have a 1 ton Ford truck if I need to pull or push stuff around.
3. I didn't like the look of the other bumpers. I'm not a rock crawler.
4. I have yet to complain about an ARB product I've had and used.

And if you don't like my choice. Cry to someone who cares. Have a happy day
 

Some Dude

Adventurer
I didn't say a thing about knowing you, your driving style, or how you treat your equipment. I also didn't ask you to justify why you bought the thing.

Good luck with your ARB Mr. Bumper Fab Engineer.
 

EricTyrrell

Expo God
I'll admit an ARB can be made decent, it just takes a lot of work, and the type of person willing to do it, which it seems OP is.
 

dwvninety

Observer
I didn't say a thing about knowing you, your driving style, or how you treat your equipment. I also didn't ask you to justify why you bought the thing.

Good luck with your ARB Mr. Bumper Fab Engineer.

4)OP buys an ARB anyway and vows that his won't bend or move because he's "gunna weld it."
...
5)6 months and one crooked bumper later OP is now one of those guys that warns against ARBs in bumper threads.
 

ebg18t

Adventurer
I really liked the one I had from Tactical Rovers/Tactical 4x4. It was High clearance, fit well and top quality build.
 

AxeAngel

Expedition Leader
A bit late to the party - but I am partial to this - have had two of them now(on both discos)... Had an ARB several years ago and she died a terrible death during an angled winching recovery.

1281486138.jpg
 

roverandom

Adventurer
I've never had an issue with ARB bumpers. Anyone who claims the reduce approach angles clearly hasn't taken into account the MASSIVE ******** end on a D2.

They are of a comparable weight to any full winch bumper.

If you rig your winch lines correctly they don't bend, even with crush cans.

They are designed for use with airbags so you won't have your insurance claim voided.

They bend under hard impact protecting the chassis. Super strong units direct the forces in a hard impact to the rather thin chassis. I would rather fix a grill and a couple of headlights than the frame of the vehicle.

Are they indestructible? No. Are they pretty decent for what you pay? Yes.

My 2c.
 

ZG

Busy Fly Fishing
Ehh I've had the ARB and know about the departure angle/approach issue. I solved the departure but my approach still sucked -

yijugKp.jpg
 

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