Rear bumper drag guard?

[JasonDroninAround]

What are you guys doing to protect something from snagging the plastic on the rear bumper. I always thought this to be the weakest point as for body damage for any kind of rougher than normal off-roading for my truck. I was playing in the river bottom near my house and when I got done, I must have caught my rear bumper on something. The plastic was popped out nearest the right tail light, where the plastic of the bumper meets the metal in the bed. It popped right back in, It is staying in, and it doesn't seem to have broken anything. I leave my hitch ball in with the theory that that should bottom out before my bumper but that doesn't really do much to protect the outside corners of the bumper. I was contemplating making some sort of rock slider to go the full length of the underside of the bumper that would attach to the hitch carrier. Are there better ideas out there?

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[Glen Baker LLC]

Pictures of the damaged pulled out plastic?

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Pictures of the damage??

There is no damage. I popped the plastic back in and it's like it never happened. I'm just contemplating ways of protecting it so it doesn't happen again or doesn't happen bad enough to actually do damage

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Was your exhaust underwater too?
I'm sorry. I can't visualize the area of the truck you are referring to.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

The problem is that sure there's a 30° approach angle but only something like a 21° departure angle. There is metal behind the plastic bumper but if you bottom it out on a dirt mount or something, the plastic part of the bumper is the first thing to drag. I must have put enough force on that right rear corner of the plastic of the bumper to separate that diagonal section of the plastic bumper where it connects to the metal of the rear quarter panel between the brake light and the wheel. It was only about a 10-in section that got separated and I just simply pushed it all back in. I did not see any tabs cracked or anything like that.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Was your exhaust underwater too?
I'm sorry. I can't visualize the area you are referring to

No. It is a dry sandy river bottom

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

The problem is that sure there's a 30° approach angle but only something like a 21° departure angle. There is metal behind the plastic bumper but if you bottom it out on a dirt mount or something, the plastic part of the bumper is the first thing to drag. I must have put enough force on that right rear corner of the plastic of the bumper to separate that diagonal section of the plastic bumper where it connects to the metal of the rear quarter panel between the brake light and the wheel. It was only about a 10-in section that got separated and I just simply pushed it all back in. I did not see any tabs cracked or anything like that.

Is this the area?

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Is this the area?

Yes. If you reach around under the bumper in that area, you will see at least on my truck there is no kind of guard to keep something from snagging the plastic of that rear bumper and attempting to remove it. That partially happened yesterday and it separated the plastic from the middle a little bit above your hand. Now, I'm talking when you're driving forward. You've already went through your little ditch or whatever and your as your rear tires are climbing out of it, the bumper might drag.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Under here. Something better to protect it from snagging when driving forward and dragging the bumper

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Yep, yours definitely looks like it's been drug it's pretty mucked up.

Here's mine a bit of a difference.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Haha yes imagine coming up on a 25° transition. My truck has a 30° approach angle, yay! But the back bumper is only 21°. So depending on your point of view, that high approach angle on the front is kind of useless.

 

[JasonDroninAround]

I enjoy doing some light off-roading with it. That was my first scare with that rear bumper yesterday. I don't know how close I actually came to taking it off but I need to figure something out before it happens again and I really do take off that plastic part of the bumper.

 

[oysterville]

Top fuel wheelie bar

 

[JasonDroninAround]

Top fuel wheelie bar

That's what I was kind of thinking when I was leaving the hitch in but that doesn't do much to protect the corners by the tail lights

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

From our recently departed member Bwicka

https://www.mavericktruckclub.com/f...-in-the-dunes-at-superstition-mountain.47710/

HRG

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