Well my shinny new ARB bumper was put to the test tonight. A deer ran out in front of us tonight coming home from a day at the track & it lost. I hit it at 70mph & to put it simply it exploded into 2 pieces. The ARB is slightly off center now & has a very slight dent where the front shoulder hit & as a result it broke the left front turn signal & headlight. I drove over the front half & the back half of the deer came around & bent the front quarter & the back feet hit the my door & pushed it in pretty good. After a good push I was able to open the door to get out though.

I hunt deer & have seen plenty of road kill but man I have never seen anything like this. It took around 45 mins at the car wash to get all the remains off. Kinda crazy what a 175lb animal can do when hit at 70mph. I'm sure it would have been much worse if I still had the factory bumper & brush guard on.

 

Good grief! That is crazy fast hitting a deer at that speed. Glad you are alright and that it didn't cause you going off the road or anything. I know I would be freaked seeing a deer at the last second at 20 MPH. That's great the bumper held up well. Hope the frame is okay.

 

Wow, glad you are OK.
Had it been the factory bumper, your hood would be caved in, and lots of damage I'm sure.

Are you going to be able to straighten out the ARB?

You should send this thread to Tim Lund @ ARB, he pops in every once in awhile, and they like to hear how their bumpers hold up.
tlund@arbusa.com

 

Wow!!! I would agree that your ARB saved your whole front end, hitting anything at 70 MPH would have given your rig a face lift. Does it look like the ARB is bent or just maybe the mounts that attach to the body? Either way, glad a lot of cleaning and some body work is all thats in order.

 

Did you get any pics?

 

Thanks, I'm also happy we were not hurt. And yeah I am very pleased w/ how the ARB held up. The 4Runner just glided right over the deer w/ just a slight bump & I just had a slight steering correction & that was it.

My wife was kinda freaked out by it all. She is a little jumpy after her Saab Conv't was totaled last Wed when she was rear ended & pushed up under an Explorer. I'm more upset about killing a deer like that then anything else & I am pissed that I will be w/o my truck for a week or so to have it fixed.

As for the bumper Yeah I think it should be a simple fix. The bend/dent is right where the turn signal is located & it's really pretty minor. It is sitting a little in & also up on the left side. I will let the experts tell me if the bumper has just shifted or if something significant is bent.

 

glad to hear they acually are tough not just look it.

slow down a bit maybe probably 95% of us speed though. at least a little. just hasslin ya, anyways. hope everything is okay and you get the arb fixed up nice.

 

Whoops. Sorry no pix. I was out of film but will snap a few tomorrow.

 

I guess I should have pointed out that I was on the Hwy where the speed limit is 65mph.

Plain & simple it was just my turn.

 

Well crap. I got under the truck & found a bend in one of the mounting points for the bumper. It didn't shift at any of the mounting points but it did bend on the outter most left point where it bolts to the side of the frame. For those of you who have these bumpers you may know what I am talking about. It has a 3/8" crease in it. I wonder if that can be fixed?

And w/ the help of my dog I did find a chunk of deer under the truck to. YUCK

 

Glad to hear you are ok!!

If some deer %$cked up my truck I would be damn sure to have his head in my living room! don't get me wrong I LOVE animals, but between my true love, and a deer? heh,heh deer goes on wall

You're lucky your wife didn't have a breakdown! if my g/f saw that I don't think she would EVER stop crying! she is an animal freak!

 

If I hit one, I would have to stop and put a few bullets in it just for good measure.

 

Since he said that it exploded into two major pieces, I don't think finishing him off was necessary in this case. It doesn't sound like there was enough left over to shoot.

 

i just had one a couple weeks ago jump off a bank and rite into the side of my truck. it hit the front tire the whole truck shock real bad and i ran over it with the rear tire. it happened om my 81 4x4 i use for a dialy driver i just had it repainted this spring . i got lucky and it did no body damage. rite after i got it painted and install the new smitty built bumper a vulture flew up off the road and rite into the front of my truck. luckly with the bumper it did no damage i was doing 45 mph. that dear i hit was the 3rd one i hit so far. they all run across the road at nite at the last minute giving me no chance to stop. i had a couple other close ones. glad to hear it did no major damage to your 4 runner.

 

INsr5runner, Yeah I also love animals but I also hunt and that just happens to be deer. I took my wife out deer hunting a few years back & when she saw me shoot the 10pt buck on the right she cried a bit but got over it. She even posed for a pic w/ the deer. This was before I had my 4Runner & t the time she had a '90 Saab 900S & we took it hunting. I even have a pic I took w/ the deer in the back of it.

Here are the deer I have on my wall. I still have an 8pt & 10pt that I am having cap mounted.

 

Hey ATC, where in KY are you? I was just down there a couple weeks ago at Red River Gorge. THat place is awesome!
If you are not too far from here, you should come wheelin with us at Attica on the 26th!!
~Mike