For regular driving I think a wood bumper would be better than a stock bumper. The wood will flex in an impact absorbing the shock of the accident. Do some physics research. If you hit a solid object, lets say a tree, you are going to damage your truck. You may have a strong kinetic motion, but inertia works both way. Things at rest tend to stay at rest. If you hit a tree in my area, all the damage would be to your truck. Like shovelhead said, something else will give. And lets just say you did an awesome job of reinforcing the WHOLE frame. What's going to happen is your vehicle will seperate at the frame mounts. You could rip the body off. There are a reason for crumple zones and 5mph bumpers. I think the best bet for you would be to make your bumper larger in surface area, and have more mounting points to your frame. That will decrease the chance of destroying your frame because the impact will be spread across more area.

 

Yup, follow the underlined text

Click on the second to last picture of the truck to see the buildup of the bed.

Enjoy!
Todd

 

There are a reason for crumple zones and 5mph bumpers. I think the best bet for you would be to make your bumper larger in surface area, and have more mounting points to your frame. That will decrease the chance of destroying your frame because the impact will be spread across more area.
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yes, there is a reason for crumple zones-- its to make cars "tie" in accidents, equally distributing the inertia-- not to have one win and the other lose....that was the DOT's reasoning for lowering SUV's, to make sure that large vehicles absorb some of the shock instead of jumping over the smaller lower cars. My reasoning for the bumper design is entirely different; by decreasing the surface area and increasing the tensile strength, i will increase the pressure applied. Thus, if i get into a head on accident with....lets say.....a volvo, my bumper will effectively slice through all the crumple zones of the other car and leave my car unscathed. Its probably not ethical to build a vehicle specifically to make the other cars lose in an accident, but then again, whats the reasoning for soccer moms to want the heaviest ,largest truck available? ( ford excursion 4x4 ) -- the reasoning is as follows: "my car is bigger, therefore i will have a greater chance of surviving the accident by reducing the other persons chance of surviving."

My solution is entirely different---if you strengthen all the weak points, then you have less of a chance of breaking anything!-- if i increase the surface area and keep the mass the same, i lose force, i want to increase force by making the points where potential contact may occur smaller, therefore increasing the pressure applied only at those points. This would effectively make my vehicle more dense--like throwing a ball bearing at styrofoam. And by the way, if a solid webbed 12" I-beam hits a mahogany, the tree will explode-- even objects of high dynamic strength (wood) can be overcome with increasing amounts of force.

T

 

I see both of your points of view, but modifications to both views (taking the best of both) would probably be best. The point of the bumper is to dissipate the force of impact so as not to damage the frame of the vehicle. Making the bumper's surface area greater will not do anything of importance (Smaller and denser will tend to 'cut' through objets while the larger in area would tend to 'plow' things). The important thing is the mounting area. The more area you have with the connection, the more the force of impact is spread throughout the frame. You have to see basic ways of impact and study how the forces that will be placed to the frame.

So the best course of action would be to increase the mounting points to the frame. If there is a point on the frame that you think would break in an impact, strenghen it with the lightest material possible. Also the heavier you make the bumper, the more distance it will take to stop...and you might hit more things than you did with the older bumper

 

If your front end is all reinforced with your bumper and various braces. It will probably survive BUT the next weakest point wont. (ie)The curve in your frame where the front wheels are. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The car you crash into will fold over your bumper but your frame will tweak somewhere behind your bumper. If you hit a power pole or tree your rig will collapse bigtime somewhere behind your modifications. Your rig will have more damage than if left stock in my opinion.

 

how do the tjm and arb bull bars do in accidents?

 

TJM's site has Cruiser VS Deer pics
Here's the Link

 

not trying to start a moral debate here or anything but doesnt this viewpoint have some ethical flaws...it almost seems that from your comments you cant wait to test out your invention...taking out someones car and perhaps life in the process...it would seem that a bumper modification should be for the purpose of offroad protection rather than on road destruction...just my 2 cents....

 

Yes. Remember, we are talking about bumpers, which are not safety devices. Just things to protect a vehicle from bumps. See DOT specifications and white papers regarding bumpers.

As for seeing them, simply type in "wooden bumper" into google.

As for your "slicer" car being safe to its occupants...