Need the strongest heaviest thickest steel front bumper w/ winch mount made for a 97 XJ. One that can survive hitting an Elk.

 

...... so i think there is gonna be a story behind why it needs to be strong enough to hit an elk correct?

 

Yeah, let's hear the story...

I had an ARB bull bar bumper. I think it's the only one ARB makes from Cherokees. I cannot say it survived a fight with an elk, but I hit trees at low mph, rocks and hard packed dirt when coming down of obstacles a few times. For the years I abused it, I never put a dent in it. I can't say it's the strongest but it's very well made, tied into the "frame" and protects the entire front of the car.

 

i'd rather have a bumper that has some sort of give. that way if you do hit something, you have less of a chance of destroying the unibody rendering the entire jeep useless. id rather replace a bumper.

 

You drive a Cherokee head on into something that weighs 700+ lbs, that Cherokees gonna be ****ed up. lmao!

 

Even a white tail deer at 65 mph totaled my 65 impala years ago.

 

 

arb is flimsy compared to the warn bullbar.

but as said, i'm sure it will tweak the front frame member. but at least it isn't gonna take the front end off in the case of a collision.

 

You might want to look into the best brakes available instead of a bumper...

 

Yea there is a story...I hit an deer but I was only going around 25 mph and my Tomken bumper caved in since it was so badly rusted. I wanted to buy something that wont rust and could handle hitting an elk since where I live there are elk everywhere including my back yard. I don't expect to be going 65 and my XJ surviving but I have had so many close calls with elk that I figured I'm going to hit one some day but the road is only 40 mph where the elk are. I already hit an elk a yearling with my Dodge stealth and it rolled over the hood and over the roof..Very minor damage including the elk.

 

A custom aluminum bumper won't rust.Or buy the thicker bumper you can and powder coat it inside and out to make it less likely to rust out.

 

"only 40 mph"

If you hit an elk with an XJ at "only 40 mph" your bumper and your XJ are toast. Period. Take the energy you're spending on finding the "right" bumper and spend that energy driving more carefully. Just because the speed LIMIT is 40 mph doesn't mean you have to go that fast especially if there are a lot of elk around. Tires with good traction, brakes with good stopping power, careful driving. A bumper isn't going to do squat for you.

 

3200 lb vehicle vs an animal that weighs half the weight of the vehicle......your XJ is toast. dont matter what kind bumper you put on it. I nailed a Bull elk with my 3/4 ton diesel with a ranch hand on it, and it pushed the ranch hand back in to the fenders. Spend the money on brakes and any ole full replacement bumper.