A steel plate bumper is a great upgrade for any truck. Steel plate bumpers are durable, versatile, and stylish. They weigh more than stock bumpers, though, and may change your truck’s handling. Right now you might be wondering how much a steel plate bumper weighs. The answer? It depends on factors like design, style, reinforcement, and so on.
Image Credit: Grady D.
Ballpark Figures
We can’t give you an exact figure, but we can provide a weight range of a typical steel plate bumper.
Generally speaking, a full-width aftermarket steel plate bumper can weigh as little as 100 pounds or more than 200 pounds.
An aftermarket steel bumper that’s on the lower end of the spectrum (meaning a bumper that weighs about 100 pounds) is almost always a DIY “build your own bumper” kit that lacks crucial reinforcement. Many of the DIY kits are inexpensive because the bumpers are not reinforced internally. This reduces the amount of steel provided in the kit, which saves a lot of money but doesn’t provide much reinforcement or protection. It means these bumpers can literally tear apart when used with a winch, during towing, or in a collision.
Heavier steel bumpers for full-size trucks will weigh over 175 pounds. They usually have a considerable amount of steel behind the bumper face, which provides strength for the winch mount, and for being towed. The heaviest steel bumpers will include some sort of grille guard or bull bar in addition to the weight of the bumper itself.
How The Steel Bumper Weight Affects Your Vehicle
Adding extra weight to your truck’s front end changes your truck’s ride, handling, and payload rating.
Weight gain is something to think about, especially if you plan to add some accessories along with a bumper. A severe duty winch, for example, can weigh 130 pounds all by itself. If you add a winch and some LED lights to your heavy-duty steel bumper, you can add 250 – 300 pounds to the front of your truck pretty easily.
This additional weight impacts how your vehicle rides and handles, albeit in a minor way. It also reduces your truck’s payload rating a bit. Still, the pros probably outweigh the cons, assuming you need a winch and want a bumper that’s stronger than average. Keep in mind that if you’re going to load your front bumper with accessories, you might need to check your suspension specifications first to see if you need to upgrade the suspension system as well.
How To Calculate The Net Weight Gain
Image Credit: Jon K.
The average OEM truck bumper weighs about 75 pounds. This is important for two reasons.
- First, it shows that OEM truck bumpers are pretty cheap. While the OEMs do a good job of making these cheap bumpers crashworthy, they are inferior to a solid steel aftermarket bumper in just about every way.
- Second, it’s good to know this weight because it helps you calculate how much weight you’re adding with an aftermarket steel bumper.
If you’re replacing an OEM bumper with an aftermarket bumper, you can subtract 75 pounds from the weight of the aftermarket bumper to determine net weight gain.
Please contact us if you’re still not sure how a steel bumper’s weight will affect your truck and suspension system. We’ll be happy to chat with you!
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