Today was an exciting day as I had finally pulled the trigger on my Ranch Hand Legend full front bumper placement and after a 1 month wait it finally got here. This is something I have wanted to do for years as I have regularly dodge deer living in Virginia. Freight shipping took roughly 1 month due to waiting on a delivery appointment, but it finally came last Tuesday. As everyone knows I had to work all week but finally this morning was able to take 3 hours to install the new bumper. It turned out absolutely beautiful!
Job Requirements
- New Ranch Hand Legend Bumper
- Metric sockets for factory bolts including 18mm, 15mm, 13mm, and 8mm
- Standard sockets for Ranch Hand Hardware including 1/2″ and 3/4″
- Wretches: 1/2″ and 3/4″
- Floor jack (This thing is HEAVY!)
- 2 people (3 would be better but 2 is MINIMUM)
- Morning or afternoon of your time
Why You Should Have This Type Of Bumper On Your Tow Vehicle!
- Ranch hand bumpers are American made in Texas and have been “time proven”
- The bumper adds a 2″ Receiver on the front of the truck which has many uses from bike racks, pulling trails out of tight places, and more.
- There are many areas where animal running out into the road are a major reality and can cost thousands in damage when hit with stock bumpers.
- There are plenty of stories how people have hit deer going excesses of 60mph with a Ranch Hand bumper and it causes absolutely no damage.
- Many people try to avoid a deer when it runs out by swerving causing some to lose control. Especially if a heavy trailer is in tow, this can be extremely danger causing accidents and turned over campers. Having this bumper you can hit the deer straight on without the worry of swerving to try to avoid it.
- Finally SAFETY as you hit a large animal with your truck, this bumper could be the difference between injury and driving away like nothing happened!
Installation Process:
First we had to remove the original factory bumper from the truck. This included removal of 8 bolts for the 2013 F-350. There are two on “helper brackets” in each wheel well and 2 upfront near each the tow hooks. We left 1 on each side of each tow hook loose till we were completely ready to pull it off. I also had to unhook the flog light wiring harness in the middle behind the bumper from the factory harness. This was simple as I pushed the clip till it add a popping noise and it easily came unplugged. Finally if you have a diesel like I do, you need to pull the “heater cord” where it is attached to the stock bump. DO NOT forget these steps before pulling bumper off as you could damage the factory wiring harness pulling on it if they are not unplugged. Carefully lift off bumper from the front of the truck.
Next Step
Now we had to remove both the factory bumper brackets and tow hooks. It is not a bad idea to spray these bolts with a penetrating oil like WD-40 or PB-Blast to help with their removal. We put the factory bolts and bumper brackets to the side as Ranch Hand has new brackets and hardware to install. BUT we will be re-using the factory tow hooks and bolts for their brackets. Next I removed the factory “skirt” you see hanging down in the above picture as it is not needed for the Ranch Hand bumper.
Now I went to the stock bumper and removed the stock flog lights from it. This is done by removing the whole assembly for them on each side. Than you have to unbolt them from their individual assemblies. Finally you have to get the factory flog light wiring harness by popping it off where it runs along the stock bumper. Now we are done with the stock bumper and can set it completely aside for storage.
Moving ON! Lets Start Re-Assembling!
First we need to install the new Ranch Hand bumper brackets over the factory frame. They slide over the frame but be care as their is a “Driver Side” and “Passenger Side” bracket. You can tell this by how it sticks out further on the “outside” side of the bracket. Now these need to be lined up to be bolted on with 4 large bolts on each bracket. Next we re-install the factory tow hooks for each side on top of the brackets. This is the ONLY part where you have to re-use the original factory bolts. See picture below for how it should look once these are installed. ALWAYS make sure to double check every bolt is tight before moving on!
Next we needed to install the stock flog lights into the new bumper. This was very simple process of using 2 bolts and nuts on either side to hold them on flog light brackets built into the Ranch Hand bumper. Now our bumper is ready to go on the truck!
Time to get this New Bumper on the Truck!
Now it is time for some heavy lifting and why you need 2 people MINIMUM for this job. We moved an 3 Ton floor jack in place to help in the middle. But be careful to have some kind of padding between the jack and your new bumper so you don’t scratch the finish. I simply used a piece of scrap cardboard. We carefully lifted the bumper with one person on either side and slid it over the factory tow hooks into place. Than we ran the jack up to hold it so one of us could hold bumper steady while the other could start on the 4 bolts needed on each side. At first we just hand tighten them as we needed to adjust the bumper “side to side” and “up and down.”
Time for Adjustment
Now that we have the bumper stable but the bolts are only hand tight, we first adjusted the bumper “side to side.” What you do is pick a reference point on one side to measure from and compare to the other side. You want it to measure the same on each side. Example mine had to move to the Drive side roughly 1/2″ to be centered. We centered it by firming pulling it to the driver side and remeasure till it was even on each side.
Next we adjusted for height, Ranch Hand specified the bumper needs to be 3/4″ or 1/2″ below the headlights. I used a T-square as it would sit there. First we started on the driver’s side, we moved our floor jack over and pushed the bumper up to correct spot at exactly 3/4.” Using the jack was MUCH easier than one person having to try pull it up and read the measure at the same time. The other person rolled under and tighten all 4 bolts up with a socket and wrench. Than we repeated the process on the other side. Finally we double checked all the adjustments and tightness of all bolts.
Finishing touches
We re-installed the factory flog light wiring harness by plugging it in and running it over the frame to each flog light. It was not required in the instructions, but we added few zipties to ensure it would never get caught on road debris. We adjusted the aim of the flog lights and tighten their bolts.
Next, I got my zipties out again. You will see in the early picture my heater plug hanging down. I found a nice place to ziptie it to inside of the Ranch Hand bumps if I ever need it.
Finally since it is always a good idea, go over all the bolts again and tighten them the best you can. No one likes a bumper falling off going down the highway!!!
In conclusion
I am so happy with the final results of the installation. The bumper called me roughly $1,500 shipped and I installed with a friend of mine at his shop. This is what I see as insurance as the cost of the bumper is thousands less than the damage from hitting one deer! I am extremely happy with how the bumper came extremely well packed on its pallet and the installation was not hard at all. I would HIGHLY recommend this modification to anyone!