Need Help with Deer guard front bumper design

[bc1]

Hello guys. Still working on a design. Now thinking about blue cruise. Apparently it uses cameras mounted up by the mirror looking forward as well as all the other cameras and sensors in the front bumper to work right. So I can't go up to high above the hood and block the mirror camera(s) and same goes for the bumper sensors.

Today I may take a piece of wood 4x4 and hang it off the front with a rope to see how it affects the sensors and go from there. I suppose it may involve moving the bumper sensors and cameras to make it work right along with whatever harness extensions are necessary. Will report back.

A lot depends upon how much of a wide angle view those front bumper sensors and cameras have as to whether or not I can have anything extending out in front past the bumper.

Might just build something and put the front bumper cover over it. Did something similar back in my oilfield days with rig up tandems where we took the chrome bumpers off, put a solid steel plate/bumper with tow hooks on, and then bolted the chrome bumper on for looks.

On the other hand I don't know if moving any of the front bumper sensors would require a recalibration or not.

Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks

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[Oafy44]

Honestly I would just buy a ranch hand bumper - which fits and ice f-150 and modify the middle to fold down to access the frunk.

 

[Cvh8601]

...

Let me know if you have any suggestions. Thanks

My best suggestion would be to up your game on avoidance while youre adding impact resistance. Get a copy of Forscan and a OBD cable and enable the matrix high beams (ford calls it 'glare free'), assuming thats still standard equipment for 2025. The peripheral high beams that this provides, even with oncoming traffic but not blinding said traffic, will give you a better shot at getting some time to brake.

Forscan Thread

 

[bc1]

My best suggestion would be to up your game on avoidance while youre adding impact resistance. Get a copy of Forscan and a OBD cable and enable the matrix high beams (ford calls it 'glare free'), assuming thats still standard equipment for 2025. The peripheral high beams that this provides, even with oncoming traffic but not blinding said traffic, will give you a better shot at getting some time to brake.

Forscan Thread

I looked at a few pages of that thread. Looks like it said something about changing the daytime running lights to run at night at 10% and I'm not sure about the matrix.

I bot a dongle for a Prius and downloaded the Toyota factory version of their service department software. However the dongle had some type of old version of software that kept saying it could be hacked by spyware and I had to override everything to add it. There was no way I was going to add it to my wife's computer and then have it get hacked so I just tossed it. If this dongle will make it through a anti-virus scan then that will work.

I've been driving every night 12 miles of deer crossing country on a dark US highway 56 and some township roads. I have it on manual brights and maintain about 55 mph watching for deer until someone catches up and passes me. Then I speed up and follow them as close as allowable. Its even better if it is a semi truck. I follow using the 2 second rule so if a deer can somehow appear in 2 seconds then so be it. Every day presents a new blood spot on the highway or an ABK (already been killed) deer on the side of the road. Coming up on New moon on Thursday and then 2 weeks till full moon and the rut is on. During the rut I've seen bucks just running wide open day or night and not paying attention to what is to the left or right but they could cross a road at the dead run oblivious to their surroundings.

 

[bc1]

Honestly I would just buy a ranch hand bumper - which fits and ice f-150 and modify the middle to fold down to access the frunk.

I'm still thinking this through to see if everything will still work. I do believe it would be better to buy the bumper mounts from someone and modify from there instead of trying to invent that which may involve buying the whole thing or just a bull bar.

 

[Oafy44]

I'm still thinking this through to see if everything will still work. I do believe it would be better to buy the bumper mounts from someone and modify from there instead of trying to invent that which may involve buying the whole thing or just a bull bar.

I think it’s a little different but not horrible. My dealership did the rear bumper and said they had to do some engineering but it worked out just fine so my guess the front could be similar. Since the lighting was engineered to be very similar to an ice - my guess is they didn’t change anything , or very little.

 

[bc1]

Thanks. I've talked to Ranch hand and another one the closest might be a mount that comes off below where the tow hooks mount up to. I'm waiting now for the local body shop to get a ford pickup in and have the front bumper off. It looks like a flat plate around 6" to 8" square would cover the front of each mount then I just need to trace to bolt hole pattern. I think then I can come straight out from the frame with 4" square tube cutting holes for about 8" and I'm in front of the present bumper.

I'd have to pull my bumper parts off but I am beginning to envision the bumper mount part of this process that way. That lower bumper may be a piece of 4x4 tube or 4x6 tube on edge.

Looks like the bumper mfrs drill holes for the sensors and move the adaptive cruise control modules. Have to check to see if I would need any wiring extensions for the sensors.

So far I'm driving through the rut, the blood spots, and dead dear in the ditches with another couple weeks till full moon and then after that rifle season starts.

 

[bc1]

Well actually I crawled up under there last night and I can see the bumper mounts. They are just a couple inches behind the bumper. Just need to buy the right torx socket to pull the panel from the frunk to see it and then I'm good to go hopefully. Seems like Ford uses a mix of torx and torx plus bolts. From what I can tell the torx plus bolts have flattened edges going around while the torx are rounded and so far the bed bolts are torx plus.

 

[stxMain]

I also think the front tow loops are a good place to start.

FYI I have looked at the inside of my Lightning's front wall of the frunk, for an unrelated project. To me it looks that there's significant strength designed into the top half of that inner front wall... just an idea. Obviously, I'm not suggesting to cut into it from the outside, but it just might bear some weight as a brace, with careful design.

Yeah those of us who have had an encounter with a deer are not likely to forget it. I wiped out two deer on two different roads during my Army time in Germany... the BMW showed it.

Where were you in Germany? I spent most of my time in Vilseck and Graf!

 

[21st Century Truck]

Where were you in Germany? I spent most of my time in Vilseck and Graf!

2.5 years in Berlin (when we had units in West Berlin), then 2 years in Darmstadt and later, 18 months in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps. Sonny Boy loved Garmisch... he was 15 then.

Many slightly(!!) muddy visits to Graf and to Hohenfels next door, and to Wildflecken up the road.

And yes, one can get a speeding ticket on parts of the autobahn... I did and the amount hurt ha ha.

 

[stxMain]

2.5 years in Berlin (when we had units in West Berlin), then 2 years in Darmstadt and later, 18 months in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in the Bavarian Alps. Sonny Boy loved Garmisch... he was 15 then.

Many slightly(!!) muddy visits to Graf and to Hohenfels next door, and to Wildflecken up the road.

And yes, one can get a speeding ticket on parts of the autobahn... I did and the amount hurt ha ha.

If one hasn't sped down the autobahn, they haven't truly lived, haha.

Garmisch is beautiful, esp in the winter.

Thanks for your service.

 

[21st Century Truck]

Thanks for your service.

Likewise, Andrew.

 

[bc1]

I was offered the chance to transfer to Germany in 73 and all I heard about was spending all winter out in field for airborne infantry operations and I not only said no, I said heck no.

 

[stxMain]

I was offered the chance to transfer to Germany in 73 and all I heard about was spending all winter out in field for airborne infantry operations and I not only said no, I said heck no.

Haha, jumping in Germany and Alaska is terrible. The winter field exercises suck also. But i still loved Germany.

Thanks for your service!

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