Juniper Bush vs. 07 Tundra - the bush won :-(

HMAN2007TUNDRA · #1 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 01:02 AM

Gang I have to say, other than the infernal factory Navigation system I finally found something to be very disappointed with this “work truck”. PS I will do the speed pulse generator mod someday. While backing out of my driveway (totally sober in broad daylight) I cut the turn a little to early and swung my front end about 8 inches into the 3 foot high juniper bush that borders the driveway. Without breaking even one branch the juniper kicked my 381 HP truck’s ***. It wasn’t even that loud, but a branch caught on the front right wheel well area and ripped the entire bumper over off. Here I was sitting in the middle of the street with my front end looking like I hit something head on at 20 mph. The fascia is only held on with 2 metal bolts and about a dozen plastic snap fasteners. The bad news, the cover was badly scratched when I backed out still not knowing what had happened. It was still attached by a single screw holding fast on the extreme driver’s side. I would have driven away and probably run completely over it had I not glanced over and saw the plastic wheel well panel sitting in the driveway. About 8 of the mounting holes on the cover ripped clean through so the cover will have to be replaced. I am a suburban white collar guy who tows a boat and goes camping in this truck, but if I had to drive this off road or on a job site every day I would be pissed big time. Oh for the day where a truck is somewhat indestructible, with a strong chrome bumper. Much of the competition integrates a steel chrome bumper with enough fascia to get the best of both worlds. From the tin-can tailgate, to the bed bounce, now to a nice looking bumper cover that can’t take much abuse – LOOK out guys, I hope our trucks look as good as we hope 10 years from now.

2007dctundra4x4 · #2 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 01:09 AM

thats why i didn't get a plastic bumper

s3av8r · #3 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 01:28 AM

any pics??????

StatCoder · #4 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 01:35 AM

How about some pics of the scene of the crime, the bush, and the damage? It's the only way the rest of us can decide whether the damage is undue or not. If the point of your post is to imply that the damage is unreasonable given the magnitude of the impact, we need to take a look. If the bush has a bunch of half-inch thick branches, I can imagine it might do a lot of damage.

Having said that, with all of the plastic parts on these trucks, making it seem like they can take any kind of abuse of any of the body panels is pure marketing. Remember those commercials Rock'm Sock'm robots punching the grille of a Dodge Ram? I remember thinking that you could bang the hell out of the plastic grille of my Ram if you started punching it with a life-size Rock'm Sock'm robot. There would be front-end parts exploding all over the place.

That's why I not too keen on front-end guards, bull bars, etc. I mean, who are we kidding here? What kind of protection do you really get for adding 150 pounds of dead weight to the front end? These trucks look tough but I cringe when someone slams my hood too hard and worry if I hit an empty cardboard 12 pack container on the street.

HMAN2007TUNDRA · #5 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 01:55 AM

I'll take some pictures, but the cover is off and I am driving around naked in front right now. No kidding this happened at maybe 2 mph with no damage to the bush other than some 1 inch pieces of green stuck in the bumper cover. I hate to break it to DCtundra but the chrome bumper is scratch resistant on the outside but appears to be mounted the same way and is still just a cover. The real bumper lies beneath the cover and is a bear – the cover attaches mainly under the hood line, with an additional 3 plastic fasteners across the bottom. Raise your hood and you should be able to see a row of mounting holes each about a foot apart tied down with plastic pop fasteners. Obvious this was a fluke and the covers are not structurally designed to pulled backwards from the wheel well but I doubt this applied more than maybe 250 lbs of pressure and it basically just zippered right off. I wish the fasteners had failed instead of the cover holes however. That might have saved me $400. The good news is I have used JB weld to rebuild the mounting holes backed with washers and will reattach the cover. Because it is thrashed on the outside I will have to get a new one ~$200 and have it painted another $200 and it should look as good as new.

07DCwhiteSR5 · #6 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 04:23 AM

or u could just learn to drive better....running over a juniper bush of any size is likely to cause damage in almost anything...especially a gussied up limited package with a plastic bumper cover. just because its called a bumper doesnt mean you have to bump with it. now please dont complain if u get hit with a door from a parked car and say your truck cant hold up to door dings, or say your paint is so thin u cant use wadded up newspaper to clean it w/o scratching or your glass is so soft a rock chipped it...all of which has been posted here by people with unrealistic expectations....if u want a true off road bumper go aftermarket like ranch hand or something.

2007dctundra4x4 · #7 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HMAN2007TUNDRA

I'll take some pictures, but the cover is off and I am driving around naked in front right now. No kidding this happened at maybe 2 mph with no damage to the bush other than some 1 inch pieces of green stuck in the bumper cover. I hate to break it to DCtundra but the chrome bumper is scratch resistant on the outside but appears to be mounted the same way and is still just a cover. The real bumper lies beneath the cover and is a bear – the cover attaches mainly under the hood line, with an additional 3 plastic fasteners across the bottom. Raise your hood and you should be able to see a row of mounting holes each about a foot apart tied down with plastic pop fasteners. Obvious this was a fluke and the covers are not structurally designed to pulled backwards from the wheel well but I doubt this applied more than maybe 250 lbs of pressure and it basically just zippered right off. I wish the fasteners had failed instead of the cover holes however. That might have saved me $400. The good news is I have used JB weld to rebuild the mounting holes backed with washers and will reattach the cover. Because it is thrashed on the outside I will have to get a new one ~$200 and have it painted another $200 and it should look as good as new.

took my chrome off...mounted with 8 good sized bolts 4 on each side 2 top 2 bottom...the plastic fasteners have nothing to do with holding on the chrome

also i don't think i would be JB welding my new truck back together...fix it right

idwoodhauler · #8 (**permalink**) 03-19-2008, 10:53 AM

I backed over something hidden in the snow and it bent up my front bumper like yours. Ended up just the mounting brackets that they had to replace for a couple hundered bucks. The bumpers are not forgiving on this rig. My old tacoma I had a few people rear end me and crunch their hoods with not a scratch to the bumper. I already have a few dings in my rear bumper from regular work. They're like tin cans. I wouldn't be surprised to see some more aftermarket bumpers in the next few years due to the weakness of these. I'd like to see some corner blocks or something we could get and just add to these weak suckers.