Slee Short Bus Vs. Arb ?

[GAS-A-LOT!]

GUYS.... I'm finally getting some things together.... dual battery.(just need the batery LOL and some time) and I am looking for a bumper cuzz it's not safe in the concrete jungle. Drunks here, there, everywhere. Soo.... any who... I am seriously consodering the short bus. but... like the aditional protection of the arb but hate the weight gain.. besides the short bus will show like a well manered 80. Any ways your opionions will be verry helpfull.

 

[j_rawks]

i am contemplating that thought as well. i just don't know which one i want more. arrrrgh! choices choices....

 

[Beowulf]

A friend in our local club installed the Slee Short Bus bumper at CM07. I love it and I have the early Slee front bumper.

I like it so much that I would swap my Slee front bumper for the new one EXCEPT for one little detail. I already have a Warn M12 and it won't fit in the SSBB.

-B-

 

[corsair23]

IMO, from a purely "functional" standpoint and not taking into consideration looks/esthetics here would be my choices:

For a person that is more concerned with approach angle etc. for off roading I would go with the Slee bumper...

For a person that is more concerned with protection from the crazys on the road, and wants a nice bumper that is acceptable for offroad but does somewhat limit you approach angle, I would get the ARB.

I chose the ARB, because although I am concerned about approach angle, realistically my LX will spend 90+% of its time on the pavement.

Maybe I am selling the Slee bumper short on protection but I've seen numerous threads on how well the ARB protects a Cruiser...

 

[arbetrader]

The short bus looks better imo.

 

[corsair23]

If they were the exact same price. Which one would you buy?

The ARB, for the reasons stated above.

I hit a deer outside of Ouray one year that caused about $2K worth of damage. This was on a '99 Durango with just the stock bumper. The deer lived btw (for those wondering).

Had I had a Slee bumper it wouldn't have protected the rig where the deer first hit. Had I had an ARB I probably would have only had some scratches to the ARB and maybe a dead deer . The deductible back then cost me almost what the ARB for my LX cost me now.

I don't think you can go wrong with either choice, you just have to figure what your planned primary use is.

 

[CodyRx7]

ARB then equals free deer jerky?

 

[g8mfzj80]

For weight, looks, approach angle…I like the slee a lot more

We came across a full grown bear in the Sequoia this past weekend on the trail, he took one look at my slee and ran as fast as he could the other way Bumper is a work of art, nice design, bulid, better/stronger mounting than ARB IMO and I really dig the gray on my cruiser:

 

[tech_dog]

I sold the old slee and bought the shortbus slee. I wanted it because of the reduced weight, and because it works great with the 9.5XP and hawse fairlead.

I'm 100% satisfied with it. The fact that it looks great is an extra added bonus. It's much more refined than the old slee bumper.

 

[cruiserdan]

I'm not saying ARB's are junk at all. I'm just saying that in my opinion I would go with a slee. That was the question.

One of the original design criteria for the ARB was to protect the vehicle when it struck a large animal whilst crusing the Outback. Red Kangaroos and Emus are quite large, on the order of a Mule deer in the case of the 'Roo. The ARB was expressly designed to deflect those critters. The only place it lacks is in bonet protection because an Emu's head tends to whip over the top and smack the middle of the bonet.

I have a Slee and I would not give it up. However I think an ARB gives better overall critter impact protection.....


D-

 

[GAS-A-LOT!]

MMM... First of all... sorry I left for a while... But I went to the 80 in my driveway and.......

MY STEREO WAS STOLEN!!! the bastard did not even bother to be carefull with the bezzel! AUggh. In my driveway! how dare him. I will post pics on a new thread. Anyway backe to the arb's....

The 80 will spend about 90% on the road..... and well.. I've heard stories of deer jumping in the way. Any how.... I love the shortbus! looks awsome.... I guess I would drive away from any type of accident with an ARB... But would be able to climp mnt. Everest with a shortbus version. MMM... I hate it when the choises are so damn GOOD!

Man, Christo.... Why you gotta make it so hard for us by making a killer bumper.

Now, if im not mistaking, I think I read somewhere that the shortbus is just as strong if not stronger than the ARD is it not?

Please guys (if you got experience, dont be shy and chime in) let me know....

 

[-Spike-]

Don't you love when someone doesn't have the balls to leave their point of view up for everyone to see?

Deleting/editing rights that are misused should be revoked. D'Animal, I don't even know what you wrote, and chances are I'd have agreed with it, but I hate trying to read a thread with half the responses missing. Stand by your opinions, or don't bother posting them in the first place.

-Spike

 

[cruiserdan]

 

[-Spike-]

And YOU... oh, CDan, uh, never mind.

-Spike

 

[GAS-A-LOT!]

did not get it... But now I got it.... man! its that ADD!!!!

 

[corsair23]

MY STEREO WAS STOLEN!!! the bastard did not even bother to be carefull with the bezzel! AUggh. In my driveway! how dare him. I will post pics on a new thread. Anyway backe to the arb's....

The 80 will spend about 90% on the road..... and well.. I've heard stories of deer jumping in the way. Any how.... I love the shortbus! looks awsome.... I guess I would drive away from any type of accident with an ARB... But would be able to climp mnt. Everest with a shortbus version. MMM... I hate it when the choises are so damn GOOD!

Man, Christo.... Why you gotta make it so hard for us by making a killer bumper.

Now, if im not mistaking, I think I read somewhere that the shortbus is just as strong if not stronger than the ARD is it not?

Please guys (if you got experience, dont be shy and chime in) let me know....

First of, sorry to hear about the radio. IH8 Thieves!!

Back to the bumpers...Knowing Slee, I'm sure Shortbus bumper is plenty stout. I have Slee's rear bumper/tire carrier and I bashed the snot out it a Moab and it took it all in stride.

Realistically though comparing the two bumpers is sort of like comparing apples to beef (or deer) jerky. They were designed for completely different purposes.

As CDan mentions ARB designs their bumpers for the Outback primarily where hitting a roo or Ostrich or whatever 1000's of miles from civilization can disable a vehicle - not a good thing. Chris Wood from ARB put on a seminar for the Rising Sun club earlier this month and explained ARB's thought process, the different functions of the ARB bumpers design, etc., and how it's primary purpose it to take the brunt of an impact and deflect it away from the vehicle.

Now I can't state for sure but I don't think Christo's primary design criteria for the Short Bus bumper was critter protection, or even accident protection for that matter . I imagine the criteria were to design a great looking low profile bumper that offered great approach angles, could mount a winch, was very stout, and could offer front end protection while off road.

If you hit a deer doing 55mph with the Short Bus bumper will it offer the same protection as an ARB bumper would? Don't know but I don't believe it would. I imagine (depending on vehicle height), the deer would flip right up on your hood and into the windshield. But, if you approach a steep climb with an ARB would you tag the ARB before you would a Short Bus bumper...Most definitely.

There is no right and wrong here, just what is best for each individual consumer based on their needs and probably more so their wants

Go with the Short Bus and give it a try. I don't think you'll have any trouble selling it should you decide later the ARB would fit your needs better.

Final comment re: mounting strength. I don't know how the Short Bus bumper is mounted but the ARB is mounted directly to the frame rails with (IIRC) 6 bolts per side. 2 top, 2 bottom, and 2 from the side. I had a FJ60 roll back into me at Moab at a potty stop. It shook the whole truck but only left a minor dent/scratch in the ARB.

 

[TroutRunner]

A friend in our local club installed the Slee Short Bus bumper at CM07. I love it and I have the early Slee front bumper.

I like it so much that I would swap my Slee front bumper for the new one EXCEPT for one little detail. I already have a Warn M12 and it won't fit in the SSBB.

-B-

I'm the friend.

I chose the Shortbus because of clearance and weight. I love the way it looked as well. In my opinion it looks way better in person than any of the pics I have seen of it yet. I had no dreams of a 12K winch or hammering deer on the road.

Pick the one you like the best. Unless your area is full of deer all the time then who cares about critter protection. For me around here...I could care less. When I'm other places with more critters, I'll just keep my eyes open like everyone else who drives a regular car.

I like to think by lifting my truck I have evened my COG with the best impact spot on the deers side. Now, when I was living in Maine, Moose are the ones to lookout for. Those suckers will mame you.

As an aside, B, you may check with Doc, I think he put a 12k in his Shortbus but it wasn't a warn. It just may work yet.

TR

 

[TiredIronGRB]

I really like the SSB for the approach angle but I wheel on alot of really tight trails and bang my bull bar quite a bit in the tight areas and would bet my marker lights would be gone without out the ARB.

I'm working on a re-design of my ARB that will give it a crazy approach angle...stay tuned.

 

[D'Animal]

Don't you love when someone doesn't have the balls to leave their point of view up for everyone to see?

Deleting/editing rights that are misused should be revoked. D'Animal, I don't even know what you wrote, and chances are I'd have agreed with it, but I hate trying to read a thread with half the responses missing. Stand by your opinions, or don't bother posting them in the first place.

-Spike

All of my posts have been quoted.

The question was which would you buy. I would buy a SLEE

It turned into which one would hold up if you hit a kangaroo or a deer and allowed the least body damage. This is really a danger in Los Angeles.

Gas-A-Lot posted that 90% of what he did was pavement. Approach and departure angle really don't apply on pavement.

The thread was turning chit chat so I deleted my post (that are still in others qoutes).

Sorry if I created a problem with doing that.

 

[Doc]

I had the same question and went with the slee bumper. Better recovery points was really the selling point for me.

We do have lots of deer around here, but they are really only medium sized, and would not come over the hood when stuck at my 80's current height. Would they do some damage to the hood or lights? Maybe. But, in the 7 years I've lived here I've only managed to hit one deer, so the trade offs are worth it to me.

The shortbus bumper is mounted via 12 bolts direclty into the frame rail. It's serious beef.