prerunner bumper design ?s

[weps]

could someone please explain the theory and purpose of the prerunner shape and design? also, why is it called "prerunner".

it seems to be a fairly popular style, but i have no idea why.

 

[Waverous]

Not sure why it is called a pre-runner bumper but the design is to help span and slide the front end over obstacles and to keep the front end off of those obstacles

 

[bucket]

I believe they are named after the trucks that would scout the Baja courses before races. They stopped the front ends from digging into the sand.

 

[trophybass]

Yep, The prerunner bumpers were built to stop the front from digging into stuff and make the truck slide over it instead(with a skid plate of course). They are called prerunners for the same reason as above these are the trucks that "pre" run the race course with or for the drivers and they are also used during the races as a chase truck to help out with vehicle problems during the race i. e. fuel, flats, mechanical probs.

 

[trophybass]

Plus they just look really F'N cool.;D

 

[md_lucky_13]

I also hear the basic design called "stingers" from time to time.

A benefit for rock-crawling is that it is very hard to flip over your nose if you have a large bumper that angles out, away from the body. The bumper will (hopefully) catch you before you flip nose over.

You can also do it in the rear. If you have more bumper sticking out and back, like a bee stinger, then it can (hopefully) catch you before you flip over backwards and onto your lid.


For the sand, if you are doing a nose dive it prevents you from digging in and flipping over.

Those are the basic ideas behind them. I really never did like the look myself, and figure my big ass winch bumper sticks out enough to have almost the same effect. ;D