Bullbar for a Legacy/Outback

[Fairtax4me]

So here's the deal. I've hit two deer in the past 3 months with the soob. Not hard, I've been fortunate enough to see them coming. The first one broke a tab on the passenger headlight and put a shallow dent in the end of the hood and fender, and broke one of the clips that holds the bottom of the grille. The second bounced off with no visible damage, except for breaking the same clip on the grille, which I had just replaced after the first encounter.

 

So I just know the big one is coming. I put a grille bar on my truck and within a week I popped one good that would have surely gone through the grille.

 

Now I know there are decent bullbars and grille guards for the Legacy, but are there any that won't cost me $2,000 to get it? I would LOVE to have an ECB bar like this one: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/SUBARU-OUTBACK-BULLBAR_W0QQitemZ220526086308QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item33586108a4

but I'm not paying 5, 6, $800 or more JUST to ship it across the pond from Australia.

Does anybody know of a closer (in the U.S.) source for a decent bar that will keep the deer out of my radiator and away from my headlights? (and not cost $2,000 like the Subaxtreme bars, even though it would be sweet to have it, I don't see buying a grille bar that costs more than the car is worth)

[lostinthe202]

If you're handy, I've got a tube bender, MIG and TIG. If you feel like making the drive up to DC, you can make one in the shop on a weekend day while I'm there working on my own stuff.

 

Will-

[Fairtax4me]

Handy I am, with a welder, not so much. The most I've done with a welder is burn a hole through the pipe trying to weld an exhaust hanger back on on my old Toyota truck.

Though it would be fun, and certainly cheaper to custom fab something, I have no clue what would be best to use, nor where to get it.

[lostinthe202]

Well, we can set you up with the MIG, we call it the hot glue gun. With the right setting and a little practice, you'll be fine.

 

As for what to use, I'm not sure on that either. There are several people here who have fabbed their own stuff. "Old gen" would be the place to look for custom bumpers, they could recommend what kind/size of material to use.

 

As for where to get it, there's a steel supplier in Manassas called BMG metals. Pretty decent prices and stock, family owned and operated. They'd be more or less on your way from Charlottesville.

 

But yeah, you'd have to come up with a design. I thought the design of this bumper looked good. You could improve on that one.

 

http://www.ultimatesubaru.org/forum/showthread.php?t=93787&highlight=I%27d+like+to+climb+that

 

Either way, if you get a hair up your but it's an option.

 

Will-

[Fairtax4me]

I saw that one while I was searching. I like it but I'm not sure if I want to make a replacement bumper or something that just fits around the outside. I'm also not sure how I would mount the thing. I looked behind the bumper cover on my car and it looks like the reinforcement is actually fiberglass/plastic. Which is nothing unusual, but it means I can't mount it to the existing reinforcement, I'd have to make something that will mount directly to the frame instead.

 

I need to remove the front bumper cover anyway to fix up some ghetto rigging that was done by our wonderful body shop when it was in there a few years back for a front end collision. I think it's only attached by 3 screws right now.