Jeff - you must own stock in an integrated winch company...every post has an integrated winch mention in it, even about approach angles?



The approach angle of the '05 is limited by the really low radiator mount once you remove all the plastic OEM crap....

and by the length of the protruding area of the bumper itself...which, on the Calmini design, sticks out further than the Shrock design...

which is why the Shrock has a better approach angle, and why the front skid that comes std with the Shrock bumper lets the X ramp up from that low radiator mount w/o ripping the fool thing off.

That low radiator mount on the '05's are pretty much the X's achilles tendon, as the rest of the truck's guts are tucked up WAY better than on the pre-'05's.

Hmmmm...I think Shrock providing a way to mount the winch under the bumper, rather than in front of the grill, allows the Shrock bumper to tuck tight into that space (where the Calmini bumper MAKES you mount the winch), which hurts the Calmini's approach angle.

(I know, your reason for mentioning that... for a bumper that requires an integrated/front of grill mounted winch....the Calmini's approach angle does not look too bad, considering that design limitation)





One thing I've noticed over the years regarding approach (and departure) angles...unless you wheel where it's come up, you can go through life never knowing it was a problem...until it stops you.

A perfect example was a guy I was wheeling with at ECXC...he had a brush guard of all things, had heard it ruined approach angles, but had never had a problem before, and figured, it must not be a big deal...the day before...

We got to a ledge that even the stockers managed to get over (We were herding a diverse group...)...and he just could not get over it...we stacked A LOT of rocks - built a stair case, to get him over...

he went back and looked at it some more, saw the marks on the rocks where he had banged the guard against trying to clear it...and how low on the rocks the marks were...

scratched his head, and declared he now understood what the big deal was....and that he was ordering a shrock bumper to fix it as soon as he got home.



The same thing happens as the trails get harder...you eventually run into an obstacle that you needed more clearance to get over...either angle or height, etc...and until then, you feel that you had enough.

You also feel like the trails YOU did were tough, and that you know what you're talking about...I was around 18 or so, and was making money running their vegas or other 2wd cars and so forth on these local trails further than or as far as guys with 4wd could get, on bets, etc....and I felt invincible...

I went on a run with a few to another unfamiliar set of trails, and damn if you can't get a stock chevy malibu to clear 2' waterfall ledges...I had two drivers side tires up/down, against side wall rocks, tried backing at angles, etc...my whole repetoire of tricks..but, w/o getting out to stack or rope or other "cheating"...I was beat (-$)...and realized the equipment made a difference afterall, once you got past a certain level of terrain...

I mean, we spend A LOT of $ to get from a 1.5" PML to a 3" lift...that extra 1.5" seems important, and DOES help get over stuff...and a few degrees of better approach angle is the same benefit, its like having the equivalent amount of lift to get over the obstacle, w/o raising the center of gravity to get it.

So - the more you wheel (Since the mid -'70's for me anyway...), the more you see these things happen over and over for each newbie as they go through the learning process.

One of the breakthoughs was less of a massive bumper...huge protruding cow catchers looked sturdy enough, but got in the way on the trails, some more than others...getting the bumper to stick out as little as possible, cutting off the rear ends of the pick-ups bed to improve the departure angles...these things all made the rigs more capable.

If you tried to climb a steep hill with a bike rack sized spare tire mount that stuck way out...you whacked the spare on the ground on the way up...if you mounted the spare closer to the rear door, you didn't whack it on the way up...or...on the way down/coming off a ledge, etc.

So - X's are now evolving too.