Pronghorn makes the leap

To say I "consulted" on the Pronghorn Overland Gear Modular Front End System (MFES) for the Jeep Wrangler JK would be a bit of an overstatement. What actually transpired was, they brought a prototype bumper to our place and mounted it on a Wrangler, we took it out in the desert, and I used the Warn 8274 winch on my Land Cruiser to try various ways to rip it off that Wrangler, or even bend it a little. I failed. I suggested a tweak to the fairlead mount and a few other details, but essentially the Pronghorn MFES-JK was ready to go out of the box.

At the 2013 Overland Expo, Pronghorn made quite a splash, not just because of the astounding strength to weight ratio of the bumper system, or the innovative details such as their Rotator Shackle or GearMount system, but because of the completely modular nature of the product, which allows a user to choose anything from an unadorned short bumper suitable for the fiercest cross-axle slickrock obstacles, to a full-width unit with brush guard ideal for fending off third-world goats and taxi drivers. In fact if you so choose you can swap back and forth between the configurations.

This week the company launched its website (go here), and is in full production with the MFES-JK. They're also working on a prototype system for the Toyota Tacoma, which we will be delighted to try out on the JATAC. Other models will follow, as will rear bumper systems, skid plates, and several not-directly-bumper-related-but-fascinating bits of four-wheel-drive kit on which the founder of the company, Trey Herman, and I are trading emails and ideas. Stay tuned, but in the meantime if you own a Wrangler and are in need of the best bumper available for it, take a look. (Full disclosure: I was impressed enough that Roseann and I now own a small stake in Pronghorn Overland Gear L.L.C.)