Ok, I know that the light guard portion of these does nothing but bend in an accident because their like 2 feet long, and held on by 2 bolts, but does the main middle peice that bolts to the frame offer any protection, or does that bend back too?

 

well i have a bush guard on my truck (thow im back in 2nd gen) see avatar pic. but they have them for yours too. it bolts to the frame on the bottem and is held onto the rad susports on the top (same on 3rd gens i install them for a living) and they will protect your truck. you dont want something too strong because if you do get in an accident the force has goto go somewhere so if its not absorbed in the front end and you have something solid to the frame thats where the force will go then youll endup with a bent/twisted/tweeked frame not good at all whatever you get make shure its stainles steel not crome or painted they tend to rust and look ugly

 

But they are effective in low speed collisions, and could I push stuff around with them? [example shopping carts.. one almost hit the front of my truck today..]

 

if you're looking for really tough grill guards:

http://www.ranchhand.com/products.htm

check those guys out, some nice stuff there.

 

Most I have seen will just bend and cause more damage than good. For shopping carts, weeds, sticks, etc it is good. If you want protection from a collision, you're gonna have to get one of the industial looking diamond plate bumper ones (think the front of a firetruck). If you look at the Ranch Hand bumper replacement in the above link, you'll see what I mean. My friend that is a Deputy has never seen one that you just bolt to the frame protect the front of a truck and actually considered removing his DEE ZEE brand one off his 94 Ram, but said to hell with it and that he'd rather have it to fend off the occasional small animal, shopping cart, etc.