Deer Guards, Deer Bumpers & Grille Guards for Semi Trucks

What a deer guard is actually for

A deer guard bolts across the front of the truck and takes the hit that would otherwise land on your grille, charge air cooler and radiator. The animal is not really the point. The point is the cooling package sitting an inch behind the grille: a strike that cracks a CAC or opens a radiator ends the trip, and the tow plus the repair runs well past the price of the guard. Fleets that run nights, run rural, or run the northern tier fit them first for exactly that reason.

The guards we carry are full-width bars, 91 in long and 35 in tall, weighing 75 lb apiece. That size is the honest part of the decision: this is a two-person fit with the hood up, not a bolt-on you do alone in a yard.

Guard and bracket are two different parts — check your body style

This trips up more buyers than anything else on the category, so here it is plainly. The guard is the bar. The bracket is the steel that ties the bar to your particular frame and bumper. They are sold separately because the bar spans a standard width while the mounting differs by truck and by body style, and a bracket that suits one Cascadia generation will not suit the other.

That matters here specifically. Our 201SS stainless guard is cut for the Freightliner Cascadia 2008-2017 old body style. Our brackets are cut for the Cascadia 2018-2024 new body style. They are not a pair, and we will not pretend otherwise. If you run a 2018-or-newer Cascadia, the guard that goes with those brackets is the universal 201B, which is sold as a bar only — its title says Without Bracket for that reason, not because anything is missing from the box.

Before you order, work out which body style you have and buy the bar and the bracket that match it. If you are unsure, send us the VIN and we will tell you which combination fits rather than guessing at it.

Buying the complete job

Because the bar and the bracket are separate line items, it is worth being explicit about what a finished purchase looks like, since both parts are already in the grid at the top of this page.

For a Freightliner Cascadia of the 2018-2024 body style, the working combination is the universal 201B bar plus one of our Cascadia 2018-2024 brackets. Two line items, one job. For the 2008-2017 old body style, the 201SS stainless bar is cut for that generation directly — but note we hold it in very small numbers, so check the stock badge before you plan around it.

Order the bar and the bracket in the same order. The bar travels as freight and the bracket rides along with it, so buying them together avoids paying to move the pallet twice.

Stainless or black steel

The 201SS is stainless with a chrome finish. It is what you want if the truck is polished, if it runs salt in winter, or if you simply do not want to look at rust bloom in three seasons. The 201B is the black painted version, a corrosion-resistant finish over steel, and it suits a working truck where the guard is there to do a job rather than to be seen.

Structurally they are the same bar: same 91 in span, same 35 in height, same 75 lb. Choose on finish and on which body style you are mounting to, not on strength.

Freight, said up front

A 91-inch steel bar does not go in a parcel. Guards ship as freight and the rate is real money: $379.99 per unit on the 201SS and $499.99 on the 201B, charged at any order value. That number is on the listing before you reach checkout, and it is not waived by the free-shipping threshold that applies to normal parcel parts.

Brackets are a different story. At 46 to 50 lb they still travel as standard shipping, so a bracket ordered on its own ships free. If you are buying both, order them together and the guard's freight covers the pallet.

Deer Guards, Deer Bumpers & Grille Guards for Semi Trucks — FAQ