Yessssss indeed, a wretched place to put a cooler I agree.
I have seen one placed in a custom winch bumper brush guard up front that looked nice and protected the cooler very well.
The only way it would get hurt would be a direct head on crash.
The cooler was behind a nice aluminum expanded metal grill to keep rocks off it too.
Nice job on your truck BTW.
Anxious to hear the results of your tests.
best
Robyn