Armor for BSM Rear Bumper

I thought I would post this in the 3rd Gen forum to get a bit more discussion/notice versus the sedated Armor forum. I think I can speak for a number of members (from past threads dealing with this), that we would all love to have a steel/aluminum bumper to protect the rear end from coming down off rock ledges, have a rear jack point, etc., but we are not willing to sacrifice giving up the Blind Spot Monitor (BSM) feature to do so.

Since the BSM feature requires a plastic cover, the mounting of the BSM sensors in a metal bumper has not been successful (re: C4 Fab), and placing hybrid-type steel tubing over the sensors has also not worked, it seems that the only way to provide some level of protection for the plastic bumper, BSM sensors and rear quarter panels, is to place steel tubing (or plates) around the outside of the sensors, outside of the line of sight of the BSM sensors. I have posted a couple crude MS paint figures below to try to describe what I am getting at.

It is noted that side protection would be limited with this type of armor, but that is of little concern to me, as damage to the rear is likely to come from the bottom up (e.g., dropping off ledges). This would reduce clearance on the back corners, but the tubing would likely still be higher than the bottom of the hitch, and this is not meant to be an alternative to a high clearance rear bumper. It is noted that a hitch skid (e.g., Skid Mark, Warfab, etc.) hangs way lower than this tubing would, and there are plenty of people (including myself) who are happy making the trade off in clearance in using one for the few times we find ourselves worried about dragging our hitches.

This isn't necessarily meant to be for people who wheel every weekend. So for those who do and are convinced this would be a waste of time to create, I get where you are coming from. However, it would be highly desirable to someone like myself who doesn't wheel to bang off rocks, but to get from point A to B, and might find themselves having to get over/up something that is a bit challenging and dangerous to the rear end on the way.

With respect to the crude drawings below, the red would be the steel tubing, the orange are optional wings for some side protection and to provide jack points, and the blue would be approximate location of struts to support the tubing. It is noted that there is not a ton of places to bolt to the frame on the back end, and maybe to make this work, one would have to use a plate with backside gusseting bolted to the frame to support the weight of the vehicle. That or add some sort of bed stiffener to bolt to, to reduce the cantilever length. Hell, if I could just get a rear tube, and nixing the tube under the rear quarter panel (above the exhaust tip), that would still be winning compared to the current condition.

So with that all said, are there any fab shops interested in fabbing something up for me? If so, let me know what it would cost, and we can work out the specifics.

 

Going to bump this again to see if anyone else thinks this is viable. Also, does anyone know of any fab shops that would do custom work like this, that I could follow up with directly?

 

Try these guys.
https://www.apogeeoffroad.com/shop/toyota-tacoma-rear-bumper-gen3

 

You're not going to get anything made that's stronger than the hitch that's mounted to the frame. Pretty heavy and hard to attach if you do make something stronger. That said most any fab shop will make you something. It's not a big ask or ridiculous.

 

I’ve seen those hitch mounted skid plates that might get you 80% of what you’re looking for. Not much protection for side biased drops, but pretty good for anything center or full width.

 

I was not aware of this bumper. I'll have to look into it. That said, to mount this would likely require me to recalibrate the BSM sensors, which requires buying a target, stand, and cable for techstream, and the software too. Of course having those items would be handy for the front sensor calibration too, if needed in the future.

I already have the rear hitch mounted skid, but I need to protect the corners somehow. Bars attached to the hitch/bed frame would seem to me to be the simplest/easiest way to do this.

Thanks all for the responses, truely appreciate it.

 

Calibration information from Toyota.
https://www.toyotapartsandservice.com/collision_pros_pub/toyota-safety-system-calibration

 

Watching. I'm going to try and Jerry rig my bsm sensors under my new ATH bumper. I'm not doing crazy offroading but wanted a mental bumper for idiot protection mostly. So I'm going to see what I can do about maybe setting them a bit lower.

 

Just found this thread started by Alnmike who has the same basic idea:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/bumper-keep-my-bsm.629204/

@Alnmike did you ever find someone to fab you a "rear slider"?

 

Sent a PM to a local welder on tacomaworld before all the social lock-down stuff happened...

Got another quote from someone locally before that for roughly $1k. It can be done, I just need to design the bends and whatnot. Mounting location looks 'easy'.

 

Eventually companies will realize that the BSM is here to stay and they'll have a bigger market if they design their bumpers with it in mind. Apogee is one and supposedly ARB is another, but I'd like one with a swing out. I have a long bed so I don't need to worry about high clearance with my shit break over angle.

 

I attached the portion of the TSM that deals with BSM calibration. To do it, it appears you need techstream with cable, the following items below, and a big enough flat area to set up the target.
Reflector: https://toyota.service-solutions.com/en-US/Pages/ItemDetail.aspx?SKU=09870-60040-02
Stand: https://toyota.service-solutions.com/en-US/Pages/ItemDetail.aspx?SKU=09870-60000

It seems to me one could potentially fashion their own stand with a camera tripod, such that you might be able to get away with only having to buy the target. Not sure if the stand is made of something that won't register on the radar though, so maybe you have to buy it to make it work. Still, cost of parts would likely be equal to or less than the cost of a dealer calibration, unless you splurge for the Mongoose cable.

 

$1k seems a little steep, but for a custom fab situation, probably isn't too unreasonable. You would still have to spend another $500 for the Apogee bumper option. Let me know if this works out for you. Maybe we could work out a group buy deal with the fabricator, as I got to think there would be other people interested in this.

 

The ARB bumper (link below for reference) is all metal and there is no indication it will work with BSM. Searching around, it appears to have been put out on the market before TSS was available on the Tacoma. The tubular portion of the bumper is interesting though, and one wonders if one could fab something that looks like the tubing used with this bumper, to protect the bottom and back sides of the plastic caps.
https://arbusa.com/toyota-tacoma-20...tection-equipment-rear-bumpers-tire-carriers/

 

Then armor really isnt needed. The only way you are bashing those sections is on dedicated offroad trails and they would have to be pretty tough trails that I doubt a weekend wheeler would want to attempt.

Your exhaust is at greater risk of causing damage than anything else...maybe take a sawzall to your exhaust tip first.

ARB doesnt make a BSM compatible bumper. Despite the Tacoma being out for 4 years, no fabricator has interest in making one that works. Why? Because anyone who really wants to spend the money on a bumper is just going to unplug it. I've never heard of apogee but most people aren't going to spend $1200 on a bumper that provides little added value, it's a small market

 

I would, and it seems like there's a few on this board searching for one too judging by how often it comes up in these threads. It's a smaller market now but it's only going to keep growing since they're probably not just going to stop putting it in future models. My wheeling and camping doesn't require a high-clearance bumper, but I would like more protection for my daily driver for the "overlanding" I do. For more serious wheeling I'll take my LJ anyway. The Taco is just too long to really be a rock-crawler (my opinion, obviously some use the platform very successfully). I love my Taco for how comfortable it is and the amenities, if for some reason wanting to keep the BSM sensors makes me less of a man then I really couldn't care less.

EDIT: The last comment wasn't directed at you specifically. I'm just tired of other threads where people come in and just say stupid shit like "It's a truck, and if you're not doing things exactly like I do then you're dumb and should just get a prius"

 

This forum represents a very very small minority. Probably not even 1% of Tacoma owners and the very few people that are looking/requesting BSM compatible bumpers is even less than that.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but no one cares that you would buy one, fabricators and manufacturers need way more than a half dozen people.

A custom fabricator can make this stuff no problem but expect to pay a premium. Those guys charge by the hour and that included the R&D involved with fitting it correctly.

Sometimes I think people forget that these companies are “for profit” if it was worth their time, they would do it.

 

Totally get that, and agree with almost everything you say. It's all business, and it doesn't make sense yet it seems, but the amount of people wanting to keep them seems to be growing (or it could just be I'm biased because I want it to be growing). Either way it might just be something to support my local fabricators and make something custom, but I still have a little time. Next thing is a topper to build out for camping, then probably front bumper, and then I'll make a decision of the back bumper. Happy Easter!

 

Yeah, it was about 1k to custom fit/fab. For 1 truck. In order to make more, your talking specific measurements, and jigs, and a whole bunch of other stuff I don't know because I haven't done it. Yet...
Cost would be less for the next one because you can just duplicate pieces. But I can't see it being cheaper than sliders.


Just need to find a local ish welder with some spare covid time... I have it worked out, I made a (very minimal) 3d model that shows it would be strong enough to jack from. I just need someone who can physically make it. I have zero metalworking tools (pipe bender/welder/knowledge).

 

First day I took my truck offroad. Very first day. In what I'm told is the easiest park in the state/pnw. Granted, I don't know what I'm doing, but I figured better my hitch than the BSM sensors... Even better, I had to go over that exact same gdamn stretch 4 times because I got lost.

Very next day: Started planning which skid plates and sliders to get. Been looking ever since for a suitable front/rear bumper... Hence this (and my other) thread.


Edit: Good point about the exhaust. Cresting said "ravine" caused it to get somewhat... flatter... underneath the truck (not the tailpipe). Now its rerouted and the skidplate is flat. And cutoff behind the downturn.