The battle of the affordable steel rear bumpers: TJM or Body Armor?

Pretty bummed to report that my Fab Fours Premium Rear Bumper is already rusting in one area after only being on my truck for 6 months. I reached out to Fab Fours for a solution.

 

Yes, that’s surprising that the powder coat is so thin. You could buff it up and touch up with paint, it is tricky though to get a good match. When I bought my DV8 Off Road front bumper they supplied me with a can of touch up paint with instructions for repairing various types of touch up requirements. Hopefully Fab Four has something similar.

 

Or you could buy mine for $1k and it’s a $1500 before freight shipping charges. (2nd gen only tho) high clearance rear.

 

We use our trucks for different purposes, dawg...Thanks for the offer though.

 

Well reading this thread has me thinking its friday... I wish that were the case cause then I'd be in the middle of some buglin' bulls hoping to poke one, Sadly its Wednesday.

 

Upon closer inspection, every welded seam is starting to rust and there are even some flat areas that are starting to oxidize. As you'll recall, one of the reasons that I decided to go with this bumper is because of some of the warnings that I read about Chinese Powder Coating. Fab Fours says that their bumpers are "hand coated" in America. They've offered to pay for a new powdercoat or replace the bumper, but both options require a hell of a lot of effort out of me. I am so fucking bummed! There is really no excuse for this amount of rust in 6 months. Most of those months were dry as a bone too. Ok...Rant Over! Hate to say it, but be weary of Fab Fours.

 

Sorry to hear, I have a RCI High Clearance rear bumper and a DV8 in front and have not had issues. I did have to touch up paint the DV8 because of shipping damage and also drilled weep holes where the light mount is welded to the bumper, but haven’t had any issues since. Hopefully you will be able to get things worked out.

 

I must disagree. I have taken a 2WD 91’ PreRunner 4cyl with my handmade steel rear bumper more places that my heavy 93’ 4x4 4Runner couldn’t get to and used the rear bumper bolted to frame as a recovery point dozens of times, especially in the snow.

 

Please stop typing/responding to anything.
You are hurting all of our brains.

 

Thank you for a helpful response on here. Whew!

 

Wow. Looks super clean. Nice work man!

 

You're replying to a post from more than 3 years ago @GreyBaldTaco was banned more than two years ago and will never see this.

 

What happened to GreyBaldTaco?

 

^ https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...paree-and-twtaco.713699/page-89#post-25776262

 

Thanks man! And I was wrong about TJM I come to find out. They are a very well-respected Australian off-road outfit. I now have a TJM winch that is a beast.

 

I still like my Body Armour rear bumper, but was disappointed how fast it started rusting, even though it came painted. Yearly sanding and prepping it. Furthermore the trailer hitch wiring plug hole is positioned differently from the stock bumper, so I couldn't just plug the wiring back in, as it doesn't reach.

Maybe they addressed these issues in the last 4 years, I dont know.

 

^Neither TJM (Australia) nor Body Armor (China) knows what rust is... Though for what it's worth, my US-made Mobtown bumper is also rusting a bit at the welds, no big deal if you actual use your armor off road. I just shoot some Tremclad semigloss on the rust spots when I touch up rock scars on my bumpers, sliders, and skids before each winter.

 

My Body Armor Desert rear bumper is doing great after a couple years and getting rear ended 1 time. I live way out in the desert and its actually aluminum. This is photo from right after I installed it and wired up the lights but it still looks the same. I would take a new photo but it is about 114 degrees out there right now. Oh I don't even have the back up lights wired up in that photo, I guess I will go out there in a bit, after the sun goes down, and get an updated photo.

 

When the sun goes down those temps drop to around 106-107, you might need a jacket!

 

Ya must live close by.