Coastal Offroad Talky Time

My welder is almost complete with the rear bumper, looks like just the shackle reinforcements and some internal gussets would be left. I went with a marine welder who typically builds T Tops for boats and my goal was to simply clear coat the aluminum once finished. I'm extremely excited to get my truck back but I'm very happy with the quality of work so far.

 

I'm pretty stoked with the outcome. It looks like a coastal does send a C bracket out of aluminum for the steel Swingout mount to he aluminum bumper.

 

I would want a thicker bracket if it was aluminum. Swingouts are heavy. Report back in a couple years and let us know how it's holding up.

 

What's interesting about that C bracket is when I emailed CO about running the steel Swingout with the aluminum bracket, they mentioned they couldn't make the C bracket out of aluminum because the bends would make it too brittle. So there would be tabs included to make the hinge bracket. But, there were no tabs in the kit and they supplied a bent C bracket out of aluminum.

EDIT:

I'm only mounting my spare on the Swingout also. No Jerry cans or jack. Ive emailed CO support to clarify why they sent a pre bent C bracket. I definitely don't want to have a failure, upgrading to aluminum wasn't cheap (materials and paying for a Tig welder) so that would be a gut and wallet punch.

 

Man, I'm starting to have second guesses with this thing. Slapped some paint on the swing arm today and was messing with a flip up license plate bracket and decided to test fit a hitch into the receiver tube...

Am I crazy, or shouldn't the tube be a tad over 2in to accept a hitch? And normally there would be some play there as well for extra tolerance. These guys sent a tube thats 1.99in, so none of my hitches work.

I'm debating going out to find an aluminum hitch and measuring just to see if they are a tad slimmer. But I can see this being a massive pain.

 

Got closer photos of that weld? Looks like from that angle the welds are overlapping the inner dimension of the tube? It could totally be the image, but if thats the case get one of those bandfile belt sanders and run it on the inside of those welds to pull them back.

 

It's not, that was my first thought also. But you can't get a hitch into the backside either where there is no weld.

 

shit that stinks, usually the receiver is just slightly larger. may be that aluminum square tube has different dimension standardization than steel?
Could still try sanding out the inside of the tube with one of those sanders. would obviously take material off making it weaker but how much weaker I am not a scientist to tell you but I would assume if its really close already then it wouldnt be much material. biggest issue would be ensuring you evenly removed material all the way through.

Edit: or cut it out and add back in a bigger piece

 

Yea, that's one potential solution. But, being aluminum is already weaker than steel, I don't particularly want to make towing any more of question mark. I have a small Offroad trailer which is probably fine, but we are looking into a small skiff next year (17-18ft) and that's got me thinking I want to retain as much "strength" as possible.

I've thought about also grinding down my hitches, but then I could never borrow or help anybody if they have their own I need to use.

Then I could get one of those drop hitches that creates another 2in tube below, and grind down the original male end to accept into that female aluminum end.

I've also tried to find one of those aluminum hitches to see if they are by default, smaller diameter. Sort of like what you mentioned, maybe standard aluminum sizes are a tad smaller than steel?

I've sent coastal some emails so I'm just waiting to see what they suggest.

 

Yeah those are all good points. If you got something like a 2" extension it would add a little more torque on the current receiver but it could be wire wheeled down to fit in the existing receiver then all other hitches would be usable. would also get the hitch out past your swing out/spare tire giving your tongue of whatever trailer a little more room.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/166246357852

 

That's a good point, I haven't thought about the clearance with the Swingout arm and a trailer tongue.

 

Ordered from coastal a month ago. Took a little less than 2 weeks to arrive. Got the mounting plate tacked together with the sides and realized they sent me the wrong front plate which was for the non high clearance version. Emailed them and they keep assuring me that they will send me the correct piece and thanking me for my patience but I’m pretty over it at this point. Haven’t heard anything about it for a few days, no shipping info no exact dates they plan on getting it shipped nothing. So to hell with their guarantees they are screwin me over. Should have been the first thing they did after they read my email. Still don’t know when’s it’s coming in and has been 30 days. As much as I want to like the company they are making it hard. I’m sure the bumper will be great and the quality looks there but their customer service and guarantees are no good. I’m sure it doesn’t happen to often but damn lol. Thought I would share that with anyone looking to get a bumper kit.

 

Weird, they've always been timely with me and I've never had an issue. Even my friend's rear he bought for a 4R was missing hardware and they had it shipped in a couple days. I'd keep after them, make sure some wires weren't crossed somewhere.

 

I've been emailing them for about a month now getting my bumper squared away. It took about a week fr my first email to get a reply, but now I'm getting a response in about a business day.

I will say, their customer service has been very good in that aspect. They 2day intentionally shipped parts to me to help solve some problems before my upcoming trip, but unfortunately my welder won't be able to squeeze me in before then so I'm going to have to get creative with a temporary solution to my hitch problem.

The fact their 2in receiver tube wasnt big enough was definitely a big issue to me, and their solution is a steel attachment piece that bolts into the aluminum "2in" tube, and through the bumper in the license plate area, and drops the 2in tube to below the bumper. It's a bandaid solution for a problem that shouldn't have existed, but not much I can really do.

 

Well, other than cut out the undersized tube and weld in a proper one.

 

Any of you guys with the steel bumper have a 37 inch tire on the swing out. Any long term issues with it over time. Please post some pics They're the only company I've found that state their swingout would accommodate a 37 tire. Thanks.

 

Correct, which would require a significant amount of labor from the welder I used, which I would be on the hook for. My rationale is I don't tow much of anything anyways, other than a small Offroad trailer a few times a year. I need to grind down one of my hitches for my upcoming trip and use it as is. I'm more concerned about the longevity of the Swingout and the bumper holding up so the reinforcements are priority at the moment.

If I could figure out an easy way to post a video to show you guys, I would.

 

It won't let me embed, but below should be a link:

https://youtube.com/shorts/YQ1EO1mGNN8?si=G8l7yrnOTBwVk0yF

 

Finally got around to having my bumper reinforced with the aluminum tubing Coastal sent me. The Swingout is much more secure now when opened.

 

I will say.. I originally ordered a Coastal with all the trimmings for my truck. After receiving it and looking at it and really thinking about what I wanted, what I would need to do to accommodate those things onto the Coastal, the labor cost for both to burn it together, plus make the custom adjustments I wanted.. it just wasn't worth it. I wasn't a fan of the hinge/pivot design, the lack of position locking, and the overall lack of details. I respect the concept.. but for me.. it just wasn't beef enough or practical enough.

I can only imagine an Aluminum version being worse.. especially mixed with a steel swing out. Those gussets/pivots need more beef... Maybe even machined from solid billet.