Aluminess Bumper - Company and Product Review

I am a 2012 DCLB. After doing several hours of research on bumpers I finally decided upon the Aluminess Bumper. It is made of Aluminum and can house a fairly large winch inside under a locked hatch.

My off road use is mostly existing trails for hunting and camping. I personally did not want the weight of a full steel bumper when I did not need that level of protection.

The bumper: It is very well constructed and extreamly sturdy. It has great welds and support. The whole bumper only weighs in around 70lbs. It is defiantly built to handle winching and could certainly take a hit. The fit and finish are excellent. It is also designed to all the truck to flex with out causing damage to the trim around the fender well. The bumper hangs slightly outside of the tuck and then there are finishing pieces that go under the fender flares. This gives a professional look but allows the truck to flex without it digging into the fender flares. They also ship the bumper bolted down to a pallet and well wrapped to insure a perfect product arrives. Because of this it also has to be shipped via a semi truck.

Aluminess the Company: I first want to say this company has been outstanding to work with!!! This bumper took almost 6 months to get right. I was the first 2012DCLB bumper they did. They had done several 2012 Access Cabs and did not have any issues. Toyota slightly changed the front end for the DCLB. When the bumper arrived it fit on the truck but had a larger gap between the bumper and grill/head lights. It did not have as good of a fit the truck like others had. I spoke with them about it and instead of blowing me off they starting doing research. Turns out the DCLB does need to have bolt pattern moved just a little. They went out and found a 2012DCLB brought it in the shop and re-engineered the bumper to properly fit.

My bumper also has some costume changes I wanted to make particularly to the grill area and for a front hitch. They worked with me from the beginning and made the custom changes I wanted.

This is important because not only would they do it but now they had a custom bumper to correct. After they made the changes for going on a DCLB they then completely made a new costume bumper, pushed it through production, and shipped it out to me all on their expense.

Any time you are doing after market custom work there are going to be hick ups. It is how a company reacts to these that is important. They could have very easily just said that is how it is supposed to fit and walk away. Instead they owned the problem and immediately went into action to correct it. Kept great communication with me and always made me feel like my bumper was the most important instead of just being a pain in the Ass I know it was.

Overall Great Product, Great Company, I would highly recommend!

 

That thing looks huge.

 

It certainly is not small but it surprisingly is not as bad as the picture looks. The tuck still fits in a standard garage just fine and the compartment for the winch has plenty of room with the controls mounted right on top. But it may certainly not be everyone's cup of tea.

 

Looks like it's was made for a full size. Approach angles are hardly any better than stock.

 

whered you get it, and price?

 

I don't like the look of the bumper, but that's just personal opinion. Aluminess appears to have added a lot more depth over the the '05-'11 bumper:

 

Do you mean a larger gap in the vertical direction (i.e. bumper too low) or in the fore-aft-direction (i.e. bumper too far forward)?

 

Vertical. Sat just under an inch to low.

 

I got it direct from Aluminess. When you factor in shipping and the extra custom work I had them do it was a little over $1k. There are some cheaper AL and steel options on the market. I personally liked the design, their willingness to customize, weight savings, and quality of construction.

Unfortunately I don't think my pics really show the same overall look as in person.

 

Your stock bumper must be pretty high up then. There is nothing I have found at the mall yet I can't crawl over.

 

The changes you're describing are not exclusive to only the 2012+ DCLB. All the new 2012's, and up, will have the same problem when trying to fit an 05-11 front bumper. It's different! Have you seen how ARB addresses the gap?

 

Fugly. Sorry.

.02

 

Looks like a snow plow.

 

Old thread, but I like it. Looks mean.

 

I have a 2014 with stock foglights. It looks like if I got this bumper I'd have to buy some new foglights.

What fits in this bumper?