CBI Offroad, meh at best

With the '12 Taco being my daily driver, and 'overlander', I want to keep it as stock as possible while it's under warranty and payments are still being made. This lead me to pick up a front receiver hitch so I could run my multi-mount winch. I saw two choices, 4xinnovations and CBI Offroad. Both hitches were within $20 of each other, but CBI came powder coated, so CBI got my money.

The box arrived and I found that the receiver had been packed poorly, and it punched through the cardboard at both ends and at the receiver tube.







They used a few folds of foam to immobilize a 58lb steel object in a cardboard box.



The powder coating was worn off, negating the reason for going with CBI over 4xinnovations. I sent an email to CBI describing what I found when opening the box, and asking them to contact their powder coater to find out what spray paint was best mated to their coating to prevent long-term corrosion protection for the wore-through areas (yes the type of paint matters).

I received an email back the next day from an unknown source, as they didn't 'sign' the email. They immediately blamed the shipper (FedEx) and suggested I contact FedEx to file a claim to "pay for recoating the part." No acceptance for responsibility, no care for the customer, and no information from the powder coater regarding the type of paint to use.... just them passing the buck. I responded in kind.

The following day I received an apologetic from the owner of CBI explaining that the packing process was revised. Whether it has or not is to be seen by other customers, but I hope it has. I thought all was good... then I started to install.

 

CBI has some amazing installation instructions on their website..

Having just north of average mechanical ability, I decided to go at it blind. There are a few how-to's out there, but most link to other how-to's for each step of the process... which seemed easy enough. Remove bumper, remove crash beam and crush cans, and bolt on receiver... right?

Grill, bumper, bumper beams, and crush cans, came off in about 10min. Hauled the part over to the truck and noticed that the lower frame was a bit too wide for the receiver to mount. Discovered the little extendo-frame blocks, now the receiver could slide onto the studs.

This is where I started to run into issues. The outboard four studs didn't line up with the holes in the receiver, causing the lower flange to be out of alignment with the bottom of the chassis.








The holes required about 1/8" of dremel work to open the holes up to get the bottom flange to fit flush.



I hosed the area with some primer to keep things wet and soft, so I could see the engagement of the nut when torqued into place. As you can see, more than half of the nut's face now doesn't contact any material. I was not comfortable with this engagement, so I started brain storming over a beer.

My solution was to hack the flanges off the crash cans to use as a washer plate. This would distribute the load and allow me to actually winch off the receiver.



Once I started to bolt the receiver in place, I found that one of the flanges had been bent in the shipping incident, or warped during welding.



Either way, 30sec with Old Blue (4lb sledge), the bend was corrected.



Receiver was removed, cleaned up, painted nicely, and reinstalled.

 

Now there is the matter of the hinged license plate bracket. From the looks of the alignment of the holes, it will require the hinge to be mounted under the opening where the receiver pokes through. Since my truck had a plate mounted from the dealer, this would leave two unsightly holes in the bumper face. This left an option of having the hinge mounted to the face, but more than half would be exposed, again an unsightly addition to my silver bumper.

To hide a majority of the hinge I would need the hinge to be folded on itself, but this left the mounting bolts/screws impacting each other preventing the hinge from folding flat.



I punched two extra holes outboard of the provided and marked and installed the bolts to clear each other.



the plate bolts slip into the stock holes, which holds the plate flat on the bumper and looks fairly stock.. with only a wee bit of the hinge showing.

 

You took that hit better than I would. I would have sent it back. Now that it's modded you own any future problems which might arise.

Good luck.

 

With all being said, the CBI receiver is a sturdy part, but FAR from flaw. With my past experiences with 4xinnovation's products, I wish I would have gone with their part in the first place. Shame on me, and lesson learned.

I will be hesitant of ordering another part from CBI.

This part was needed on the truck by the end of this week, and with their established lack of customer service, I wasn't willing to argue nor eat any shipping.

Honestly I can deal with any future issues. I have everything needed to fab the receiver, and much more, in the shop. At $300 it's not worth my time to do it myself. So, I can handle any issues that may arise later, and if CBI is unwilling to work with any warranty or other issues, it would only solidify my thoughts regarding their lack of customer care after the sale is finalized.

 

I would have to agree with this poster. I've spent 4 grand with this company and can't seem to get instructions, or much help after the fact...Improperly installed armor is not safe, nor is it any sort of upgrade over correctly installed stock parts.

 

No customer complaint should be handled through email unless that's the only method of contact.

If you have a problem, call them on the phone!

 

Email isn't reliable.

Talk to a human.

 

Lack of proper communication falls on both ends, then.

Good luck.

 

I kind of agree that an email is a perfectly adequate means of communication. It also gives you a paper trail in case you need to bring up something that was said. Phone call proof turns in to he said she said or "I never said that". While its easy to get a quick answer over a phone call, some people will just tell you what you want to hear, whereas if they do that via email and then fail to comply, you've got solid proof of it.

 

Email provides evidence when filing a claim or arguing with a company. This is not the best advice. Always email or pm. Call as a last resort unless you get permission to record the call.

Anybody can say a ton of shit over the phone then turn around and say they never said it. No proof.

 

I just said that. Jeez.

 

I agree that a human call is necessary sometimes, especial when quick action is required. I think you should expect a response within 48 hrs (not including weekends) from any company. Email allows you to get the response "in writing" so that no confusion about what is promised or agreed upon can occur later. It also gives a company a chance to investigate before responding. If email fails, a call is required.

OP, you handled this situation well.

I have bought somethings from CBI, no issues and no need to reach out to CS.

 

Didn't show up til I refreshed the page

 

Great minds think alike....

 

A phone call with a verbal request to reply to an email still accomplishes the key things, and that's some kind of contact with CBI and a continued history of written communication, and at a faster rate than no replies in 2 weeks.

 

And then when you get no email and call back and they say they have no record of you calling before or asking for an email? Come on now.

OP, bottom line here is that you ordered a custom part from a small fabrication company, you didnt pursue any claims through Fedex and there was no implied warranty AFAIK. Then when the part was obviously poorly constructed (shit wasnt lining up) you modified it to fit instead of returning it.
I get that this is more of a review than a request for restitution, but yeah, hopefully someone else learns from this before buying from them.

Still surprised @CBI Offroad Fab hasn't jumped in yet to say anything

 

They actually just e mailed me offering me a slight refund.

 

Literally minutes ago.