All-Pro out of the doghouse yet?

Okay. Maybe this is a dumb question. There are lots of threads detailing how All-Pro did a lot of stupid things a couple years back. But there's not much new info out there, and people (and businesses) can change. So: Has anyone dealt with All-Pro recently? How was the experience? How was the product?

I'd rather deal with a smaller company with a better reputation, but the bumpers I'm looking for have some specific features I'm not finding anywhere else. That said, I don't want to buy something and have to start my own nightmare thread later. And I don't want to buy something that looks like it will work well, only to find that the quality is garbage. So let's hear the latest on these guys.

 

If I recall correctly, they were sold to an equally shitty company (if not worse) who is carrying on the brand name and designs under their new ownership.

YMMV

 

I can only say that a friend ordered sliders a couple of months ago, and they came in a reasonable time. Quality was excellent. I agree that YMMV. It takes a long time and a lot of work to get a bad stink off.

 

I believe Trail Gear bought All-Pro and Low Range sometime in 2018.
They still sell the All-Pro brand.

 

I thought the new purchaser had a good reputation, but I can't remember who it was.

Anyway, I have their IFS skid and am hoping that they do the transmission skid for BF. I've seen the rear bumper first hand. I think you will be fine. I've had good experiences with them.

 

Yep, I was aware of the Trail Gear buyout - I don't know anything about them as a company either. But I figured something must be different since All-Pro was purchased - just didn't know if it was a positive or negative difference. Keep the replies coming, would like to hear more about recent experiences!

 

Correct, Trail Gear purchased All Pro, closed All Pro’s shop and consolidated them at Trail Gears location. I think the poor service issues were primarily while All Pro was working on the selling the company. I haven’t seen complaints yet for All Pro under the Trail Gear ownership but it isn’t the small business it used to be.

 

Yea. I think the issues were from not getting product otd because of the move back from Cali to Montana. I don't think there was ever an issue with their products.

Edit: with that being said, All-Pro has always been lower tier products.

 

So I am just an All-Pro fan boi here,

I bought my full set of skids and sliders before they stumbled and lost all respect here on TW a few years ago

Not 1 problem with my stuff, top quality.

Recently (this summer) I purchased and installed some extended rear brake lines. No problem there either.


They sent me extra stickers cuz I asked in the memo part of the online purchase.

 

I know people who trashed them. There are plenty of folks who had QC issues early on, and AP didn't stand behind their work. That said, the folks with issues were people who tend to be harder on their rigs. Part of that came from AP using a lower grade steel for their stuff.

For instance, former banned TW member "Silverback" had AP skids and absolutely trashed them on the trail. They just didn't hold up to the abuse. He switched to BudBuilt and they have held up much better. That said, BudBuilt is considerably more expensive and uses only American made steel.

For weekend warrior use of your daily driver, you'll be just fine with AllPro. If you go rock crawling every day and winch up everything, you might want to keep saving up.

 

I simply want lightweight aluminum bumpers. My truck is a camper build so I have to pay close attention to GVWR. My biggest reason for getting a front bumper is animal collision protection - I'm often traveling on remote roads and would hate to lose a radiator or even a headlight 100 miles from nowhere. I'm not winching, not crawling - just high country 4x4 passes and remote desert roads. I'd also like to keep stupid little collisions (say, someone backs into me in a parking lot somewhere) from causing a ridiculous amount of damage.

There aren't many aluminum front bumpers I've seen with a full hoop option. Hence, I was looking at the Apex bumper. And there aren't many aluminum rear bumpers that just replace the stock one without requiring cutting of the bedsides.

If anyone has any other suggestions for bumpers that meet those qualifications, I'm all ears. I've been looking around everywhere!

 

You should be fine then.

If animal collision is a major concern, you need to be looking at steel bumpers. The only two I would consider for that purpose would be the ARB or Demello. Both are internally reinforced and I know that ARB specifically tests their bumper against animal impact with simulated kangaroo tests. I can't speak to any other brands.

If the concern isn't a major one, then you should be fine with the aluminum. That would certainly be better than stock for such an impact.

 

Can't do steel, unfortunately, from the weight perspective. That said, animal strikes are the #1 concern for sure. Haven't hit a deer in a long, long time - but I've had very close calls with deer, elk, and bear in the last couple years. Yes, I know not much will help me if I hit an elk.

I really like the look/apparent build and design quality of Demello's stuff. He doesn't appear to offer aluminum with full hoops though, unfortunately.

 

Hey @demello

Can you do a 2012-2015 aluminum tacoma bumper with full hoops?

 

I know the URL shows 95-02, but the title on the page shows 05-15: https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/toyota-moab-2-0-bumper-1995-2002/

or CBI's other option: https://cbioffroadfab.com/product/toyota-dakar-rally-bumper-2005-2015/

SOS also has an aluminum option with full hoops: http://sosoffroadconcepts.com/12-15-tacoma-front-winch-bumper/



A thread dedicated to aluminum bumpers if you want to see other member's pics: https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/aluminum-bumper-options-for-2nd-gen.537743/

Again, for animal impact concerns, I'd go with the Demello with even just the center hoop if full hoop is not an option. Because reinforcement.

 

I have an APEX front bumper and skids from All Pro. Both serve me well. Ive beat up my skids pretty good but they are doing the job. Id look into 4xinnovations they are reasonably priced and look better constructed.

 

The owner was really sick and spouse (co owner) had a lot of trouble keeping up with providing proper healthcare and running the company as one person.

They then pushed for the sale of the company since the owner was getting worse healthwise.

Hopefully they are in a better situation.

 

They got sold to Trail Gear and they did not handle the transition well, which pissed a lot of people off and got them removed from the vendor list on here.

I don't know why anyone would say Trail Gear is a shitty company, they've been around forever with a good reputation. Several things I've ordered from there went smoothly.

From what I understand now, anything you order off AP's website comes from Trail Gear and there aren't any more issues like what they were having during the transition.

 

BAMF hybrid steel/aluminum maybe?

 

We sure do, we just need to update our website with the pics. Sorry I've been trying to update that. BUT we do make them. We currently have the new light bar 2005-2011 steel versions in stock and aluminums coming in soon.