CBI vs. ARB bumpers

A vacation is always a good thing. You guys got me leaning towards the cbi now.

 

Heres the truck it will be on.

 

Trust me a lift is in the works either way...

 

That’s quite the fit in the garage! Nice!

 

Yeah you pretty much have to.

 

Oh ok, I remember you had some issues with the slider install a couple of us helped out on. Trucks looking good

 

Appreciate it. Yes you did

 

CBI for sure, IMHO

 

Agreed. ARB seems like it would be getting in the way a lot on a tight trail IMO.

 

I got the CBI T3 with Low hoop and love it.... however I do like the way the ARB bumper, Sliders and fender protection look all together... its sharp. I think I'm going to do some custom fabrication to tie my T3 bumper into my C4 Fab sliders...similar to how the ARB is setup.

 

The ARB bumper looks great from the front but it looks absurd and enormous from the side. Add a swingout rear bumper and you're longer than a DCLB. Start with a DCLB and you're longer than a semi.
On the other hand, the ARB for 2nd gen tacomas looks great, so much more proportional. Not sure why they went so big for the 3rd gens.

 

Thanks for the info.

 

The crumple zones for increased safety.

 

I believe what ARB says is their bumper doesn't change the airbag timing. As you mention the airbags will trigger with enough force regardless what bumper you use. But Toyota assumed the factory bumper, sheet metal and frame would absorb energy and deform a certain way so the airbag would trigger at the right moment in an accident.

You don't want the airbag to inflate too soon, before you have started to accelerate towards the dash, and you don't want it to inflate too late after you've already impaled yourself on the steering wheel. ARB just says in a head-on at whatever speed that the moment when the airbag goes off will be the same as stock.

Most other bumpers just aren't designed or tested to know what's gonna happen. An ARB would therefore collapse such that the airbag timing remains the same all the energy ruins it and protects the truck itself from as much damage as would happen with a stock bumper.

 

I've had both:




The CBI is lighter, lower profile(better approach angle), much easier to install, can use factory
fog lights, can be ordered in steel or aluminum, and ordered in custom configuration.. Looks
are personal preference(I prefer the CBI), but both are nice looking bumpers.

 

Your absolutely right . I still would rather not have a winch bumper mounted on a aluminum pedestal. Bumping anything offroad would alter the adjustment of the bumper and I dont quite trust it for heavy witching or odd angle pulls . Dont get me wrong I love arb and there products but not this particular one .

 

I'm not familiar with 3rd gen ARB bumper construction so I'll defer to you on that. My 2nd gen is plenty solid for pulls, all steel in the subframe and bumper both and didn't retain the aluminum crash bar. I'm not concerned with off angle pulls, really any pulls to be honest. I worry that the frame will distort first and the way ARB did it seems to bracket and reinforce the end of the frame pretty well.

I do know the 1st gen with the crush sleeves weren't super stout for winching. And not having a simple structure between the frame and bumper means they don't have recovery options and it's not straightforward to modify them for safe (IMO) points either. So I'm certainly not arguing that an ARB is the ideal bumper in all ways.

For me the bumper is about protecting me and the truck as much as providing a place to hang the winch, so it meets my goals. It's good to have choices as long as people understand what the ramifications are. CBI bumpers are solid and for winching and rock crawling no question better. I do certainly think a bumper that fits closer looks better. But I've been in an accident where an airbag broke my nose (we were only moving maybe 40 when we hit, not 65+ when it became clear it was going to happen). They f'n hurt when they work right so I wouldn't want to find out what happens when they work wrong.

 

Went with ARB. In addition to its SRS compliance (a huge selling point for me), it's got other features I like. Antenna mount point. Hi-lift mount point. And later I plan to add those fender bars and weld them to my sliders.

I'm an engineer, so I'll always pick function over form. Looks matter, sure. The ARB looks damn good to me. I see older Gen 4Runners and Land Cruisers with the ARB and they still look great.

Personally, I like the beastly look of the Fab Fours bumpers on the taco.

Now I just need to install the damn thing!

 

Thanks lots of good info.

 

@Frankenstuff This picture/angle literally just sold me on the CBI. There are not a lot of good quality pictures online incuding CBI website. Some hoops sit too high on other bumpers, or the ones that sit lower have ugly ass bottom section of the bumper. This is exactly what I was looking for, I live in the PNW and deer,elk,moose everywhere so full hoops are kind important. I love the ARB but i have a DCLB aka Trail Limo so I dont need to add an extra foot to the lenght lol
[/QUOTE]