Metaltech4x4's Blackbird stage 1 front bumper for 3rd gen Tacoma in depth review

Well, after doing some deep research on which fab company to buy my bumper from I always came back to MT. They are cool people, always had good customer service, and they are somewhat local, nice tax break if you are willing to drive the 120 miles. With that said. the main reason why I went with this, is because it is a 100% no drill, no cut bumper, all bolt on. they are pretty keen on that for most of their products like the rock sliders and rear bumper I bought from them as well. The only thing that had to be drilled was the inner wheel well plastic. and a little from the outer plastic fairing. The bumper is 100lbs heavier than stock.
Now. Pulling off my old bumper was easy. many endless plastic tabs and clips, for me It was easy since I had a body armor hi-line that had be installed and trimmed accordingly.
Once the bumper was off in the kit came two large 1/4 plates, they mounted to the frame using 2 each side grade 9 1/2 bolts. They even provide a wrench for it. reaching back with this 2 foot wrench was a major pain in the ass I.E lighting. these plates mount to the "winch"plate" as it is labeled in the 2 page directional PDF they provide online. Once those were loosely tightened, I placed the winch/plate support over the existing bumper support bolts, washes and nuts on loosely for adjustment. Lastly, metaltech provides these weird "fins" one is drilled 1/2, and that's it. The directions were very vague at this point. The bumper did not fit right. it sagged down , would not mount up flush. I was a bit frustrated due to the vague install instructions.



So it was getting late and decided to call it for the night, the bumper seemed really off, sagged to one side. Also, you can run this bumper with or without the bar, it is held on by three nuts and bolts each side. there is an additional plate you can get to cover it if you choose not to run the bar. Over the next morning I attempted to research as much as I could about this bumper, NO install guides, no videos and I could only find one member on this forum who had one, but is no longer active.
I decided to pick @WrecklessAbandon 's brain, he invited me over to his place and we went to work. We disassembled the bumper and could not figure out what these fins were made for. we figured out that without them, you were able to slide the bumper right in place, for full forward and aft adjustability or for personal preference as needed. This time the bumper went right up. as it should have been with no gaps, no rubbing.
Now here are two MAJOR issues that came up
1. I have a BD onx6 20 inch bar I ran in my hi line no problem. I asked metal tech if a 20 inch would fit, they said yes, most likely but we cannot guarantee anything, sure. The lightbar would not fit. For some odd reason they sell lightbars made by OP off-road, a company now out of business to my knowledge. I later found out, (the hard way) that this bumper was fabricated/cut for this specific type of lightbar. same goes for the LED fog light cutouts. @WrecklessAbandon quickly made up a simple bracket made from aluminum stock.

take picture online hd
We made a little cutting drilling, and used the BD mounting bracket as template. BOOM, worked like a charm.
second frustration
the cutouts for the led foglights dimensions were weird. Once again , I think they were made to be specific to OP-off-roads fog lights which is included in the blackbird stage 2 and 3 bumpers as well. I used a diode dynamics flush mount cutting template and sized it up against the cutouts. I also removed a ss2 spot light I had and sized it up, it was too round and fat to fit in the hole. The dimensions that MT gave me direct were 3.5"x3.0" hole with mounting bolt spacing of 4 1/16th" x 1 1/4" so without having to cutt/grind away at the new bumper I figured I would try BD squadrons and see if they would work as well. I sized up some squadrons, and they seem to fit fine For a flush mount, I would just have to drill the 4 holes to mount them into the cutouts. I ordered some today and should be here next week.
In the end:



take picture online hd
overall, there were some minor setbacks with the install. I still think it is frustrating that they dont directly disclose a specific brand or type of mount that would work. most other fab companies are universal , and if they are not they always disclose that. I was frustrated that my 20 inch BD bar could not fit there it was intended to go as well as my fog lights.
The bottom line
I know that every company Is not perfect, MT has always been a great, pleasant experience every time I have went there . I will be reaching out to them to see if they have a solution for this or if they would be willing to discount the bumper due to the fact that I may have to alter its original precut outs to work with modern brands like DD,BD, extreme led, rigid and so forth.


take picture online hd
for a no cut bumper and not destroying your OEM bumper, it is a great option, IMO, the best, Metal tech is very keen on being that bolt on type company. They are made in newberg , or, and They do support military and veterans, (to me that is important). Could there be some room for transparency and improvement sure. I love the bumper, looks great, I also forgot to mention they give you some HIGH quality rubber edge trim, works great. I encourage, and recommend anyone who is in the market for a front bumper, no cutting, bolt on, go with MT.

 

You did need to cut the fender pieces though, right?

 

Yes, that was cut out with a small dremel. I think it was a total of 6 inches from each side. but as far as factory bumper, there is no touching it. comes right off, one could store it or just sell it.

 

What’s the differences between the stages? I can’t seem to find what they changed on a stage 1 blackbird vs a stage 3? Does it interfere with any of the sensors on the front?

 

Stage 2 comes with fog lights. Stage 3 cones with fogs and light bar

 

I did order one - I think they're waiting on the winch to come in. I'll let y'all know how the install goes.

 

If you need help. Reach out. I love MT but the 2 page PDF has never been updated since the release of this bumper. Confusing at times. The install guide is

 

Will do. Looks like with just removing the grill you can go in and do stuff light bar wise, right? Don't need to pull the bumper again? What's the clearance of the light bar pocket, height-wise?

 

UPDATE and 500 miles later report

Driving 500 plus miles on the bumper now and have noticed some serious issues. Th grade 8 bolts ( 2each a side) that hold the bumper to the winch plate/bumper mount to the frame have worked their way loose. it has caused the bumper to lean/sag forward causing rubbing issues on my grill and both front headlights. I removed the rubber trim to make more room so see if that would help. NO. I am overall kinda agro with this bumper since metaltechs feedback and questions I have asked I never get any real solutions. Additionally, I was having some issues with fitting any foglights into the cutouts. I emailed them back and forth and they said they couldn't guarantee that any other brands would work but only their " off post offroad" fog light/pods. This company is now out of business from what i could find. I assume they are just rebranded low quality stuff such as Caliraised, or aux beam so forth. I knew that I had issues with the rear metaltechbumper fitting DD flush backup lights. So I measured the cut outs and even test fit a BD squad sport. I ordered a pair of yellow flush mounts from @memario1214 , once I got them they did not fit flush. I was even more agro. Not so much at the fitmet, but metaltech4x4 does not disclose whether or not brands like BD, DD, and other brands will fit in their products. Now knowing all this, I would have rather bought something elsewhere. But for a direct bolt on bumper, the options are limited out there. I may decide to sell this and buy something else.
I had to "ghetto fab" some brackets out of alum stock to make these BD fog lights work properly.
The third frustration I have is https://www.metaltech4x4.com/metal-tech-4x4-tacoma-blackbird-front-bumper-grill-insert/
I had removed my BD 20 inch Onx6 and bought this to go in place of the 30 inch lightbar . Just for ascetic purposes. Removed everything grill, lightbar. and attempted to install this insert. Well, the dimensions were too long, looks like a blem, or a Qc/PC issue. I emailed MT and waiting a reply.

if anyone knows who makes this lightbar let me know I have been searching for a while trying to see if its even worth it.
https://www.metaltech4x4.com/opor-90w-30-led-single-row-spot-flood-combo-light-bar-w-harness/
this is the 30 inch lightbar that fits in this bumper.

forgot to mention, there are some surface rust I have noticed , it looks like when some of the joining pieces were welded, they did not remove some of the slag, and just powder coated right over it.

 

Initial fit-up done, wife helped me out in getting it in all the holes.. (Happy VD to y'all)

 

Um.. you didn't drill out the third hole?

Yeah not impressed with their lights either - their 'plug and play' harness ... isn't. I think I'm just going to go do a fitup of some rigids and 3d print an adapter plate of the appropriate dimensions.

 

I'll write up some more install notes later .. bear with me here.

 

What third hole? I ditched the bumper. Sold it and bought a CBI instead. Much happier.

 

You were complaining that your bumper slipped after a few months off the winch mount.



So, after installing the winch platform, get the bumper in position, put in 4 bolts

(aka, step 4)

mark the holes for 2 extra bolts (3rd hole), which are there to keep it from sliding around like your bumper did ... remove the bumper, drill, put 3 bolts per side. (aka step 7)

Yeah, their instructions are pretty eh.

but with 3 holes, they'd likely not be slipping forward either (since the other 2 holes are meant to slide about a bit).

 

The directions were shit. Those small fins I thought went between the winch plate and bumper. The customer service wasn't that great and they still couldn't help. Not to mention the led grill insert didn't fit right because of a qc issue and they refused to own up to it. The bumper rubbed several parts of my grill paint bare. I had enough, said fuck it sold it. And got a cbi . I am much happier with it.i will NEVER buy shit from MT again.

 

I'm still trying to figure out what you meant by 'small fins'.

 

They look like fins. They are two 1/4 tiny plates. Has a hole in each plate. Your kit should have came with two

 

Oh the spacers that go between the winch mount and the frame supports?

 

yes.

 

Okay done and mounted up.

So.. to add to the OP's info

The bumper is attached to the winch mount by 3 bolts per side (6 total).



This is the winch mount side. Two bolts go through the long slot, and a third bolt goes through a hole your mark and drill out.




This is the bumper side. Note the two longer holes.



This is the 'shim' plate that goes between the bumper and the winch mount. Note I've scratched out the outline of the vertical hole and the two horizontal holes. (I messed up this one and went back and redrilled and fixed it).

Basically, you adjust the bumper as needed and then mark and drill a hole in the winch mount. At the same time, you also need to drill out holes in that shim plate. The holes you drill will keep the bumper aligned. Without the shims and the third hole, the bumper is held by bolt tension only and will, as the OP noted, will lean forward and sag once those bolts rattle a little bit.

Yeah.. this was only vaguely noted in the instructions.



Anyway, install finished! Good holiday project.