Off-Road Bumper Recommendations

Now that I don't have one, I have noticed that there are quite a few cars out there without them.

 

insurance left me enough to cover the full price of the arb with a few dollars left over... so arb it is! Would have went with a different one, but I can have the arb here next week for the shop to put on while they fix everything else damaged

Also, I just like the looks of the arb on my buddy's '13 model.
Also like the airbag approval of the arb

 

I need to get me some insurance money! Lol someone back into my front end for me.

 

Whenever I see someone coming up behind me a little fast, I sit there like the Joker saying "come on HIT ME"

 

I too like the arb bumper. Good choice OP!! Ive got one on each of my tacos. A big plus with the ARB is its ready to ship immediately! None of this 9 and a half months it took to get my relentless rear. I do really really like shrockworks bumper however! But damn spendy! Specially if ya get those damn lights they offer with the bumper, wholly shit! Same goes for the relentless, not as good looking but certainly nice, pretty damn spendy aswell! Back when i got both my arb's i definitely was drawn to the air bag approved crumple zones/brackets. Bout time to build up the runner the girlfriend and i got here not too long ago and without a doubt the shrockworks will be protecting the front of her! We were dragging our heels on the build so ALL of it could be purchased and done at the same time. Well wouldn't ya fucking know it, she smacked a fuckin lil blacktail doe....eerrrr!!! Thank goodness the lil gal ducked like they often do and it totally saved everything above the bumper! Lucky!! So all damage will be tossed when the new bumper comes in.

Long story short i like in order,
Shrockworks
ARB
Relentless
They're all friggin expensive lol...

Just to throw it out there as far as rear bumpers go i would only get that damn expensive relentless! Have it on my more built up taco, love that thing!! Hard to justify its cost though being a damn rear bumper but ya gotta ditch that terribly fugly stock chrome crap!

On her runner i believe we will get one of CBI's rears. Really like one of their's when on a runner! Cant remember which one exactly right now but one with a swing out and maybe some other goodies too.

 

I looked at ARB and loved the short order time, but ended up going with relentless front and rear plate bumpers. They showed up earlier than expected since he moved in to a new shop space.

The relentless rear bumper is awesome. I love it. It works great and has stopped quite a bit of damage in the woods on my truck.

 

Yeah their rear is so sweet! I wanna eventually get a second one for my other taco! I was amazed how damn extremely heavy duty mine was when it arrived. The one i got i opted for the hidden reciever behind the plate cause i didnt want anything hanging off the bottom of that work of art. But i was kinda amazed how well and how strong it was built to.accomodate the reciever! That damn thing could go on a big ole diesel truck and pull any stinkin thing without issue! Even though its not officially rated for any "class" i wouldnt think twice about it handling any load whatsoever! I opted for the one without the side protection dealios, mainly due to cost at the time but on the next go around I'll prolly get it with that feature. Only thing i somewhat didnt like about mine was the weight, super heavy, alot of damn steel there. Kinda like to keep things somewhat light for my offroad taco, its a lil reg cab with a 4 banger so its a super lite lil rig. But its a damn offroad plate bumper right, so cant be all chinsey like that pos stocker that was on there! With that said though the one with side protection must really be a heavy bugger! Worth it though! Everyone shoud have that rear bumper, atleast if all you want is a nice clean stream line one like that and not a swing out with other storage and such...

 

The hidden hitch is the way to go. I mounted my license plate on a hinge and put a strong magnet on the bottom of the license plate. It stays put, but can easily swing up and insert the hitch. The hitch lives in the bed on a rack that keeps it from bouncing around, or dragging low, or hitting peoples shins. The hidden receiver is SO high it definitely needs a drop hitch to really pull anything.

 

Yip!! I used a spring hinge for mine. I like your magnet setup though, good idea! As far as the receiver being up high, youre tellin me! Ive got that truck of mine settin pretty damn high, so paired with that it caused me to get one of those big ass adjustable drop hitches! Which was good anyway, I've used that hitch alot since ive purchased it. Quite convenient to be able to have some adjustment in a hitch. I swap that hitch all around on various rigs and never have to worry or deal with a trailer setting too high or low at the tounge. I need to rig up something like you though as far as something to secure that big ole bitch in the bed somewhere. As of now i still just toss it back there anywhere. I always have a bunch of miscellaneous stuff back there so all my crap keeps it from flopping all around and annoying the crap outta me. It stays in place but i still need something to corral it...

 

I mounted the hitch on a bracket bolted to the side of the bed. I HATE things flopping around in the bed. EVERYTHING gets mounted or tied down. This is the old hitch. A new more dropped hitch is in the works.

 

How'd you guys light your license plate up at night on your aftermarket bumper? I have a rear TG bumper and I bought their license plate holder w/ LED light that wires to your existing license plate light wires. But the license plate holder was so big that the way I have my license plate mounted, when I added the holder, every time I dropped my tail gate it would hit the top of the holder where the LED light sits. So I sent the holder back to TG. Ever since I got the bumper I've just had the license plate attached by 2 self tapping screws to the right of the hitch. With no light and haven't been bothered. But figured it's only a matter of time

 

The relentless has cutouts that utilize the stock plate lights...

 

The relentless bumper uses the stock license plate lights and lights the plate.

 

@Sicyota04

 

Ahh beat me.to it!! My pic sucked anyway!

 

Very nice! I have that bed rack and the plan is to mount my hi lift to that at some point but your hitch mount is sweet!!

Hard to.tell but how is the hitch secured to the mount?

 

Yeah, not gonna help me since I don't have that type of rear bumper. I am going to have to find another route or just keep running no license plate lights and get pulled over one of these days. I've hear of license plate frames that light up. Maybe one of those would work. Living in CA, you never can be too careful. I haven't had a front plate since I bought my front TG bumper either. Here is how I have my plate mounted in the rear.

 

The hitch is secured with a wing nut on a 1/2 inch bolt, bolt is welded to bracket that is mounted to bed inside. It uses the same wing nuts that secure the hi-lift jack.

 

Yeah that is a screwy design as far as mounting up some lighting is concerned. I see why the tailgate interfered!

Oh it shoulda helped you alright! Shoulda convinced you that a relentless rear is in your immediate future!


Lol...kidding!

 

The worst part is I had to pay return shipping to @trailgear.com. BS! I didn't even open the packaging. I mocked it up through the clear bag it came in. Stupid!