Serious Question - HC Rear Bumpers

Lol good buddy! Honest question. I’m am scraping the rear way more than the front. I see a lot of fronts but little rears.

My property is in the middle of nowhere. No street lights, dark dark dark. I’m fine on the stock fogs and headlights. I understand that some people need added lights for other things.

If I had picked a aftermarket front bumper and an army of lights for aesthetic purposes....I’d admit it....I’m just curious as to whether people are having issues with the stock front....or if it’s just a for looks thing.

 

As long as people pay money to install raptor lights on Tacomas, nothing surprises me.

 

I went with this: https://mobtownoffroad.com/product/...ate-bumper-with-single-swingout-tire-carrier/

With the jerry cans addition, S2 pro cut outs, and the back up sensor cut outs so that stayed intact. The only downside was that I lost the rear backup camera. Ended up moving it down to the license plate and holding it in place with a bracket screwed into the plate frame. Not the most elegant solution, but it works.

I actually didn't like how it looked with the spare tire & cans mounted for daily use. Made the vehicle too long and looked too 'overlandish' for driving around town. So I keep it off the majority of the time and only mount it when I need it. It's only one big ass bolt that holds it in.

 

TBH I’m not a fan of any of the aesthetics of most of the HC rears - nor having a swing out tire carrier, or losing a shitload of tech, But I’m 100% on board with the utility of them as well as added back up lights.

The kicker for me was last week my wife and I are heading to one of the local mesas to hike. We had a couple of recent “monsoons” and there was a deep diagonal cut in the trail from a flash flood. I cut it at as good an angle as I could and cleared the front no problem. Checked my underside front camera and I had room to spare on the approach.

As I slowly exited I had one of those long scrapey hits that convinced me I had finally done some real damage.

 

Jesus dude, that's a lot of lights!

I love the bolt face emblem on the bed too!

 

Fair enough. I'm learning along the way myself. I crunched up the stock skid plate one of the first times I took it out. Bought the TRD skid and ended up denting the crap out of it and deforming it. I can't access the oil filter now with the 5mm bolts. So now I'm going to an RCI metal skid. Expensive lessons.

I was also told to switch to real sliders instead of the step nerf bars. Only a matter of time before I catch one of those steps on a rock and really tear things up. There goes another $1000 for RCI sliders. It never freakin ends lol

 

I went full steel skids as well, as well as sliders and they’ve gotten a fair share of use.

 

Lol I know about the lights. Here's the thing. I started out with the baja designs lights in the bumper. They can only be pointed up so far and it was only lighting everything up right in front of the vehicle. I wanted things lit up further away since I do high speed runs at night. Considered a roof rack light but didn't like the glare off of the hood. The only option was a grill light. It might be overkill, but it friggin rocks at night.

That bolt face emblem was an idea that I got from somebody on this forum. Love this place!

 

Most shirts with some sort of slogan, phrase, or other nonsense written on them have this writing on the front and not the back. Same shit.

 

I can only speak for myself. I have the relentless fab stinger bumper, which is a low profile winch mount front. Chrome OEM rear bumper. I am soon upgrading to a BAMF hybrid front, and a Brute Force HC rear with swingouts.

I initially got the relentless low profile one to eventually mount a winch in, for aesthetics, and for a little extra protections. In that order of priority.

After doing some wheeling, I ordered the HC rear because I kept scraping and dragging my hitch and rear bumper on obstacles, and didn't want to damage my hitch plug or bumper anymore in a way that would be obviously noticeable at a glance. Also because I sized up in tires and can no longer mount under the bed, has a camp table for camping trips, extra bedside protection tubes, and space to mount gas/water cans. Also has removable swingouts as I don't see a need to drive around with them on all the time. Only camping or wheeling.

Then about 2 months ago I ordered the BAMF hybrid front, because i found some of the wheeling I did to be in tight spaces, which led my front bumper clip to getting a decent amount of scrapes on it. I didn't exactly NEED it, but I liked the price, the way it looked, and would rather scratch up something that can be easily touched up vs a painted plastic bumper that would take a lot of personal effort to repair well, or be very costly to repaint.

IMO I NEED the HC rear more than the full front bumper, but I definitely NEED some sort of winch bumper in the front since i just blew $550 on a smittybilt for my birthday last month.

best be careful lest you get hung up for Intellectual Property theft

 

You mean like this ..!!!

 

There you go...That's a really nice, clean, and low profile look. What kind of lights are those?

 

I do have a front monstrosity and currently waiting lots of weeks for a HC rear bumper. I installed the front first because I needed somewhere to put the winch. The winch has saved me a couple of times already and was why I went front first. I don't spend much time looking at the front of my truck so the ugliness is fine.

 

Some are ugly - but at least look like they offer strike protection.

Some aren’t too bad, but it looks like all they do is increase clearance.

 

I know the feeling I waited nine months for my rear bumper be done

 

Baja design.

 

maybe be pro active instead of reactive? especially since the sliders will protect the cab that your nerf bars are bolted to.

 

A: Don't wheel with your hitch. Wheeling 101.
B: RCI Make great armor. I have their skids sliders and rear bumper. All of them have saved my bacon.

It's simple, the rear naturally has a worse departure angle than the front approach angle due to the length of bed that overhangs the rear wheels. A high clearance bumper will do you wonders especially if you're constantly scraping in the back. There are plenty of companies that make high clearance bumpers or you do not have to buy a swing out carrier if you do not want to.

 

Sorry for being loose with my terminology... I kept scraping my "receiver", not the "hitch".

Removing the receiver prior to wheeling would be a huge PITA.

Love my RCI bumper. Already paid for itself, after a small fender bender in rush hour traffic. Fucked up the van's bumper... no damage to mine.