Group buy for 05+ Tacoma bumper w/ tire carrier?

[Schattenjager]

I have found a fellow in Colorado that does some pretty amazing metal work. He has my rear bumper and is drawing up a simple 3X8 square bumper with 90 degree "wings" that will follow the lines of the stock bumper. The tire carrier is going to be on the drivers side and will span half the length of the bumper. A Class III receiver is also incorporated into the bumper.

The goal is to make the spare more accessible and nixing the factory trailer hitch will increase departure angles, as well giving a great option for jacking / recovery via the bumper.

He is working on the final design. Any ideas for how to mount the tire carrier so as to keep the driver side tail lens visible and the tail gate functional would be appreciated. He is slow right now and said he could offer a good discount for an order of four or more.

Anyone interested in this notion? As details come together, I will update this thread.

 

[dodecagon2000]

i may be interested!!

 

[slooowr6]

subscribed

 

[soonenough]

I can't for the life of me understand why more vendors aren't offering rear bumpers for the 05+ Tacomas

I hit a deer about 8 months ago (which magically messed up the rear bumper and not the front). I looked all over trying to find an aftermarket replacement since the factory bumper is ridiculously overpriced, but I couldn't find anything that was offered and had been proven to work, fit well, etc. There was one guy from TTORA that was making some ~one-offs, but he'd only sold three IIRC and at least one of the guys that had bought from him complained of fitment problems, to which the vendor's answer was "his frame must be messed up" To his credit, he was very helpful over emails and answered all of my questions, but at $650 + $150 shipping, I just couldn't bring myself to buy something sight unseen that had a ~67% success rate.

There was also a local guy in Dallas that had done one or two batches of 10 bumpers that he sold through Toyota of Dallas (TRDParts4U.com), but the bumper was gonna be $1000 IIRC, and that was no shipping since I was picking it up For that much I could have an ARB front bumper shipped to me and still have some $$$ left over. And there's no way more engineering / design work goes into building a rear bumper than what goes into building an airbag-compliant front bumper that's designed to carry a winch. I guess ARB does have the significant advantage of ~mass production. [/rant]

 

[Streakerfreak]

I can't for the life of me understand why more vendors aren't offering rear bumpers for the 05+ Tacomas

I hit a deer about 8 months ago (which magically messed up the rear bumper and not the front). I looked all over trying to find an aftermarket replacement since the factory bumper is ridiculously overpriced, but I couldn't find anything that was offered and had been proven to work, fit well, etc. There was one guy from TTORA that was making some ~one-offs, but he'd only sold three IIRC and at least one of the guys that had bought from him complained of fitment problems, to which the vendor's answer was "his frame must be messed up" To his credit, he was very helpful over emails and answered all of my questions, but at $650 + $150 shipping, I just couldn't bring myself to buy something sight unseen that had a ~67% success rate.

There was also a local guy in Dallas that had done one or two batches of 10 bumpers that he sold through Toyota of Dallas (TRDParts4U.com), but the bumper was gonna be $1000, and that was no shipping since I was picking it up For that much I could have an ARB front bumper shipped to me and still have some $$$ left over. And there's no way more enginering / design work goes into building a rear bumper than what goes into building an airbag-compliant front bumper that designed to carry a winch. I guess ARB does have the significant advantage of ~mass production.

CBI off road does. He is on TTORA. TacoDoc and I both have them and love it. Some of the vendors have not updated their websites(CBI), but with an email or phone call you will have a bumper being built for you.

 

[soonenough]

CBI off road does. He is on TTORA. TacoDoc and I both have them and love it. Some of the vendors have not updated their websites(CBI), but with an email or phone call you will have a bumper being built for you.

Is that a semi-custom bumper that requires you to leave your truck at their shop, or an existing bumper that has been templated (is that a word?) and is ready to build?

 

[Streakerfreak]

Is that a semi-custom bumper that requires you to leave your truck at their shop, or an existing bumper that has been templated (is that a word?) and is ready to build?

Nope, no need to leave truck. He is in Idaho and I was in Oregon at the time. Mine was the first so it is unique and took longer since he had to find a truck to start with. He now can make them pretty quick unless you want the design changed. Check out my build thread in my sig.

To see the evolved bumper check out TacoDocs build. http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=521

Schattenjager, I look forward to seeing your new bumper. Please post up when you get it.

 

[daverami]

Interested too!

 

[soonenough]

Nope, no need to leave truck. He is in Idaho and I was in Oregon at the time. Mine was the first so it is unique and took longer since he had to find a truck to start with. He now can make them pretty quick unless you want the design changed. Check out my build thread in my sig.

Wish I would've known that!

Ok, back to regularly scheduled programming...sorry for the off topic

 

[daverami]

CBI off road does. He is on TTORA. TacoDoc and I both have them and love it. Some of the vendors have not updated their websites(CBI), but with an email or phone call you will have a bumper being built for you.

Sorry to get off thread here a little but I have a question for you Phil.

I've talked to Steve and he sent me some pictures of what they do. Great looking bumpers. You added the bumper after you already had your Alcans on. Did you have to add any more carrying capacity to them? There's a lot of weight hanging on the back end of the truck now. Just curious. I just put my Alcans back on after bumping up the load capacity a little and if I go for a new bumper, especially one with the tire carrier, I would be bummed to have to send the springs back in for additional load capacity, but if that is what it takes...

Steve said the bumper shipped was 120 lbs.

 

[Streakerfreak]

How did you find this guy Schattenjager? Does he have a website?

 

[Schattenjager]

No website that I know of - I am going back on Wednesday so I will ask. It is a three generation shop - the grandson was finishing a potbellied woodburner that looked just incredible. A Land Rover shop in Evergreen, CO made the recommendation, other than seeing what he did for them and the look of his shop, I have no connection.

This is by no means a done deal. He has my bumper for measurements etc. but I have not pulled the trigger with a "go ahead" until final pricing comes in. I will snap a few pics of what he has done and post them here Wednesday PM or Thursday. I will ask him if it is alright to post his # here. I am sure he wouldn't mind, but I will ask out of courtesy.

 

[Lichen]

What about us pre-'05 tacos?

 

[Streakerfreak]

Sorry to get off thread here a little but I have a question for you Phil.

I've talked to Steve and he sent me some pictures of what they do. Great looking bumpers. You added the bumper after you already had your Alcans on. Did you have to add any more carrying capacity to them? There's a lot of weight hanging on the back end of the truck now. Just curious. I just put my Alcans back on after bumping up the load capacity a little and if I go for a new bumper, especially one with the tire carrier, I would be bummed to have to send the springs back in for additional load capacity, but if that is what it takes...

Steve said the bumper shipped was 120 lbs.

PM sent.

 

[buldyourown]

You mentioned looking for design ideas for retaining use of the tailgate and not obscuring the tail light...

I'm building a swing-out right now for my van. It's not for a spare, but rather for other gear and 2 gas cans. I never liked the popular method of using a welded on pin to support the entire weight of the swing-out. My van has the same issues as a truck in that anything on top of the bumper interferes with the hatch.
My design uses a large welded clevis that bolts to the vertical surface of the bumper. The swing-out has some bronze bushings and a huge clevis pin. Pulling the pin means everything can be left in the garage when not needed.
I'll post some screenshots of it tomorrow.