Trail gear vs All Pro front/rear bumpers and sliders.
- Thread starter cr500taco
- Start date
Dwill817
Toyota Fanatic!
Trade my 1st gen for your Land Cruiser! 
I put new rims and tires on this past Thursday. Gears, lockers, armor, lift, and winch will be on hopefully by August. then it's a full motor rebuild(maybe swap) this winter and I'll be taking the Trans-American out to Moab next summer for you to show me around. We can talk about a trade/price/plane ticket home then. Lol
On topic: I'll be going with Trail-Gear sliders for my truck mainly because of the price standpoint. But I am a huge fan of All-Pros Apex bumpers if I still had a Tacoma I would own one. I'll be going with neither for a bumper. Davez Off-road all the way!!
I put new rims and tires on this past Thursday. Gears, lockers, armor, lift, and winch will be on hopefully by August.
then it's a full motor rebuild(maybe swap) this winter and I'll be taking the Trans-American out to Moab next summer for you to show me around. We can talk about a trade/price/plane ticket home then. LolOn topic: I'll be going with Trail-Gear sliders for my truck mainly because of the price standpoint. But I am a huge fan of All-Pros Apex bumpers if I still had a Tacoma I would own one. I'll be going with neither for a bumper. Davez Off-road all the way!!
Costman13
Adventurer
Nobody yell at me.
I have the Allpro Apex front bumper and TG "bolt on" sliders. The front bumper is awesome. They did miss weld a light bucket, but it is purely esthetics and one would never notice unless pointed out. Zero complaints.
As for the TG sliders, they were far from "bolt on". Poorly done. I planned on welding them on from the start but they hit the pinch weld and had to be lowered about 3/8" to clear the pinch weld at all. Again, poorly done. If you were to buy the "weld together" you would not have these issues and all would go smoothly. I love how simple they are. Very clean looking with no filler plates or kickouts. This is my second set, the first was welded to an early ford ranger trail rig which saw an inane amount of abuse. The sliders held up VERY well.
TG sliders are great, but the "bolt on" option is a joke IMO.
I have the Allpro Apex front bumper and TG "bolt on" sliders. The front bumper is awesome. They did miss weld a light bucket, but it is purely esthetics and one would never notice unless pointed out. Zero complaints.
As for the TG sliders, they were far from "bolt on". Poorly done. I planned on welding them on from the start but they hit the pinch weld and had to be lowered about 3/8" to clear the pinch weld at all. Again, poorly done. If you were to buy the "weld together" you would not have these issues and all would go smoothly. I love how simple they are. Very clean looking with no filler plates or kickouts. This is my second set, the first was welded to an early ford ranger trail rig which saw an inane amount of abuse. The sliders held up VERY well.
TG sliders are great, but the "bolt on" option is a joke IMO.
Box Rocket
Well-known member
You're very right about the "bolt on" TG sliders. They were never really designed to be bolt on in the first place. People asked for a bolt on option and instead of redesigning the mounts they just expected the customer to run bolts through the frame. Doesn't surprise me one bit that they really don't work well that way. As for the pinch weld, clearance is an issue with just about any slider whether it's TG, AP, 4XInnovations, CBI doesn't really matter. The distance on a 1st Gen Tacoma from the bottom of the pinch weld to the bottom of the frame is like 1-7/8" and when you try to put a slider leg that is 1-3/4" diameter in that space you aren't left with much unless you run it slightly below the frame. So frankly its not really fair to criticize any particular brand for that problem since it's about the same for everyone. That's why it's been said earlier in this thread that several of the vendors have suggested hammering the pinch weld down or notching it for better clearance. But you are correct, the "bolt on" term is a misnomer with the TG sliders. Even though it can be done, doesn't mean it should be.
I did all the finish welding on my TG sliders so I didn't have the same issues. I was able to get them just how I wanted. I know not everyone has the ability to weld up their own sliders but if you can, it's hard to beat the bang for the buck of the TG ones and you can get them just how you want them, whether you want them flat like a step or angled up tight to the body, longer or shorter legs etc. That was actually one of the reasons I chose the TG ones.
Back to the front bumpers. The AP Apex front bumper is a nice looking bumper. I like it quite a bit. I would run one of those before I would run one of APs tube bumpers. So that comes down to whether you want a plate bumper or a tube bumper which can be a separate discussion. For me if I were looking at plate bumpers for these trucks, the Relentless Fab bumper is my favorite I think, followed by Elite, then the AP, then ARB. If you're wanting a tube bumper (which I was for better clearance and less weight) then the TG is clearly my favorite, followed by Addicted Offroad, then AP.
I did all the finish welding on my TG sliders so I didn't have the same issues. I was able to get them just how I wanted. I know not everyone has the ability to weld up their own sliders but if you can, it's hard to beat the bang for the buck of the TG ones and you can get them just how you want them, whether you want them flat like a step or angled up tight to the body, longer or shorter legs etc. That was actually one of the reasons I chose the TG ones.
Back to the front bumpers. The AP Apex front bumper is a nice looking bumper. I like it quite a bit. I would run one of those before I would run one of APs tube bumpers. So that comes down to whether you want a plate bumper or a tube bumper which can be a separate discussion. For me if I were looking at plate bumpers for these trucks, the Relentless Fab bumper is my favorite I think, followed by Elite, then the AP, then ARB. If you're wanting a tube bumper (which I was for better clearance and less weight) then the TG is clearly my favorite, followed by Addicted Offroad, then AP.
Brianrietta
VA7OQ
I think I paid a shop 60 bucks or something to install my weld-on TG sliders? Even with having someone else weld mine on it was way cheaper than getting anything else and like you say you can adjust the initial setup. They're cheap but they're more than adequate to hold my little 4Runner off a rock.
Brianrietta
VA7OQ
Having sliders properly welded is almost certainly going to be stronger. The downsides however to welding as I see it are A. you have to weld them directly to your frame B. you can't just pull them off to re-paint. That being said even if there were a bolt-on slider option for a 3rd gen (I don't think there actually is) I tend to think that the value of the TG's would still make me do it all over again. Situation is a little different for me as well though as prefabbed custom sliders from outfits in the US are prohibitively expensive to ship up here so if there is an available product that is local and the same cost as just the shipping for an alternative product out of the States, I mean, you go for the cheap local option.
austintaco
Explorer
For anyone thinking about sliders, read this post again. Address the pinch welds first, and save yourself the headache later. Carry on.
Revco
Adventurer
I went with an All Pro baja front bumper. Bought it used from a guy who went with their Apex plate bumper. After bashing the stock front bumper on rocks I wanted something with more clearance. I didn't want a plate bumper because my truck is a reg cab and I feel the plate bumpers are too bulky for the size of the truck. They look fine on extended and double cabs though. I was going to build my own tube front bumper but I figured I could buy a used TG or AP bumper for less than the cost of DOM tubing to build my own. I got the used AP bumper for a price I couldn't pass up and it fit up great and is solid.
As for the sliders. It would have cost me about $100 in DOM tubing and a few days of using a friends Hossfeld bender to get them bent, then the notching and fitting and welding.... I found a set of new TG sliders on ebay for $179 shipped to my door from 4WP ebay store. I spent 1 evening in my driveway getting them fit up and got the legs welded to the sliders and a coat of paint, then the next evening I welded them to the frame. I added 4"x4"x3/16" plates turned on end and a 1/4" top gusset for strength. They are solid and have been put the to test with no issues.
I like the tubular stuff on my little truck and will be finishing a custom high clearance DOM tube rear bumper in the near future. I was going to build a rear similar to BoxRockets and even bought the 3"x5" tubing and made some 1/2" bumper brackets but I decided to go with the round tube to keep everything on the truck the same.
As for the sliders. It would have cost me about $100 in DOM tubing and a few days of using a friends Hossfeld bender to get them bent, then the notching and fitting and welding.... I found a set of new TG sliders on ebay for $179 shipped to my door from 4WP ebay store. I spent 1 evening in my driveway getting them fit up and got the legs welded to the sliders and a coat of paint, then the next evening I welded them to the frame. I added 4"x4"x3/16" plates turned on end and a 1/4" top gusset for strength. They are solid and have been put the to test with no issues.
I like the tubular stuff on my little truck and will be finishing a custom high clearance DOM tube rear bumper in the near future. I was going to build a rear similar to BoxRockets and even bought the 3"x5" tubing and made some 1/2" bumper brackets but I decided to go with the round tube to keep everything on the truck the same.
Box Rocket
Well-known member
great looking reg cab!