Anyone thinking about pulling the trigger on one of these. I am digging it.

- high clearance.
- 2" receiver hitch.
- how it mounts looks solid.
- good protection up the rear side portion of the truck.
- decent price

I'm personally not a tube guy but if you are, that looks like a nice and fairly inexpensive option. Just be weary of ordering from Trail Gear... I think they've been going downhill the past few years. I've read too many reviews of folks having crappy customer service experiences, or struggling to get all the parts they ordered.
TG has also bought up a lot of smaller companies recently (most recently Headstrong Offroad from my understanding) which doesn't excite me. Just my two cents!

practical and fuctinal. It's great.

Picture or it didn't happen......

This one, yeah? I was considering this one, too as I can pick it up at Wheeler's
and save the shipping.

Attached Images

 

Would fabricating a swing out on one of these be reasonably easy or harder because it’s tube? I haven’t the first idea on welding, so pardon me if it’s a stupid question. I’ve just seen it more commonly on plate bumpers but that might be because they’re more common in general


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If you can weld, I don't see why not. I am resigned to carrying a spare under, above, or inside my rig until I find a used swing out bumper or some other improbable arrangement.

Link to other views: Rock Defense 1996-2002 4Runner Rear Bumper

It's steel - anything is possible if you're motivated and skilled enough. I imagine it would be significantly easier on this unit than others given how simple and straight it is. My buddy/coworker welds up armor for the PNW/Washington Toyota groups on facebook and adding the swingout yourself is something he always recommends if possible and/or reasonable. It's a very good way to save a good bit of money, as many will charge an extra $1000 or so just for the addition. You can get "kits" that contain the latch, pin, bearings, etc. for less than $100 leading you to just pick up some steel, design it and throw it all together (a little oversimplified here but that's the jist; I'm not sure if the tire mount itself also has to be built or if you can buy something pre-made. Wouldn't doubt it if something already exists to help you out)
Even at the current price of steel and paying someone to do it for you, you'd probably still come out way below what the average bumper+swingout would cost.
You're definitely right in thinking they're more common on plated bumpers because they're far more common in general. For what it's worth, CBI used to make tube bumpers with tire carriers but have recently dropped all 3rd gen products from their catalog. I use their hybrid bumper+swingout which is more tubed than plated

I pulled the trigger on this and it is sitting in the garage right now. I will post some pics when I get it installed...hopefully this weekend! I have to clean, prime, and paint it first though.

Nice - please share your install experience and impressions once you have it on.

Pictures! Overall this is a good product and well worth the price. It was a bit of a pain to prime and paint it but that comes with the lower price I guess. It seems a lot of off-road protection is unpainted nowadays anyway. The way it attaches to the frame is very good as you can see from the pics. I had a minor issue with 2 of the bolt holes not lining up with my frame but other than that the install was smooth. I had to hit those 2 holes and grind a bit with my Dremel and it was good to go. It might have been my frame too as the truck is old and been through a lot, either way it wasn't a big deal. I also painted the back rear sections of the truck body black, the parts that were originally under the chrome rear side bumper pieces. I don't know if I like it or not. The drips in the pictures under the bumper are water as it rained right before I took these pictures.

Great stuff - much appreciated!

Edit - looks like you could benefit from a cabin vent kit from Four Cam Engineering (Opt Off Road distributes them)