Long story short:

Got rear-ended yesterday in San Antonio where I live, around 20 mph in traffic. Enough damage that most of the rear pieces will probably have to be replaced. The other driver ran and I'm pressing charges, yadda yadda.

Anyway, I am going to ask for estimate-only from my insurance company (Geico) and see if I can get an aftermarket bumper instead of having the truck repaired back to factory.

Two questions:

I want a plate bumper with a swingarm. Shrockworks is quoting 6 to 8 weeks with a 10% "rush" fee. I've also considered CBI, but I'm concerned about it clearing a gobi ladder and with the single-supported pin design of the swing arm (it looks weaker than the Shrockworks hinge, but purely based what I know about levers). Any relevant thoughts on alternatives I haven't looked at, or does someone want to tell me that I'm overly concerned about the strength of the CBI?

Secondly, anyone have a good suggestion for a shop to work with? My adjuster is over at Service King for the damage inspection in the morning, but if I am forced into repairing it through a shop, I don't know if that is my first choice. I would MUCH prefer a shop that does offroad work if I have the alternative.

Thanks in advance.

William

You can just tell them you want a check for the appraisal value and take it somewhere yourself or install the new bumper yourself and pocket the difference.

ETA: The problem with accepting a check yourself instead of taking it to a shop is that if you later find other problems that the adjuster didn't see...you wont get an extra check to cover those costs.

Yeeeeeah, I'm not seeing why you think the shrockworks hinge looks beefier. The CBI is

I love my CBI, I also love that is was quite a bit cheaper and had a better turn time, by far.

I live local to shrochworks. I saved money ordering CBI. I saved time ordering CBI. I got a first rate bumper.

I ordered 12/18 front and back bumpers. Front Shrockworks, rear CBI. Couldn't come to a doable deal on the rear from Shrockworks. Granted it was the previous stab at the rear and it was $2200. I got my CBI 3 weeks later. My front bumper was ready to pick up, Mar 2nd. I was told a rear would be maybe April.

I love the quality of both, but man, a 4+ month wait and paying hundreds more to do so? No thanks.

Thanks for the feedback, this is exactly what I was hoping to hear. My concern was strictly because the CBI hinge pin is supported only on the bottom, instead of a having a gusset plate on the top and bottom of the pin. If there aren't any issues with strength, that's a moot point.

That still leaves the question of clearance: can I run the CBI rear with tire and dual cans and still clear a Gobi ladder?

I'm keeping the additional damage issue in mind. In this case, I feel comfortable that the damage is cosmetic only.

You guys with the CBI, how is the installation? Garage install possible, or do I need to work with a shop? I have tools, but I'd like to avoid cutting anything if possible, and I'm not capable of doing that level of work.

Nevermind. I just went through the install guide. Lots of cutting. Shop it will have to be.

I-10 or I-410?

If you don't think you can cut, then you'll have to have a shop do it. It is mostly plastic, and I did mine myself, with help, so I'm sure you can as well.

You might want to look at the second part of the below thread. It might answer some of your questions. Hell, there is even a picture of the hinge. Granted it isn't lit well. So I can take another pic if you want more light.

2015 project thread (week 1 spod and CBI rear bumper)

You're creating a non-existing problem. If it was an issue it would have been dealt with.

Someone is running that combo for sure, just can't remember who. Do a search through the thread for the CBI rear bumper and I'm sure it's in there.

Not sure what suspension you're running, but have you taken the extra weight of it all into consideration for your rear springs?

Had the same thing happen last year. Wife got rear ended in the 4runner and I did a cash out. She was at a red light and the a person 2 cars back said screw it and convinced themselves that the light turned green and just took off, not sure how they didn't see the car several feet in front of them. They caused a domino affect and the car directly behind my wife smash into the back of the 4runner. The bolts holding the receiver hitch cookie cuttered out the plastic bumper and a backup sensor got smashed. Insurance quoted the damage a little less then $1500, I got a second quote for $1600 and took a cash out at the higher price.
The cash out was enough to get a new CBI rear bumper (without the swing out tire carrier). The bumper is well built but they could have gone through a few more revisions to make it even more user friendly when doing the install. I call it lazy on there part and I know they could do better. That's the biggest negative I have about it and will explain the issues below but besides that everything else was great.
I popped off the plastic skin, misc. brackets, and mud flaps to do a test fit. First fitment issues is the exhaust, I ended up cutting the tip off. The second fitment issue was the body bolts coming in contact with the side support tubes. Both of these issues could have been addressed if they re-did the location of these side support tubes (this is the part that pissed me off the most). Once that was addressed the bumper mounted up fine. The cutting instructions for the OEM plastic cover was not very clear but I found enough pictures online to help me figure it out. This step probably took the longest and I probably ended up taking the bumper on and off about a dozen times for some fine adjustments. I got it pretty damn good though where I didn't have to use their trim channel to cover up my cut line. One last thing was the spare tire mount under the bumper, my SR5 factory spare tire fits but I'm not sure if I can squeeze a 285 under there, I have heard you could but haven't tried it or seen pictures of it done.
Once I got it installed I was pretty happy with the end result. There was one more issue that I found out about several weeks later, when driving the upper section of the plastic bumper flaps at highway speeds. I think this is a pretty big no no and another thing CBI missed and did not address. I might be able to modify my mud flaps and remount them and in-doing so add support to the plastic upper section and minimize this flapping. Wife also actually mentioned it when she was washing the 4runner "I don't like how this area flops around when I put pressure on it".
So some feedback to CBI, fix the clearance issue with the body bolts, and the exhaust, address the floppy side panel, and get better illustrations for the instruction section of how to cut the existing plastic bumper cover and your product will go from a B to an A. Now if they want to go the distance they would have an A ++ product if they can figure out how to make the cutting job of the existing plastic bumper easier but that might be very challenging.

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Ohh and to add, if you were to ask me would I do it again then the answer is yes. I think its a good product and I really like the look of it.

35S just after Walzem.

Yes. I'm planning a full lift in the fall, after I get settled from moving. Until then, I'm going to install a set of Airlift bags to keep the sag in check.

I'm stock suspension now.

Actually saw her driving around a while ago. Couldn't get her attention. Why no tire carrier?

Yah same thing happens to me, I've driven by her and was waving like a moron and she just drives on by. I haven't seen yours around, I usually see a blue Trail that drive around town.

I decided not to go with the tire carrier cause the 4runner is my wifes daily driver and figured it might be a bigger pain for her to deal with. It also would have forced me to relocated the backup camera and backup sensors, and finally I read that a 285 would still fit under the back so why let good storage space go to waste (hopefully it will fit cause my stocks spare doesn't have much more room under there).

Mikey, you from livermore?