I wanted to share some info and photos of the Expedition One Rear Bumper I recently installed on the 4Runner. Prior to the install, there wasn’t much info out there on this bumper, so I want to share my experience.
There are a few companies making rear bumpers for the 4Runner, all of which are of great choices. There are a few things that pulled me towards the Expo-One.
1. Retains the factory hitch - Yes, I realize that other bumpers have built in receivers and I fully capable of towing, however, something about the Toyota designed/engineered tow hitch kept me from removing it. Am I towing anything at the moment? Nope. There's always the "what-if".
2. Equal Length Dual Swing Outs - I have a few other plans for the rear set-up, other than what you see here. I really like the equal length arms because they are so modular. There's a lot you can do with this style of set-up. Yeah it takes 10 seconds longer to open a second arm when you need access to the hatch, but it's 10 seconds.
3. OEM Look - Since I color matched my bumper to the body, it's hardly noticeable unless you know what you're looking at. The lines follow the factory bumper so well, it's literally molded into the rear of the truck.
Impressions:
Holy armor batman. This bumper is beefy, and with all that beef comes some weight. You can really see the structural strength of this bumper when you see it off the truck. All of the laser cuts are so clean, it looks like a production line piece. It's hardly noticeable that anyone actually touched this thing by hand. It's extremely apparent someone spent a lot of time engineering this bumper. The next thing I noticed was the swing arm pivot spindles. They use a 1" bearing and seal to keep the elements out. The swing arms have quite a few bends and angles to follow the body lines, a lot of attention to detail. The swing arm latches are really cool. Again, someone took the time to design and build something functional. Not only does the latch keep the swing arm tight, and snug against the bumper, the latch locks the latch handle into place so there is no way for the swing arm to open.
Fit:
Install took a full day. (With proper safety and lunch breaks) The fit is incredible. When I say it fit like a glove. It fit like a glove. Everything lined up perfectly. The bumper actually rests on brackets that are attached to the ends of the frame horns. It’s a really smart design especially for if you are installing the bumper solo, without means of lifting the bumper. Once the bumper is resting on the frame horns, you can check the fit, make any adjustments then tighten it down.
Bottom line, this bumper is legitimate. I don’t think it gets the love it deserves.
Linear Mode
