5th Generation Rear Bumper

MrSeth

MrSeth

Member
Hey folks! I have been getting a few PM's on my latest endeavor- to see if a 5th Gen rear tire carrier bumper will bolt up to a 4th Gen. Guess what? IT DOES! With only a few minor mods, it was relatively simple.

I ordered the Vijay bumper for a little over $700 (I really cannot afford the $1,500+ bumpers on my pay) from Amazon. It arrived will all hardware in about 5 days time.

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

So first, once you remove your OEM bumper, you'll need to remove everything circled here. The two mounted to the cabin have 10mm bolts, and I cut the other two off. I believe their sole purpose was to support the spare.

You must also remove both vent guards pictured below.

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr
5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

It bolts up to the stock trailer hitch mounting bolt areas! The 4 on the face of the rear frame, and the 4 on the underside of either side frame rail. This requires zero modification and lines up perfectly. I kept my hitch ON so I can still pull little hobby trailers around.

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

THEN you get to cut your stock plastic fender! I measured from the metal body of the truck down to the bumper to get my cut line.

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

Once you get it all trimmed, I then put the swingarm on. I was impressed at the bearing design as my other jeep bumpers just had a cup on post with a single bolt holding it all (no bueno). Also added the weatherstripping that it came with to kinda clean up my edges too.

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

5th Gen Bumper by Seth Schueller, on Flickr

Untitled by Seth Schueller, on Flickr


Is the fit 100% perfect? No, but its pretty darned good. The metal seems the same gauge as my front steel bumper, and this thing has no wiggle in it or noise while driving.

Just a fun little R&D thing that may help someone out! Yes, THIS bumper will fit a 4th gen. Idk if ALL 5th gen bumpers will, but this does. Kinda cool to have a Tacoma front bumper and 5th Gen rear bumper haha, good convo piece. :thumb:

(also love my trash panda cover too hehe) :panda:
 
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Pitman said:
What did you do for the front tacoma bumper? Definitely need to do both
Click to expand...

Hey friend, sorry for the late reply. All I had to do was drill a 3rd hole in the bumpers mounting bracket for it to slide over our OEM bumper mounting bolts. Everything else lined up perfect. Oh I also got rid of the fender liners as well!
 
Thanks for the write up! This is great.

I will probably pull the trigger in January/February time frame. I saw a Returned one on EBay for only 400 at one point, but didn't pull the trigger lol....

Not entirely sure what I will use for cutting my existing bumper. It is absolutely beat to shit, so I will probably end up rattle canning it black.

If I understand you correctly, it bolts to the frame with 8 bolts, 4 on the face and 2 under the frame on each side. Did that feel sufficient?
 
SO apparently this has kinda blown up more than I thought it would. Now you cannot find these bumpers in stock anywhere, not even eBay?! Several guys on Facebook are trying to find them and no one has them :shocked:
 
Honestly, this was starting to blow up before you posted. They haven't been in stock on EBay since before Black Friday.

The 4th gen just has so few options unless you spend serious dollars. I'm sure they will restock, or offer a 4th gen version, soon.
 
gimlithepirate said:
Honestly, this was starting to blow up before you posted. They haven't been in stock on EBay since before Black Friday.

The 4th gen just has so few options unless you spend serious dollars. I'm sure they will restock, or offer a 4th gen version, soon.
Click to expand...

Man I'm glad I was able to get one when I did then! It would be sweet to see them offer more 4th gen stuff!
 
Necro'ing this thread, as it's still the number one google result and wanted to add some details.

Ebay recently had a sale putting the price of this down 460$. At that price I couldn't resist and took the plunge.

The biggest thing you will need to add to make this work on the 4th gen is 4x longer bolts for the holes on the face of the bumper. The instructions say to use the stock ones, but there is about a 2" gap between the bumper and the rear cross member there. The good news is that's what allows you to fit a tow hitch under the bumper.

I used 4x m12-20 bolts that were 80mm in length. Couldn't find grade 10.9, so had to live with 8.8. I also bought spacers to go behind them. Amazon has aluminum 1/2 inch diameter spacers you can order in the length of choice. If you're leaving a tow hitch, you need 1.5" spacers, and 2" without the tow hitch.

I did mine over the v8 hitch. It worked, but *barely*. Getting everything lined up was a nightmare with lots of fighting involved. Especially because I bought the wrong face bolts the first time... My recommendation would be if you are going to purchase this bumper, downsize to a v6 hitch. More clearance as well.

A couple other notes. They've changed the design, so no LED lights in it anymore. The tire mount has a little more flex in it than I would like. The swing arm hinge is actually super high quality. Oh, and a jigsaw with a PVC blade works great for cutting the old bumper.

Overall, I'd say this is like a 7/10. It's definitely not as good as a purpose built welded bumper, but its also 1/4 the cost or less these days.
 
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