Well, after years of deliberation I decided to purchase a rear bumper with a swing out. I went with
brute force fab because of his work on Tacoma's. I've seen several tacoma's with both front and rear bumpers from him and his work is superb. Billy is a super nice guy and will work with you to get exactly what you want. He's extremely personable and will go out of his way to make sure he understands the direction you want to go.
Most of you know that when it comes to vehicles I'm more utilitarian than anything. I don't like to have things just to "have" them and I respect those who use the sh*t of their gear. So, last week I spoke to Clay from Expedition Overland and I downloaded as much info I could from his builds...the good and the bad. I paid close attention to what his team had learned from their adventures. We talked about bumpers etc. and layouts that actually work.
When I got back home a friend showed up and we went on a short trip. I made an effort to get my vehicle stuck several times (in mainly in snow/rocks) to see what I needed the most. In all of my travels I've yet to destroy my front end due to approach angles, however I have dented/scratched my rearend. Plus, If I would have cut a tire I would have spent hours digging out a hole to lower my spare and remove it from the vehicle. I've been 1000's of places in my Runner and I'm lucky I haven't been in a situation where I couldn't reach my spare.
Also in my conversations with others, I noticed that most of the bumpers including the CBI place the tire a little higher and towards the driver side than need be. Placing more stress on the swing out as well as decreasing the amount the driver can see out the rear window.
My other concerns were only having the swing out that is half the length of the bumper. Longer ones are bulky and can be extremely annoying when trying to open and close them 100's of times. They can also get in the way when camping spots are narrow and space is at a premium. This design also gives me room if I ever decide to do a dual swing out :tongue:. Clay also mentioned that having the latch on the side of the bumper was an issue since it is in a very vulnerable position (which they did break on one of their trips). There are other things like...having a pressed fit bearing to reduce the amount of grease that's needed to keep the hinge lubed. Guys have bumped into/leaned into it and then they're covered in grease...but this post is getting long :yawn:
Sooooo....all in all I made a great decision going with
brute force fab. His work is awesome and he's a good guy. He's also doing my front bumper.....:drummer:
If you're interested follow the links and shoot him an email