Northwest Trail Innovations Winch Bumper Group Buy!

[UnderFire]

I was wondering if/when this was going to happen, and this reminds me, my kit I bought more than 6 months ago still isn't together...

 

[djskorch]

I was wondering if/when this was going to happen, and this reminds me, my kit I bought more than 6 months ago still isn't together...

Like I said earlier, this is kind of a feeler to gauge interest. The problem is that the 4th gen bumper wont be ready for about 30 days and there is quite a bit of interest for it as well. I would hate to have them lose out on the gb and have everyone miss out on an additional discount but at the same time, I dont want people to have to wait to long. I am going to talk to him again later to see about possibly getting the 4th gen one done any sooner in order to help with this.

Also Underfire, is this the bumper you have? Could you provide any input on quality etc. Also do you by chance have any pictures of the pieces that people could look at? Thanks

 

[the great him]

take this for what its worth, but i have been around the vancouver/portland area for the last 3+ years, i think this guy has only been building bumpers for maybe the last year or two(not a concern to me) but what is kinda rasing a red flag for me, is i have only seen one of these bumpers in person, and while it was a while back im surprised i have not seen more of them. i travel all over the PNW from tacoma south to the or/ca border and i see way more ARB(duh) and CBI and ODL bumpers than this one and its local. to me the discounts are not that great, i mean for a group buy he is knocking off $20-40 for volume depending on the volume, either he is not hurting for business or the group buy isnt that much of an incentive for him... that and the fact that he has no idea about the 96-98 vs 99-02 models being different gives me the feeling that either he hasnt built very many of them, or he is not mounting them properly, and everything is gonna be custom done. again im not trying to knock the product but some red flags pop up for me just some food for thought. if you are good with a welder and fabbing stuff up but dont have the time to do the R&D then this might be a good route to go, but if you are new to welding and new to fabing, well idk this might not be they place you want to learn. just my thoughts

 

[djskorch]

take this for what its worth, but i have been around the vancouver/portland area for the last 3+ years, i think this guy has only been building bumpers for maybe the last year or two(not a concern to me) but what is kinda rasing a red flag for me, is i have only seen one of these bumpers in person, and while it was a while back im surprised i have not seen more of them. i travel all over the PNW from tacoma south to the or/ca border and i see way more ARB(duh) and CBI and ODL bumpers than this one and its local. to me the discounts are not that great, i mean for a group buy he is knocking off $20-40 for volume depending on the volume, either he is not hurting for business or the group buy isnt that much of an incentive for him... that and the fact that he has no idea about the 96-98 vs 99-02 models being different gives me the feeling that either he hasnt built very many of them, or he is not mounting them properly, and everything is gonna be custom done. again im not trying to knock the product but some red flags pop up for me just some food for thought. if you are good with a welder and fabbing stuff up but dont have the time to do the R&D then this might be a good route to go, but if you are new to welding and new to fabing, well idk this might not be they place you want to learn. just my thoughts

Thanks for your input Kid. Again, I dont know this guy. He just was very helpful and professional to me about getting a set of sliders built (he doesnt build them usually and told me I would be better off going to another company. Thats pretty reasonable to me that someone would send you to a competitor to save you some money. ) so I figured I would return the kindness by throwing this out for him on a place that may get him some business. If it doesnt happen it doesnt happen and doesnt affect me either way.

Also since I am now curious, what is the difference in the mounting for the bumpers on the different year ranges? I know the fatlip bumper vs the older style but I would have thought since they mount to the front of the frame rails that they would be the same. Just my observation.

 

[the great him]

Also since I am now curious, what is the difference in the mounting for the bumpers on the different year ranges? I know the fatlip bumper vs the older style but I would have thought since they mount to the front of the frame rails that they would be the same. Just my observation.

you know to be perfectly honest i dont know either, i think it has something to do with the end caps/plates being bigger, and the length of the frame rail extensions for the "fat lip" bumper, but thats just a guess. i do know that the two bumpers will not interchange without some modifications, its not a direct bolt on and go type of thing.

one good thing is we have not heard horror stories like with TAG... so i guess thats a plus for NWTI

 

[djskorch]

you know to be perfectly honest i dont know either, i think it has something to do with the end caps/plates being bigger, and the length of the frame rail extensions for the "fat lip" bumper, but thats just a guess. i do know that the two bumpers will not interchange without some modifications, its not a direct bolt on and go type of thing.

one good thing is we have not heard horror stories like with TAG... so i guess thats a plus for NWTI

Hmm, if its just something like the frame rails being longer or larger caps, that may be why he has not had any complaints or issues selling the bumper. Just guessing but people buying this bumper realize that they are building it themselves so they are ok with doing some minor modifications to make it fit. Similar to using a taco bumper on the 4runner. Some modification required but it will work with a little effort. Who knows. haha

I will go ahead and ask him on this later.

 

[909runner]

Count me in.. I've been looking at this bumper for 2 months.. just been waiting to pull the trigger on it..

 

[UnderFire]

Like I said earlier, this is kind of a feeler to gauge interest. The problem is that the 4th gen bumper wont be ready for about 30 days and there is quite a bit of interest for it as well. I would hate to have them lose out on the gb and have everyone miss out on an additional discount but at the same time, I dont want people to have to wait to long. I am going to talk to him again later to see about possibly getting the 4th gen one done any sooner in order to help with this.

Also Underfire, is this the bumper you have? Could you provide any input on quality etc. Also do you by chance have any pictures of the pieces that people could look at? Thanks

Yep, I picked one up early this year, I don't have any pictures of the pieces to mine, but I have my Dad's kit for an 05 Taco laying in the garage if you want to see the pieces to that.

 

[Doc2012]

Looking at the pictures posted, it looks like you need to cut off the bumper mount pieces and weld a piece of steel to the end of the frame.

I like that. To me, it's better coverage than the 4xinnovations that uses the stock mounts and leaves the bolts exposed. Only reason I haven't gotten one of their bumpers.

I'm still interested in this. It's either going to be this bumper, or the addicted package of front, rear, and sliders.

 

[EraSevera]

I saw one of these in the wild on a Tacoma. Somewhere around Kelso.

These came up in another thread and someone posted a pic of someone's 4runner for sale on craigslist with one of these on it.

 

[JamesDean91]

take this for what its worth, but i have been around the vancouver/portland area for the last 3+ years, i think this guy has only been building bumpers for maybe the last year or two(not a concern to me) but what is kinda rasing a red flag for me, is i have only seen one of these bumpers in person, and while it was a while back im surprised i have not seen more of them. i travel all over the PNW from tacoma south to the or/ca border and i see way more ARB(duh) and CBI and ODL bumpers than this one and its local. to me the discounts are not that great, i mean for a group buy he is knocking off $20-40 for volume depending on the volume, either he is not hurting for business or the group buy isnt that much of an incentive for him... that and the fact that he has no idea about the 96-98 vs 99-02 models being different gives me the feeling that either he hasnt built very many of them, or he is not mounting them properly, and everything is gonna be custom done. again im not trying to knock the product but some red flags pop up for me just some food for thought. if you are good with a welder and fabbing stuff up but dont have the time to do the R&D then this might be a good route to go, but if you are new to welding and new to fabing, well idk this might not be they place you want to learn. just my thoughts

The guy started in the heep(jeep) market until he purchased a Tacoma and made a bumper for himself. then he dicided to make a market for them. He actually does not make alot of profit off these bumpers and iv asked why he doesnt advertise more then craigslist and he says some bs about the forum mods dont like him or whatever.

You should not purchase this bumper if you do not know how to weld or have someone to do that for almost free otherwise your looking at close to the same cost of other complete bumpers.

 

[RussToy]

I too have been looking at this bumper. I was all ready to jump on this G/B...until I saw 4xInnovation just put their bumper on sell for $621. Is it really worth all the work to save $260...not to mention paying for your consumables, which I can see being at least $75. So now I'm down to only saving $185 or less?!?

I don't know...I hate making decision like this. Both bumpers look good to me...I guess for now (since this isn't an official G/B list) put me down as a strong possible.

Thanks to the OP for all his work in bring this to us...Thank you!

 

[zumogo]

Bump this thread
I just saw one in Facebook. Is the group buy still going? I am interested in one.