Looking to purchase a rear bumper with spare swingout, but don’t like the look of any of them. They stick out way too far from the rear hatch when compared to other vehicles. Is there a fix for this? Or does anyone know of a company that makes one that sits closer to the vehicle? I looked at all the well known armor companies that make products for the 5th Gens (CBI, Shrockworks, Bruteforce, Hefty, etc.)
Spare Tire Carrier Swingout
- Thread starter Chilow
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RedRunner_87
Senior Member
Have you checked out the Victory bumper? Looks pretty close to the body to me.
4Runner Rear Bumper | Strike | 5th Gen (10+) - Victory 4x4
4Runner Rear Bumper | Strike | 5th Gen (10+) - Victory 4x4
Apex overland has one that is made to hug the rear hatch well.
firemedicPQ1
New member
Bumper Tire Carrier
I have the Expedition One bumper for the 5th Gen. I really love it and the spare does not stick out too far. I have an off-road teardrop and tow it well with the bumper set up. No issues of it every hitting, even on super tight radius turns. They are a good company and have a bunch of friendly folk.
Toyota 4 Runner 5th Gen (2010+) | Expedition One
I have the Expedition One bumper for the 5th Gen. I really love it and the spare does not stick out too far. I have an off-road teardrop and tow it well with the bumper set up. No issues of it every hitting, even on super tight radius turns. They are a good company and have a bunch of friendly folk.
Toyota 4 Runner 5th Gen (2010+) | Expedition One
borfoo3
New member
I have the older SSO rear bumper on mine.. there's a reason for that gap.
The gap exists around the bumper is to avoid contact to the body. These bumpers can 'flex' in certain scenarios, so if they sit fully flush you risk rubbing body panels or lights.
My bumper has a folding tray option on the swingout which sits very close to the rear hatch.. long story short, something got stuck there and it ended up rubbing the paint off the rear hatch
Jetboy
New member
If you drop off a ledge and the rear tire drags, it will flex - a lot. So you need plenty of room there. Here's a video from Moab in May of this year where a group of broncos went down the waterfall on Gold Bar Rim. Watch the yellow bronco at about 1:45. You can see how much bouncing that spare tire does. That's not too far off from what you'd expect and explains why you need some space there. (also just a fun side note - not my video - but my 4Runner is there at the end, the white one furthest down the trail - one of the benefits of a spare underneath is that it doesn't get hung up going over waterfalls like that).
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<iframe width="1280" height="720" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rWzTeqODz54" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
sn_85
Senior Member
Pretty much all the bumpers are the same. They all sit right on the rear cross-member and mount with the 4 receiver hitch bolts. That's why they all have a shelf and seem like they sit out way too far from the hatch. So they don't really increase clearance or departure angle all that much. They're more or less metal bumper covers.
The only bumper out there that tucks up nice and high is the 4x4 Labs one. The difference is that it requires cutting the rear cross-member off and it mounts directly to the frame channel. Because of that it increases your clearance and departure angle quite a bit. A lot of 80 series guys use 4x4 Labs and I'd say it is the defacto 80 series rear bumper of choice. The downside? You have to cut the rear cross-member so it's more of a commitment than the other bumpers. Toyota does sell rear cross-members for accident purposes that can we welded back on if you decide you want to go that route to bring it back to stock.
Here's a picture of the 4x4 Labs bumper. Not the best picture but you can see how much higher it sits since it doesn't need to rest/bolt up to the rear cross-member. There is about a 1/2" gap between the bumper and panel for any flex. I'm confident in the bumper given how hard Luke Porter and the Nor-cal guys wheels their trucks. This thing was basically built to run the Rubicon and Baja.
The only bumper out there that tucks up nice and high is the 4x4 Labs one. The difference is that it requires cutting the rear cross-member off and it mounts directly to the frame channel. Because of that it increases your clearance and departure angle quite a bit. A lot of 80 series guys use 4x4 Labs and I'd say it is the defacto 80 series rear bumper of choice. The downside? You have to cut the rear cross-member so it's more of a commitment than the other bumpers. Toyota does sell rear cross-members for accident purposes that can we welded back on if you decide you want to go that route to bring it back to stock.
Here's a picture of the 4x4 Labs bumper. Not the best picture but you can see how much higher it sits since it doesn't need to rest/bolt up to the rear cross-member. There is about a 1/2" gap between the bumper and panel for any flex. I'm confident in the bumper given how hard Luke Porter and the Nor-cal guys wheels their trucks. This thing was basically built to run the Rubicon and Baja.
