Tandem Offroad 5th Gen Rear Bumper

[Alex@Tandem]

This is Alex from Tandem Offroad.

We have been working on a bumper for the 5th gen 4Runner bumper for a bit and I think it's finally at a point where we can show it to you guys.

Our design priority was to have a shape that would offer the highest amount of ground clearance possible without making any significant modifications to the frame and the body. To this end I believe that we have succeeded. The bumper hangs about a half inch lower than the body frame.

Weight of the bumper is approximately 160lbs without the arms. The weight of the arms is not exactly final yet since we are working on a modular design.

To maximize ground clearance we did not include the hitch into the design, however, we are working on something that works similarly to the factory design that ties into the lines of the current bumper.

The dual swing outs are opperated by a single latch. The locking pins have three positions for 0, 90, and 140 degrees. We used stiff rubber bumpers to interface between the bumper and the swing outs since noise elimination is a high priority. We will most likely transition to delrin for the final version.

I'd love to get some constructive criticism as there is still a little bit of time left to make some changes before we go into production.

:thanks:

 

[1Louder]

Looks promising. I need a hitch though and one that can tow a trailer. It's only around 2200 lbs fully loaded with a tongue weight of 300lbs.

Do the pins secure the swingouts if the latch fails?

Any flexing when the tire is swung out?

It seems like a lot of different manufacturers have different ideas and methods to mount their bumpers. Some seem more secure than others.

 

[PK930]

Overall, I dig it.

However, not a fan of the sides. I get what y’all are going for, and think it’s rather smart, but it’s really not aesthetic. And that’s coming from a function > form guy. And maybe closer to the body? As is, it looks like it’s kinda out there.

Also, being able to attach a camp table to the tire swing out would be great.

What’s planned for the driver side arm?

 

[Alex@Tandem]

Looks promising. I need a hitch though and one that can tow a trailer. It's only around 2200 lbs fully loaded with a tongue weight of 300lbs.

Do the pins secure the swingouts if the latch fails?

Any flexing when the tire is swung out?

It seems like a lot of different manufacturers have different ideas and methods to mount their bumpers. Some seem more secure than others.

The hitch will definitely be happening. It will be similar to the hitch offered by the factory and it will be good for the tow capacity of the 4Runner.

The pins do indeed secure the swing outs if the latch fails. I like that they do that but that means there is one extra hand motion when you open the swingouts. So first you need to undo the latch and then pull up on the lock out pin. I wonder if people prefer the security of the pin outs in the lock position OR would they forego that security to make it more convenient to open every day?

We tried to eliminate flexing as much as possible using some strategically placed internal gusseting. It's pretty dang solid.

We mount our bumper as if it were a load distributing hitch.

 

[Alex@Tandem]

Overall, I dig it.

However, not a fan of the sides. I get what y’all are going for, and think it’s rather smart, but it’s really not aesthetic. And that’s coming from a function > form guy. And maybe closer to the body? As is, it looks like it’s kinda out there.

Also, being able to attach a camp table to the tire swing out would be great.

What’s planned for the driver side arm?

We have received pretty positive feedback on the sides. However, we are always willing to improve. I'll take some notes and let the engineers know. Maybe theres something we could do to tighten that up a little bit.

Camp table on the back should be pretty easy. I'll add that to the list for sure.

We are planning to do a modular arm that we can customize on both sides. So think kind of like a molle panel but heavy duty.

 

[Alex@Tandem]

Another cool option we are working on is the QP Guard. Basically this dude bolts on to the side of the bumper and it protects your quarter panel and tail lights from getting smashed by rocks. This has definitely saved us a couple of times during testing. On the 4Runner in the picture, they are welded on but it will be a bolt on option on the production version.