CBI 5th Gen 4Runner Rear Bumper

After a bunch of collective begging on the 4Runner forum, CBI began work last November on a 5th Gen 4Runner Rear Bumper.  I had literally been waiting about 2 years for someone to come out with a swingout I liked, so this was great news!  Fast forward to last week — my kickass bumper was here, and I wasted no time making arrangements to get the truck fitted.

The lowdown on the CBI Bumper:

CBI has a great reputation in the offroad/overland community for building robust, highly functional, and damn good looking bumpers.  When they decided to build a 5th gen 4Runner bumper, they solicited feedback directly from us 4Runner owners to try to capture the things most of us wanted.  Because of that, the bumper has some unique (awesome) features that make it easier to rationalize the purchase:

• The tire swingout is compatible with the Gobi rear-hatch ladder
• Recessed corner mounting points for Rigid Dually Lights (I removed my roof-rack mounted duallys and re-mounted them in the bumper, which is a superior location for visibility when backing up)
• Tubular guards on the side of the bumper should (theoretically) help protect the quarterpanel and taillight from trees (when you get in those slippy sideways slides)
• Fold down table on the swingout that is large enough for a regular camp stove

Also, in my opinion, the bumper looks fantastic on the truck and certainly will hold up better on the trail than my OEM (and duck-taped together) plastic bumper.  The one downside to the bumper is that it blocks the factory back-up camera, I sure had become reliant on that thing!  Time to relocate it or get more careful parallel parking.

The fold-down table on the swingarm is a nice touch!

The Extras:

In addition to the bumper, I put on new rear springs, lower rear links (trailing arms), and new brake pads and rotors on the rear (maintenance).

Icon Overland Series 3” Lift Springs: Because the bumper weighs close to 200 lbs, I opted to install new rear springs at the same time I installed the bumper.  I went with Icon’s 3” springs, which have a multi-rate spring design and are designed to handle hundreds of pounds of extra weight in the rear of the truck.  My standard Icon 2” lift springs were already borderline overloaded before the bumper with my drawers and fridge already riding in the back.

Ride Height of Icon Overland Series 3” Springs fully loaded down with camping gear

Metal Tech Offset Lower Links:  The 4Runner’s factory links are thin and bend easily against rocks and other obstacles.  One of my factory links has been tweaked for months now.  Metal Tech’s Links are significantly less likely to bend, plus, they’re adjustable (if you need to), and priced reasonably vs. other offerings.  These things aren’t terribly complex – they just need to work like stock and not bend.  I didn’t install these because of the bumper, but it made sense to do them when I was swapping the springs.

New Icon Springs and Metal Tech lower links installed

The Install

When I say I installed the parts, what I mean is that Pete, Tom, and Marcus at Main Line Overland did 95% of it while I hung around as a liability in their shop.  Turns out that all of the upgrades were too much to cram into a single day’s work.  Kudos the the guys at Main Line – they worked from 9:30AM in the morning until well past midnight to get it all done and refused to cut any corners to get the job done more quickly.

The majority of the time spent installing the bumper was spent doing three things:

• Cutting the stock bumper – with the CBI, you re-use the top portion of the bumper.  We spent a good amount of time measuring about 47 times, cutting once, and then trimming several times.

• Test fitting and grinding the truck’s frame rails – CBI’s instructions said that “grinding may be required”.  We had to grind the CRAP out of the framerails to get the bumper on.  What I mean is someone manning the grinder until their arms are about to fall off, someone else tapping in, and repeating about 6 times.  Exhausting.

• Building the wiring for the Rigids and license plate lights – Marcus built an awesome wiring harness for the install using high-quality protective loom and Deutsche connectors.  This wiring is about 10x better than any of the wiring on the truck I’ve done on my own.  It really is an unsung art form.

Initial Review

After 4 days with the CBI bumper I am really loving it, as well as the ride with the new rear springs.  Out on a trip in West Virginia this past weekend I got a little bit of offroad use with the bumper, but nothing intense enough to test strength or clearance.  It was nice, however, to have the fold-down table for cooking and making coffee in the AM!

There were a few things that weren’t 100% with the experience, but nothing that would make me second guess the purchase.  At this point, I’m used to a few things here and there not being quite 100% in the aftermarket.  CBI has been quick to respond and make things right.

• My swingarm is missing a welded-on tab that will allow me to securely “lock” the swingarm in the open position.  CBI is making it right and sending me a new swingarm, and I’ll send the original back.  Should take a couple weeks, but not a huge deal.
• The clearance between the swingarm and Gobi ladder is tight and they do make contact when driving, which is not surprising.  I am going to figure out some rubber bushings to keep from rubbing the powdercoat off.  Just one of those things — parts from different manufacturers rarely play 100% nice together.
• Some of the threaded holes on the bumper had to be milled out a little bit because of powdercoat getting in them – not a huge deal.
•  My bumper came without instructions (CBI quickly emailed them to me when I asked) and missing bumper cover trim edging (CBI sent the trim right away when I let them know).

So far I’m feeling really good about my choice in the bumper as well as my choice to beef up springs and links.  I am looking forward to getting the couple of outstanding issues sorted and really putting the bumper through its paces!  If you have other questions about the bumper, springs, or links that I didn’t answer, don’t hesitate to ask and I’ll get you answers.

The End!