I was super pumped to install a CBI rear bumper on the 4Runner last spring – I had been waiting what seemed like ages for a manufacturer to come up with a well-designed, high quality piece and the CBI design fit the bill.
I’ve now been living with the bumper now for 9-10 months and approximately 20,000 miles. My experience with the bumper has been overwhelmingly positive as I’ve put it through the paces.
Here’s some specific feedback on the things I think other folks in the market will care about:
Protection: Besides looking really cool, the primary reason anyone chops up a perfectly good plastic rear bumper to exchange for a heavy-ass steel bumper is to protect the truck and prevent ripping off said plastic bumper. The CBI bumper has served admirably in taking hits. In Moab the bumper took several hard hits (where the 4Runner ran out of departure angle) without any structural tweaking. I don’t really worry about these shots.
Of course, with the bumper being frame-mounted, a hard shot on departure flexes the frame of the truck and the bumper will make contact with the remaining bumper plastic, popping out 1-2 of the retaining clips (a fist bump on the plastic panel re-seats it), and the bumper will also contact the body-mounted Gobi ladder. This frame/body flex induced contact is just a product of physics.
Powdercoat: The powdercoat finish on the bumper has held up reasonably well, but dragging the powdercoat over rocks will take it off, no matter how “high quality” it is. Since my bumper does get smacked into stuff, I’ve just used satin black rattle-can to touch it up between bashings outings.
Doing a little cleanup on the bumper
Swingout: The swing out continues to function as well as day-1, with a few exceptions. First the locking latch occasionally needs a shot of ti-flow lubricant to keep it free and not gummed up, which isn’t a big deal.
The only thing that I do need to address is the plunger pin that locks the swingarm in the “open” position. The pin itself “caught” the lock mechanism and bent seizing it and rendering it useless. I’d recommend CBI consider different “open lock” solutions that don’t have the same failure weakness.
Weight: Yes, the bumper is heavy, but because I upgraded to heavier springs when I installed the bumper, I have not noticed the weight at all on the road or on the trail.
Living with it on the Daily Driver: I had 2 primary concerns about the CB on my daily-driven 4Runner – first that opening the swingarm to access the hatch would be a huge pain in the ass, and that I’d be super annoyed with the OEM backup camera blocked. Maybe I’m just good at managing my own expectations, but neither has proven to be all that annoying to me, personally. I do still worry one day that I’ll blindly back into (and crush) a moped, but so far, so good.
Conclusion: Overall, the bumper has performed just like I expected with very few surprises, which is exactly how I like it! If you have a 5th gen 4Runner and are looking for more protection and utility on the rear of the truck.
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