ARB Solid Rear Bumper

[ethernectar]

Who has the solid (no swing outs) rear bumper from ARB? How has it held up? Did any of the group that hit Moab have one, if so how did it fare?

Thanks!

Matt

 

[codyaustin5]

Who has the solid (no swing outs) rear bumper from ARB? How has it held up? Did any of the group that hit Moab have one, if so how did it fare?

Thanks!

Matt

@mcgaskins has one. He was in Breck with us. I was leaning towards it until I hooked up with TT and was able to do custom stuff.

 

[GoISU]

I have the ARB non swing out rear, haven't dropped the truck onto any ledges with it but the fit and finish seems good.

 

[mcgaskins]

I have it, and out here in CO you cannot avoid hitting the bumper when you go wheeling. I've been very impressed with how well it's held up, and for the money it's hard to beat. Is the Slee one more robust? I'm sure it is, but it should be for ~400% the cost. I personally don't like swingouts, so other than custom the ARB is likely the best option especially at less than $1k.

 

[Atwalz]

Side wing brackets are weak. Greg was running arb swing out option. Other than that it's a good bumper. I imagine it is same strength for non swing out option.

 

[ckkone]

Good looking bumper, didn't even know it existed.

 

[TexAZ]

Definitely check with @Canyonero , his rear bumper got pretty mis-shapen in moab. The tailgate didn't close right because of the bumper tweak.
Bases on observations made during the run outta hell, the ARB bumper wasn't designed to take the no d of hits we were throwing at it.

Tony seemed to do fine with his trail tailor bumper. And, Kamal did fine with his custom bumper.

Willie beamin and a few others love the RLC bumper from Kentucky. Travis said it has taken a few hard hits with no deflection.

 

[ethernectar]

Thanks all,

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the level "7" box has been permanently checked in my book. I think the ARB solid is different than the one with swingouts. I'll call them next week and see. I don't want to deal with swingouts on a daily basis.

 

[indycole]

Thanks all,

Yeah, I'm pretty sure the level "7" box has been permanently checked in my book. I think the ARB solid is different than the one with swingouts. I'll call them next week and see. I don't want to deal with swingouts on a daily basis.

If ARB doesn't work out, Trail-Tailor is setting up shop soon in CA. Not sure if you saw Cody's TT non-swingout bumper but it was pretty nice.

 

[TonyP]

It'll be a few months but Jason will be in northern California... I think.

When we met up a couple of weeks ago we spoke of some good revisions/improvements to make the thing even more bullet proof than it already is.

If you're willing to wait until he's moved, that's definitely a good option too.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

If ARB doesn't work out, Trail-Tailor is setting up shop soon in CA. Not sure if you saw Cody's TT non-swingout bumper but it was pretty nice.

It'll be a few months but Jason will be in northern California... I think.

When we met up a couple of weeks ago we spoke of some good revisions/improvements to make the thing even more bullet proof than it already is.

If you're willing to wait until he's moved, that's definitely a good option too.

@codyaustin5 has the non swing arm version. Both versions will get two extra plates to strengthen it even more.

I'll be in Redding, CA soon and will be a full turnkey shop. No more waiting on cut shops to get me parts. I'll be able to make everything in-house moving forward. I added the Hi-Def cut table and a 100 ton CNC press brake to my equipment capabilities.

I've also started the CAD files for the sensor cutouts. So, they will fit perfectly snug with OEM fasteners.

Jason

 

[Haggis]

I have it and can report no issues, very robust.

 

[FerzLC]

It'll be a few months but Jason will be in northern California... I think.

When we met up a couple of weeks ago we spoke of some good revisions/improvements to make the thing even more bullet proof than it already is.

If you're willing to wait until he's moved, that's definitely a good option too.

Where in Northern Cal? I'm in Sonoma county and would be interested in one.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Where in Northern Cal? I'm in Sonoma county and would be interested in one.

See above, Redding, CA.

J

 

[FerzLC]

See above, Redding, CA.

J

Thanks duh. Beautiful. Bit of a trek from me. I'm sure it will Be worth it.

 

[Canyonero]

The ARB bumper has multiple flaws, IMO, and here they are:

1- the swingout mechanism is clunky. Never really adjusts well, hard to close, a pain to open. Not very well engineered.
2- the "wings" are probably the most important part of the bumper, as they provide protection to the rear of your truck on both sides. These wings are braced with a cheesy piece of steel that cannot take the weight of our truck if it comes down hard. The wings push up into your rear rocker panels. **easy fix - replace the brace for the wing with a much stouter piece of steel.** for the price, you should not have to "fix" any engineering flaws.
3- the lights on the bumper should be LED, not those cheesy cheap lights ARB currently runs.
4- Where the wings mount to the center piece of the bumper, there are rubber inserts. These get caught on everything, fill the bumper up with dirt, sand and rocks and are a pain to make flush again.

Other than that, it's a great bumper.

I've heard many say they don't "want to deal with a swingout." I get that, but I have to plug Slee's rear bumper with swingout here. That mechanism is designed as easy to operate as car door. And if you're doing any real off-roading, you need a full-size spare. You don't want that spare on your roof (raised CoG) and you don't want it in your rig. I also think the fit and finish on the Slee swingout rear are better than ARB - it's just a better bumper overall. Yeah it's expensive. But we drive 200 Series Land Cruisers, not 10-year-old jeep wranglers. You get what you pay for.

 

[KLF]

I had ARB bumpers F&R on my FJ62, and the rear one was surprising flimsy. It looked cool, but the ends caved in at the slightest impact. It would stop a 'roo, but not much else.

But I really don't want a swingout. It would suck to have to open the garage door just to be able to get into the back of the truck to fetch something.

 

[TonyP]

I had ARB bumpers F&R on my FJ62, and the rear one was surprising flimsy. It looked cool, but the ends caved in at the slightest impact. It would stop a 'roo, but not much else.
View attachment 1539230
View attachment 1539231

But I really don't want a swingout. It would suck to have to open the garage door just to be able to get into the back of the truck to fetch something.

My 200 is parked in an average 2 car garage and I can open the swing arms with plenty of room to spare.

 

[KLF]

Well I can barely open my upper gate with the garage door down.

 

[TexAZ]

If you like one particular bumper, but don't want the swing out, just remove it and put a sleeve over the spindle.

The vendors are making these using fairly standard components (save for slee making custom one off latches).
If you were ordering a $1500-4000 bumper, I would hope that the vendor would sell an extra piece of hardware to delete the swing arm.
if you look at places that sell spindle kits for DIY bumpers, the whole spindle kit is only $100-150.