Honest Review of the Trail Gear Low Profile Bumper for 1st Gen Tacomas

I have heard a lot of mixed opinions on Trail Gear products and trying to research this stuff on the internet is typically a quagmire of bickering with strangers rather than a presentation of facts. For anyone who is interested in this bumper, I hope this review is useful. I'll try to include all of the information I could not previously find online. My first question that took forever to find out is if the bolt-on crossmember is included in the price of the low profile front bumper. The answer is yes. I know people these days have short attention spans so I'd better throw in some photos now.

Before:

After:


I'm slowly adding functional upgrades to my truck but I still want to keep it as lightweight as possible. I sorta prefer the look of plate bumpers, but on Trail Gear's web site the low profile bumper was listed at only 52 lbs. The low weight intrigued me and the low price made me simultaneously excited and suspicious. I ordered it from Low Range Off Road because they're local to me and in case I didn't like the quality, I could return it in person and avoid paying shipping.

They e-mailed me right away to tell me it was on backorder. I expected a wait of weeks or months, but a few days later they e-mailed and called to tell me it was here. Everyone there was uber-polite when I picked it up and they had me loaded up and ready in no time. Thank you @Low Range Off-Road, your customer service is excellent.

Seeing it in real life rather than online, everything is much thicker and heavier than it appears in photos. The welds look great:


The bolt-on crossmember, receiver and winch mount are 1/4" plate:


The bumper, crossmember and hardware felt a lot heavier than 52 lbs., even with all packaging removed. I weighed the Trail Gear and OEM bumper with a digital scale because I wanted to know exactly how much weight I would gain over stock:

Trail Gear Low Profile Bumper: 60 lbs.
Trail Gear bolt-on crossmember including hardware: 27 lbs.
OEM outer bumper: 17 lbs.
OEM inner bumper and crossmember including hardware: 10 lbs.

So the Trail Gear parts really weigh 87 lbs, more than I expected and dangerously close to the 100+ lbs. of a plate bumper. But the OEM inner/outer bumpers get removed, so the weight gain is only 60 lbs. over stock. When I add a winch with synthetic line I should be around 110-125 lbs over stock, which is slightly more than a plate bumper without a winch, so no harm done.

No going back to stock now. OEM bumper mounts are chopped off:


The bolt-on crossmember is a tight fit and a whore to get on. First I tried to hold it in place by hand, but when I'd pound on one side with a deadblow hammer, the other side would pop off of the frame. I used a trolley jack and a chunk of 2X4 to hold it in place, then I had to jack it up and put pressure on it so I could pound one side without the other side coming off. I didn't take any photos of that because I was getting pissed and running out of time before I had to get ready for work. Then I thought there would be a tedious process of adjusting and centering the tube bumper on the crossmember. To my great relief, once the crossmember is bolted in place, you can zap the tube bumper on with an impact wrench and it self-centers in perfect position.

The right side is kind of a mess, with the wiper fluid reservoir and a bunch of wiring hanging out. The wiring is for the turn signal, wiper fluid pump and one of the horns. First I tried to camouflage it and looked OK from a distance, but up close it looked like ass:


I relocated the blinkers to the corner housings using @PcBuilder14's method:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/01-04-blinker-relocation-mod.305152/


I pulled out the stock wiper fluid reservoir and put a junkyard 1993-2004 Kia Sportage reservoir behind the airbox in the engine bay:

Here is a write-up for that:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-wiper-fluid-reservoir-relocation-for-1st-gen-tacomas.441906/

For the horn wiring, I pulled it up into the engine compartment and routed it behind the headlight:


I'll probably cut off more of this sheet metal but it looks much better now and both sides match:


I saw on various forums some people were complaining that the Trail Gear bumper needs to be angled back a few degrees. I understand what they're seeing if I squat down low. If you put a square to it you can see that the bumper fitment is fine, but the front fenders angle slightly upward:


The last thing I cared about when I bought this winch bumper was on-pavement handling. But this flimsy-ass stock crossmember had to be causing loads of chassis flex:

Replacing it with the 1/4" plate crossmember completely changed the on-road behavior for the better. It's controlled and smooth going over bumps, instead of bucky and jittery. Cornerning feels very planted and in crosswinds it is a lot more stable and requires far fewer steering adjustments. It is now surprisingly civilized on pavement for a small truck with pizza cutter tires.

I sold the OEM parts for $100.00 on local classifieds so my net cost after tax for the Trail Gear bumper was only $412.00. The front tire clearance is superb and I've grown to love the appearance even though I initially preferred plate bumpers. I'm quite pleased that when I get a winch I only have to pop the grille off to install it, rather than remove the whole bumper. I'm very happy with the Trail Gear low profile bumper. It is much higher quality and much more stout than I expected.

 

I liked mine so much, I bought the TG sliders & rear bumper too! Great write up by the way. I bought bolt on sliders since they had the gussets welded on already but then I had the sliders welded on cause I didn't want 32 holes drilled into my frame

 

Great review. I would be interested in the wiper fluid reservoir write up for sure.

 

Looks good, what do you think of the rear bumper? Can you post some pictures of the mounting points?
Thank you.

 

They are the same as the stock if I remember correctly, here are a couple pics to give you an idea. I love this bumper, the only complaint is hit will hold mud on the sides, more of a VERY minor inconvenience.

 

Here is my Tacoma, it needs a new rear bumper

 

I updated the thread with the link for that, but here it is for your convenience:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/diy-wiper-fluid-reservoir-relocation-for-1st-gen-tacomas.441906/

 

It was time for an oil change today and the stock skid plate, which easily went right onto the Trail Gear crossmember when I installed it in July, would NOT come off until I went neanderthal on it. The culprit was these stupid hooks that were only needed for the OEM crossmember. They contact the front of the radiator so the skid plate can't be pulled back and angled down to remove it. So if you're going to use your stock skid plate with the Trail Gear bumper and crossmember, cut these off:

It makes it a lot easier to re-install the stock skid plate if you tack on this metal strip with weld nuts that comes with the TG crossmember:

I also had to get some M8X40MM cap screws for the front of the skid plate, the originals are not long enough.

If I paint over the rust and dirt enough times, my stock skid plate will eventually become 1/4" thick, right?

 

Looks like you hit a bambi with that thing. Can you still smell it?

 

This is the TG low profile bumper with light bar. I was concerned about how a winch would fit, and the 10k trail gear winch required cutting some of the grill. I installed all three skid row skid plates and am very happy. I removed the rear seat and built a chest with draws and top side hinged lids. I also installed dual batteries and am in process of building an auxiliary fuel cell between rear wheel wells not to rise above or extend pass them. I will be measuring tomorrow but estimated close to 30 gallons. I have an extra leaf now but will probably go with Deaver 10 pack. I understand truck should sit properly and support 600 to 800 pounds load. I know CB radios are on way out, but one fits very well in ash tray slot. If interested in additional lights, consider Black Oak. I have the 20 inch bar up front offering 22k lumens and two pods in the rear providing I think 1320 each.

 

nice white truck and bullet proof

 

Thanks for the compliment. Sounds like you need a build thread to show off the cool shit you're doing to your truck. CB's work where cell phones don't. Lots of people still use them.

 

As an opinionated asshole on the Internet i am forced to say that the placement of that lightbar bothers me on a deep level.

 

Only if I roll lol it, I have many miles back country hunting and it be fine, but I understand. It is the side panels that get ripped in to lol because of the narrow passages thru the forest. It can take weeks to cut thru with a chain saw lol.

 

It would look better inside the light hoop. But hey, it's your set up. If that's how you like it then F everyone else. That light bar doesn't look like it would fit inside the hoop anyways. I have mine on top of my TG low pro bumper. I really want to relocate it somewhere else. I don't like how mine sticks up & blocks my grill.

 

Put it behind the grill.

 

It would look better within the light bar, and it does look terrible, but the winch was difficult, otherwise i would have fabricated something to center it properly; if I wire the winch differently, I will do so. The only good aside from awful looks, is it works really well lol. I am sure you too appreciate the light your two light bars provide. I have a light pod mounted behind cab above bed on each side for a rear view.

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