Rear Bumper Protection via Shackle Hitch Receiver

Protect Rear Bumpers Off Road

Vehicles with long rear overhangs like the Jeep Gladiator, Toyota Tacoma or Tundra, Lexus GX and other overland rigs can easily add protection from trail impacts using a shackle hitch receiver (“recovery point”). These devices are inserted into your existing hitch and lock in place using a hitch pin. Their primary function is to provide a rear recovery point. This can be useful if you need to be pulled from a tough spot using a tow strap, or do the pulling. However, because they extend beyond the hitch by several inches they also become the first point of contact when your vehicle rolls off a rock ledge, goes through a ditch, or other scenarios that would normally cause your rear bumper to impact the trail. (See video proof at the bottom of this article!)

– Page Contains Affiliate Links – Why? (click here to expand)

We lose money every month producing the TX:GX Overland website and YouTube channel. Creating content takes time and money – we have to pay for:

Website and WordPress hosting
Trip videos that cost money for fuel, admissions fees at parks/events, and wear and tear on our vehicle
An enormous amount of our time producing this site and the videos (I won’t even begin to calculate that cost!)

Basically, we lose money every month. We use affiliate links and YouTube monetization to try to reduce this monthly loss but they don’t pay much. We lose about $20 per month just from our website costs (not including trip costs). Purchases made via this website using affiliate links sometimes result in us making a small commission (usually 2-4%) that we use to keep the lights on. But since we lose about $20 per month (not including trip fees) you can see we are definitely not “in it for the money” – we do this out of a love for helping other people enjoy the outdoors and overlanding, to help people get started and find gear to make their trips more successful, and to produce videos that inspire and entertain our viewers. Even though we lose money each month, we are committed to helping the world we live in. Please read “Who Our Affiliate Links Benefit” to see a list of the causes and charitable organizations we donate to. Thank you for your understanding!

– Who Our Affiliate Links Benefit (click here to expand)

TX:GX Overland is about experiencing the outdoors and doing so in a responsible, sustainable way. Without the trees, the forests, the clean babbling brooks and the open trails we enjoy while overlanding we simply couldn’t exist. Therefore, we are committed to helping organizations that support our outdoor adventures. Though we do not make a profit from the TX:GX Overland website or YouTube channel we still make donations to worthwhile causes. We make donations to the following organizations:

OneTreePlanted
Tread Lightly

We have reviewed these organizations and determined they fit our purpose. We do not have the resources to do an exhaustive background check of their prior/current activities, partnerships, board members, etc. so if they are “doing something bad” we’re not aware of it. We hope our donations to these organizations is doing the world some good – if you disagree with these choices we respect your decision, please respect ours.

The Rhino USA Shackle Hitch Receiver is not a cure all solution – damage can still occur to your bumper under the right circumstances – but it has helped us avoid dozens of rear bumper impacts over our years of trail driving. Our shackle hitch receiver bears the scratches and dings of trail rash to prove that it’s serving as the first line of defense. And at $34, it’s an affordable alternative to costly body damage!