I had a Aluminess on my 2003 Super Duty. I thought the overall design was fine and well built.
There were several design issues that bothered me.
1. With the tire carrier swing arm deployed and locked in place, I could not open the camper door and attach the door's gust lock. This could have been remedied by locating the swing arm gust lock about 10 degrees in the more open position.
2. Aluminess did not use a fixing jig to weld the brackets for the in-bumper lights. Once the lights were installed they were grossly misaligned. This required fabricating adapters to get the lights aligned in the holes.
There were a few other issues that were more inconveniences that I would have designed and fabricated differently if customer input was acceptable.
I have not bought an Aluminess for my 2016 Super Duty.
When the truck was new, I bought and installed a
TrailReady front winch bumper. Very happy with the design and fabrication of this bumper! But, they forgot to weld the receiver into the bumper during fabrication! My money for this option was refunded but I had planned on using the front receiver. So all small boutique companies have their issues.
Trail Ready offered to make a custom rear bumper for my new Super Duty, but, we never discussed price. They would have needed the truck as well.
Even thought they do not advertise as fabricating for my Super Duty,
CBI Offoad has told me several times if I stop by their shop in Idaho Falls, ID they will take all necessary measurements and design and fabricate a rear bumper for me. No idea of the cost.
Having visited CBI at the last several OXs, I am very impressed with both their design and fabrication skills. If you've welded for a living, you can see excellent fabrication technique and skillset in their products. For me, the downside to CBI, I'm not sure a single swingarm is capable of carrying the load of my spare tire AND other stuff. Nor does CBI offer a box on the rear such as Aluminess. I did not have an enclosed box on my Aluminess and that was a mistake as a lockable box would have been far more useful than the open-style 4 jerry can box I ordered.
The only issue I have making my own bumper, I don't have access to the large jigs and fixtures required to hold the plates square and at proper angles while welding. Do you need jigs and fixtures? Perhaps not if all the angles are 90', but, failing to use appropriate jigs/fixtures will give your project...well that back yard fabrication look IMO.
