Reunel has done swing-arms for a while, but the design had some flaws, and when Buckstop bought out Reunel and moved them in-house, they stopped that for a while. I've now had both on my van.
Mine was the first of the current design, but it all started when I dropped off my old Reunel (pre-Buckstop) bumper for re-furb and upgrading, and they ended up just doing a whole new setup for me, because they weren't happy with the welds on the old bumper. Plus, adapting the new pivot design to the old bumper, was going to require a bunch of new gussets and other work anyways.
True, you aren't saving much over Aluminess, but I stayed with Buckstop for a few reasons:
1) It's a true class-5 hitch receiver, rated for 20,000 pounds. I tow a lot. And tow heavy.
2) The new pivot system is very robust, and not susceptible to rusting or wearing out. And more important to me, it does connect to the door hinge. This introduces door slop, and since the E-series is body-on-frame, there's movement between the body and bumper, and this is VERY noticeable when towing heavy, and accelerates the issues with hinge-mounted supports.
3) I have no reservations jacking from a steel bumper.
4) It takes a lot to damage one, but if you do, it can be repaired.
5) The hitch-receiver is higher, so you don't lose departure angle like a regular below-the-frame receiver.
There are some disadvantages too:
-They are heavy. A heavy conversion on an EB van is often already overloaded on the rear axle.
-It's steel. If you scratch all the way through the powder-coat, it can rust. I haven't had any rust issues, but OR also doesn't use road salt.
So, here it fully installed (their is a pic on their website of my van, but the swing-arms are bare), and also will 16,000+ plus pounds hooked up, with ~5,500 pounds tongue weight. (12x60 office trailer)
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2000 E450 dually V10 wagon
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