ARB Bullbar Mods

[cruiseroutfit]

I wouldn't be so worried about the mounts themselves but rather damaging the air-bag "crush cans" behind the bumper

 

[robert]

To open a can of worms and a portal into insanity;

How about adding recovery points to the front of a 2nd Gen Tacoma ARB?

Opinions range from "its easy" to "you'll shoot your eye out". How did you do it? Where did you source them? How did you make the mounting location strong enough? Or, how did you find out where or how not to mount them?

I added some to the front of mine. I ordered some shackle mounts off eBay that someone else had recommended and had some plates cut to match the front cross member, the thick one that is part of the winch mount. The welding shop then welded the mounts to the plates and the plates to the bumper with the idea that it would help spread the load a little better. The shop does welding on heavy equipment and is certified for NDT, load testing, etc. so hopefully he knows what he's talking about but his opinion was that it'd hold any load that the bumper and frame could take. I'm at work for the next month but I'll try to remember to get some pictures when I get back.

I'd wanted to add a couple of points down lower but the bolts holding my factory tow hooks snapped when I was trying to take them off- yep, I'd soaked them in Kroil overnight and the things still broke. I haven't gotten around to drilling them out yet.

Speaking of bumper mods, I added the ARB foglight assemblies to my earlier model bumper and moved my winch control box under the hood so I could put an LED bar on the front. After seeing those brackets from Labrack I may have to give them a try too.

 

[ADVW/Liam]

Pictures!

I think we're gonna need some pics of the recovery mods to the 2nd Gen Tacoma ARB bar.

 

[robert]

I won't be back in the States till the end of the month but I can get a picture then.

 

[chmura]

Looks like these are for sale now.

http://shop.labrak.com/ARB-Bumper-Fog-Light-Assembly-Upgrade-ARB-light.htm