LR3 rear bumper+dual swing outs

[zelatore]

A day late and a dollar short as they say...

I'd have LOVED another front bumper option instead of the ARB or Tactical. The ARB is almost boring in that they are relatively common, and frankly I'm not all that impressed with it. Mine was a 'bolt on' - with the help of a grinder, sawzall, and welder that is! And the fact that it doesn't integrate recover points or skids doesn't thrill me. OK, I know it's more of a bull bar than a rock crawler bumper, but still.

The Tactical on the other hand looks more robust and has better approach angles, but the style is a bit too 'tacticool' for my taste. And I haven't actually seen one in person.

Who knows....maybe I'll fall in love with your offerings when you get them to market and swap out my ARB anyway. (the wife would LOVE that )

 

[zelatore]

I should probably update my ARB saga.

I did get it installed last weekend. My friend Pedram came up and looked at it as well just to make sure I wasn't missing something completely obvious but he agreed - it just didn't fit.

We ended up cutting/re-welding the passenger side impact absorber to make things work. There were a few other little tweaks, like the washer bottle not quite fitting behind the stone guard and some other mounting holes that needed elongated, but no other heavy mods.

I have a full saga over on the NorCal Rovers site here, starting with post 15:
http://norcalrovers.org/forum/showthread.php?2596-LR3-bumper-time/page2

I did contact ARB prior to taking the cutter to it but they didn't have any real thoughts. They verified I had the right part numbers and from my photos they thought everything looked right but didn't know what the issue might be. This was on Friday, and they said they would talk with one of their other guys who might have a little more knowledge on the LR3/4 as they really don't have a lot of experience with them at this point. Of course, I didn't want to wait and I figured they wouldn't find anything anyway so on Sunday we did the install. I did get a follow up email from them on Tuesday saying they were still looking into it and possibly something on the bracket had been welded wrong, but I told them not to worry about it any further since we had made it fit.

I don't want to bad-mouth ARB. I know others have be able to simply bolt them on with no drama, but I also know some have had to do some mods like I did. They did try to provide support and may have come up with something if I had given them more time but I have a deadline for an upcoming trip and only so many weekends to work on the truck prior to leaving. Hey, at least they actually sell a bumper for this truck - that makes them one of only 2 options currently on the US market.

 

[perkj]

I should probably update my ARB saga.

I did get it installed last weekend. My friend Pedram came up and looked at it as well just to make sure I wasn't missing something completely obvious but he agreed - it just didn't fit.

We ended up cutting/re-welding the passenger side impact absorber to make things work. There were a few other little tweaks, like the washer bottle not quite fitting behind the stone guard and some other mounting holes that needed elongated, but no other heavy mods.

I have a full saga over on the NorCal Rovers site here, starting with post 15:
http://norcalrovers.org/forum/showthread.php?2596-LR3-bumper-time/page2

I did contact ARB prior to taking the cutter to it but they didn't have any real thoughts. They verified I had the right part numbers and from my photos they thought everything looked right but didn't know what the issue might be. This was on Friday, and they said they would talk with one of their other guys who might have a little more knowledge on the LR3/4 as they really don't have a lot of experience with them at this point. Of course, I didn't want to wait and I figured they wouldn't find anything anyway so on Sunday we did the install. I did get a follow up email from them on Tuesday saying they were still looking into it and possibly something on the bracket had been welded wrong, but I told them not to worry about it any further since we had made it fit.

I don't want to bad-mouth ARB. I know others have be able to simply bolt them on with no drama, but I also know some have had to do some mods like I did. They did try to provide support and may have come up with something if I had given them more time but I have a deadline for an upcoming trip and only so many weekends to work on the truck prior to leaving. Hey, at least they actually sell a bumper for this truck - that makes them one of only 2 options currently on the US market.

I think jumping to a conclusion that ARB is at fault for the poor fitment is a preliminary. I suspect the more likely scenario is that your LR3 may have had front end damage at some point in the past. The reason I think this is the likely scenario is that the brackets that you were unable to get to properly line up are simply bolted straight to the frame bumper mount horns. If those frame horn mount points aren't exactly where they came out of the factory, then one would have to expect the ARB bumper to not fit exactly right. I believe these frame horns having likely been bent, ever so slightly, from a light front end impact is what is throwing everything off. It would be interesting to get some measurement frame horn to frame horn (and maybe some other front end measurement points) from your LR3 and compare it to an LR3 known with absolute certainty to never have had front end damage. If the measurement came up the same, then ARB would be clearly to blame.

Aside from having to follow the 80+ steps to get the ARB bumper on, mine went on extremely smoothly and didn't have a single fitment issue.

 

[unseenone]

In all fairness it stands to reason if it was previously installed, there must have been a difference, perhaps something bent. If it is not to bad, a body shop may be able to bend things back to where they are supposed to be. That being said, I have heard quite a few complaints online about fitment issues, that's easy enough to verify by doing a little searching.

It might be worthwhile visiting a body shop, and ask them to have a look, or compare to another LR and see if there are differences.

 

[roverandom]

IMO you guys are missing a few minor points: the RRC bumpers were slabs of steel and, other than being a C-section vs. flat steel, not much different in mounting, weight, etc than a Model-T's bumper (come to think of it, the RRC design is nearly half as old as the Model-T 8-o ). And the LR3's bumper saves fuel (weight, aerodynamics), is safer for vehicle occupants and occupants of other vehicles or pedestrians, and is integrated into the vehicle's styling much more than a straight C-section of steel could ever be. It actually is progress... And, just like the electronics which make the vehicles cleaner, more efficient, more powerful and more reliable (even LR's lol), it's not going away anymore. And you can still do pretty much everything you could 30 years ago - it just takes different skills and tools. The fact that someone had an Erector Set as a kid no longer qualifies him as a mechanic. And Erector Set cars like the Defender or the Beetle are a thing of the past. If LR makes the Defender replacement versatile, it will allow different body configurations on one platform and possibly allow the addition of various accessories. It will never be the bolt together thing the Defender was since 1948.
.

Fair enough, but I still think they are too difficult to modify for the average owner and too limited in their stock configuration for anything serious and that is what is being missed at Solihull lately.

If it didn't say 'Land Rover' on the front very few people would even bother trying.

Actually a model T bumper is a very good design. Basically a huge metal spring to absorb impacts sustained as a result of terrible brakes. In the last 100 years brakes have become stronger and bumpers have become weaker.

Not all development is progress.

That's coming from a guy that owns more than eight Series One's so that should tell you something about my enthusiasm for modern technology.

I'm off now to throw my wooden shoes into the wife's LR3 engine bay.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[zelatore]

I think jumping to a conclusion that ARB is at fault for the poor fitment is a preliminary. I suspect the more likely scenario is that your LR3 may have had front end damage at some point in the past. The reason I think this is the likely scenario is that the brackets that you were unable to get to properly line up are simply bolted straight to the frame bumper mount horns. If those frame horn mount points aren't exactly where they came out of the factory, then one would have to expect the ARB bumper to not fit exactly right. I believe these frame horns having likely been bent, ever so slightly, from a light front end impact is what is throwing everything off. It would be interesting to get some measurement frame horn to frame horn (and maybe some other front end measurement points) from your LR3 and compare it to an LR3 known with absolute certainty to never have had front end damage. If the measurement came up the same, then ARB would be clearly to blame.

Aside from having to follow the 80+ steps to get the ARB bumper on, mine went on extremely smoothly and didn't have a single fitment issue.

I can't rule out the truck being at fault. I'm the second owner and don't know it's full history beyond what the carfax shows (no wrecks) and what the dealer reported when I bought it (because salesmen know everything and would never lie). I did look around for any signs of damage and couldn't find anything around the frame horns or radiator support, etc but then again I'm not a body man so that doesn't mean all that much.
As we know, there are plenty of people who have just bolted them straight on and plenty who have had fitment issues. Either way, it is what it is and I can only put my experience out there as another data point.