Custom bull bars

Post by **zook7177** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 11:34 pm

I need help. I want to make a bull bar for the front of my zook but, the mounts (chassis rail holes) are they strong enough, will i be able to bolt on to the new bullbar my new recovery point. Can i get some photos of mounts and bullbars for help. Thanks fellow zookers

Post by **Highway-Star** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 7:48 am

I personally think the standard bar mounts are garbage. That said I used them in my custom bar, but I used them as 'locaters' and in conjuction with a far better system.

I chpped the ends off of the front cross member tube. Rammed 2 pieces of 40mmx10mm (I think thats what it was) steel flat along the whole length of the front tube (rienforcement for recovery). The bar has welded inside it 2 custom made spring U-bolts, to suit the application, they are welded around a piece of 60mm OD steam pipe which is welded inside the bullbar itself again. The open end of the U-bolts then slide over the front tube crossmember, which is then fastened on the inside by two Toyota Hilux 2.4 Diesel conrod caps.

Problems with system: Takes about 2 hours to fit the bar to the car, and its very tedious. Weighs allot, inverted my front springs; though the car is about 10 times more comfortable now

.

If you want pictures I might be able to do something this arvo if I finish uni early enough.

Post by **zook7177** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:39 am

pics would be great, really sounds the goods nice and strong

Post by **dank** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 8:57 am

want33s had a better quicker and probably nearly as strong setup on his. search on this topic and you'll find heaps of info mate. there are heaps of pics of peoples bars floating around.

Post by **spamwell** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:00 am

i cut the out riggers off and welded 10mm plate to the end to mount my bar onto

Post by **want33s** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:10 am

Post by **cjdeane10** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 9:55 am

I like the fact that with want33's you can still attach the standard bumper over the top...

I am having trouble with that tube rubbing on bigger tyres, with the standard bumper.

Get the angle grinder out - I am inspired!

Post by **want33s** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 10:49 am

When I first bought mine the 2" body lift and 31's were already on it.
The pipe was intact but it had been redrilled forward and trimmed to gain about 10-15mm extra.
The first mod I did was to cut those silly pipes off and make a winch bar.
Have fun.

Post by **cjdeane10** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 11:09 am

My next plan of attack was going to be - cut the pipes at the chassis, get another length of pipe (long enough to go accross the whole front of the car) and re-weld the mounts to that...

it would move the whole bumper forward by enough to fit the bigger tyres, and the standard bumper could be re-fitted to cover any of the dodgy welding i had done!

Dunno, but in WA, a tube bar looks like cop-bait (to me)!
want 33's idea looks the goods tho!

Post by **Highway-Star** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 2:31 pm

Want33's system is very good, and I looked at it one another thread on here somwhere when I was building mine. However it is setup for a body liftted vehicle. I'm not willing to body lift my car, so I devised a different method.

That said, my system would be somewhat poor for a vehicle with a body lift; you'd end up with a very tall front bumper at the very least.

I'll try to get up some photos, but looks like I'll be at uni till late today, so they might be in artificial light.

Post by **cjdeane10** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 3:13 pm

Mine will be getting a 2" BL (hopefully on Sunday).

So i will wait until after we fix that up before trying to cut the bumper.

But i may still weld/bolt a new straight bar on, just incase i ever want to remove the BL at a later stage.

Post by **want33s** » Fri Oct 19, 2007 4:49 pm

I have two pieces of steel that bolt to the end of the pipe and are made to lift the bumper 2". Sitting in my shed. Anyone want them? PM me.
UPDATE* CjDeane has got them now!

Post by **built4thrashing** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 9:50 pm

a couple of pics of mine.

Post by **Try_Me** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:14 pm

built4thrashing wrote:a couple of pics of mine.

got any pics of mounting etc like it allot

Post by **zook7177** » Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:46 pm

very nice, but can you post pics of how it mounted, looks great, simple and tough

Post by **suzuki boy** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:52 pm

B4T bar is an absolute riper!

Nice and tucked up! BAck into the car just the right place and is mounted so strong if he bends it or what ever i will buy him a beer!

Post by **v840** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:00 pm

B4T, do you have trouble with your fairlead hitting rocks etc.?

Post by **dank** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 9:15 pm

I used to have issues with smashing my fairlead on rocks all the time with my ARB bar...but I got synthetic rope now and aluminum hawse fairlead...heaps better approach...

Post by **Gwagensteve** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:11 pm

Here's some ideas from the shed.

Bear in mind, in all seriousness, If you can just buy an ARB bar for your application, do it. The work involved and the compromises in doing it yourself just makes it not worth it. All three of these were welded to the chassis, so they're not legal, but they didn't break

Critta's stinger.

Greg's capisze- very quickly done to clean up the front end and a kinda messy chassis extension.

The Trolley tug. This will take a winch.... but the car doesn't seem to really need one.

Bear in mind... both my car and the last car I helped build - Greg's black car, run variously modified narrowed/liifted ARB bars- trying to replicate all the work aRB put into them isn't practical.

Steve.

Post by **84ZOOKSTA** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:15 pm

here is mine...

Post by **nicbeer** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 11:41 pm

mine.

modified arb bar to suit the 2" BL.

ended up making a piece of box for each chassis rail and then modding and welding the bar to make it fit with it.

end results are below, seems as strong or more than it originally was.

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