Self Installation of ARB Deluxe Winch Bar + Winch

[Stuart Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stuart]

Hi Forum,

I was wondering if anyone here has installed an ARB bar themselves, and if so, do they have any tips at all? I'm pretty good with a set of spanners, and I've done electrical engineering, so that's no problem. I just bawked a bit at the $450 price tag to install both winch and bar and figured it'd be a weekend job with me and a mate.

Would love to hear from anyone who's done it. If this is in the wrong area, I apologise in advance.

Cheers!

Stuart.

[PradOz Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close PradOz]

plenty of good reading, advice and instructions here:

http://www.pradopoint.com/showthread...e+instructions

suggest you check welds on the chassis support brackets [the ones with the loops] and reinforce the welds before you install the bar

probably take you the weekend to do both bar and winch including electrical

[croozza Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close croozza]

Hi Forum,

I was wondering if anyone here has installed an ARB bar themselves, and if so, do they have any tips at all? I'm pretty good with a set of spanners, and I've done electrical engineering, so that's no problem. I just bawked a bit at the $450 price tag to install both winch and bar and figured it'd be a weekend job with me and a mate.

Would love to hear from anyone who's done it. If this is in the wrong area, I apologise in advance.

Cheers!

Stuart.

Hey Stuart
Yes it is an easy job, I put an ARB Sahara bar and winch on my Prado by my self, and it will be the same process with the bar you have, leave all the protective wrap on the bar, you need to put the winch in the bar before fitting the bar to the vehicle, and attach the bar mounts to the chassis, you will then need to have a trolley jack, and place it under the location where the bar is to be fitted, place a rag over the metal claw of the jack, raise the jack to a suitable height, lift the bull bar up onto the jack, then raise the jack so that the bar presses against the rim of the guards, insert the bolts and do the nuts up finger tight, then adjust the bar to the correct height and level with the jack, then just wire up the winch and lights.

[Stuart Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Stuart]

Hi croozza,

Thanks so much for your post. It sounds promising! I didn't think it'd be overly complex. But good points noted above about the trolley jack etc. I'll have a couple of mates on hand to help me lift and position it. So hopefully it won't be too much of a mongrel.

Cheers!

Stuart.

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Good luck lifting both the bar and winch with a trolley jack, sounds like disaster waiting to happen. I used an engine crane with load adjuster on the top bar. Winch was later fitted into the bar using the crane to again support the bar whilst undoing all the nuts. I marked the position of the bar so it would bolt back into the same spot. I also used some thread locker on all the nuts just to be sure they don't work loose.

[Lorenzo Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Lorenzo]

Hey Stuart
Yes it is an easy job, I put an ARB Sahara bar and winch on my Prado by my self, and it will be the same process with the bar you have, leave all the protective wrap on the bar, you need to put the winch in the bar before fitting the bar to the vehicle, and attach the bar mounts to the chassis, you will then need to have a trolley jack, and place it under the location where the bar is to be fitted, place a rag over the metal claw of the jack, raise the jack to a suitable height, lift the bull bar up onto the jack, then raise the jack so that the bar presses against the rim of the guards, insert the bolts and do the nuts up finger tight, then adjust the bar to the correct height and level with the jack, then just wire up the winch and lights.

Hey,

I'm doing this tomorrow afternoon, removing a sov br for the ARB one.

do you guys reckon I can rip the bar off and put the new one on (excluding electrical and no winch) in 2-3 hours?

I'm going to remove the spotlights and antenna tonight ahead of time so when I start I can just start unbolting things right away.

Going to be 2 of us doing it. Also, has anyone got some better instructions then the ARB ones? They leave a lot to be desired!!!