Bull bar purchase for 120 series prado

[Grinch Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Grinch]

Hi

I have a 2003 auto petrol Prado and am considering a bull bar, any suggestions on make/type, are nudge bars sufficient or are they an urban bar?

I take the family mainly on fire trails but I am starting to travel at night towing a caravan and am worried about being struck by animals in rural areas.

Also do the manufacture tie down mounts on the front of the vehicle rate as recovery points or am I required to have new points installed, if this is the case can you recommend any please?

thanks for any assistance you are able to provide me, BTW I will probably have many more questions, hope you don't mind?

kind regards

Anthony

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

G'day Grinch and welcome to the party.

i'll start off by suggesting that if you do a quick search you'll find heaps of posts on both bullbars and the front recovery points.

in short though, if you're worried about animals then the nudge bar probably should be crossed off the list...

and there's plenty of debate on if the front hooks are rated for recovery... i think it came to the older ones not being and the newer ones may be...

all questions welcome but keep in mind there's a wealth of information already here that can be found with a quick look...

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

G'day Anthony, and welcome along to Pradopoint

Do a bit of a search and you'll find heaps of threads on bullbars ... the good, the bad, and what to watch out for.

When I first got my 03 Petrol Auto I had read a bit about cracking due to the ARB bar .... so I went with the Sovereign bar. Nearly a year later, if I get the opportunity, I intend to change over to the ARB bar. I don't believe the cracking can be attributed to the bar .. there are so many other factors, and combinations of factors, to be considered.

The ARB bar is steel, stronger, has a better approach angle. The Sovereign bar is lighter, looks fantastic {until the shine starts to fade} and winds up weighing a lot when you add a winch cradle and winch.

As for the tie down points ... on the early models they are just that .. tie down points. Do yourself a favour and go and get a pair of the Outback Ideas recovery points. There's even a few threads on here about doing a bit of a DIY and fitting them yourself.

Enjoy ... and remember ... the only stupid question is the one you don't ask 8)

Cheers
Chippy

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

How does the installation of a bull bar affect the deployment of your air bags?

[Chippy Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chippy]

Sovereign bar is designed to be airbag compatible.
I believe the ARB bar is as well but haven't had a close up look at how they are fitted.

Cheers
Chippy

[Grinch Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Grinch]

Thankyou all for responding so quickly, I apologise for not using the search tool prior to putting my questions forward.

I will remember this in future.

I appreciate your comments and will address both the bar and the recovery points by searching the site.

kind regards

Anthony

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

If you go to something like the ARB it has recovery points as part of the bar, as the factory ones are't rated.
Read the threads, plenty to consider steal (wieght) vs alloy (light), the steal will certainly be a lot stronger, other than that talk to some of the reputable 4wd shops as well, i would stick with either ARB, TJM or toyota factory bar at least you know plenty of R&D have gone into them.

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

Just though I would tack this on to this thread as it was already started.

We went to the caravan and camping show at Rosehill racecourse in Sydney today. Started chatting to the guy from Smartbar, and why there wasnt one available for the Prado. He told me that they have had so many enquiries that we might see on in the near future (6 months) for the 2003 onwards Prado. Just incase anyone was interested in one of these.

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

the smart bars sound interesting, from a performance point of view they seem to stack up (though my personal opinion is they look crap)

i think they exist for 90 series at the moment but not 120 (according to the oppositelock that never returned my call when i trying to buy an ironman bar)

[Hutch Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hutch]

.

The ARB bar is steel, stronger, has a better approach angle. The Sovereign bar is lighter, looks fantastic {until the shine starts to fade} and winds up weighing a lot when you add a winch cradle and winch.

Chippy interesting you mention the shine, as it is hard to keep polished.
I did see a toyota bar the other day on a white prado that had been powder coated Black, it actually looked quite good, certainly someting i might look at down the track.