ARB Bar installation questions

[davidsford Member Find all posts View Profile Close davidsford]

I am after some advice for those that have had ARB Deluxe Winch bars installed.

Overall I am very happy with my bar but have noticed a few things that I am not sure whether they are anything to be worried about or not so would like feedback from others.

Does anyone have a plate covering the top holes on the bar? I was told by ARB there is not one but thought I remember seeing a thread where someone had one.



I noticed the new protection plates underneath don't line up, not a major thing but just wondered if others were like this.


Under the drivers side wheel arch I noticed when I picked the car up a clip was missing, a new one was supplied but it just wont stay in place. I currently have a cable tie in there (doing a much better job), has anyone else had this issue? and also noticed the lower section does not fix to anything so tends to flap around a bit.



Lastly, underneath the car I noticed that a bottle of some description (not sure exactly what) is now left exposed by the newly trimmed guards on the drivers side wheel arch, has anyone placed any more protection under here? I am thinking this could get hit by a rock or similar.



Cheers
Dave

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

I have an ARB deluxe bar on the ute so my experience is:

1. normal, ARB do not provide covers, don't worry about it. The T3 bar and presumably T13 TJM bars have covers which, based on the last one I had about 15 years ago, will fall off within one month. They get replaced, usually for free, and fall off within one month. Then you leave them off.
2. I believe the panels should fit better than that. Again the Rodeo panels overlap or are flush.
3. The Rodeo has a tek screw at the bottom holding the inner guard in place. Pretty much where the white dot is.
4. Cannot comment on whether this is normal or not on a Prado. Is this a radiator header tank though?

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

Hi Dave,

1. Yes, a plate is available to cover the holes and mine was supplied with the plate painted and installed, although I removed it not long after to install the winch. Make sure they also give you the winch controller bracket - it's a small black powder coated wedge-shaped piece (with bolts etc...)
2. The alignment looks fine. Mine was also like that.
3. The lower guards were installed with M6 bolts to retain the plastic guard on mine.
4. From the image shown, that bottle looks to have a fair amount of protection and should be ok.

VXWesty

[davidsford Member Find all posts View Profile Close davidsford]

Thanks for the replies everyone, looks like I don't have too much to worry about. I have sent an email off to ARB about the winch controller bracket, will see what they say.

I will try sticking in an extra bolt or tek screw to secure the bottom of the guard.

[Dusty74 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Dusty74]

Plastic bottle is your washer bottle for the windscreen. My centre plate looked the same but is now exaggerated with it being creased from a rock. Intension here is to replace the centre one with 3mm plate, like the bash plates, and to have it close in the gap near the factory tie down points. As far as the clips go, I think ARB lost or left out about three of these but it is secured to the metal "apron" under the bar.

Cheers,
Dusty

P.S. I closed up the holes with a winch!

[stig Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close stig]

The Sahara bar we had on our previous vehicle ( a Challenger ) came with a cover for the holes in the top of the bar, and it stayed in place for the 2 years we had the car. Was a little surprised that the Sahara fitted to our Prado didn't come with the same cover.
The protection plates on ours seem to line up a little better than yours Dave, and yes, the washer bottle is a little exposed on our too.
Had some issues on the Challenger with the bar tearing out inner guards, I'd rather have a fastening between the inner guard and bar that allows a little movement.

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

1. My bar did come with the cover but was not painted, after arguing with ARB and another 3 month wait (was told it was due to painting delay, but I think it was more a "lets ignore him and he will go away thing"), they got it painted and supplied it. It is definitely available and should come with the bar.

2. My plates look the same as yours, I thought they buggered up the install as the centre one is below the bar and the side ones sit above it. On further inspection, this is the only way they fit. My Brown Davis bash plates changed the bottom fixing location for the centre plate and straightened them up but they are still not perfect. I was thinking about doing a custom 3mm plate as well but will wait til i destroy the ARB one first.

3. I had busted plastic clips in the same location but had some spares from Toyota I got for something else. They even wrecked the inner guard liner in one spot as it looks like they just pulled it off over the clip and tore it. Ask the installer to supply a 4th both on the drivers side to pin that edge of the guard back, there is 4 nutserts there but they only put 3 bolts in. The 4th nutsert is on the passenger side but it doesn't line up with the inner guard liner so only 3 can be used.

4. My washer bottle is the same, I don't think it's an issue.

The other thing I would keep a very close eye on is where they did the cuts of the bumper, mine appeared fine at first but after a few weeks I noticed that one side was rubbing the bar and took a small amount of paint off. I took it back to ARB and got this, and the other issues fixed at the same time.

They also stripped the drivers side front fixed nut in the chassis that the bracket bolts to and neglected to tell me about it. This was discovered when I had to change the bolts to install the recovery points, not impressed!

All in all, it's a great product and one that I am happy with but I cant say the same about the install work.

[davidsford Member Find all posts View Profile Close davidsford]

Great responses everyone thanks for all the details.

[Steve M Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close Steve M]

How hard would it have been to cut the edge of the plastic inner guard with a bit more care so its a nice straight cut ?? Maybe the plug they gave you is just a universal one and is not a genuine Toyota clip. Maybe get a genuine one as they are pretty much bullet proof and don't break and certainly don't fall out. I had to replace a few under my guard on the old 90 due to them been stuffed when snorkel was done. Must admit they are a prick to remove with out damaging them. Certainly would look better if you can get the plate for on top.....Cheers Steve