ARB winch bar wobble

[Luvit Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Luvit]

I have just bought a new Prado 2 weeks ago and quite a few extras fitted.
After having an ARB winch bar fitted professionally, I have noticed it wobbles when driving on bitumen roads and off road (compared to the bonnet) even the driving lights shake over small bumps. This seems odd to me because the winch bar I had on a Patrol did not move at all.
My question is has anyone else have a similar experience? I will be taking it back to the fitters to have it checked.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers
Wayne

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

Sounds completely normal, they all do this. The body is rubber mounted on the Prado and that moves independent to the chassis, a bit of chassis flex also makes it seem worse.

Probably still worth checking as yours may be worse than normal, hard to tell without seeing it; but lots of new prado owners have the same concern and it turns out to be normal.

Cheers Andrew

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

Hi Wayne, I've got a 120 series with an ARB winch bar (with no winch just yet). We did a big trip last year up through NT and Kimberley and found that the bar moved a bit. On really bad corrugations it was quite unnerving and smacked around a lot, although doesn't appear to have created any problems. I've seen a few threads that talk about ARB bars moving around. I got used to it!

[rhs58 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close rhs58]

I've never seen another bar on another vehicle move about as much as the ARB bar on my 120.
Thought I'd got a dud or poor installation but the're all the same.
Got used to it.

[AJ120 Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close AJ120]

It's not the ARB bar that's the issue, it's a Prado thing. My sovereign bar did the same thing when I had it.

Cheers Andrew

[Luvit Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Luvit]

It's not the ARB bar that's the issue, it's a Prado thing. My sovereign bar did the same thing when I had it.

Cheers Andrew

Thank you all for your responses. Looks like it's perfectly normal. Still don't like it tho.

First post for me and quick responses was great. I look forward to being able to add to the forums.

Thanks again everyone.
Cheers
Wayne

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

Wayne,

As its been said it is normal. I have a 120 with a ARB bar winch and yes it moves about. Chassis and body independently move and although there is a gap between the bar and body I have seen the two come together when off road. My 95 Hi-Lux was the same.

As long as the bolts are tight (worth a check) its all good.

Hazza

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

Wayne,

As its been said it is normal. I have a 120 with a ARB bar winch and yes it moves about. Chassis and body independently move and although there is a gap between the bar and body I have seen the two come together when off road. My 95 Hi-Lux was the same.

As long as the bolts are tight (worth a check) its all good.

Hazza

I experienced this as well, the bumper cuts seemed fine when the vehicle was still but after inspection about 3 months later I noticed the cut was rubbing on the bar and had to get more taken off it.

It would be a good idea to keep an eye on the cuts over the next few weeks and deal with any issues before the paint is taken off your bar (like mine).

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

The TJM steel bar on my 150 wobbles about as well.

After a bouncy trip around Lake Eyre, Flinders Ranges and that general area, a bit of black paint rubbed off the bar, so a bit of touch up paint and it is now hard to notice.

[daniel Member Find all posts View Profile Close daniel]

just wait untill you have a antenna mounted on the bar then it all wobbles and shakes

[outback7 Banned Find all posts View Profile Close outback7]

Normal.....mine does it too.

[Luvit Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Luvit]

Thanks for all the replies

Love the car overall.

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

Yeap I have the dreaded wobbles too on my 120. My Sov bar moves around too. Initially, at night, it really upset the driving lights because they were focussed into a pencil i.e. very intense in one area and it was moving about like a strobe light on the road ahead, so I widened the beam on my Lightforce and the beam is spread now, so it doesn't really bother me as much anymore.