DO not buy powerful 4x4 bullbars

[fergbo69]

so its been a while since i went to the watagans at easter, but i thought i should fill all those potential powerful 4x4 buyers on their prodcut

at the end of 2011 i decided to bite the bullet and go with powerful 4x4's combo deal for a bullbar, rock sliders, brushbars and avenger winch. being from canberra i had to travel up to sydney for a day to get it all installed.

Right from the get go i noticed little problems, for a start they had done a dodgy job on the wiring, but i thought to my self ah well cant win them all... how right i was! over the coming months i noticed more little porblems, my truck kept blowing fuses so i took it don to my mechanics trusted auto electrician and had the whole thing re-wired, before long i noticed (only a small detail i know) the trims around the lights were starting to preish, one of the indicators broke. this was all only with minor 4wding.

at easter this year my friends and i went to the watagans, and thats where i totally lost faith in powerful 4x4, as we were coming up one of the tracks, i got stuck and couldnt get up a rock shelf, as it was starting to get dark and we were in a bit of a hurry (and i know this is a rookie error on my part) we hooked the shackle up to the powerful 4x4 recovery point and hooked up the snatchy, after a little tug and no cigar, my mate got out of his car and said we need to give it a bit of gas. i am a careful bloke and as an apprentice i take it as easy as i can to get as far as i can so i dont brake shit, anyway off my mate went and gave me good tug, all i heard was a poping sound and my ute was up the shelf, it was happy days. i got out of my ute to see my mate cringing at my truck, i walked round the front and my jaw dropped, the mount on the bullbar had fully compressed away from the vechile and the bullbar was sticking out probly around 3 inches away from the car on the drivers side. shitty as i was we finished our weekend with some fantastic 4x4 and home we went.

when i got home i inspected the damage, the "crush mount" of the bullbar had fully compressed out. i rang powerful 4x4 and they told me i would have to come to sydney for them to fix it, but i would have to pay so i thought stuff that, i bashed the mount back into shape with a sledge hammer, re mounted the bullbar, with no trims as they had shattered, and am now still wondering what i am going to do.

dont get me wrong the bullbar, rocksliders and sidesteps are great peices of kit for the price i paid, the mounting system is a joke on the other hand so, if you have a powerful bar or are planning on getting one please do not use the recovery points on the front of the bar for anyting.

anyway thats my 2 cents just hope no one has had the same problem i did.

cheers heaps

[jase_viena]

How much was all that kit worth?

[fergbo69]

$3500

[jase_viena]

My ARB deluxe bar and buds sliders (which act as sidesteps as well) came to just over $3k?!

[fergbo69]

yeah arb here quoted me around $4.7 including winch

[02agro]

bad luck mate
any photos of the bar after this happened?

as for costing of there website
deluxe powerfull bar$1200
avenger 900lb winch $799
sliders $500
bush bars $200
install labour $800

[Rocket55]

Wholly crap, that doesn't sound good. Do they claim the front recovery points are rated? If so, take it back to them and not so politely ask them to bend over so you can return the bullbar. If they are not a rated recovery point, then, umm, oops.

[kyle300exc]

Sorry to hear about your misfortune,
Sounds like its likely there was a combination of errors. In a normal recovery situation you would be using recovery points that are chassis mounted. Would be good to see some photos

[ajh]

So what is the opinion on using recovery points on other bull bars? Such as xrox?
Is it safe or something that should be avoided?

[kyle300exc]

I wouldnt use them in case I bend the bar. I dont really see the purpose of them unless they are fixed to the chassis seems like its more for show. IMO

[Hilux Max]

Kyle is spot on...any recovery point should be chassis mounted. those loops on the front of some xrox's are neighter legal (forward portusion past end of bullbar) nor do they offer any real strength in a recovery situation.

theres several brands of recovery hooks/mounts that are chassis mounted...all well worth the investment.

[adamw]

Reminds me of winching a mates patrol up 2nd gear climb at the springs. For some reason or another we had to winch off of the mounts on the front of the powerful bar (the bar didnt' allow us onto the factory hook for some reason). And the end result was his bar was leaning back at a 45 degree angle.

[ajh]

If someone has no tow bar is it ok to loop around a cross member of the chassis?

[Hilux Max]

Yes but just be careful not too yank it too hard at once, try and do it in as a straight line as possible, and maybe install a log in the strap so you can get it off afterwards.

[ajh]

Cheers mate

[outbackjoe]

do the bullbar manufacturer advertise them as recovery points? If so then you can get your money back regardless of warranty. Item not as described. It's the law.

[StevenS]

It might depend though on the "rating" of the recovery point. They could simply argue that you exceeded what the point was intended for.

I for one would never use a bar recovery point regardless of maker if they had airbag crush brackets - chassis mount all the way

[lmichie]

I'm yet to see anything other than the ARB recovery points actually rated when fitted to the vehicle. Holden have actually rated the recovery points on the new Colorado at 1.6t which means you have 3.2 if you use a bridle. Same goes for the loops on the back or the ARB rear bar.

If you are using a snatch strap, be aware that you only need the be doing about 24km/h to apply 8t of force (based on 3t vehicle and excluding force applied from motor).