Winch Fitment on ARB commercial Bullbar.

[ToyotaMan006]

Hi guys,

Been reading for hours on end and could not find information needed on the site. I have an ARB commercial bulbar fitted to my 'lux. I bought the Domin8r 12000lbs winch for a pretty decent price I think. I was reading the ARB catalog and it states you need a winch fitting kit. Went to my local ARB store and spoke to the guy there where we figured out it was not needed at all witch means I save some dollar witch makes me happy. The other problem whilst taking to him was the commercial bulbar is only rated to hold 9500lbs winch, not 12000lbs I bought.
His opinion is that although the winch is rated at 12000lbs it would not come close to that figure due to the small size of the winch, whilst saying that he reckons the winch 'should' be fine in the bulbar.
If it damages the bar(bends or breaks it) it would not be covered under warranty witch is fair probably.
Now my question, should I just fit it and hope for the best or try to sell it and go for an ironman bulbar maybe?
Just cant make up my mind what to do, any advice/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

[dave g]

as long as it fits in bar you be right
[I bet he tried to sell you a new winch]

[creaky]

Is the 120000 rating actually related to the typical physical size of winch that will fit in the ARB bar, or the strength of the mounting system ?

[TOYZX]

It'll be rite mate! I'd rather take my chances with that than have the winch rip the ironman bar off with the ends of ya chassis!

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[ToyotaMan006]

Dave g you could be onto something there...Creaky, Mate the way I understand it is that the 9500lbs rating for the bulbar is related to the mounting system to witch the winch is mounted, meaning it is designed to withstand up to 9500lbs pulling power from the winch without damaging the bulbar. After much thinking and pondering I have come to the conclusion that that maybe it seems ok as I wont be using it a lot, I mean its a Hilux after all I don't get out wheeling as much as I would like but I will take a chance anyway. These guys over engineer the stuff anyway so i'm sure it "should" be fine. Toyzx, seems you had a bad experience with the iroman bar?

[TOYZX]

Done a few chassis repairs yes.

Sent from my SM-N920I using Tapatalk

[iTzNathan]

I have installed the exact same winch into my arb bullbar.
I have used it a few times and can't really fault it considering the price I paid. I had to take out the grill to get it over and another set of hands wouldn't hurt, but I got it myself.
The guys from ARB did suggest a front suspension upgrade as the added weight can be an issue with braking.

[ToyotaMan006]

I have fitted this a while ago, very very easy, just removed the bottom plate of the bull bar and there was heaps of room to get it fitted. took about half an afternoon on my own in the end all up. Posted some pics in my build. viewtopic.php?f=41&t=27527
Most of the stuff I bought from their website(supacentre) is actually pretty good and could not fault any of it at all. Luckily when I did my suspension upgrade initially I made provision for future modifications so she is all sorted with suspension. Suspension is very important seeing that these days if bull bars are fitted at dealers the factory suspension also gets upgraded springs in the front to counter the extra weight of the accessories and allow the braking system to function properly with all the computer controlled wizardry.

[redbear41]

dose anyone have a copy of fitting instructions for arb commercial bulbar

[ToyotaMan006]

Hi redbear,
Yes I do still have it somewhere. Just need to find it.