Bull Bars for $119!!!

I installed mine last week, looks great, arrived 72 hours after I purchased it, my first accessory added to my new 2009 limited, i'll post pics here soon.
 
The ONLY thing I would have done different would have been to attack the mount point with sand paper in order to get a good ground point.

The frame mounts to an L bracket. The L bracket screws into bar itself. Where the bolt touches the L bracket, it's painted. If you sand the L bracket a bit first, then you'll have a straight ground to the frame.

So, sand where the bolt touches the L bracket. The bolt to bar is good enough of a ground point as is the frame to the L bracket.

If you mount lights, you can ground them to the back of the light "tabs" which are mounted on the bar itself. The screws themselves provide enough of a grounding point.

Basically, went off the beaten path a bit and lost my Hella lights. Finding the weak ground was a matter of trial and error.
 
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How hard is the installation for this bull bar? You don't have to take off the bumper or anything do you?
 
sr1982 said:
How hard is the installation for this bull bar? You don't have to take off the bumper or anything do you?
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Nope, just crawl under, loosen a couple bolts, put everything together, tighten. Make sure you have the right tools, though, it'll make life easier. And I had to use a breaker bar to get the factory bolts off...they were stuck on good.
 
I've got the Hunter chrome one without the skid plate, it has I guess you would call them small bars about 1" in size on the bottom where the skid plate would go if it had one. I like it, a Chevy Tahoe or Yukon backed into me or I should say into the bar and left just a small little dent that would have probably busted my bumper. Didn't change the location of the bar. When I bought it, they said it weighed about 30 lbs but that was probably with the box and all the styrofoam packing.
 
adventureman73 said:
Nope, just crawl under, loosen a couple bolts, put everything together, tighten. Make sure you have the right tools, though, it'll make life easier. And I had to use a breaker bar to get the factory bolts off...they were stuck on good.
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I am not sure why manufacture (Hunter) suggest to remove the anchor/tow hooks by loosening existing bolts? my 04 T4R had tow hooks welded to the frame, just wanting to clarify this before I go ahead and order the bull bar. Thx
 
pmrowczynski said:
Got them, and attached them.

Shipping was fast, as they used FedEx and it was here within 3 days.

It came with the two mounting brackets and the bar itself, all powder coated steel. The additional nuts and bolts were inclued (wound up with an extra couple pairs of washers). Didn't want the polished stainless as it would have been the only piece of stainless on my 4Runner.

The mounting brackets attached to the bumper bolts themselves: bottom two on each side which need to be re-torqued to 65 ft/lbs requring a strong socket wrench and me lying on the ground pushing with my feet to break them loose.

There are actually two mounting tabs on the bar for adding accessories such as lights (e.g. $39.99 including shipping for Hella 500's are now available).

Strength? Well, it can easily support 200+ lbs both vertically and horizontally without a problem. Looking at the design, an offcenter hit will push the bar into the bumper (the mounting brackets are 1/8th or 1/4th inch steel). A solid front hit will require more force to push it into the bumper but then the bumper takes over in either case.

For $119, you get a little more protection, and a place to mount lights.

Will see if I can get the pictures on later today (snow in Tahoe last week, and work this week).
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You sound like a happy camper! For the money they are very hard to beat. Like I said, good product, good service and good value.

Had lunch today with a buddy and he has a Westin on his full size Tahoe. The skid plate on the Westin is probably 2x as thick as that on the Hunter but I would consider the Westin pretty much cosmetic. However he and I both believe that I could have a piece of steel cut and bent to replace the one on the Hunter and which would extend back further for not a lot of $$$.
 
Hey AMAwarbirds I left my tow hooks on after talking to other forum members and the bullbr fits without removing the hooks although the bar might interfere if you tried to use them to tow or do some pulling.................hope this helps
 
does anyone know the total length of the bar from one end to the other? I know a steel shop here in SoCal that would most likely make one if I had the correct measurements.

Thanks
 
Harold1950 said:
Hey AMAwarbirds I left my tow hooks on after talking to other forum members and the bullbr fits without removing the hooks although the bar might interfere if you tried to use them to tow or do some pulling.................hope this helps
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Hey thanks Harold, got mine in today and from looking at the mounting brackets looks like I will be mounting them on the existing frame-to-bumper bolts. You are right about the interference on the hook while towing, if I understand correctly those hooks are designed specifically for anchoring down the truck as opposed to towing purposes, then again I could be wrong.
 
I think you are right, they seem like what would be used for a tie down point, I wouldn't want to tow too much weight with them....
 
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Hey 810moto, what measurement do you mean? Do you mean like how long the metal would be before it was shaped into the shape it is? I can measure it for you. If that is the measurement you need, I get about 62 inches give or take a 1/4 of an inch or so. Hope this help you.
 
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Hey MikeWhoTruong
It may be that one is 2 1/2 inches in diameter like mine and the other one is 3 inch tubing, but I'm not sure, before I bought mine, I saw different manufacturers listing those sizes and at different prices, I know the black painted one is less money than the chrome one.
 
Harold1950 said:
Hey 810moto, what measurement do you mean? Do you mean like how long the metal would be before it was shaped into the shape it is? I can measure it for you. If that is the measurement you need, I get about 62 inches give or take a 1/4 of an inch or so. Hope this help you.
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thanks harold! Now it's off to the mock up stage and computer graphics. I hope my mounting brackets are better than the ones that come with the standard bar.
thanks again
 
Hey glad I could help and I guess the measurement I gave you was what you wanted hope the fabrication works out........
 
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