Dynamics of a Bullbar

[Swerve]

All US stuff I have seen is call brush bars and tubing is like 1".

[bosque]

Not a bar I can trust!
Seriously, I have always thought why bother with the puny little tubing....
It did not happen overnite, but we have altered what we see as a "product". Envy? Salesmanship?
Sometimes we're so full of ourselves we dont even know when we are being sold shoddy stuff. I guess a generation or two of accepting low quality gear and the image that a TV culture creates. Those "brush guards" would not stop a chiken.
I love German made stuff. Why? Because in general it is always top notch. Why? They have a stringent safety and engineering standard that is way above most except Swiss. Regulations? Oh, yeah...that'll make your head spin.
Sorry, but I think Tripper brought up a truthful embarrassing point and concluded that the bars bend into the car so what is the point? ....Ego.
"Ego bar".
I like the arb? bar design that Mr. Muck and 60Michael have. Looks like 1 3/4" tubing on a heavier than stock bumper and still a classic form suitable for Patrols

[RiverPatrol]

And on modern vehicles, the worthless 'brush guard' will not only simply bend back into the vehicle but in many cases it will keep your airbags from deploying. That's why you don't see them on cars so much anymore. There are warning labels on the brush guard stating that.

[MadTripper]

And of course I always chuckle when I see the brush guards on mall cruisers...I remember Jeep Cherokees went through an owner induced phase where they all had them. Good for pushing shopping carts out of the way I suppose.

Tripper

[Swerve]

All our new bars are Airbag compatiable, they have various methods to not stuff up the airbag, some have slides, some have a crumple plate and so on.

[miller]

I really like the simple bumper style bars you guys have in the states. I wouldn't feel confident without any radiator protection while touring on outback roads though.

[bosque]

Yo Rawmi,
I am in the middle of a new front bumper and bullbar. I have the bumper shape mocked up and will include a bullbar. I have a "pipe" bender and have done some shimming to adapt it to bend tube. I know , but I had to try and found this used pipe bender with 7 dies for 40 bucks. Yes sand inside the tubing helps and actually can work....almost. I have little dents that are ...little dents.
I realize you used this tj diesel tube bender and think it is a minimal tool that does work but would you recommend it? I want to use 1 3/4. Would you mind giving me your scoop?

[limited slip]

its not just the size of the tubing, its the wall thickness. you can make a good looking bar from 1mm wall exhaust pipe- but its worse than useless when you hit something. over here its mostly tube of 1-3/4 or 2inch. and 3+mm wall thickness or about 1/8 inch wall (steam pipe is still used fairly often too- i think its around 6mm thick or 1/4 inch wall thickness) another point worth noting is that most bars mounting bolt holes are deliberately made elongated by anything from one to two inches so as to provide some impact absorption during a collision- if they are made completely rigid then you do damage to other parts of the truck and break other things (like snapping your chassis rails clean off) rather than the bar taking the impact. the elongated holes allow the bar to shift backwards and deflect, and as long as its still structurally sound after impact all you have to do is loosen the mount bolts and shift the bar back into position and re-tighten the bolts. good brush bars also provide a bit more rigidity in this situation, but more importantly they provide that strength out on the wings where leverage can have the worst affect.they also provide side protection from animals who run into the side of the 4x4 rather than into the front of it.

the camel story was from a mate who lived with us for a while and who had worked out on a station of a bit more than a million acres out in south aus.
he was checking a fence line in an old land cruiser, camel stepped onto the road about 30m in front of him when he was doing about 120kmph (checking fences/ bores etc requires covering fairly big distances and at speed). he never tried to brake, thinking that his bull bar was strong enough to tip over the small camel. he was right (though it did stuff the bar) but he didnt anticipate the camel going under the truck as it bounced in the collision. after he regained his wits from being belted around during the crash he worked out that he was upside down on the floor of the ute which was sitting at a funny angle. when he got out he had the ute sitting sideways 90deg to the road on top of the dead camel with all 4 wheels in the air. he had a sat phone and water for a couple of days but no recovery gear. he called the station manager who picked him up 2 days later. he lived off slabs of camel meat and water- the question of what camel tastes like was how we got onto his story in the first case, though he assured us that it tastes quite good when your hungry.........

[bosque]

PRIMO story, thanks.
The elongated holes is a great call, I'll just have to borrow that from you!
....and by brush bars I guess you mean along the fenders? I will do something stout for sure, it is nessessary.

[RiverPatrol]

I love the camel story. Brilliant!
And more great info about the bullbar tubing. I remember once that there was a Patrol on Ebay with what appeared to be an enviable roll cage/safari rack set up. Come to find out it was made from exhaust tubing. Totally worthless.