[luke3411]

Hey all. I'm currenlty working out ports Keats (wadeye) . Ive found an arb steel bullbar just sitting in the scrub and apart from a bit of cosmetic damage it still looks in working order.

I've contacted arb to find out if there is a model code and they didn't really know what I was talking about and they mentioned a number stamped on them beneath the passenger side left wing but I couldn't find it.

I placed the bullbar up against the front of a Hyundai eggshell that was burnt out in the scrub and it looked like it may jst fit my car if the comparison is anything to go by.

I have a 1995 swb vitara that I'm gonna start building up in a few weeks so a steel bullbar that I can mount a winch too would be a huge saving. Just needs a coat of paint to get the kids finger painting off it and it would be fine.

My assumption is that it may have come off a small Hilux. Can I put this bull bar on with some small mods to the mountings if it wont go straight on and if it's slightly to wide is this going to be a problem legally?

Any info will be much appreciated guys as this is the first build up that I've done. Thanks all!!

[shep]

measure the distance between the mounts and i will measure the chassie on my vit.

port keats hay, ya lucky bugger

[luke3411]

Will get on to it first thing tomorrow arvo. Fingers crossed it will fit. Amazed at the sort of stuff that gets thrown away around here. There is another bullbar on a landcruiser wreck that has one tiny dent in it but fine otherwise. Really hopeing that this bullbar will fit. If not it will cost someone a few cartons to take it off my hands lol. One for the guy bringing it back on the truck and one for me lol.

[luke3411]

ok found a tag with some digits on it.
3440020
179
89016

Measured the mounts. from the two outer sides of the mounts its 700mm and from the two inside's its 612mm.

Fingers crossed it will fit

[Plum]

I have ARB's bull bar listing at work, ill look up the number on Monday for ya.

[atari4x4]

my guess is it's from a pre '96 B series Mazda/Ford Courier, non air bag winch bar

[luke3411]

Correct. I managed to find an ARB product listing online. Now my next question is can I modify it to fit the vitara and is it going to be legal or will it fit no problem?

[atari4x4]

i'm guessing it's going to need some sort of fab work to get it to fit & i can't see it being any different to all the custom made tube bars, infact it's going to be more legal than a tube bar as it was built following the ADR's by ARB.

[luke3411]

Awesome!!! I have a mate who's a boily back in Darwin so I'll go around his place on a weekend with it and see if we can mount it. I'll have to get it engineered? How am I looking at width though? Is this going to be a problem? It looks like it will be about right.

[barney7779]

Would say it will be way to wide to fit the vit but only way to find out is to measure it and see


If its too wide then Ebay it and get some coin towards buying one for the vit

[luke3411]

Can someone measure the front of there vit and get back to me? Mines back in Darwin atm.

[atari4x4]

about 1550mm, can't find my tape measure in the mess that is my garage... ended up using a 600mm steel rule.

[luke3411]

lol cool cool. well I'll go get some more measurements off it very soon. I'll put it up in about an hour. Really hope with my mates expertise it will fit after a few mods. The cost of a few cartons of beer to get a steel winch bar is making me drool.

[luke3411]

ok apparently a 1996 mazda bravo is 1670mm wide (thanks google) 120mm doesn't sound to bad. Thats only 60mm either side extra. Might compliment the flares lol. Still gonna go measure it on the way to work. Good old 6am knockoff in Wadeye. Gotta love it

[atari4x4]

i measured my front bar & took off a little bit due to my model vitara being the "wide track" version with the flares...

the measurements on google for a vit are 1630 mm wide, so it's going to be pretty close.

one thing you'll need to watch is where the "up-rights" of the bar sit in relation to the headlights getting blocked. the couriers had a pretty wide headlight from memory so it could be a goer.

[luke3411]

This is getting better and better by the minute. Just gotta remember to not get my hopes up to much. I'll get the bullbar from the scrub in the wee hours of the morning. gonna go measure it now.

[atari4x4]

the other thing to take into account, is the curve of the front ends.... it's just steel so it can be cut & glued back together pretty easy.

[luke3411]

Well just went and measured it then. The bullbar at it's widest is 1690mm so thats a pretty close fit. The curve of the front ends I spose wouldn't be a problem as it's pretty close. 3cm either side is not much really. Well a carton of beer to the fella gettin it back to Darwin and another carton for the bloke to help me weld and mount it and it should be peachy. Gonna pick it up and take it back to camp at shift change tonight.