[DAB]

this is just a little suggestion. but some of the guys here have made some awesome winch/bull bars, and it seems to me that
some of these guys really enjoy doing it and have perfected it somewhat. so my ideas are does anyone of these guys fancy making a few
more bars and selling them one here? seems like enough people would buy them. plus it would be nice to have the option of
not having to spend over $1k for a bar

ideally a winch bar for a swb vitara would be kinda of handy hehehe.

anyone else consider buying a AusZookers bar? only ask as to give the possible fabricators some idea of there potential customers

[Fatzook]

You don't think the fabricators here already know?

What is your idea of affordable?

I have people approach me to do custom work all the time. Some times my idea of the right price, and the customers are the same..... Most times they are not. Suzuki owners are notorious for wanting to do things on the cheap. Fortunately, there are enough out there who can understand that time spent fabricating relates directly to the price.

For the vitara in particular, the SWB and LWB 1.6 have a different chassis at the front, so thats 2 different mounting setups to cater for. EFI SWB may be different again. Then there is the wide track vitaras (SV models) which are different again. They are also a wider bar, so its not just the mounts that need attention.

So the reason why there are no commercially available 'off the shelf' bars for your vit, other than ARB etc, is because the market is very small, and the model variances are numerous.

I'm happy making one-off bars for people, but accurately replicating several units will require a JIG to be made, and its just not worth the effort for the vitara IMO.

[atari4x4]

:popcorn: tightarses

[tassie jeeper]

^^ what he said ^^

a 1 off bull bar would have to be worth a minimum $600 or more depending on design quality and finish
depending on what u want u may still end up paying $1,000 for a custom bull bar (BUT it will be MUCH better quality than an ARB) IMHO

[DAB]

I was aware that the lwb and swb had different brackets but wasnt aware that the swb are so meny varieties.
i just noticed since ive had my zook and been a member that IF a bar goes up for sale its normally around $500 and you seem to have 20 people at least chasing it. yes im aware alot of work goes into producing these these bars. some are superb quality and look amazing.
I was thinking of trying to make one up myself. but its been a long while since I been on a mig n never attempted to
make something up like this. it was just a idea I thought id through out there.... I for one would be happy to spend $600 -$800 on a bar.
im sorry if my pockets dont go as deep as some but im sure there would be plenty of people that would rather pay the full $1200 for
a custom built bar as to give the money to arb.

spending large amounts of money on a car doesnt mean you love off road any more then the guys who isnt as lucky
to have so much money but the little he does earn and can spare he poors into it anyways.

[atari4x4]

get an ebay sniper program & stalk ebay for 2nd hand bars...

put your maximum bid your willing to pay & walk away, this will save getting into a last minute bidding war & will also bid at the last second so people watching wont get a chance. been using them for years & have never not won something.

[ozhummer]

Don't knock the ARB bars - I've been through the process od trying to find an alternative. I spoke to fabricators who quote well over 1K for a pretty agricultural tube bar. In the end I relented and bought the ARB Winch bar at just on 1K (with club discounts). The quality, fit and finish really did surprise me - it just bolted straight up perfect finish and looks good. I was able to bolt a 12,000lb winch in it and have already tried it out. I agree with Fatzook in that the cost to fab something is all about time and quantity, It's pointless making a one off bar that would take a few days to make for $600.00 inc materials - then you have to add powder coating too at a few hundred bucks! ...

[Fatzook]

DAB wrote:

I was thinking of trying to make one up myself. but its been a long while since I been on a mig n never attempted to
make something up like this. it was just a idea I thought id through out there....

I for one would be happy to spend $600 -$800 on a bar.
im sorry if my pockets dont go as deep as some but im sure there would be plenty of people that would rather pay the full $1200 for
a custom built bar as to give the money to arb.

spending large amounts of money on a car doesnt mean you love off road any more then the guys who isnt as lucky
to have so much money but the little he does earn and can spare he poors into it anyways.

I understand where you are coming from..... I was once there myself (many, many years ago)

I've only once managed to cost a tube bar over $1k, and that was for a GU ute. I was $400 cheaper than the closest quote, so I got the job. But when your customer is a 'have-a-go' kind of person; as you seem to be; its hard to throw a price like $800 at you for a bar that has $200 of materials in it. You have an idea of what it costs to buy the stuff yourself, and you could work your way through the welding well enough, so all you will see is potential savings.

Whereas I have to factor in my time, overheads, tooling, wear and tear on my equipment/ machinery, consumables, insurances etc..... This brings me to an hourly rate of around $88 for most things. This is FAR cheaper than other fabricators I know, but its still a bit more than the $30/hr that most have-a-go'ers want to pay.

Now don't get me wrong, its not a bad thing to want to have a crack at something like this yourself. I encourage it even. Your $$$ will go MUCH further if you do it yourself. And having AZ at your disposal is a great benifit with respect to design and mounting etc, as its been done countless times by the members here.

Maybe you could dust off the mig and lay down a few practice welds and see if that gives you a little motivation.

[DAB]

welding isnt a issue your me. I qualified as a welder 10 years ago but never went anywhere with it.
a decent welder and a good mask and i found it easy. there is also a local metal fabrication place close
by that I can get good size off cuts for nothing. ive never made something up from scratch before.
all the welding ive done is sticking patches on cars etc.. I was thinking for that its alot of work if I cock
it up... bit the more I think about it the more I realize that it doesn't really matter as if I cock it up then
I have a welder and grinder plus a big hammer lol can be easily rectified. it was just a idea i thought id
put out there. never know someone might of said for $600 they would take the job on etc... and even
if it wasnt the design style I liked someone else might of liked it and gone through with it.

the famous saying of. "if you dont ask, you dont get"

[31zook]

Fatzook wrote:

I have people approach me to do custom work all the time. Some times my idea of the right price, and the customers are the same..... Most times they are not. Suzuki owners are notorious for wanting to do things on the cheap. Fortunately, there are enough out there who can understand that time spent fabricating relates directly to the price.

X2.

These are some of the best replies I've seen in my time.

From my experience, suzuki's are the urban myth 'cheap to get into, cheap to do up' thus people wanting decent stuff can fall by the way side to a stick welder and some fencing pipe.

Working on nissans and toyotas is where my jobs come from, and the occasional Datsun.

[ozhummer]

Mine hasn't been cheap at all !!!!! .... Totally agree with 31zook...

[SierraDan]

Personally, I'd say $800 for a fabbed bar IS cheap haha

[Charlie Brown]

Not that the bar that I made is much to go on but I just used what I knew from school lol. Just have a crack at it DAB, you sound like you can really weld! and if it sucks just buy one =P

[tassie jeeper]

Charlie Brown wrote:

Not that the bar that I made is much to go on but I just used what I knew from school lol. Just have a crack at it DAB, you sound like you can really weld! and if it sucks just buy one =P

^^ X's 2 its really not that hard and if u can get the stuff for nothing what have u got to loose?

[Critical Energy]

SierraDan wrote:

Personally, I'd say $800 for a fabbed bar IS cheap haha

Bargain I was thinking, had to read it twice

[leary391]

hey guys i am a boilermaker and have made a couple of bull bars for suzukis and other 4x4's, im thinking of makeing some tubular bars to sell like the one on my sj80 sierra. pm if interested.

cheers matt

[OVERKILL ENG]

Hi Here is a front bar we made for a Sierra a couple of years ago.If we had enough interest and no's we might be able to do an Auszookers special..

[atari4x4]

vitara plate rear bars please Mr Overkill

[sideways]

Can someone make a good looking LJ bullbar?

So I can copy it because I don't have enough money to buy one.

[OVERKILL ENG]

atari4x4 wrote:

vitara plate rear bars please Mr Overkill

If there is enough interest and no's im happy to have a look at it..

[sbyard]

OVERKILL ENG wrote:

Hi Here is a front bar we made for a Sierra a couple of years ago.If we had enough interest and no's we might be able to do an Auszookers special..

I'm interested - in what the special would be

[leary391]

/Users/Lear/Pictures/iPhoto Library/Masters/2012/09/10/20120910-200148/IMG_0393.JPG
i build this one for my sj80

[atari4x4]

you'll need to host the pics on an image hosting site or upload them via the attach image function (you'll need to re-size them)

[KEENSY85]

atari4x4 wrote:

:popcorn: tightarses

Like the all of us ↑↑↑↑↑

[atari4x4]

most of us, i don't mind spending the coin.

[KEENSY85]

If we have it not all do

[Fatzook]

atari4x4 wrote:

most of us, i don't mind spending the coin.

X2.

[OVERKILL ENG]

Have had a few pm's regarding making bars.. If I'm stepping on anyone's toes tell me to p-off I'm not here to cause drama's..
Custom bars are a hard thing to build ,to get a bar to look good can take hours of just looking and playing arts and crafts and what I may think looks cool the customer may not ,generally ill get the customer to show me something they like and go from there.
For those that have built there own bars will I'm sure agree they probably spent a couple of days to get what they were after..
Any descent workshop has overheads so there hourly rate would be around the $100 odd dollar mark so the cost of one off stuff ads up quick..
Obviously the more you can make of the same design then you can start to absorb those hours into the other bars and hence the price gets cheaper..
For those that think $6-800 is a fair price for a custom bar really need to sit down and do some sums,sure there may not be much in the actual material costs but time and machinery add up and that needs to be paid for otherwise its not worth our time doing it .. For us to make a custom bar we would use the best part of $20-30 000 worth of equipment.
For us to do a one off custom bar for a zook would be between $1250-1500 if we had to do say 5-10 then the price would come down to around the $1000 mark.
Again not trying to piss or upset anyone but it frustrates me every time I read people think custom stuff is worth less than mass produced stuff.
Sam

[atari4x4]

well said

sounds like you've played this game before & it reiterates what fatzook posted earlier.

[Fatzook]

OVERKILL ENG wrote:

Again not trying to piss or upset anyone but it frustrates me every time I read people think custom stuff is worth less than mass produced stuff.
Sam

You want some of my blood pressure meds?