[ZookPenguin]

Hi all,

I bought a Jimny some weeks back and have been getting it ready for the bush. I have taken out the back seats, installed a rear deck with lots of tie down points to ratchet strap in the fish bins with gear. I've added diff breathers, a transfer case bash plate and a solid tow hitch at the front, and put BFG 215/75R15's on with new rims and dremelled the front guards back a little for the tyres (see photo).

Now I'm thinking about a light roo bar. The Zook just isn't made for high speed night travel on country roads and I am willing to gamble a lighter bar and not have to beef the front suspension or lose more payload than I have to. I normally use a tirfor though one day I might get a 6 klb electric winch... I also don't have a mega-amount of money for a top-price roo bar

I'm thinking about an Xrox. I want to protect the radiator, but am willing to gamble on one of the lights with a roo strike. I'd consider a polyethylene roo bar if they were made for a Jimny, though I can't find one on-line.

My question: What roo bars do you all use? Recommendations or thoughts? Photos?

Thanks,

Penguin (")>

[Gwagensteve]

How many roos have you hit? I've hit a bunch over the years and only one was to the front of the car, and that pretty much landed on the bonnet. They tend to run into the side of the car around the front guard from my experience. (5 or 6 hits)

If you want the car to remain drivable after a (front) hit with a roo, you need a solid bar that won't absorb the impact, it will transfer it directly to the chassis (and you'll obviously have to trust the chassis is strong enough to transfer it, reducing the speed of the vehicle.)

A light bar will absorb the impact and therefore deform into the front of the vehicle. At that point its a guess whether the vehicle will remain drivable.

If you're fitting the bar to enable night travel at speed does it make sense to leave the headlights unprotected? loose the headlights and you're on a tow truck regardless of whether the car is mechanically drivable.

I have seen light bars increase the damage to the vehicle in a light impact due the the bar deforming into the car in the case of an impact the stock front bumper would have absorbed.

[shep]

I didn’t put one on my family car because all the animals seem to hit the rear doors or the back of the car, then when
it was 6 months old I smacked one head on at 120kph and all it did was wreck the bottom part of the front spoiler.
I haven’t bothered to fix it and still don’t want a bar either.

You have to look pretty hard to see the damage

[ZookPenguin]

OK, thanks for your thoughts.
I've hit lots of roos in the years I spent working in far west NSW, but always in Tojos with big front bars. I've also had roos hit the sides and do panel damage there.
I'm looking for ways to not lose Zook payload... but there may not be one if I want protection.
Back to thinking.
Cheers...