ARB bumper install snag.... (1 Viewer)

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alia176

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There I was last night, man handling the 105 lb sucka, getting it all lined up nice and pretty so the powder coating doesn't get scratched. I almost have the bumper on when I noticed that the frame chassis rails are almost 1/4" too close together or the ARB bumper rails are 1/4" too far apart. Rather than forcing the bumper on the end of the chassis rails I wanted to hear some opiniions on this matter. It wouldn't take much to spread the frame rails using a porta power. For that matter, it wouldn't take much to pull the ARB bumper chassis rails together either. This happened to anyone before? I'd like to hear some thoughts. BTW, the oem bumper is a joke. I'm amazed that it meets the 5 mph Gov test standards!

Thanks.
Ali
:cheers:
 
I have heard of this before, but mine fit perfectly. I believe you can just spread the rails with a highlift and mount the bumper. Christo Slee talked about this either on his website or in another reply. You are so right about the stock bumper. Maybe because it's officially a truck it doesn't have to meet the crash standard. Good luck.
 
Or you could use your factory bottle jack and just persuade the frame rails a bit. I'm one of the lucky ones. My bar slipped on like a condom on prom night. It slid right on.

:eek:
 
My slee fit like a glove...I blame superior engineering :D

My coworker had that issue, I believe he used a BFH to fix it.
 
I had that problem... not quite 1/4" but almost that much. We had 3 people and basically would push one side on a little bit and then the other until eventually we worked it on. Didn't use a bottle jack but sounds like it'd be a good idea.
 
Pretty common. I have had numerous discussions with ARB and they say the bars are made to spec. It is iritating, since the other side of the bar mounts have enough space. We use a portapower and spread the horns on the bumper and not the frame.

I would say every 2nd bar we install is like this
 
Close tolarance in any situation is tough. My guess would be that the ARB bars are in spec I would assume they have a type of mold they put it in when they build them, I would assume Christo does the same. My guess would be the frames are different coming from the factory. They try to get parts to line up correctly (so it LOOKS right)and adjust where needed. Just like during assembly at the factory if a part doesn't fit or is damaged slightly it ends up in the "parts for sale" bin. I don't know how many "New" parts I have boughten from a dealer to find out it didn't fit any better then a aftermarket part would have fit (years ago those used to be REALLY bad). I have also gotten many "New" parts that were dented or damaged, some I have returned and got a different one, usually had another dent in another location... :ban:
I would vote for bending the frame rails rather then the bumper, the frame rails are softer and would give easier then those beafy ARB's.

Yomama
 
Hmm, that's interesting. I didn't realize the mis-match was this common. Thanks for the ideas. I'll stick the porta power in their tonight and see what happens.

Ali
 
When I was living in LA, I went to a local muffler shop and had a couple of Mexican dudes wailed away w/ BF rubber mallets and got it on (for my hilux, but the fit was tight, so tight that the top of the sides were just scraping the body paint, so there are some white marks on the top side edge of the ARB).
 
[quote author=moralien link=board=2;threadid=6158;start=msg49510#msg49510 date=1065797290]
My bar slipped on like a condom on prom night. It slid right on.[/quote]
small size into a big sack does it all the time :flipoff2:

I think it's the frame rails that have gotten out of adjustment and not fluctuations in ARB.
 
[quote author=Junk link=board=2;threadid=6158;start=msg49928#msg49928 date=1065920289]
small size into a big sack does it all the time :flipoff2:

I think it's the frame rails that have gotten out of adjustment and not fluctuations in ARB.
[/quote]

I could see that. The frames are so flexy that there's bound to be minor fluctuations in the frame horns.
 
It seemed that the driver side horn is a little out of whack. The bumper and the winch is on the vehicle now. I had to spread the ARB rails out a little bit before sliding the bumper onto the horns. Now, that's a press fit :eek:

Are most of you simply mounting the winch control box right on the motor? Which orientation of the winch is popular? Motor on the right or left? ARB did supply a bracket doo hickey that allows the mounting of the box about 2" away from the motor still using two large hose clamps. However, they provided another bracket that I can't figure out what its for. Now, where's that instruction sheet? :D

The front end of came down exactly 1/2" due to the extra 192 lb weight. This is still with the stock springs, OME shocks.
 
I mounted the control box on the drivers side of the winch motor. It was a very tight fit.
Sean
 
So I take it you didn't mount the thingy between the box and the motor. Ok, I'll try it. I mounted my box on the driver side too. Thanks.
 
Yeah, I figured it out after playing with it. I ended up removing the control box bracket thing and that lowered the whole thing nicely. I'm impressed with the amount of holes with captive nuts already present on the horn! That's a nice design. I did end up mounting the oem recovery loops but they're coming off. They simply hang down too low for my taste!

Thanks for all the inputs.
 

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