Beefing up the ARB tabs

[Trunk Monkey]

After crushing the tabs on the ARB of my 60 on rocks, and watching a tab on an 80 fold from a side pull with a winch, a friend and I decided to add some beef to our ARB recovery points.

Had some 1/4" plate supports cut, just need to get them welded in and bash them on the rocks. We made extras, available in the marketplace section.

 

[alaskacruiser]

FZJFillmore- you probably saw them fold because those tabs are not recovery points. A lot of people use shackle mounts with backplates on the flat front part of the ARB bars (several vendors sell these kits). This would be a lot stronger than those ARB tabs, upgraded or not.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

A lot of people use shackle mounts with backplates on the flat front part of the ARB bars (several vendors sell these kits).

Don't think I've ever noticed one on Mud, either installed on an 80 or for sale.

 

[alaskacruiser]

FZJFillmore- please see this thread:
https://forum.ih8mud.com/showthread.php?t=88815&highlight=backplate

for examples from man-a-fre and expeditionexchange. I thought Slee had them as well, too lazy to search right now.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Good hell - $99?

Like I said, I've never seen anyone install something like that on the front of an ARB. But I have seen everyone use the ARB tabs for recovery, and they work great - just don't stand up well to rocks or side pulls.

 

[IBCRUSN]

I wanted something more substantial instead of the jacking rings. I considered beefing up the rings as you show but I didn't want to get into removing the powder, welding and painting or repowdering the whole bumper. If I were to have gone that route making the tangs as thick as possible (up to 1") would have been a good idea. Instead I picked up some 3/8" steel plate and weld on "D" rings. IIRC the steel and D rings came to less than $20, the Grade 8 harware was $15 and since I don't have access to a welder $25 to have the rings welded on. So for $35 you can have rings that are stronger than the bumper. I think the calculations came to 40k lbs in sheer and slightly more than 55+k lbs in tension, but the ARB 3/16" steel will fail first at ~25k.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Those look good, you're the first I've seen with them on an 80 ARB. Agreed about sanding and repainting, but I wanted to keep the look of the ARB as it is.

 

[IBCRUSN]

The look was a consideration. I was actually concerned about how much these D rings would rattle, but they really don't unless I'm on the trail running the rocks. Even then they aren't bad at all only a clunk once in a while.