Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

[Fozzy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fozzy]

I have been finding that since I had my ARB bar fitted, it's sometimes a bit of a struggle to get my fingers between the bar and the popped bonnet to access the little latch so I can raise the thing, so I made up a little helper.

I drilled a hole in the latch tongue and then in the plastic bar directly above and mounted a small stainless ring via some sash cord, so that I don't have to fumble around like a 15 year old on his first hot date, trying to locate the tab. I needn't have drilled the second hole in the grill but what the heck. The cord's strong enough so I can begin the bonnet lift by pulling on the ring and then it's easy to grab the lip of the bonnet once it's raised a bit. I figured that if it's difficult for me now, once the spotties and winch solenoid box are mounted it would be even harder, so this alleviates all that mucking around.



Underneath.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

Cool idea. I have an ARB bar and a Toyota bug screen. Makes it a double PITA to open.

[karrathaprado2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close karrathaprado2]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

I like that...easy fix and should not take any time...thank you for that

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

So, after forking out 70 odd grand on your fourby, you need a bit of string to get under the bonnet!

Somehow, that just doesn't seem right to me.

I don't have any dramas with my ARB bar and access.

[longdog Member Find all posts View Profile Close longdog]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

I don't have any dramas with my ARB bar and access.

Maybe you don't, but damn, I do! What a PITA it is!

Not so much the ARB bar itself at fault, but the combination with the Warn Winch box sitting on top of it right in the middle.

This would have to be the single best "little thing that makes your Prado life easier" that I have seen since someone came up with the rear door fold down table idea.

What I hate is when I'm scrambling for the bonnet release with a group of people looking on and as soon as I manage to finally get the bonnet released my enthused colleagues jump in and help yank the bonnet open while one of my fingers is still trapped in there and it almost gets broken off in the process!

Almost happened the other day at Toyota when I was trying to explain something to them and they were having trouble opening the bonnet so I jumped in and said "let me do it" but they were so gung-ho that as soon as I had the bonnet release tripped they tried to "help" by yanking the bonnet open while my finger was still lodged in there. Almost lost it I did!

Will be implementing little bit of string idea pronto. Thank you Fozzy.

[hulbyw Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close hulbyw]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

This is a great idea. A simple solution to an annoying problem.However I too don't have any issues opening the bonnet, but I don't have a winch. My ARB bar has a cutout to get your hand in and on the lever. However this is probably a good post to warn Prado owners that the grille needs to be treated gently when opening and closing the bonnet, particularly if you do a bit of off road work on corrugations. The plastic mounting tabs on the grille are very thin and flimsy (put politely they are rubbish). Most of mine broke after doing the Canning, Flinders Ranges and then the Simpson. Genuine replacement grilles are very expensive and the plastic aftermarket grilles that I found were missing the mounting tabs along the bottom edge.
Cheers..Wayne

[Guest Close Guest]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

Just had to get used to mine, ARB winch bar with 3 x rallye 4000's in front of the bonnet catch.... just a matter of turning your hand backwards to trip it. I like the string idea though!

[Fozzy Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Fozzy]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

So, after forking out 70 odd grand on your fourby, you need a bit of string to get under the bonnet!

Well, lets call it a "synthetic fibre user interface" to make it sound a little more technical. I guess sometimes the simple things work OK, despite all the technology. Remember how the Americans spent millions of dollars perfecting a pen that wrote in space, and the Russians used pencils?

Cheers,

Dave

[Bushbasher Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close Bushbasher]

Re: Easy bonnet release when ARB bar fitted

So, after forking out 70 odd grand on your fourby, you need a bit of string to get under the bonnet!

Well, lets call it a "synthetic fibre user interface" to make it sound a little more technical. I guess sometimes the simple things work OK, despite all the technology. Remember how the Americans spent millions of dollars perfecting a pen that wrote in space, and the Russians used pencils?

Cheers,

Dave

Mmmmm, maybe a schmick piece of dyneema rope that matches my winch rope would look great for that job?