Smartbar fitted

[Pog Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Pog]

Yep - I'll keep my opinion to myself also, and add that I am very happy to be getting a steel bar fitted next week.

[mat-with-one-t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mat-with-one-t]

I’m have a crack at reopening this thread. Can anyone add to SmartBar experiences? Not opinions, but rather experiences?
cheers, Mat

[Bobba Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Bobba]

Mat we had one on our old 90 series Prado. We already had a medium-duty suspension set-up when we bought it and going with the Smart bar took the guess work out of upgrading the front suspension again...saved time and money because they're so light. We only had one hit, a medium-sized roo at 80km/hr. The bar bounced back to normal, didn't touch the body work, and the roo survived...with a broken back, so I had to put it down anyway, but it proved their pedestrian friendliness compared to a steel bar...my steel ARB bar on the old Triton would have killed it for sure.
I'd have no hesitation buying another.

[wv1 Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close wv1]

I am still happy with mine. It does have some mud splash stains on it from a recent trip that have not washed off. Have been over rough roads with it and still seems to be holding to the car as originally fitted. The only thing I was concerned about was when I fitted it I followed the torque instructions for bolting on the unit and some of the inserts started to turn in the moulding. Had the torque wrench checked and it was ok. Decided not to worry about it at the time.

[mat-with-one-t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mat-with-one-t]

Thanks guys. That’s helpful. Given the weight, would standard suspension be fine?

[Kicker Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Kicker]

I’m have a crack at reopening this thread. Can anyone add to SmartBar experiences? Not opinions, but rather experiences?
cheers, Mat

Hey Mat.

I've had Smartbars fitted to my work vehicles for > 10yrs. We have driving lights on all our vehicle and there is no movement/vibration of these lights when mounted on the Smartbar. I have struck dozens of kangaroos (both large and medium size) at speeds of 100km/hr. At no time has there ever been any damage to the work vehicles or the Smartbar. The bar has always returned to its original shape.

I'm now strongly considering getting a Smartbar for my 2018 Prado, however the picture of the 2018 smart bar on the ARB website does not look overly appealing. I've since spoken to Smartbar and they have emailed me some other photos from different angles (see below). I'm still not sure if I'm a huge fan of the new design. It does not appear to be as contoured/slimline as the previous models.

If you're interested I also have the PDF file of the 2018 Smartbar specifications. The file is only 5MB in size, however it is too large to upload here. I can email it to you if you like.

The reason I'm considering purchasing the Smartbar is due to its lighter weight - it won't increase my GVM too much, therefore allowing extra room for increased towing weight.

Cheers


ARB 2018 website Image






2018 150 series Smartbar. They emailed me these extra images.

[canyonero Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close canyonero]

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Kicker

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Kicker reading your post and wondering how you went with your fitting? I picked up my Prado in Dec last year and looking at the Smartbar. Did you get the winch fitted also?

[BGC Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BGC]

Hi everyone,
I recently had a SmartBar fitted with a Warn winch by my local ARB dealer on my 2018 Prado (Kakadu). The outcome was good with minimal drop in the front suspension, which is great.

I also fitted two new spotlights to the SmartBar using the included wiring harness which comes with the SmartBar, which was simply a "plug-and-play" setup with the included deutsch plugs in the SmartBar wiring harness. I simply plugged the spotlights in and bolted them to the SmartBar - took 10 minutes.

However .......
What has happened is that the spotlights will not come on if either of the two Auto High Beam or Auto Light sensors are on.
This means (if I want to use the Spotlights) I can't use the automatic sensor to turn on all the car lights once it gets dark, or use the automatic dipping of the high beam/spot lights when there is an approaching vehicle.
Only if both of the Auto functions are off will the spotlights come on.

I had got used to these features so it is very annoying and so I have to do everything manually - old school.
ARB have just had the vehicle for 3 hours and looked at their wiring and told me "it is what it is" and spotlights will not work on a 2018 Prado if either of those Auto functions are selected.

So my question: Has anyone else had this problem and thus are ARB correct, or have they got it wrong and they have not wired it correctly?

[Leethal Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Leethal]

I assume you are using the Toyota driving light harness which connects internally, Toyota advise that the driving lights will not function when in Auto high beam mode, so yes they have wired it correctly, a warning note comes with the harness which is meant to be left on the shifter handle.

Lee

[BGC Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close BGC]

Thanks Lee for confirming that piece of information; I appreciate it. I took it to Toyota two months ago and they said they could fix the problem and then when I picked it up the people at reception said they had fixed it.

I think Toyota must have put their own wiring harness on as they replaced the switch in the car from the one ARB put on. But when I got it out at night it clearly was the same and so had not fixed it. I then went away for a month on the road. So today (before reading your note) when I put it in for a regular service I mentioned the problem again and I told them they did not fix it previously like they advised me.

So the answer I should get back today from Toyota is that they can not fix it. We will see what happens.

BTW - the Smart Bar has otherwise given me no problems at all and I am a fan and the Warn winch works well with the Smart Bar setup.
P.S. despite a bit of to and fro and miscommunication, both ARB and Toyota have been very good to deal with on what is essentially a non-straight-forward technical problem. Frustrating for all but likely unavoidable as it turns out.

[MightyJosh Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close MightyJosh]

It actually looks good. I am considering getting one for my 2012 Prado

[Shoe Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Shoe]

Hi,

I can confirm it is definitely not the bar - technically it's a safety feature. As good as the Auto-High Beam feature is, it is not 100% accurate so to reduce the chances of blinding an oncoming motorist with your spotties if the system is a titch late in dimming they disable the spotties in Auto mode. I'm in the process of adding the STEDI piggyback harness (non-toyota original) to power my light bar and it has the same restriction.

It doesn't stop the high beam working - just the additions.

Hope this helps

Shoe

[mat-with-one-t Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mat-with-one-t]

Hi again all. Been a while! Planning a trip up the middle, so revisiting this older thread if that’s ok? Any further Smartbar reports or feedback? Looking at fitting one to our 2.8 VX 150, probably with a compatible winch.
Anyone got more pics and experiences?

on that note, if we were to go ahead....

- recommended place to get it done in Melbourne?
- best winch? We’ll likely be only towing an approx 700kg trailer setup
- best driving lights to fit bar?

cheers!
Mat