Rethinking the extra weight of a bullbar after the cracking issues

[Nashville Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Nashville]

I have been watching the 150 cracks thread with interest as I had booked in for a TJM bar in mid August. I’ll admit the cracking has got me a little worried as I really don’t think I have the knowledge or experience to try and challenge Toyota if I had a drama.

I had some spare time today and thought I’d go and get the car weighed so I knew where it was at now and figured if I can fit a bar and keep it within the load limits of the car 100% of the time with 4 people on board and their gear then I should be fine(I’m not planning on a battery and still considering a winch, leaning towards no with the driving I am likely to do in the next year or 2)
The result of the weigh was: Front: 1280 Rear: 1180 (With me in the drivers seat(80kg) and ¼ tank of fuel showing , 270km to run on the in dash range indicator)

The car hasn’t has much done to it, Cooper AT/3’s(wouldn’t have thought that would add much weight), Allins tow bar, Whispbar sports racks (10kg at most), sandgrabbas and headlamp protectors(I know the last 2 would add bugger all but though I better be accurate)

Im hoping someone can shoot holes in my maths(or conclusion)

1450kg(front axle limit) – 1280kg = 170kg to play with. 70kg for the bar and driving lights, leaves me with 100kg, allow 80kg for the front passenger leaves 20kgs left of distributed weight over the front axle. Considering the tanks were at most 25% full, there is still over 100L of fuel to go in before I can go very far, which would surely reduce the 20kg left by a little bit. Meaning that there is less than 20kg left for the front end which if adding 2 adult passengers, camping gear etc, or a couple of kids with child seats etc would most likely put me over. Conclusion if I want to be certain of not exceeding the front axle limit I shouldn’t get a bar.

Thoughts or advice would be much appreciated,

Cheers,

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

some more serious maths/physics are required to make sense of it.

obviously 100kg hanging 0.5m in front of the front wheels is worse that 100kg sitting 0.0m from front wheels (above them) which isn't as bad as 100kg sitting 0.5m behind the front wheels.

It's like a big seesaw. Suspension obviously makes for imperfect/complicated physics. and I can't be bothered. but look at these pretty pictures.

http://www.technologystudent.com/forcmom/force2.htm

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

Hi nashville i have a 2003 grande td 120 series i must admit i was a bit worried about mine to after reading inner guard cracks post as i just had a arb deluxe bullbar fitted ive done extensive research on here about this problem and yes there is a few but to me it seems to be more my mate of a mate thing has the problem it would be good to see a thread on here for both 120 and 150 were the actually owners of the vechicle can report of the problems they have maybe even a photo would be handy to compare cracking issues also what acc fitted bullbar sec battery etc how many klm vechile has done and what the rig has been used for shopping trolley weekend 4wd trips or heavy 4wd use with 3000 plus members on here it would give you a fair indication on how common the cracking problem is ill start with mine 2003 grande td 99000klm as far as i no has done no series offroad work bit of gravel road stuff as far as im aware ive only had car for 6 months acc fitted arb deluxe bar fitted month ago thats about it no sighs of any cracking anywere hopefully the problem will be minimal would be good to here from everyones own experense with this issue not mate of a mate stuff.

[Nashville Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close Nashville]

Thanks Wooley, I guess I knew that the weight between the 2 axles would be spread out a bit, and that the front passenger wouldn't be 100% allocated to the front axle but figured 70kg forward of the axle would be similar to 80 behind it and spread over 2 axles, and that calculating it that way would be a bit conservative but not overly conservative.

Hookedup, I know what you mean and fortunately I am not in a position where I have to guess or assume the type of work the car has done, It does sound like it is a few not all but with the luck I am having lately I would not be surprised if I became one of the few. I am not going to do lots of hardcore 4wding but by the same token I plan on having the car for a long time and after owning it for a while(8-10yrs) I might have put it through the same stresses that others have done in 100,000km and 2-3years of solid driving.

Decisions decisions......

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

Unless u r regularly doing hard core work I would not worry about cracking, I did he same thing when I brought the 120 as the cracking subject was alive and well in 2007 around the same time, long story short I got the toyo alloy bar and hated it most of time as it was a prick to keep clean, get the TJM bar u will love it.

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

One confirmed vehicle with cracks doesn't mean a systemic fault.

Let's do some maths, say Toyota sell 1000 Prado’s a month, given Hilux sales are around 3500/m, 3 years of sales, that's 36,000 Prado’s out there, hence 0.003% failure rate...

[Gordon Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gordon]

Wouldn't worry too much Nash. My experience was one of the worst http://s1077.photobucket.com/albums/...rado%20cracks/

But if you aren't bashing down corrugated highways most days at high speed then it's unlikely to affect you, no matter what your setup. Just drop your pressure and speed when you get into the rough and she'll be a cart full of apples.

[KAKADAZ Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close KAKADAZ]

I think if you run hard heavy duty springs, full steel bar, spotties, winch, LT hard sidewall tyres and do lots of hard or corrugated tracks you MAY have a problem. I don't have a cracked guard problem because I've never looked lol.

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

Hi gordon just looking through your pics has someone tightened up the front body mounts on yours was just looking at the picture of the crushed mount if so i would imagine this would be a big contribuation to the cracking problem.

[Gordon Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gordon]

Hi gordon just looking through your pics has someone tightened up the front body mounts on yours was just looking at the picture of the crushed mount if so i would imagine this would be a big contribuation to the cracking problem.

This is one of the suspect elements yes - placing tension through the body before shaking it about. But as far as I'm aware people haven't been doing this for some years now (that one was a 2003 model).

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

That makes sense gordon i was thinking it was 150 series my bad.

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

my bad.

I thought "my bad" was restricted to my 14 year old daughter and her friends..... What have you been up too?


Steve

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

I thought "my bad" was restricted to my 14 year old daughter and her friends..... What have you been up too?


Steve

I think there are some youngsters on this site, as opposed to us slightly older, and more mature, drivers.

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

I thought "my bad" was restricted to my 14 year old daughter and her friends..... What have you been up too?


Steve

I think there are some youngsters on this site, as opposed to us slightly older, and more mature, drivers.

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

28 is not that young yowie wish i was 18 again man i had some fun back then every year seems to come around faster every year