smart bar

[gnomad Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close gnomad]

G'Day
My grey nomad days are just starting, first major trip was to Fraser Island, without any problems and very enjoyable.
Bought a 02 Prado and happy with performance, thought that I didn't need a bullbar until...... middle of the day giant well looked like a giant, pig came out of nowhere just missed. Investigate Bullbar. Steel too heavy so it's said, alloy ???? smartbar light weight with good story but heard that fitting can be a major undertaking? Has anyone got one on a 90 series Prado, would appreciate comments & photos if possible.

GN

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

Re: smart bar

Hi and welcome to the forums.

The Smart Bar is currently only available for the pre-03 Prado's so it hasn't hit a lot of radars. I agree with your concerns regarding weight of the steel bars, however the steel bars also appear to be extraordinarily popular due to their strength. There's an interesting video on the SmartBar website showing deformation of steel/alloy/poly bars which is quite interesting. I guess it comes down to how big an animal are you going to hit, and how fast will you be going at the time.

It's hard to get a straight answer from the suppliers regarding their bar weights. When I asked the guys at ARB they said it weighs 'about 60kg, but the original bumper weighs nearly half that' - other people tell me the ARB weighs well over 70kg, and the factory bumper is about 15kg. The general response from the sales dudes is that you need better suspension anyway, so don't worry about it. Alloy bars are reportedly around 35kg

Take this all with a grain of salt, I don't have a Prado yet ops: but for me, it comes down to this: Will I be driving at night; and will I need a winch? If I'm going to be driving at night, I'll need someplace to mount decent driving lights, and something out front to fend off the odd roo. If I'm going to need a winch a bar of some sort is just about mandatory. I don't know if the Prado Smartbar has winch accommodation - some models have it, others don't. As I don't know the answers to these questions yet, I haven't ordered a bar. I'm sure the answer will become apparent to me in due course.

Oh yea, put your location in your profile before the mods get ya

Michael

[gnomad Lurker Find all posts View Profile Close gnomad]

Re: smart bar

Thank you both for the information, very good points.
I'm also in the process of researching an upgrade for the rear suspension, possibly with polyair, as i need to level the ride when towing camper trailer (Jayco Dove) front wheel arch 5cm higher than rear when attached.
This could solve the weight upfront problem.
I doubt that I will be driving at times of high impact danger, but you never know so a bullbar steel or alloy is now the question.

My farmer son in law says a steel bar for strength is the answer, but the question of weight still is of concern, blogs I've read suggest that it is capable of splitting the fire wall??????? So a compromise is probably alloy if it does the job,
your right of course it depends on what and at what speed you hit.
Thx again
GN

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

Re: smart bar

Also the Smart Bar will bend long before a steel bar, factoring the closeness that they sit to a vehicle, it could bend, damage a body panel, whilst the steel bar merely pushes it away.

There is no free lunch. The energy has to go somewhere. It either gets absorbed by the bar, or it is dissipated within the vehicle structure (or most likely, a bit of both).

I have no idea if bars cause body/chassis fractures in the long run, but it wouldn't surprise me. I was in a 2 year old Hilux out in the middle of the Pit lands a few years ago. Steel bullbar. Imagine our surprise when the front chassis mount area literally tore off over corrugations taking the bullbar with it. We actually ran over it. The locals just laughed and threw it in the back. Apparently, a common occurrence once the car has had a bit of use in those parts, especially the lighter 4wds. To be fair, these weren't weekend warrior cars, they got used in the outback 7 days a week.

Also, if you do a google search on "prado smartbar" there are a couple of threads come up from Exploroz that cover some user experiences.

Michael

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

Re: smart bar

We had a smart bar on our previous Prado. I chose it because it was light and resilient. Obviously it is not up to scrub and animal bashing but while we had the car we hit the odd roo and the bar would deform and then spring back pretty much overnight. I was very impressed. It also interacted with the back of a Commodore and there was no damage at all because the plastic absorbed the shock. We would have been up for a repair with an alloy or steel bar for sure.

The only downside was after 6+ years the UV started to show up as faded areas in a couple of spots so that would be my only concern long term. I have an ironman bar on my D4D because it is considerably lighter than the ARB equivalent and I didn't much like the look of the others. ARB advised that their 120 series bar was 80kg while the ironman bar in stainless came in around 45kg. Worth a look but again not a heavy duty bar. If you need the strength then you will have to accept the weight.