by nugget » Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:20 pm
Finally got the roof rack done and dusted so it was time to move onto a bullbar. Had a look at what was available commercially and nothing was what I wanted so I decided to build my own.
My concept was for a steel bar with a centre loop which would follow the radiator/grille lines, take a winch, provision for a ladder rack and a couple of other things I still have up my sleeve.
To make the job a bit easier, I managed to get my digits on a raw channel with brackets not welded in.
Unfortunately it had indicator slots which i didn't want, and the winch slot was not where I needed it so the first job was to fill in the holes.
The brackets sit on the inside of the chassis rails so positioning was important
I also added a bit of extra strengthening. A plate to sit against the end of the chassis rail and also a plate to bolt a recovery point through. This plate was alos braced back to the bracket later for even more strength.
Unfortunately the winch, whilst fitting between the brackets, would not centre properly so I modified the bracket.
A spacer and new plate section was added later to maintain the strength of the bracket.
I decided to machine my own Hawes fairlead which would have a front plate and rear plate so there is a fairlead on both sides and the 2 halves would be bolted together, sandwiching the bar between them...pic later of that one...and would also incorporate the number plate. First up it was time to cut the new slot.
A bracket to hold the winch control box and the access hole for the engage lever
Time to slip it on and check everything was going to work. Position of the centre tube and also the ladder rack hole finalised.
H3 Adventure. Vortec Supercharger, Custom exhaust, 4" Rancho lift with extended shackles & military wrap heavy duty rear suspension,HD Sway-A-Way torsion bars,35" MTZ's,Rock Sliders, UHF radio, Cargo Barrier,UHF ariel custom side mounted, Pioneer AVIC Nav, draw system, dual battery, 500w inverter, custom roof rack with 4 IPF 800's, custom ARB bullbar, Mile Marker V-Winch 10,000lb, snorkel with custom airbox and K & N filter, TD low profile shock plates, ARB front Air Locker