I don't blame you avoiding ARB prices, and although I've not been very complementary about the tendency for ARB's products to rust, they are generally robust and well engineered.
I know nothing about alloy winch bumpers and other such accessories,no cant advise on that one.
My side bars are not Mad Max in that they have the strength to ward off collisions with other monster trucks, or anything like. It's my opinion that they're simply not intended for that purpose.
Side sliding into trees or generally parting brush en-route is a different matter and in that respect the ARB side bars work very well. On many occasions, my truck would have suffered quite severe body damage had I not had them fitted. I think they're ugly and was horrified when they were fitted, but over time I've got used to their look and the clinch for me is the damage that they've certainly prevented.
I like the look of the knuckle you've posted, but form the picture, I can't see how you'd mount that clamp onto a closed hoop configured front winch bumper. As you may be able to see from my photo, the side bar to hoop clamps are in 2 halves, making them easy to fit, with the only problem being the tendency for the bolts to rust, but using stainless bolts would solve that problem as discussed.
If you could get some slider steps made up (as in your earlier photo or similar) then I don't see that it would be too difficult to have them incorporate a forward facing stub tube of an appropriate diameter to receive a side bar tube.
Chris' efforts on tidy sliders look like the dogs danglies to me, a combination of his approach and the photos you've posted would be ideal.
Where would you get the side bars from, would be my question.
AFAIK, ARB only sell them with the step kit, so you'll probably have to get someone to fab them to measure. It's a complicated curve to clear the arches. You want them to be close, but obviously not touching the bodywork. Mine pass the wing coincident with the connection of the plastic over-arches and the steel wing panel. They are close, approximately finger thickness away from the wing/over-arch plastic, say 15-20mm at a guess.
My advice would be not to be tempted to attach the side bars to the wing, as any deflection in the bar in some impact would tend to buckle the wing, which is precisely what you're trying to avoid.
Good luck with the mission!
I know nothing about alloy winch bumpers and other such accessories,no cant advise on that one.
My side bars are not Mad Max in that they have the strength to ward off collisions with other monster trucks, or anything like. It's my opinion that they're simply not intended for that purpose.
Side sliding into trees or generally parting brush en-route is a different matter and in that respect the ARB side bars work very well. On many occasions, my truck would have suffered quite severe body damage had I not had them fitted. I think they're ugly and was horrified when they were fitted, but over time I've got used to their look and the clinch for me is the damage that they've certainly prevented.
I like the look of the knuckle you've posted, but form the picture, I can't see how you'd mount that clamp onto a closed hoop configured front winch bumper. As you may be able to see from my photo, the side bar to hoop clamps are in 2 halves, making them easy to fit, with the only problem being the tendency for the bolts to rust, but using stainless bolts would solve that problem as discussed.
If you could get some slider steps made up (as in your earlier photo or similar) then I don't see that it would be too difficult to have them incorporate a forward facing stub tube of an appropriate diameter to receive a side bar tube.
Chris' efforts on tidy sliders look like the dogs danglies to me, a combination of his approach and the photos you've posted would be ideal.
Where would you get the side bars from, would be my question.
AFAIK, ARB only sell them with the step kit, so you'll probably have to get someone to fab them to measure. It's a complicated curve to clear the arches. You want them to be close, but obviously not touching the bodywork. Mine pass the wing coincident with the connection of the plastic over-arches and the steel wing panel. They are close, approximately finger thickness away from the wing/over-arch plastic, say 15-20mm at a guess.
My advice would be not to be tempted to attach the side bars to the wing, as any deflection in the bar in some impact would tend to buckle the wing, which is precisely what you're trying to avoid.
Good luck with the mission!
so i shall hopefully have some sliders waiting when i return in June and by then i should have a definative design and something to guage where to bend the sidebars.
