BULL BAR QUESTION??

I have what I believe to be a good question but we shall see. I have a lift put on my 2006 DC Tacoma using 5100's up front set at 2.5" w/stock coils. I know that once you go up around 2.5" or so, it's a good idea to get aftermarket UCA's, my question is if I got a bullbar would the weight of that therefore bringing the front down a bit decrease my need for the UCA's, or would it not matter. I have driven the truck over 800 miles post lift including ALOT of highway miles, and only really noticed it being a little squirrely on a few occasions, otherwise drove great with stock UCA's. Thanks for any suggestions/answers!

 

Something like a Westin bull bar would not have enough either to squat the front end. An ARB Bull Bar would do the trick but that's a whole different animal.

It's squirrely most likely due to alignment. Do you have your alignment specs handy? Also, the truck is higher so the center of gravity is higher also contributing to the problem (slightly).

 

i don’t think a bull bar would compress the shocks much if any at all.

edit: never mind Pugga beat me to it.

 

Yeah....my bull bar is real light so it wouldn't benefit you at all.

 

They don't do much. A bull bar is more cosmetic.
I hit an animal in an F150 I had with a bull bar it dented the bar pretty good and still pushed it into the fender, now it did save the fender from be damaged too much but the bull bar was a complete lost.
my 2 cents.

 

Thanks for the help, I was thinking they might not weigh all that much but wasn't sure. I do still feel a bit of vibration/minor wandering occasionally at certain speeds so once I return to the states I'm gonna get it re-aligned & tires rotated/re-balanced, and hopefully that will do the trick. If not, I'll be investing in the UCA's.

 

arb bull bar is what you want lol i'm pretty sure i could hit a cape buffalo and be completely fine lol

 

Did you have it aligned after the lift? I did a full 3" lift front & rear with stock UCAs and have no problems. Did 85 and feels fine. What size tires are you running? I've heard larger tires can make this happen with stock UCAs.

 

Yes, I had it all done at once. I put on the lift, got new tires installed, alignment & balancing & have 265/70/17 size tires. It is not THAT bad, I only noticed it a few times and that was while driving a total of about 800 miles mostly highway. It could have been other factors such as wind etc. but I really don't think it was that windy & of course I was paying VERY close attn due to all the horror stories on here of lifts & needing UCA's. When I'm in town, I have no problems other then a mild vibration between 20-30 mph. One thing I know for sure is the tires need balanced again because the steering wheel vibrates at highway speeds, not to bad but definitely noticable. Luckily I have lifetime balancing with the Nittos I had installed.

 

I had an ARB Bull Bar on my 98 Taco, my 83 FJ60 and I have one on my 08 Taco. I didnt notice much sag or performance difference with either. What I DID notice is that when you hit deer at 60+ MPH is a thud and a little wobble in steering, then nothing.

Although, with my 08, i notice a lot of vibration from the ARB on bad washboard