ARB Bull Bar cracked welds!

A few years ago I bought an ARB bumper and Warn Winch. No issues from what I could tell for 4 years. A couple of months ago I was driving on a gravel road and it sounded like a slight knocking coming from the front end. When I got to camp I looked all around and under the truck and nothing seemed loose or out of place. I then grabbed the ARB Bull Bar and it felt loose. I then looked at the bumper itself and noticed a couple of cracks on the welds of the brackets. My truck spends the majority of its time on pavement with light off road on Forest Service roads. I also checked the hardware and all nuts and bolts are TIGHT and when I installed it I used lock tight on everything.

I emailed ARB and sent them pictures. At first they seemed like they would help out but here's the issue. Despite the bumper being close to brand new when I got it I bought it used. And I bought it 4 years ago, which is over the warranty time. The representative then told me they couldn't help out because I got it used. He has since ghosted me and is not responding.

I'll probably just get it welded and move on but I really expected ARB to help out with this issue but they haven't. I always liked the classic look of the ARB Bull Bar but these days there are a lot of options out there.

 

Weld it up and move on.

 

Kind of how I'm leaning. Probably not worth anymore time and effort dealing the ARB rep.

 

Outrage!

 

Where is the crack? I bet there is more to the root cause here than a bad day at ARB.

 

On the bracket. I'm wondering the same thing.

 

Do you have pictures that aren't zoomed in so close?

 

it's probably because you bought it second hand. I don't know for sure. Either way, fixing that weld will take 5 minutes. Even if you had to take it to a shop, they might not even charge you to fix that.

 

I'm suspicious that whatever the bar bolts to is flexing. Steel doesn't crack just for funsies.

 

So you expect them to alter their warranty policy just for you?

They didn't ghost you. They told you there was nothing they could do for the reasons they explained, and don't feel the need to keep explaining that.

I would suggest reinforcing those locations with some extra plate, rather than just re-welding it. Make it stronger so this doesn't happen again.

 

You can buy those bumper/crush van things from ARB.

Or, as been said, weld it.

 

It never hurts to ask the vendor. I bought my ARB locker 2nd hand (TTORA) and it certainly wasn't in the condition I was led to believe. I contacted ARB and they generously instructed me to ship them the unit and they rehabbed it for free.... Sometimes they will work with you, other times.....

 

It was a bad weld but 5 yrs. is long enough to warrant it being your responsibility. My Dad had a '65 Impala that rusted out the floors by '68. Nothing lasts forever, rust never sleeps. etc. etc.

 

Why did you not notice it before from the picture it has been cracked some time ??

 

You just have to stop taking your truck out to the desert and jumping it, obviously...

 

Might have something to do with the winch hanging out front, extra weight, stressing on the brackets which is not engineered well enough or metal is to thin, along with a bad welding procedure or a combination of all the above. Re-enforce it and weld it, hopefully that'll hold it a while longer.

 

@OP I have the same ARB bull bar installed on my Tacoma myself. I’m sorry to hear that one of your mounts cracked. Since you purchased the bull bar used, it doesn’t have a transferable warranty and ARB isn’t responsible for warranty issues or defects. My advice for you as some of the other posters suggested is to have the damaged mount reweleded and strengthen it with some extra metal plates. If you don’t how to weld (myself included), bring it to a metal fabrication shop, explain your situation, have it repaired/rewelded, and have your bull bar reinstalled by the shop. I will be watching this thread and would like to see the outcome of your repair.