Rust issues with ARB Bullbars or ANY bullbars for that matter??

NEED ADVICE! Just started looking to maybe add a bullbar/bumper to my Taco and thought; "it would be cool BUT, is it dumb when I live in an area where it snows"?? Curious if anyone has a rusting problem/issue with their bullbar? They salt the roads where I'm at, I could see four to six months of snow too! The other question is; IF I add a winch, will that rust too? Should I just scrap this whole idea?

 

Bumper, got'it! Anyways, so probably not unless exposed right? How about the winch??

 

I would say get it . it will probably rust sooner or later depending on how well you take care of your truck. ex - wash, wax, etc.
I would recommend black because its easy to remove the corrosion if it occurs, and touch up the paint.

 

I had an ARB bumper on my TJ for 5 years. I had zero issues at all, even where I had deep scratches in the powercoat from some trail rubbins. Their powercoat is pretty impressive. There were rumors that they had to coat in AU since their process wouldn't fly here with the EPA. Pretty sure all their gear is still coated overseas.

If you ever need to touchup. Rustoleum professional semi gloss black is a dead ringer for their finish.

 

Hey what kind of bull bar is that ???

 

Everything will rust and/or deteriorate over time.

The key to longer life - is keeping things cleaned & maintained properly.

I have an Aries pushbar and it has stainless alluminum plate on the front. After a coupl years of just plain washing, it does get a pitted look to it. This past summer, I applied stainless polish to it and it looks good ad new now.

 

Yeah, I power-wash the S*** out of my truck AT LEAST once a week in the winter! I try to take no chances, it get's sprayed up top and ALL over the bottom, every possible spot I can spray.

I did see that some winches have synthetic ropes, is this how to deal with the old school metal winch cords and not having them rust?

 

A decent to high quality winch should be sealed. The finish will rust where ever the paint gets chipped off. Another option would be to mount the winch on a plate that would go into a receiver and build a little receiver for the ARB bumper, does 2 things keeps your front end light and keeps your winch out of sight and clean! Synthetic winch cords are becoming popular because they are lightweight, soft and easy to handle, have little to no re-bound(don't snap like a whip when they break), don't rust,... the list goes on and on! ALOT more expensive then wire rope though.

 

Not sure what you mean by "build a little receiver" but I do like the synthetic idea......except for the price. How did I know a synthetic winch rope would be better in all areas and cost an arm and a leg.

 

Using synthetic rope has nothing to do with 'rust' -or to prevent rust on the wire ropes.
Synthetic rope is MUCH SAFER than wire rope for winching. There's a ton of reasons why, but this thread was not intended for that, so I won't get into it.

 

Going back to the bumper rusting, if you take it to your local line-x or rhino liner shop and get it sprayed that thing will never rust. If the liner gets chiped they will fix it for free since both have a lifetime warranty

 

Don't worry about a I started this thread and was wondering about TWO things; 1. ARB bumper for rust and 2. Rust on a winch. In other-words proceed!

 

Do they do that for the undercoating

 

I've used wire rope & went to synthetic rope and owned a winch for years.

Wire rope is heavy. You have to handle it with gloves because the wires can break and stick out and cut your hands. Wire rope also kinks, frays, gets birdcaged, and can ultimately get dangerous to use.
Here's a link to pictures of commone wire rope wear/tear.
http://www.rigging.net/wire.html
In winching situations, if it breaks....it'll flail around and could seriously injure or even kill someone - a lot of energy stored that releases quickly.

Synthetic rope is just overall safer. It's lighter, no glooves required (it's SOFT). If it breaks, it drops to the ground. If it breaks, you can actually tie it together (with proper knot) and use it again.

Just like anything else, the rope & wire have to be maintained properly, spooled and respooled on the winch drum properly/tightly for longer & repeated safe usage.

The wire rope withstands more abrasion - like dragging it across the ground or yanking logs and other such things. With rope, you want to protect it from abrasion (there are abrasion guards). There'd be an entire new thread to describe safe winching techniques as well as maintaining a winch/rope also.

 

that goes for people too

 

Ohhhh.....good info! I'm used to my friends Taco from High School (WAYYYY back in the day), he had a Warn Winch with a metal cable/wire and despite only using it here and there.....IT WAS COOL! Anyway, I'm a ways off from doing a new bumper/bullbar but I thought I would entertain the idea and see what the word on the street was. I drove a Taco at a Toyota Trail Team Event with an ARB Bumper and winch. I wondered what it all cost and thought hmmm, maybe someday I'll do that and do it right. I guess like anything else.......IT JUST LOOKS COOL AS HELL! Why not do it?

 

You can buy a plate I'm pretty sure that bolts right in to the winch mounting bolts. But its just some box tubing (its special hitch tubing) welded to a plate and bolted to the bumper. The winch sticks out the front of the bumper, and can be removed easily.

 

Where you got those sidesteps bar for your truck?