A bullbar has to fulfill a multitude of roles. That is why we decided to try and make our own. The primary function of the bar is to protect the weakest part of the engine in case of a collision – the radiator. Even something as small as a pheasant or a chicken, if hit at speed, can destroy your radiator. If this happens out in the middle of nowhere it could leave you in a life threatening position. If you have ever been on African roads, you will know that animals can and do come running onto the road out of nowhere. The bullbar is there to protect the occupants of the car as well as the engine. The bullbar is also provides a mounting point for the winch if you have one. It also provides recovery points and jaking points (when using a Hi Lift jack). It will also incorporate protection for the headlights in the case of rocks being thrown up by trucks. It will also provide somewhere for the front RTT ladder to connect to.

We looked at literally hundreds of bullbars on the net before we started with ours. We used heavy rectangular box section for the main body and added some hoops that we bent with our cheap pipe bender (can get reasonable results if you fill the pipe with sand before you start). We wanted to keep the approach angle as high as possible. The ends of the chassis rails gave us a natural hard point around which we worked. We tucked the winch in as far back as possible. I am very happy with how the bottom part turned out. For the outer hoops on the top we measured and bent while it was on the car. But then took it off the car to weld it in. While it was in the shed we decided to to fill in the areas inside the hoops. This was a rookie mistake. In an attempt to keep the approach angles as high as possible the whole bullbar sits very close to the body. But this we knew and measured for. However the down bars and cross bars were cut and welded off the truck and only afterwards did we realised that these may actually touch. In the end it worked, only just.

Because everything is so close to the car we had to gusset and brace as much as we could. It may not be the prettiest bar out there, but it is very functional and cost us a fraction of what an ARB unit would have been.