Fat Chili

Zak - Just to throw my shit in the air again (as you put it), ....This is just for you .

Unlike you I am not a Jeep newb and not a 4X4 newby as you appear to be, if I am incorrect then I apoligise, although your posts strongly lead me to this assumption! (but then we all know what an assumption does)
Your enthusiasm is to be commended as is your choice of vehicle (Jeep) but generally your comments have no basis other than "it looks cool!" So read on...

I have owned 4 ARB front bars previously, as well as their rocker guards and several rear bumpers. I also used to own one of the six ARB produced (in-house developed Hilux based 4x4's) vehicles that were used for demo and R&D purposes, the development of these vehicles was also a colaboration with Toyota as a test bed for 3.8 ltr V6 conversions (prior to the release of the V6 Tacoma for the US market in the early 90's (or there abouts)and later the AU market). This particular 4x4 was fitted with everything ARB marketed for this particular model, approximately $25k - $30k worth of accessories, not including the engine conversion or accessory installation.

So with that, I can say that I have nothing really against Mr Anthony Ronald Brown's products. They manufacture some of the better products on the market. Although with exception to their bar work the majority of their products (untill recent years) have not been invented in-house they have purchased fledgling companies and / or their products and re-badged the items, and then later refined the products. I.e. Air Locker. (But this is just common business practise, as you are no doubt aware.)

My Current TJ also has several ARB products on board - i.e. Lockers, compressor, snatch strap etc. and I am more than happy with them.

My statement which in your obvious enthusiasm you have either mis-read or mis-construed actually read - "IMHO blah blah still looks shite", I did not state that it is shit.
Hence I am only refering to my opinion of how I think it physically appears! Not so dissimilar to your regularly stated opinion of "it looks cool" ; however:

To quote you further.

Hmmm, they maybe strong in your biased opinion but I have (and plenty of mates have) bent the crap out of them to put in mildly, hence the reason why many Aussie comp rigs don't use them, unless they are sponsored by them.
They are only manufactued from 3mm steel. My current 'Hanson' bar is what I consider to be quite a strong and it is manufactured from 5 mm steel. Many other bars are even stronger, it obviously depends on what grade of steel is used etc. the higher the grade the greater the manufacturing expence.

The Second part of your above quote, hmmm ? "Very good ground clearance". It is actually refered to as 'Approach Angle'. They are okay, but certainly nothing special...as one would expect as it is designed with profit and ADR compliance in mind and for the masses (the unfortunate truth is that the majority will be sold to soccer mums).

Wow, the innovation, what next? Woopy doo! But then again if that's what excites you Zak then, bask in the glory.... But seriously, this is a good thing but hardly innovative, and the bar itself is still very similar in design to the TJ bar. I just think they should of moved away from this design as IMO it does not complement the vehicle.

Next:

How can you say it looks better? When the finished product hasn't even been released. You may have seen the proto, but you even stated that "they are putting the indicator harnesses next to the fog light", this leads me to believe that they are yet to do it. If they had done this, then maybe you should have typed the would 'PUT', this would then imply that the said harness was in place at the time of you viewing and that the bar was complete.
Given that you have not physically (apart from the posted pics) seen an AEV bar to do a comparison, hmmmm, pot this is kettle over.
Oh, I get it, it's okay for you to say "it looks better" but I cannot say "it looks shite"? (fill in the blanks .....Dumb _ss).

On the home straight now...yeah! retort rant over, almost.

You state that it will be half the price of the AEV, have you been given a price? Know one else in Australia has, even those that work for ARB don't know....Yes I was originally from Vic and do know people who work at ARB, also one of my sponsors is an ARB dealer. If you have a price then please share it....

Is the dollar figure of $1300 in US currency or Australian?
Either way if you take the ARB TJ bar as an example, the last time I checked this bar was around $1200 AU (rrp) for the winch, colour coded bar, and around $830 AU (rrp) for the non-winch standard black bar. So I honestly really don't think they will come in anywhere near 'half the price of an AEV bar'.

So in closing (getting off my now):

IMO what's cool to one person, isn't to another, I prefer things to be functional over blingy (chrome don't get ya home!).
It's a little like sticking Rubi-Con stickers on a Sport JK (although the 'Sport' stickers are now gone aren't they?) or a hood vent that doesn't do anything - well, apart from maybe look cool (in someones opinion... who did that?).

The ARB bar in comparison to the other items mentioned above is in my opinion a functional item but 'I still personally think it looks shite' when compared to the AEV bar and several others on the market.
It does nothing for me and being that this is a public forum I am able to express that opinion. As are you.... Isn't having a choice and freedom of speech a great thing!

Also, not that you jump on the band wagon or anything but didn't you write the following about the AEV bar? Just to refresh your memory - https://www.jk-forum.com/forums/modified-jk-tech-2/installed-aev-front-bumper-winch-10093/

You should be happy with your Warn 9.5ti, I think they are cool, been running one for 4 years now with no problems .

Rant over, happy Jeeping.

Fat Chili

No, but I prefer and attempt to type posts that are at least semi-constructive, even if they do insight debate. .

JKFirefighter

Crap, and I was hoping the ARB bumper would be cool and functional. Guess I better call Shrock.

Fat Chili

It is 'cool' to some and it will no doubt be functional as ARB didn't achieve a great reputation in the after market industry by producing crap.

The basis of the long winded rant was to point out to a certain someone? That opinions are like assholes, everyones got one and on a public forum everyone should be able to express it, opposed to jumping on the mine will be or is, the best bandwagon.

The Shrock is also a cool looking bar IMO .

Fat Chili

Zak - It's not personal your dribble just irritates me...
note to self - remember not to read Zak's self absorbed dribble. Plus this is more fun :toung: .

Really read the rant post and my previous post and you may follow it!

I'm sure I stated: Obviously you didn't read this?

And yesterday I also posted: You don't know who I am, as I don't know who you are - you may have seen me on another forum, but that does not mean you know who I am.

Jealous - hmmm, NOPE - this ain't a 'my dicks bigger than yours contest is it?' It's about opinions.
As I have said all along your JK is nice looking. Better change that to 'was' with the addition of the scoop, too much non functional bling bling IMO, looks tacky (crap). But if you like it, it's your hard earned $$$ so do as you please.

At least you finally admit it's not a Rubicon, good on ya!
The mods you have made with the exception of the bling and chromey bits are cool, i.e. Lockers, 4.88's etc. However, it still does not have the front Dana 44, the 4:1 geared transfer case (Rock-Trac® NV241 Off Road manual, part-time transfer case). So therefore it is NOT a Rubicon and never will be one, put it to a poll and see how ya go, if your after further clarification.

Should I stick Rubi-Con stickers on my TJ, as I have many more mods than you have listed, and their are thousands of owners with even more mods than both of ours put together. Should they re-badge their Jeeps? It gives bad vibe.

Also, now that you've removed the factory original 'Sport' stickers, aren't those scratches that you previously mentioned in a seperate thread going to be highly visible? After all you did say that the stickers were put on to hide the identical scratches that your JK obtained on either side of the vehicle.

Eh? Confused....I live around about 1700 Km's from Melbourne.

As I stated:
Was it a Purple TJ? And who is this Mic that you mention, means jack to me.

I am waiting with great anticipation.

I've seen the rear bar, it's old news. So no need for the extra ARB product pimping. The slider, I haven't seen so post up some pics, or are they the same / similar to their TJ (AEV) sliders.

What club? It's not jealousy, it's the constant self gratification that you post that irritates me, have a read of your own posts. It's this type of self absorbed (I love myself shite) that you type that leads me to think the way I do. E.g. If you really think so, here have a medal

Fat Chili

So who do you think I am? I'll leave you alone the fun is over .

Take care, and happy wheeling.

bluekjcrd

if you went off and spent 80 grand on that bling bit if shite for the reasoning i got a "real rubicon" not a stickered with add ons etc that YOU ZAC were making out was real from the start lol how funny was that then it "appears" in jeep action aust this mnth and states its a "sport" with rubi-con stickers on it as for the best jk ever i think your so full of shite spending 35g buying the car + the other bits of bling = 80 grand i dont think so jim bob

i actually got a new front and rear bar (fab-fours) + 3.5" rubicon express lift, rancho shocks, the same tyres you have and a winch from the states for apros 9 grand AUSTRALIAN in total including shipping + the 45g i paid for the rubicon = 56 grand and about another grand for the new drive shafts etc man im way out in front of you so i recken im about 25 + grand smarter hey


and for fat chilli keep going mate your a legend

maybe zac needs to pull his fat head in hey ??? because mine will be the "BEST " REAL RUBICON out there very soon not a rubi-con "sport" at the end of the day its still a SPORT "ZAC" and will never be a RUBICON why if your now "swaping the diffs out to make it a rubicon lol id rather have FACTORY BACKED warranty on my loccas not a 12 mnth n fuk off thing ?

isn't it funny "zac" dont say any of this blink crap on the aussie forums ??? were to bsy laughing at him

Fat Chili

Zak - No hard feelings (flaming is over), you still have a very sweet looking ride and with the mods you have done it will certainly perform extremely well. Except for the scoop (can't let that one go :toung: ), but that's just my opinion and it's your hard earned so do as you please.

At least your wheeling it and having fun, that's what counts most of all, not who's got the shiniest bits are the biggest this and that... Though these items are niceties they are not always necessary. I've seen a good old Model T Fords go places where stock full size 4x4's couldn't and the same applies to Willy's Jeeps.

The initial intension of my retorts was not to ridicule you but to try (in a very long winded manner) and get you away from jumping on every band wagon that comes along and to understand that (as already mentioned) opinions are like assholes, we all have them, and we are allowed to express them (i.e. when something looks like shite). And to state that something is the best, is generally marketing hype. Just research the hell out of what you need or want, or you could be wasting your money!

But at the same time we all have different needs and budgets. Hey, it's taken me 7 years to put everything on my TJ and it's still no where near where I want it to be , unfortunately other things like 3 yrs traveling, a house, my boat (and wife )have at one time all taken a higher priority - bad me

The ridiculing came about out of (admittedly ) frustration, either due to your not reading my posts or me not being effective enough in conveying my thoughts.

The ARB bar will no doubt be a very functional improvement as will the winch. I have no idea about the build quality of the AEV stuff, except that ARB (Aust) makes their TJ rock sliders and then AEV rebadge them (or used to anyway). However, the JK AEV bar is not related at all to ARB (to my knowledge).

With regards to my previous comments about steel and mm's of thickness, again, just because some bars use thicker steel doesn't mean they are stronger or better, you need to weigh up the pro's and con's of your needs, i.e. the majority of the time thicker plate steel is going to weigh a heap more, therefore more weight over the front end, this effects your steering, suspension etc. and could cost alot more in the long run. And it's not like we intentionally go around using them to ram objects.

I faced similar ridicule several years ago when I brought in the first set (to my knowedge) of TJ Bushwacker flares to Australia, people said they were crap, break easily etc. etc. I couldn't understand how they could state this given that no one else had owned any, therefore what were they basing their opinions on? touche. Now there every bloody where, their still not perfect but I'm happy with them.
One Jeep aftermarket business that is now closed even said my Hanson bar was inferior to the likes of Warn and ARB bars, coz that's what they sold. When the idiot in question learnt via me that Hanson used to be the design engineer for Currie Enterprises his attitude changed and an apoligy ensued. We all live and learn, eh?

And please post any pics of the final ARB Bar that you can get.

I think it's time for a Guiness

Fat Chili

G'day Folks,

Here's the final version.

The Pic is poor quality but came from a sourch who works for ARB over here, it is not on their site as yet.

Production starts on the 29th of August, ARB are taking orders over here already (apparently?).

The bar has passed ADR's (Australian Design Rules) which applies strict safety and design requirements for vehicle accessory manufacturers, including bars. Manufacturers must comply with vehicle occupant safety and pedestrian safety requirements (I.e. minimal sharp forward protrusions etc.)

The two square holes are to allow the use of high lift jacks.

The part numbers are:

Bar 3450200 = $1323 (Australian Dollars)

Winch recess cover - 3550040 $67 (for when no winch fitted - covers the recess)

Blanking Kit - 3550030 = $66 (for when fog lamps are removed)

Crush Can Kit - 3550050 = $46 (Rubber covers presumably?)



Hmmm, now all they need to do is throw a lift and decent tyres on their demo JK...

Zak - you were correct, it does look alot better than the prototype.

aussie

well i think i am leaning towards the arb, i was choosing between the aev and this, unfortunately you pay as much in freight to get an aev to australia as you do for the bumper, I do like the lines of the AEV though, any ideas on cheaper freight? I am all ears !!!!