Aluminium bull bar

Has anyone looked into Alliminium bulbars for the front of course Oka's . I am thinking about it as it would cut down on weight in the front
has anyone had one made from anywhere ?? Oka's are high enough of the ground , and most vehicles and trucks run Alliminium ???
I am thinking about ringing Mr. Bull bar of Wagga Wagga ...

Harry
I've discussed that same question with a mate who has spent most of his life running an alloy and stainless manufacturing business, his view was that by the time you made the alloy bar to be a strong and durable as the steel version there wasn't much weight saving as such especially with the Oka's need to make the ends very strong so as to be used for the access step.
The centre support section for those with a winch would need to be steel for strength purposes, in fact lots of alloy bullbars are built that way with the bar actually being a "cosmetic" add on.
A good nerf with an alloy bar usually means total replacement as they stretch readily under impact and don't spring back but stay deformed.

Thanks Peter I just looked at an Isuzu bar and like you said it has a steel base and Alliminium topping .. Thanks again

My winch is not at any way attached to the bull bar, it is fitted to the chassie of the vehical, so I pull the chassie and not from the bull bar , aluminium tends to rattle to bits after a while .

How was Tassie. Any Pics

Hi Greg I did not ending up going to tassie . Due to a few reasons . I went to Nymboida which was great and a really nice place . You can see Oka 45 on the east cost gathering .

Peter334 wrote: My winch is not at any way attached to the bull bar, it is fitted to the chassie of the vehical, so I pull the chassie and not from the bull bar................

Ditto.
In fact, I cut out the centre 4-500mm of the bumper bar completely.

#196 does not have a bull bar. The bumper is high enough that I don't see much value. The couple of roos that I have hit have gone underneath.

Cheers,
Peter

My Roo count is 15 and counting and they all went underneath even in the coaster the 2 I hit, hit the bar not up high. Although I did have one go across at eye level once when he thought he was about to be hit. The only thing I have hit above bumper level on the OKA was a turkey and all that was needed was to straighten the wire mesh covering the lights and clean all the blood and guts of the front. At the end of the day the bar really doesn't have that much in it, we are talking a 5T plus truck and if I hit a cow I know i would rather have another piece of steel rather that some light Alloy. It might still be a right of but it has to be better than alloy.
Rob

I've taken A cow out with the steel bar, the bar came back & bent the front panels & sprong foward again,
moral of story, we continued on slightly bent bit still going
bar was a write off

the alloy bars are
a one hit wonder, even on trucks not many survive A bull

there is a few with steal bumper & bolt on alloy pipework.

Hitting a camel (not as unlikely as you might think these days) might be a good reason to keep the steel bullbar.

We've had a few near misses with camels. This well camouflaged specimen darted out from behind some bushes on the Great Central Road. We missed by only a couple of seconds and hitting a tonne of camel would have been a potential disaster.

Took the out of my mouth David.

The Ann Beadell & Canning were quite sporting, dodging them a few years back. Keep the steel one Harry for what it weighs in my opinion.

Thanks David , Peter and Darren and Rob steel it will stay and besides I can weld steel never tried aluminium
Thanks again guys happy travels and stay healthy

See photo below of my setup. Not at all as strong as the standard but would keep you safe if hitting a camel. I linked it in with bash bars either side of the window and made it pivot so if you want to work on anything in the grill or headlights you can flip it down with the removal of two pins. The bottom section is just 1 1/4" steel tubing which includes the steps, so strong enough for that. It was whipped up pretty quickly so doesn't look very tidy but does the job at the moment... The 'middle' horizontal bar is for spots once i install them (been on the list for 3 years now!). This setup is much lighter, cheaper and practical (for my criterion). It isn't as strong but i feel would keep us safe if hitting an animal in the bush... There would be a lot of other damage with either setup if you hit a camel, just less in the case of the standard bullbar (in my view).



On the note of aluminium v steel, in general, steel is twice as strong and weighs 3 times as much so an equivalently strong aluminium object made just as strong should weigh 2/3 as much. Please note, these details are generalisations and in fact if you get 7075 T6 grade aluminium for example you're looking at a metal nearly twice as strong as mild steel and weighs a third of the weight, so not all aluminiums are the cheap supermarket type you get at every corner store...

My 2 bobs worth... once again.

Cheers, alister