ARB bullbar excessive vibration on Toyota Fortuner

Hi Peter A34,

It is also common on the 200 Series Landcruiser. ARB also use that excuse for the 200 Series. Someone posted a video in slow motion some time ago of a 200 Series on a gravel road which clearly shows the amount of movement of the bar, and not the body. You could possibly look it up on Google or UTube.

I have driven the Tanami, the GCR and the Telegraph/Bamaga roads in my 200 Series with ARB Bullbar without anything falling off or breaking if that makes you feel more comfortable. However, my next bar, if I get another 4WD would be an Off-road Animal loop bar.

Macca.

Peter. Isn't a Fortuner made for creature comfort more than tight ride control?
Apart from incorrect fitting, or unwise bracket placement, and /or soft body mounts, ie creature comfort again.,I would be looking at the Shock absorbers not being able to perform with additional weight of a bar on the front. Some compromise of Ride Comfort may be required with the fitting of More Able shock absorbers.

Hey Peter, yes a few Fortuner owners have reported similar ARB bar vibration. Often it's due to flex in the chassis/body mounts, but loose bolts or gaps in mounting brackets can worsen it. Check torque on all fittings and consider adding packers/shims (as per ARB's install guide) to tighten the fit. Some have also added reinforcement brackets to reduce movement.

Prado 120 had a similar issue with its genuine alloy bar. Used to wobble around quite
a bit and they had some failures. Toyota solved the issue somewhat by repalcing the
crush cans with new heavier tubes, one hopes that they also did revised crash testing
to ensure the vehicles safety rating was not affected:(

Bar still noticeably wobblys but I have covered 1000K's on very badly corregated roads with no issues,
and as written it is the body of the vehicle moving around on its rubber dampers rather then the the bull
bar moving or at least it should be. The bit I find interesting is you wrote you can move the bull bar by applying pressure to it, there's no way I can move my bull bar it is attach solidly to the chassis at several
points, grabbing it and trying to move it will just lift the vehicle. As aothers have indicated if you can move
it fairly easily something is not right with the attachment.

ARB Bullbars are simply too heavy and flex the front chassis arms too much. I don't know if it's a long-term problem, but it is annoying and distracting, even on a freeway.

I had that problem with my ARB bullbar on my first 200. Second time round, I got a smart bar, it's solid as a rock, contrary to what you might expect, and my winch version is more than 60kg lighter than my old ARB.