GU O/E b.bar vs TJM bar

i had a tjm 15 on my old toyota hilux with 76mm centre loop and 50 mm side steel loops. it looked solid and in proportion to the vehicle, and i hit roos with it without and damage to the bar.i was very impressed, so i just had a 15 style bar from tjm fitted to my new hilux. but this time i was very dissapointed. one of the inside wheel arch guards[black plastic] was missing when i got the vehicle home after haveing it fitted. and the trim between the original bumper and tjm bar was installed out of line..the new bar also has a 63 mm centre loop and 45mm side loops. it looks weak, does not compliment my vehicles appearance, and i intend to have someone else improve it...my mistake really, i should have checked the bar specs earlier instead of thinking i was going to get a great bar like i had b4.....hope this post ensures others be more aware, who ever you deal with....good research avoids dissapointment

Hi Miles. I have a 99 GU fitted with a factory steel winch bar with a T-Max 9500 installed. One thing to watch out for with this bullbar (99 model, not sure if this applies to other model years) is the way the winch fits in the bullbar. The problem is to do with the way the cable spools from the winch drum. The Nissan bar mounts the winch under the center line of the fairlead. If you install the T-Max (and many similar Chinese made winches branded differently) as is shown in the booklet that comes with the winch, you'll find the cable spools out of centre to the roller fairlead(thinking about it, i don't remember it even fitting in the right way 'cos of 2 brace bars above the mounting holes). But installing the winch upside down allows the cable come off the drum on centre to the fairlead. The winch works perfectly well like this but from memory, the clutch drum on the opposite end to the motor needs rotating around a bit so you can access the free spool lever. One other thing to watch for is that the water drain holes are then at the top!