need some help with the install of bull bar

Onebadasstitan · 06-23-2006, 07:00 PM

I finally bought me a bull bar. it is a westin stainless steel chrome i paid 314 shipped to my front door. Does anyone know what size bolts are on the tow hooks and skid plate? And any other useful install suggestions or hints would be great i plan on doing the install tomorrow. Also how long should i expect the install to go?

SOCALTITANKC4X4LE · 06-23-2006, 07:05 PM

You need to remove the tow hooks and use the same bolts to install the bull bar. I must WARN you, the bolts for the tow hooks are so tight, you might want to spray them with PB Blaster or WD 40 and let it soak overnight.
It took me, by myself, 30 minutes to install.
I think I read some where that the trucks with the factory skid plate, you have to leave the skid plate off.

Treebasher · 06-23-2006, 08:19 PM

You can keep the stock OR skid plate with just a little work. For me, this process of putting on the stock OR skid plate with the bull bar worked a lot better with two people. The bolts are a little tough to get in because they are a little short for both the OR skid plate and bull bar bracket. Everything needs to be set just right for the bolts to fit and be tightened.

The skid plate is bolted to a bracket on the front(two hex/star bolts on each side). The bracket attaches to the frame and is offset like the frame.The tow hooks are offset as well.

Here is the PDF for the installation instructions. You can see the offset on the tow hook.

The kit comes with spacers, you just have to duplicate the spacers they provide.

You install the Bar as they describe and then the offset bracket with spacers over the bar mounts. This will make a lot more sense once you take off the skid plate and see how the frame, tow hooks, and skid plate bracket go together.

The only problem I had and still don't have a good answer for is how to secure the Westin skid plate over the Nissan skid plate. I just have nuts and long bolts using the Westin mount points. Looks like hell up close but it works. Also, some have cut the stock skid plate to fit the Westin skid plate. There are some older threads about this.