Fitting ARB towbar step

[Kegsy]

Don't flex the chassis in! FFS!!!!!

[mattz]

My advice would be to contact ARB and leave it up to them to work out a solution.
Being a tow bar as well as providing rear protection they will have to engineer the "fix".
If it's not approved by them and something happens, while towing, it could leave you in all sorts of poop.
They won't leave themselves open to any liability so it may not be as quick as you'd like.
Has anyone sent them a pm and made them aware of this thread?

[joomin90]

I rang Moorebank ARB yesterday and they were aware of the issue. They said if it doesn't fit they'll give me a refund. But having measured my chassis it seems to be the one of the wider models. Fingers crossed

[Calblitzen]

This is very interesting considering only 1 or 2 people have said that their chassis rails are wider. Most people so far have indicated that they have the 1062 outside to outside chassis rail measurement. To me so far the narrower one seems to be most common. I have just measured mine vehicle and it measures 1062mm. I also currently have a Mitsubishi supplied and fitted towbar (which I'm looking at changing to get more clearance) which sits neatly to the outside of the chassis rails with no spacers or gaps.

It is interesting after all this time that the problem is now coming to light. Has anyone had this problem with other manufacturers rearbar? Is it possible that the jig to make the ARB bar has changed. Looking forward to see what the outcome is.

[bigjobs]

So I posted earlier that I had a chassis measurement of 1062mm, but that was from inside to inside of the parts that the OEM step bolts to.

This morning I measured from outside to outside and guess what? 1073mm.

Which one is correct?

[ARB 4X4 Accessories]

Hi guys, I'll get some information from our Product Managers and come back to you.

Cheers, Sam.

[Gregory]

Well I received a call today from arb to say that they are going to supply a extra fitting kit so that their rear bars can be fitted to the narrow chassis mn tritons, hopefully it see it soon so I can fit my rear bar

[ARB 4X4 Accessories]

Hi all,

Feedback from our network confirms that there are variances in chassis width measurements on some vehicles. As of now, there is no indication as to whether this is a running manufacturing change or if there is simply a production run of Triton’s with a narrower chassis.

ARB engineers are currently finalising a correction kit for RSTB issue. Factors including the impact on tow ratings, breaking strength of the mount bolts (due to thread depth changes) have to be taken into consideration, and this is a process which takes some time.

When complete, I will get back to you all with part numbers and availability.

Cheers, Sam.

[BMD]

Great, ARB in Wangara (WA) have told me they're waiting on a production run of rstb's so please send a correction kit over for me when it leaves! Funnily enough when I asked them about the issue they never answered the question so thanks for the info Sam.

[BMD]

Email I received from my local ARB today:

"I can confirm with all the information I have received from my engineers on the topic, this bar will fit your car. The vehicles we had the issues with were made in April 2014, which is why we’ve only recently started to have issues. Your 2011 model have the right width chassis and we’ve never had an issue with fitment on these."

[Mark3413]

I ordered mine last week from wangara too. Mine is a 2013 mn so shouldn't be a problem

[BMD]

Damn, could've been a group buy opportunity!

[ryani]

Hi Mark - Don't count on your 2013 MN not being affected - See my post Fri Aug 01 2014 9:37 pm where I measured several Tritons, several not new, to find all where 1061-2mm.
regards Ian

[Gregory]

Hi Mark - Don't count on your 2013 MN not being affected - See my post Fri Aug 01 2014 9:37 pm where I measured several Tritons, several not new, to find all where 1061-2mm.
regards Ian

Ian' is right if your chassis measures 1062 the the Arb rear bar won't fit as the current bar is made to fit 1076 chassis. You will be able to force the side mounts of the bar in with a lot of trouble to make it fit but if something fails you won't be covered , main concern would be cracks in chassis welds or worse because it will be under a lot of strain. This info has come from Arb and you will need the extra kit to fit it up on the narrower chassis}

[BMD]

Email I received from my local ARB today:

"I can confirm with all the information I have received from my engineers on the topic, this bar will fit your car. The vehicles we had the issues with were made in April 2014, which is why we’ve only recently started to have issues. Your 2011 model have the right width chassis and we’ve never had an issue with fitment on these."

Mine has the 1062mm chassis and I have been told the bar will fit as in the above email from ARB.

[bigjobs]

As per my previous post, I can get two different measurements, depending upon where I take the measurement.

Can anybody clarify where we should be measuring from, perhaps even post a photo up for noobs like me?

[Ih8tarmak]

Mine is being fitted as we speak so monday i will pick the vehicle up and do some measuring

[Gregory]

As per my previous post, I can get two different measurements, depending upon where I take the measurement.

Can anybody clarify where we should be measuring from, perhaps even post a photo up for noobs like me?

Hi bigjobs, I am measuring right at the back of the chassis rail and from outside to outside

[BMD]

As per my previous post, I can get two different measurements, depending upon where I take the measurement.

Can anybody clarify where we should be measuring from, perhaps even post a photo up for noobs like me?

Hi bigjobs, I am measuring right at the back of the chassis rail and from outside to outside

Same here, outside of chassis rail to outside.

[Katant308]

On no mine is a January 2014 model I better measure in morning as I want one

[mudslinger]

Just got ARB rear step & Tow bar put on y'day by ARB.

Told them prior to fitting what I had read on forum's etc. regarding fitting differences. They said they've never had that problem & never heard of it. I even told them that ARB have a bracket to fix it.

I’m no engineer or mechanic but I can tell you I don’ t think it feels right. Spoke to another ARB store & they knew about it straight away (Yes I used the wrong store, not a second time i can assure you), apparently the fitting bracket part number is #3546230 for any one who’s interested.

Just rung up head office to investigate & they recon it’s almost a sure thing given it’s a 2014 build and that they should have fitted the additional bracket.

GREAT SREVICE ARB!!!!  NOT !!
Product knowledge  NOT !!!

Lucky I haven’t towed anything yet, & someone in head office knows what’s going on… can only think how many others have already been fitted by these blokes and driving around unawares.

Head office have spoken to store & now they’ve booked me in to get the part fitted, but salesman still recons they could tighten it up even more to get it flush...lest just stick with the ARB recommended and tested approach I think..
NOT HAPPY AT THE MOMENT!!

[Dunga71]

Mine was a skinny frame had to wait for spacers from arb and mines a 2011

[Mark3413]

I have a MY14 and had no problems fitting mine! Was very simple actually. The bar saved me the other day down at Dwellingup! Don't ask why, but reversed into a tree pretty hard and it took the hit, no damage to the truck at all

[ToeKutter]

just measured mine and was roughly 1070 and i could run a butter knife between the outside of the chassis rail and the rear bar bracket and the knife was hitting the mount bolts. The triton is only 4 months old and i had the dealer fit it before i picked it up, told the dealership i had spoken to arb (they knew about the problem) and so they called arb to confirm the issue. dealership rang me back and said they had ordered the spacer plates and will fit them next week. so was a good result

[Calblitzen]

I'm fitting mine now, have removed the old rear step and and towbar. Have prepped the new bar and then thought that I better check the chassis width. It measures the narrower 1062mm. Looked around for the spacer kit, nothing there. So not fitting the bar today. When I bought it I mentioned about the different chassis widths, and of he hadn't heard about it. He spoke with the boys in the workshop and they said that the problem was sorted by there being bolts from the underside. Don't think I will use that workshop. Will have to ring the store tomorrow to sort out.
My question is does everyone have the M10 and M12 bolts on each side to the underside of the bar. From reading the instructions you need to drill a 12mm hole to the underside of chassis rail using the bar as a jig/template. However thats a bit hard when there is a slot in the bar to work with and the M10 nut on the internal chassis bracket is offset. If someone could measure theirs and give me the offset measurement it would be greatly appreciated.