4x4 With a Safari Bar

[SplashMan]

Has anyone with a Safari Bar gone 4x4ing? Looking at the bar it hangs down about an inch below the front. I love the look of it and want to keep it. I am in the process of doing a T/T and will be putting BFG 31s on soon. I am worried about the brakets for the bar hitting and screwing it up. I have looked at it and I could rise it an inch, but they I will have to cut some holes or notchs in the bumper to acomidate the new height. Any $.02? Thanks in advance.

 

[Cameron]

Do you mean something like a grill guard? if so, yes! I have. That's what they are made for. To protect the front of your truck while off-roading!

Not to mention they look cool!

 

[<<MONOCHROMOUS>>]

cameron, this is the safari bar:
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here is a good pic of the clearance issue:

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it doesnt seem to have that much clearance, and i havent taken it off road that much, i have scraped the bar on a few driveways. my bar is more for looks than for funtionality though, so it doesnt bother me that much. i suppose if you wanted you could raise the mounting brackets some, it shouldnt be too hard, but if you really want clearnace, you might consider a bar that bolts directly to the bumper, that way if wont affect your ground clearance at all

when i got the safari bar, it was something that was not that expensive to hold my lights and that could be taken of fairly easily (mine is a lease)

 

[SplashMan]

MONO... I love your Explorer, it is basically the same as mine and yours has been a great reference for my mods. There don't seem to be many 98 or 99s here for reference. I originally got the Safari Bar a year ago for my Sport for the same reasons as you. Now that I have it on the 99 I have to raise it. I think if I raise it an inch that will be enough combined with the T/T and the 31s. The front sits 33" high stock and if I can get an inch out of the T/T that would make it 34" and then with the 31s it would be 35'. The bar will still be low enough to help protect the front a little, because I would rather have to by another Safari Bar than replace a bunch of broken plastic off the bumper. I know the bar isn't that strong, but it's strong enough to help. The brackets on both sides will be easy to modify the hard part is going to be cutting the bumper and making it look nice. I also think I am going to run into a problem with mounting tow hooks in the front, because the bolts for the bar are in the same place as were the hooks would go. I have to say though that this is the fun part, making things work. And making them look good.

 

[Leucoandro]

has anyone got any pics of there safari bar after they raised it up on the 95 or 96 - 97 front bumpers? If they do I would like to see the front and side profile to see if I would do it myself. I have also considerd getting a 98+ front bumper from a junk yard and installing it, and to mount the safari bar up higher I could drill some holes into the bumper, slide it threw to give it an intigrated look. now I havnt gotten to look very close at the 98+ front bumpers, but how much of the bottom half of the bumper is plastic only?
Thanks
Charlie.
What I would really like though is a TJM T-1,3,15, or even 17, or something like the Road Armor, but they are so freakin expensive. If only I could get one that looked like them for about $350.

 

[jonny 5]

The whole bottom half of the 98 bumpers are plastic. The only thing that isn't are the fog lights and the mounts for those.

 

[Digger196]

I have a brush guard on mine. kinda the same. and i've been off roading in it. if ya go in mud holes and they have steep exits than there's a problem. i bent the front of mine exiting a mud hole. i think if ya lift it up there wouldn't be a problem. I'm also running stock tires so when i get the 31's i think that'll be plenty of room so it won't hit.

 

[Leucoandro]

I have some 31x Mudking, they are an ok tire, but I want to move up to some 32 Cooper Mud Trac they are some good looking tires, although Cooper doesnt show them on there website. they basically look like the Cooper Discovery SST though. I also did the 2" TT lift. Now I am looking doing some mods to my front end, I was thinking maybe change the bumper to the new style. I just had that thought a little bit ago about possibly cutting some circles in the bumper and running my safari bar threw it to give me a little extra clearance. I think it would look good though, just not sure. I would still like to see some side and front profile pics of the Safari bar lifted up on the 97 explorer body style so I can see if I want to do that or not.

 

[Adam Berger]

Have any of you guys considered a proper bullbar? It offers the greatest protection to any car and completely replaces the front bumper. I also believe it gives more clearance that you guys are after. Well, the one I have does anyway.

 

[Leucoandro]

Adam Berger when you say bull bar I asume you are talking about a bull bumper, like the Road warrior or the TJM. I would love to have a bull bumper that looks like one of those that fits the curves of my truck I would even like the TJM T-17 which is the TJM bumper without the bull bar built onto it, but I just can afford to spend $800-$1200 on a bumper, now if I could get a good looking bumper for about $400 or less I go for it, but I just havnt been able to find one in that price range. That is why I have been looking at the safari bar with a lift, to give my truck a custom look without overpowering it. for me a brushguard would be cool, but it give the truck a huge appearance change, where as a Bull Bumper or a safari bar doesnt do it so much.
The main thing I am wondering is if I put a Safari bar on my truck, cut the brackets back so that the bumper fits between my scoop (valance) and bumper then it high enough that it doesnt mess with my clearance, plus with the safari bar up that high it puts the top of the safari bar above the bumper so it has a bit of an overbite look, the only thing that I am wondering is if I raise up the safari bar will stick out in front and have somewhat of a prerunner look which is not what I am going for. I would like the safari bar to be kinda straight up and down flush with the truck. Now also one thing that is tempting is a company called Cobra makes a bull bar for the explorer that looks pretty sweet, I just hadnt seen a really good deal on it yet. and I hadnt desided if that is the one I want.

 

[Adam Berger]

I don't even know what a bull bumper is, but if a TJM T17 is what you are talking about then that is definately not what I have. Mine is a TJM T1 Bullbar, which gives the car a rather tuff and aggressive look. It even incorporates the round spot lights from the original bumper.

 

[Leucoandro]

Adam how much did that cost you? any idea where I can get something like the t-1, t-3 or t-17 for under $400?

 

[Adam Berger]

Do you have TJM suppliers in the States? Mine cost me $1000, but that's in Aussie dollars. I'd reckon you could half that price with the conversion rate at the moment. The only thing is, you have to get it there, cause they're made here in Australia