Thread: Bull bar mounted spare on TD5 - any cooling issues?

My TD5 130 has the spare mounted on the bull-bar [see photo]. We're planning a lap of oz which will include time in deserts etc and I'm a bit concerned about potential cooling problems due to restricted air-flow.

Does anyone have any experience/wisdom they can share?


Thanks - Phil

P1070205.jpg

Originally Posted by PWat

Fair comment - I'll have a chat with someone who may know the legalities. (I always understood it to be sharp things, like fishing rod holders.)

.....

There are provisions that include sharp edges and sharp protrusions, both for additions and for the general design of the bullbar itself too.

eg.

Any part of a winch, fittings or other equipment which
project forward of the bull bar, must not have any
sharp edges or be an unsafe projection. Alternatively
they should be enclosed with a suitable cover which is
itself free from protrusions or sharp edges.

• Fittings such as driving lamp brackets or fishing rod
holders must not protrude above the top or forward of
the bull bar.

But it's this second section that makes it a bit iffy in a legal sense.

That is, you see so many blokes have their light bar installed above the bullbars top lateral tube, obviously none of them have any idea on the actual legality of such light placement.
That is, while it may still be below the line of sight, or the actual bonnet line, the law is that it simply can't be fitted above the bull bar itself.
So when they fit them to the top rail, it should be underslung below it, not fitted above it.

The more important point here tho is that I see so many fitted above and still fitted above, no one really cares!
I have a neighbour two houses down, their kids have two Tojos both of which have had their light bars fitted above for I reckon at least 3 maybe 5 years when I first noticed them ... so either the cops, or Vicroads just don't know, or care.

So you could easily get away with whatever you do(as my neighbours do) ... but the issue is, you may get pulled up by a law enforcement type that's had a bad day and just wants to take that out on someone.

You'll be surprised on the metal stress issue. Remember it's not that you're adding X amount of weight onto the mounts, its more that that additional weight will be mounted so far forward, that distance magnifies this additional weight.
So the added weight of the spare is say 30-40kg multiplied by the distance .. (can't think of the math now .. got to get to work soon) but expect that the actual weight on the mounts could be more like 50-60kg.
Unlike a winch which is mounted either closer to the mount brackets and fixtures themselves, or more usually on it's own cradle and not adding to the fixings stress at all.

The effect is like holding a bucket of water, say a few litres. Lets say it weighs 2 kg. Carrying by the handle of the bucket.. not an issue, easy as.
But get a long bar, say 500mm long and hang that bucket of water now on one end, and try to hold the other end of the bar, which would be closer to the 450mm point of the bar.
The bucket now feels a lot heavier to you and your hand.

Add in a seriously bumpy typical Aus backroad, and normal travel speed .. and you need to mulitiply another factor into the above equation.

Yeah! .. it may hold .. for a while, no one could easily estimate how long it'd hold. if you drive on brand new roads all the time, obviously longer. If you plan on travelling typical non urban roads .. much much less.

And to reiterate the main point, taking into account the above, .. if the mounts didn't last for the duration of your journey of X klms, do you have a contingency on what to do with the spare in such a situation?