Technical Information
KING BARS MAXIMUM STRENGTH
Steel Mounting Channel
A full width steel channel (12mm top & bottom plate with 8mm face) provides the strongest mounting system available in Australia today. All mounting channels are custom fitted to the main alloy channel in order to minimise any movement over time.
Pipes
The heavy wall pipes run full width across the bullbar & pass through the posts to maximise strength. The potential high impact pipes are double lined & provide an effective 10mm wall of high tensile Aluminium.
Tow Box
A heavy duty tow box made from 10mm steel plate is combined with a high tensile mild steel 36mm tow pin which is rated at 80t. This tow box is located within the steel mounting channel. We are also able to offer 100t, 150t and 200t+ towboxes.
Posts
The extruded RHS posts are made from 6.4mm High Tensile Aluminium, providing superior protection for the bonnet, headlights & radiator. These posts are potentially 7X stronger than I-Beam material in any impact other than a head on impact in which case they are about the same strength.
Hinges
We utilise 6 hinge points using high tensile 5/8" bolts in order to ensure smooth, easy tilting for the life of your bullbar. This also provides a secure anchor point between the steel backing channel and the main aluminium channel. Our Gullwing style bullbar utilises 4 hinge points due to the nature of the design.
Main Channel
The extruded main channel is made from 10mm wall thickness high tensile aluminium. The strength of the channel significantly contributes to the protection of your truck due to its extruded qualities.
Eye Bolts
4 drop forged eye bolts ensure that the bullbar is held securely to the main channel & significantly reduce vibration which can occur, particularly on corrugated roads. These eye bolts are then chromed to enhance the showroom finish.
(MORE IN-DEPTH EXPLANATIONS)
Aluminium Grades and Temper Explained
And it these factors that will help to determine the quality of the product you are buying i.e. the insurance policy you are about to put on the front of your truck. After all the reason you are probably buying this bullbar is to protect your investment and livelihood.
Not all aluminium is created equal! There are a number of factors - all equally important - that determine the strength of an aluminium part. They are: the grade of the aluminium, the temper and the thickness of the part.
Grade:
Aluminium comes in many different grades – King Bars uses what is sometimes referred to as "aircraft grade" or "marine grade" aluminium - the 6000 series aluminium.
Temper:
This is the least known quality, but has a HUGE impact on the strength of a material. When aluminium parts or extrusions (see below for an explanation on what an extrusion is) are made, they are cooled at a very specific temperature for a specific length of time. This changes the micro structure of the metal, and can cause the aluminium to be either very soft and workable, or extremely strong and stiff. Using the same grade you can have one type of temper that is many more times stronger than another temper. This is why were at all possible we ONLY make bumper channels out of a strong, stiff temper of aluminium. Be sure the bumper you're buying has been extruded.
Extruded vs. formed
What is extruding?
It is the creation of a three-dimensional object by pushing out a two-dimensional outline and giving it height, like a cookie-cutter. At King Bars, most of our bumper channels are extruded shapes, made of high quality aluminium. The only exception to this is when a client wants a specific size which can't be extruded.
What is forming?
It is starting with a flat sheet of soft material, and bending it into the shape you want.
Why is this difference important?
Because the channel is the most important part of a bullbar, it’s where a lot of your strength comes from. The extrusion process allows you to use much stronger, stiffer aluminium than you can with a formed bumper. When forming aluminium, you must use much softer aluminium than you can when extruding.
DROP FORGING EXPLAINED
You see the words "drop forged" stamped on so many tools -- it makes you wonder what the big deal is! Why do manufacturers want you to know that a tool is drop forged?
If you have ever seen a blacksmith beating on a piece of red hot iron with a hammer, you have seen the simplest type of forging. Striking a piece of hot metal with a hammer is forging, and blacksmiths have been doing this for centuries. As blacksmiths experimented with new techniques, they learned that complex shapes could be created by hammering metal into a die. The die contains the shape of the finished product. Modern manufacturers use either a falling hammer or a powered hammer to do the hammering (rather than doing it by hand), and usually use dies on both sides of the piece. This is drop forging.
The reason why manufacturers want you to know that a tool is drop forged is because this tells you something about the strength and durability of the tool. The advantage of forging is that it improves the strength of the metal by aligning and stretching the grain structure. A forged part will normally be stronger than a casting or a machined piece.
Here at King Bars our eyebolts are drop forged for the very reason of increasing the strength – they are actually rated at 5t ea in a straight pull situation. Therefore with 4 eyebolts on a King Bar you could in theory have a pulling force of 20t from the bullbar.
4140 STEEL TOW PINS
This is one of the chromium, molybdenum, manganese low alloy steels noted for toughness, good torsion strength and good fatigue strength.
4140 grade steel is used in a tremendous variety of applications, including marine and aeronautical.
These alloys have good ductility, but are tougher than plain carbon steel and thus usually require more force, or pressure, for forming.
We use these steel tow pins for our standard 100t & 150t tow boxes as well as the custom built tow boxes which are rated at 200t+. If you wish we can also get them in differing diameters depending on the applications you require them for.
RHS POST MATERIAL vs I-BEAM MATERIAL
RHS Post Material details: 150mm X 75mm X 6mm
I-Beam Material: 10mm face X 6mm center
The materials listed above have very similar ‘crash impact’ properties when faced with a head on impact – the glaring difference is when the impact is no longer head on.
Once there is any movement away from the direct impact area then the I-Beam is proven to be significantly weaker than the RHS Post Material – in fact the RHS material is approximately 7X stronger than the I-Beam material. And let’s be honest – how many accidents or impacts are going to be head on.