Well, it looks like I really did it this time. Running a trail on Saturday, I took a pretty good hit on the ARB, driver's side, on a solid shelf. When I got out and looked at the bumper, it looked fine, didn't even take paint off, so I didn't give it any more thought.

When I got out of the truck this morning, I noticed my blinker assembly hanging askew from the fender. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the fender had more space from the ARB than the other side. Apparently the ARB pushed the fender up and misshaped it enough to pop the blinker out. I'm assuming that the grooves on the assembly held the shape in place for a while (which is why I didn't notice until today), but that the pressure finally popped it out.

As I was already running late, I didn't have much time to investigate, so I'll give it a closer look at lunch. Has anyone run across this? I'm hoping the fender can be "finessed" back into a usable shape without having to take it off or replace it. Any suggestions of what I should look for or how to try to fix it would be helpful.

Not happy...

I did the same thing to my fender with the Calmini bumper a few months ago. I haven't messed with it, other than to realign the headlight pattern.

One more for Mr Carnage for that weekend.

I hope its not that bad.

dammit Jason!!! what the hell'd you do that for?!?! guess now you gotta sell it to me for $100...

Yeah, right.

Well, I just took a closer look at it. There are three points of contact on the fender where the ARB smacked it. I had to search for a pivot point and finally found a couple of cracks in the paint right above the apex of the wheel well. The fender will flex (with quite a bit of force) almost back into its normal position to accomodate the blinker assembly, but flexes back away. We're only talking about 3-4mm of movement, so that's pretty frustrating.

I don't know enough about body work to know if that can be "bent" back into shape, or if I need a new fender. The only other damage is one of the plastic pins holding the grill/headlight surround snapped. The headlight is fine and the blinker is pretty much in the right place, so for now I'll live with it.

On a lighter note - the ARB looks great! A couple of tiny battle scars, but no worse for wear. Oh well, wheel and learn, I guess.

DAMN!!! guess I'll have to pay friggin retail now!!! hey Jason... you got an alarm? :rolleyes:

Yes, it can be...

Don't ask me how though, I know it can be done, but not how to do it.

I did the same thing with my ARB when I drop the truck on Mr.Tree stump at Paragon's Rock swamp trail. The force was so great the it bent the 3/16" air damn under the ARB and put the wing into my fender. Since then My sidemarker light has been tempermental. It didnt work when I went for my inspection, so the asked me to replace it in front of him so he could pass it. All I had to do is unscrew the one screw and twist the bulb and on it came.
This evening my headlight wasnt working. So I just happen to knock on the headlight and on it came.
Any idea what the hell is going on? Two loose connections? Or was it just the bulbs that came loose?
I'm looking for any ideas. I can live with it, but its a little annoying.

I tweaked my ARB this weekend too. I think the bolts may have just shifted a bit. If it is bent I am going to look into getting a refund. I hit a small tree going less than 5 MPH. That should not damage the bumper. I guess the gap in between the bumper and my fenders is a good thing after all though.

I had the extreme opposite reaction to my ARB damage. I drilled 4 holes all the way through the ARB and frame and put on some 1/2"X4" grade 8 bolts, nuts, lock washers and washers. That f*cker Aint moving no more!! The hardware that ARB provides to nolt into the frame is a joke, if you are slightly off and try to tighten it, it strips the bolt, then the frame. If anything, at least my ARB lines up now..
When in doubt, Drill it!!

I'm assuming that you used the bolts provided with your ARB bumper...

I tagged a tree a while back with my ARB, and the ARB shifted a bit. The impact and bumper shift didn't cause any damage (thankfully) to the truck or bumper, but I did bend two of the bolts on the side of the impact.

I pretty much went the same route as 01SalsaXterra and replaced the hardware with Grade 8 bolts.

When I installed my ARB I used grade 8 Equivalent metric bolts and installed an extra bolt through the ARB and frame to keep it from shifting. I accidentally struck a 5" tree last fall and caused no damage to the truck....The ARB had some paint scraped of it. Also a lot of people don't cut down and reinstall the brace that is removed when you install the ARB. IT helps provide a good cross support for the ARB and frame.

I saw one alternative, or possible solution to the flex of the wings on an ARB. I spoke to this guy and he said that it cost about $150 to have these tubes bent and welded in place. He said that it has saved his sidemarkers and fenders numerous times, and I'm sure it stiffens up the ARB quite a bit..

That may actually compound the problem.
My ARB routinely touches both fenders, due to flex in the body.
The ARB flexes just enough to not damage the fenders (but there is paint removed from them and the ARB).
By stiffening the ARB, it could possibly cause more damage to the fenders during normal off-road driving.

It may work well on the ZJ pictured. They are unibody and flex differantly than a body on frame.