TheSamba.com :: View topic - Hurst Bar or Roo-Bar or None...

Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:25 pm

snapped wrote: One thing people seem to forget ...

If you like the look then do it. If you don't like the look then don't. Just like your hair - there are 1,000,000 different ways to wear it.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:53 pm

I voted for none, because they are both ugly.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 6:11 pm

How bout a Ho Bar?

.....I enjoy my Dyslexia it be can fun.

Fri Apr 13, 2012 11:01 pm

To each his own. I am putting an original Sopru roo bar on my 78 Westy to protect it from the insane amount of white tail deer around these parts. If I hit an Escalade or a tractor trailer at 60 plus head on I hope it comes through the front of the bus and decapitates me.

Sat Apr 14, 2012 2:11 am

Hoody wrote: To each his own. I am putting an original Sopru roo bar on my 78 Westy to protect it from the insane amount of white tail deer around these parts. If I hit an Escalade or a tractor trailer at 60 plus head on I hope it comes through the front of the bus and decapitates me.

nah. What usually happens is they fold over and sever your legs, or perhaps snap your spine like a twig.
Doesn't bother me either way. Odds are if it does happen, the last thing I'll see is the grille (or roo bar) of a truck making a bee line for my face.

Speaking of which, truck roo bars are really neat. On some designs where the cab folds forward, the roo bar does too and sort of lays down parallel with the ground, on a different angle to the cab. Those ones on trucks can eat livestock and not even phase them.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 1:58 pm

Hey Guys/Gals, So we stay out of the forums generally because there are way to many experts on everyone elses stuff overall. But this subject was brought to our attention the other day by a Bay Window Hurst Customer of ours and after reading this and some of the notes about the Hurst Bumper we Build here I figured a comment needed to be made.
Whether you like them or not is indifferent and to each there own. But any reference to our Bumpers being flimbsy, will fold on impact, decorative only, or cheaply made or built is 100% false and those experts on our product are flat wrong and uninformed.
So, you can definantly read the specifics in our ads for Hursts for Bays and Splits, Metal,Tubing Quality etc, but those are only words to some. Yesterday we went ahead and pulled the White one off the Blue and White Bay Singlecab posted at the top of this thread and Pulled an Early one of the Stock shelf and decided to drive on top of them with 2007 Dodge Extra Cab Long Bed still loaded from weekends swap meet, canopy and all. The truck sat on top of the Bumpers for about 6 hours yesterday with zero tweeks or problems.
-Our Bumpers are not flimbsy and will not fold when hit as mentioned here. Obviously a serious wreck could destroy almost anything but these bumpers are not weak.
-Side note to this, 2 customers of the Bay Hurst have had run ins where the Hurst did help with preventing further damage. One was involved in a loss of Brakes and the Bus went off the road and hit a series of tree's from 4-7 inches, the other hit a Deer in November, both Hursts and noses of each Bus came out fine, the Tree hitting incident did break a couple trees and broke the window and dented the peak of the roof before the Bus stopped.
If either of you folks are samba members and read this, post some pics if you have them.
You dont have to like them, but you cant be an expert on the wrong info here and make statments that are not true.
Pictures about to follow as I figure out how to post them and attach here.
Thank you.
ProjectVW
Oregon.

White Bumper used for this Test.

Other Junk we Make with this Metal.
"Looks Like Moderators are not allowing pictures of other vehicles from us for some reason, you can go to our Body and Paint Link here and go to the last picture, 32 Ford Drag Truck for reference picture we had posted here. This was reference to same metals used on our Bumpers.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=909952

Thu Apr 19, 2012 2:55 pm

projectvwparts, could you please explain how those bars are mounted? I'm not looking to steal anyone's idea etc. I'm just genuinely curious because I can see cutouts where it fits over the bumper but not the mounts.

i have no doubt that it would protect against smaller (as in shorter legs) creatures and that the plate sections add rigidity in areas where normal impacts would be expected.
However I can also see that higher up impacts it wouldn't be much help but let's be honest if something hits much higher it has a chance of being in the cabin with you anyway. It serves a specific purpose as does mine. Both are different.

May I ask did this bar ever have optional mesh inserts for the headlight areas? or perhaps i saw something similar elsewhere.

More than anything else I find the picture of the vehicle parked on the bars scary. That thing must be huge!

edit: mentions of flimsiness etc. were more about the standard "flyswatter" type which were fitted to many bays. Those are also the type which have cause a lot of deaths on Australian roads because of the construction. In an accident they fold back like a mouse trap, with similar results. I can see the Hurst ones are less likely behave like that because of their lower profile and rigidity. The headlight guards would probably fold back but the rest looks like it would more be pushed back rather than causing that dreaded mousetrap effect.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:09 pm

Hey Rat Camper, were not big Forum guys so feel free to email with any questions anytime, that goes for anyone who has questions.
I was trying to load the drag car picture here again for reference one last time but seams to be unwanted so thats in the link above also.
There are some pictures of the Laser Cut Long Bars that mount to the Frame/Beam area in the ad for the Bumpers and the Photo Bucket Link in each ad.
There is more than just the front Bumper Bracket mounts holding these guys in place. The Bumpers are surprisingly strong on there own and once mounted.
We have wrapped a tow strap/chain/etc around the mid to upper bars on more than one occasion to pull something or someone elses rig out of being stuck.
But yes, everything can be destroyed someway and somehow for sure.
--The Mesh Insert for Headlights is interesting.....Maybe a good idea with that........
-One more note from us here........We like "VW Buses" with or without any of thee extra's, the Roo Bars are cool, Nothing extra is cool, The Hursts are cool, some other ideas can also be fine too.....Each Bus tells a different story and we personally seam to like them all or most of them, not every Bay or Split Bus we have is sporting our Hursts.....

Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:18 pm

You can't host pics of non-vws on the site. try photobucket or like sites, they give you the forum url code as soon as it's uploaded. Nice bumpers.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 3:41 pm

projectvwparts wrote: Hey Rat Camper, were not big Forum guys so feel free to email with any questions anytime, that goes for anyone who has questions.
I was trying to load the drag car picture here again for reference one last time but seams to be unwanted so thats in the link above also.
There are some pictures of the Laser Cut Long Bars that mount to the Frame/Beam area in the ad for the Bumpers and the Photo Bucket Link in each ad.
There is more than just the front Bumper Bracket mounts holding these guys in place. The Bumpers are surprisingly strong on there own and once mounted.
We have wrapped a tow strap/chain/etc around the mid to upper bars on more than one occasion to pull something or someone elses rig out of being stuck.
But yes, everything can be destroyed someway and somehow for sure.
--The Mesh Insert for Headlights is interesting.....Maybe a good idea with that........

There may be a per post image limit. You may have to ask an admin. i would be interested in seeing other photos. You aren't actively using this thread to sell things so I don't see an issue personally.

I figured there was more than a bumper mount for those bars given the vertical plates, but I was only asking because I couldn't see them and was curious.

I just had to go outside, yes right before this sentence and glanced over at my bay for reference. The very top of my bar is perhaps just below the level of the bottom of the front vent. The spare mount on the front was a later addition. I plan on moving it when I figure out where. So I'd say total heights are about the same.
Being able to drag things with the bar is important in my books. The probability of someone trying it with a roo bar on the front is pretty high. I know I've done it heaps of times. Recently with a stuck caravan that weighed over a ton (1000kg).

I should also elaborate on what I said about those headlight bits possibly folding. In worst case scenario frontal impact they will probably go along for the ride with the rest. If the did fold back then it'd be offset impacts or whatever the other object is wrapping around the front of the bay that could bend it but that's a given. That ramp photo shows the curvature of the bars a lot better than other photos and that the plate sections would be first to the party rather than the classic style which just has two vertical bits of tube which when pushed will potentially fold back. I mean any bar on a bay may well do that but stronger ones will more likely bend at the brackets, get pushed back or break off rather than wrapping around (which is a genuine fear of mine).

If the mesh inserts weren't for one of these, it must have been for another design with the headlight part which goes up like that. There have been a lot of different designs manufactured here and it's been a while since bays were common so my memory is a little rusty on it. I know they existed in some form though.

Thu Apr 19, 2012 7:29 pm

minispdrcr wrote: I was just curious since I have seen both styles and just wanted opinions to what people think.

Now whats a bull bar?

Ps...I just have overriders on my bumpers.

Like so:

Sat Aug 04, 2012 10:57 am

So I was finally able to by a Hurst bumper for my bay window. I got it at the Rose City Bug In from the guys at Project VW.

I am super stoked!!

Those guys are really cool, have a great product, and they are really knowledgable.

I will post some pictures of my hurst on my bus later.

Here is a couple of pictures of there set up at the bug in....

Sat Aug 04, 2012 4:16 pm

RatCamper wrote: projectvwparts,

More than anything else I find the picture of the vehicle parked on the bars scary. That thing must be huge!

That's a small one, you should see the big ones!

Thu Aug 09, 2012 10:23 am

Here are pictures of my Hurst bumper from Projectvw on my bay window. It mounts really easy, and is super stout.

Wed Sep 05, 2012 4:29 pm

pedalpower wrote: Here are pictures of my Hurst bumper from Projectvw on my bay window. It mounts really easy, and is super stout.

Any drilling required to install one of these?

Thu Sep 06, 2012 7:01 am

Damn. I need a hurst bar! That is just F*kking radical

Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:44 am

9mmMike wrote: pedalpower wrote: Here are pictures of my Hurst bumper from Projectvw on my bay window. It mounts really easy, and is super stout.

Any drilling required to install one of these?

Hey 9mmMike,

Yeah, you have to drill two holes on the top of your bumper. There is a L bracket coming off of the hurst, and a plate with a nut welded to it that goes to the inside of the bus bumper. Then they are bolted together through the hole in the bumper. Here are a couple of pictures....

Also there are heavy duty bars that go from the lower beam mounting bolt to the bottom of the hurst bumper. It is way stronger than I expected it to be. The late bay, early bay, and split window hurst all mount differently.

Thu Sep 06, 2012 9:54 am

I voted for the Hurst, just because they would look proper with BFG All-terrains. :lol:

Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:03 am

Hell I want webwalkers bumper now....

Thu Sep 06, 2012 10:11 am

jmstu76 wrote: I voted for the Hurst, just because they would look proper with BFG All-terrains. :lol:

Hey jmstu76,

The bfg's would be awsome. I was thinking about those for my bus. Check out the "offroad" and "bays in the woods" threads...

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=240777

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=164107