Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

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Blaine
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Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

A: It was my fault for getting high centered in Capital Forest. Should have got out and looked at the other side of the hump. Took about an hour to dig out. Duh! on me, big time.

B: My Westin bars were useless. They folded like a cheap suit when the weight of the truck got on them. They bent so bad that the door wouldn't open, and I had to go out the window. So flimsy that I could bend them down a bit just by bouncing on them a few times.

I'm having the Westins replaced with N-Fab. They are made with a heavier, 3" round steel. Round will be inherently stronger and should hold up much better than the 5" wide (now known to be) flimsy oval-shaped, Thin-azz Westin
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Grizz »

do you have a hydraulic jack or two onboard? and a couple of planks? I'll have to look up westin bars . . .

but, doesn't "nerf" suggest something besides "strength" ?
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

Grizz wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:30 pm do you have a hydraulic jack or two onboard? and a couple of planks? I'll have to look up westin bars . . .
Hindsight is always 20-20, ain't it? :lol:
The hydraulic jacks I'm thinking of would not have lifted high enough to help on this one.... I really screwed the pooch this time. I'm thinking one of those Hi_Lift jacks would have been handy to shift the weight to the front wheels.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by gamekeeper »

I have never seen the point in Nerf bars on a off roader unless you're disabled or plan on taking old grandma shopping... :wink:
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

gamekeeper wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 4:58 pm I have never seen the point in Nerf bars on a off roader unless you're disabled or plan on taking old grandma shopping... :wink:
Knees and back are shot....Not sure what you mean by "off roader" but it's just a regular pickup that I take into the woods on forest service roads...No rock crawling or other silly stuff. :)
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by jeepnik »

Get a Hi Lift jack, a 48" should work for your vehicle. Get a base plate for it. Learn it's uses. They can pry, squeeze, lift and act as a winch (short pulls but it works). If you're high centered you can often lift then shove the vehicle to the side out / off whatever is high centering you. You should have a variety of accessory straps, not to mention a good shovel, ax and pick.

Here's the one thing many folks do wrong when stuck. They try and get unstuck as fast as possible. I liken it to a lost person starting to walk faster and faster until they are running in a blind panic. Instead, stop and look at the problem from all angles. Develop a plan, develop a plan for when the first one doesn't work as this happens quite often.

Besides the tools to get yourself unstuck have a good means of communication in case you can't. Cell phones are great but don't always have service. A good shortwave usually works but sometime terrain blocks them too. There are relatively inexpensive devices that will send your location and SOS. These are satellite based and are pretty darned reliable.

And as Mike Nelson (Lloyd Bridges) said at the end of every episode, don't go alone.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by rock-steady »

I'm with the gamekeeper on this one.

Why put a metal bar on your vehicle that would seal your exit door in the event of an accident? :?
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by octagon »

Have several hi lift Jack's, they work in a pinch but can be finicky. Much prefer a winch any day, they cost more but much less work. One of my Jack's is foreign made, What a honking pile of pelosi.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Griff »

Have a plan, follow it thru. And if I'd lifted my dually any more than simply leveling it out, I'd have probably put step on it, even tho' I don't like the look, and feel they're just a major PIA, the electric hidden ones... that's another story.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by 2ndovc »

When I got my first Jeep CJ my dad said "Don't forget, the better the 4WD the better the Stuck!" I had some trophies back in those days. :D

I have the factory bars on my '18 F-150, and even though I really don't like them I found that after all the health issues I need them some days.

Back in the CJ days I could get away with a good come-a-long, shovel and couple of chains. I've had the F-150 out on some pretty rough logging and oil rig service roads, but with a $2500 '79 CJ7 I wasn't as careful as I am when the sticker breaks $52k. :shock:

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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

rock-steady wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:07 pm I'm with the gamekeeper on this one.

Why put a metal bar on your vehicle that would seal your exit door in the event of an accident? :?
You forgot about the window....Very handy in this case. :lol:
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by jeepnik »

octagon wrote: Wed Jul 15, 2020 6:35 pm Have several hi lift Jack's, they work in a pinch but can be finicky. Much prefer a winch any day, they cost more but much less work. One of my Jack's is foreign made, What a honking pile of pelosi.
Yep, that's why I specified Hi Lift. While folks use that like the word kleenex for tissues, they are only Hi Lift if they are from Hi Lift. The others are really farm jacks and quality does vary tremendously.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Gobblerforge »

Click Click Boom
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Grizz »

that's genious. essentially a jacob's ladder. very cool
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by stretch »

Here's a good discussion about the difference between "nefr bars" and "rock sliders."

https://www.roundforge.com/articles/roc ... er-guards/

Those Westin nerf bars folded up under the weight of the truck 'cuz they're not
designed to hold the weight of the truck. Mostly they're there to act as steps.

I have a pair of "nerf bars" on my Tundra, but they're really just steps. My girlfriend is about 5 feet tall,
and while adding the steps SERIOUSLY diminished my entertainment value :( , they did make
it MUCH easier for her to mount up......... :lol:

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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by piller »

Out where I grew up, we had a lot of sand. Almost everyone carried both a long handle and a short handle shovel with them in their pickup. Since it only takes a short moment to get stuck, it is not a bad idea to have a few tools when not on paved roads. Hi-Lift jack and a couple of jack stands and a couple of 2 by 6 boards made it a lot safer to get the truck out. I bet that getting unstuck is similar everywhere.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

piller wrote: Thu Jul 16, 2020 1:13 pm Out where I grew up, we had a lot of sand. Almost everyone carried both a long handle and a short handle shovel with them in their pickup. Since it only takes a short moment to get stuck, it is not a bad idea to have a few tools when not on paved roads. Hi-Lift jack and a couple of jack stands and a couple of 2 by 6 boards made it a lot safer to get the truck out. I bet that getting unstuck is similar everywhere.
I always have a small shovel and short digging bar in the rig....I think maybe a Hi-Lift is in order.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by 3leggedturtle »

I bought brand new Ford Escort in 1985, 2nd thing i did after putting in a good stereo and fog lights was to go to Fleet Farm and buy a Hi-Lift jack. Got laughed at but the 4 times I used nothing else would have worked! Todd/3leg
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Larkbill »

I see part of the problem here. You all have misappropriated the term Nerf Bars. Nerf Bars were on the back of dragsters so you could push start them with your tow vehicle (more often than not a station wagon in those days).

The items you're discussing are what we sold in the parts dept to truck buyers and they were called (by their mfgs) side steps. No other utility was expressed or implied.

No doubt the real off road folks have cobbled up more robust versions but I wouldn't know about those. Homie don't play dat. Off road is best done with two wheels.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by jeepnik »

Updated version of the hub winch. They probably date back to the advent of the automobile. I've still got one around here somewhere. Poor man's winch. But they do work. Google "hub winch" and you'll find many varieties.
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by Blaine »

"Naturally" been looking at things....A HiLift 48", used in winch mode, would have moved me more than enough to get traction. Probably a done deal.... :idea:
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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by ollogger »

When all else fails, ive used a chain saw 25 ft. of cable, attache one end too tree other end to pickup & cut the tree down
It dont take a big tree in fact i used a tree once that weighed maybe 1000 pounds & i was dang well stuck but did the job
I know in places that could cause problems cutting a tree but this was years ago in northern Wisconsin & who would miss a tree in that country




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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by stretch »

Olloger, I've only read a fictional account of that procedure.

Never encountered anyone with actual experience doing it! :lol:

I'd guess the main thing is to get the tree falling in the right direction, eh? :wink:

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Re: Very Disappointed In Westin Nerf Bars

Post by ollogger »

Stretch ya the main concern is to fall the tree away from stuck truck :lol: put your cable or chain up as high as you can reach






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