This is my driver's side. The blue arrow is the Tone supplied bolt that uses an unused, already threaded hole in the frame. The red arrow is just flat plate steel that you can copy and cut pretty easily. The yellow arrow is just a flat steel disc about 2.5" dia except for a flat edge on one side that gets welded to the main piece. It is not a 90 degree angle between the two parts. That's what you have to figure out, the proper angle at the weld.
You're probably thinking right now, "why can't I get Trooper brackets from Westin and use those on my VX?" You can, but, Adam from NYC at one time had the Trooper brackets using this same bar from Westin. It works but they make the bar stick out way too far from our front cladding. The Trooper nose is obviously much different from ours. I think Tone did an excellent job and I wouldn't want my bar any closer or farther from the cladding. If you want to make your own, I would use Tone's design. There's not much chance of coming up with anything better than he did.
You could possibly cut the whole bracket from one flat piece of steel, then have a shop with a brake press make a bend at the right spot at the right angle needed. Then there would be no welding.
If it was me, I would cut it as one piece from light guage sheet metal, make a sharp bend at the right spot, hold it up in place and adjust the bend so the disc is parallel and perfectly flat to the front of the VX. Measure the distance of the bar bolts and make adjustments and so on. Then take that light guage template to a shop for a prototype of heavy steel and go from there.
Of course, if ya can find someone with a new or used set that's selling 'em, forget all that and it'll bolt up in just a few minutes.
I had that bar on for seven years. It was still in good shape, but lookin' a little road weary. I put a new one on last year to get back that shine. There was some rust around the ends and lots of rust inside the ends. For the brackets, make sure to coat them with primer and then gloss black Rustoleum. To isolate the bar from the brackets, and any migration of rust, use a washer between them. The biggest washer I could find was 2", which is the exact size of the bar and not the best seal there. I cut out washers just over 2" from light gauge galvanized sheet metal and drilled a hole the exact size of the bolt. After it's installed, coat around the washer and the end of the bar with primer and the gloss black Rustoleum. Repeat that step whenever necessary.
Westin #30-0015 is the black bar you need that will fit the Tone brackets. #30-0010 is the same bar chromed that will fit also. For the lights, take into account the depth and the clearance. Some of the larger lights with deep reflectors will not fit.
Mark Griffin
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