My Pioneer wants to be an Eliminator! What are the odds of me finding a Roll Bar?

[MJ 4.0]

Last year I finished the body work and paint on my 88' Pioneer short box. It's currently put to bed in storage due to the cold @$$ winter here in Ohio. There will be no rust on my watch!

 I refrained from putting the "Pioneer Stripes" back on and left her all black. But it still missing something! A roll bar! Do any ever come up for sale? Are there any companies fabricating new ones with exact specs and brackets? 

 

I'm after the look of the Eliminator in the ad below with full compliment of roll bar and fog lights.

Thanks!

LB

[eaglescout526]

They’re rare but they do pop up. 

[Pete M]

patience, persistence, speed, and a willingness to travel are what you need.    plus a bit of luck doesn't hurt.  they are a rare, desirable and giant item, but they do show up now and again.  you will need a shortbed version.  longbeds have different angles on the rear bars. 

[MJ 4.0]

2 minutes ago, Pete M said:

patience, persistence, speed, and a willingness to travel are what you need.    plus a bit of luck doesn't hurt.  they are a rare, desirable and giant item, but they do show up now and again.  you will need a shortbed version.  longbeds have different angles on the rear bars. 

Thanks Pete! I'll start my search.

 

PS. I put these 16" wheels on it that came off of a 2004 rubicon. My jury is still out on them! What's your opinion? Sometimes I think they look too big on the truck. I still have the original 15" white wagon wheels albeit in rough condition.

[MJ 4.0]

8 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

They’re rare but they do pop up. 

 

8 minutes ago, eaglescout526 said:

They’re rare but they do pop up. 

Ok, thanks!

[Pete M]

2 minutes ago, MJ 4.0 said:

Thanks Pete! I'll start my search.

 

PS. I put these 16" wheels on it that came off of a 2004 rubicon. My jury is still out on them! What's your opinion? Sometimes I think they look too big on the truck. I still have the original 15" white wagon wheels albeit in rough condition.

 

all boils down to personal opinion there.  I happen to like the TJ rubicons and have them on my CRD and my MJ trailer.  

 

 

[MJ 4.0]

2 minutes ago, Pete M said:

 

all boils down to personal opinion there.  I happen to like the TJ rubicons and have them on my CRD and my MJ trailer.  

 

 

Yeah, they do look good on there! 

[Eagle_SX4]

The original fog lights in that picture are Marchal 750's. If you look sometimes you can find them NOS. They also came on a lot of Ford vehicles of the same era. However I don't like the how the bulbs are mounted in the housings.

 

The later trucks had ROL fog lights that are harder to find and were shared with the Renault vehicles.

 

I recommend the Hella comet 450 fog lights instead. They are the same size and look very similar, are a lot cheaper and are a modern design. 

[MJ 4.0]

1 minute ago, Eagle_SX4 said:

The original fog lights in that picture are Marchal 750's. If you look sometimes you can find them NOS. They also came on a lot of Ford vehicles of the same era. However I don't like the how the bulbs are mounted in the housings.

 

The later trucks had ROL fog lights that are harder to find and were shared with the Renault vehicles.

 

I recommend the Hella comet 450 fog lights instead. They are the same size and look very similar, are a lot cheaper and are a modern design. 

Awesome! Thank you!

[89 MJ]

I looked for either a factory sport bar or a correct topper for my MJ four a couple of years and never found one. I gave up and put a tonneau cover on my truck instead. A few months later, I owned both a topper and a sport bar. Moral of this story: don’t look too hard. One will turn up, you just need to be ready to jump on it when it does. And it’s not uncommon for them to need rust repair. 

[MJ 4.0]

7 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

I looked for either a factory sport bar or a correct topper for my MJ four a couple of years and never found one. I gave up and put a tonneau cover on my truck instead. A few months later, I owned both a topper and a sport bar. Moral of this story: don’t look too hard. One will turn up, you just need to be ready to jump on it when it does. And it’s not uncommon for them to need rust repair. 

Thank you. I've considered the tonneau cover myself. Really want a roll bar!

[Pete M]

10 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

And it’s not uncommon for them to need rust repair. 

 

 

very true.  mine came from a southern junkyard and a reasonably clean truck, but had been sitting for so long with leaves in the bed that one leg rotted off.  

 

bars have been discovered by searching FB marketplace for "truck rollbar" and knowing what you're looking for.  memorize the shape and the angle of the rear bars and the fact that the tippy top has a slight kink in it. 

 

 

[89 MJ]

11 minutes ago, MJ 4.0 said:

Thank you. I've considered the tonneau cover myself. Really want a roll bar!

The roll bar is absolutely the way to go. Pete has a good point by saying you should learn what they look like and then just do generic searches for one. I’d also keep my eyes out for a cheap MJ with a roll bar and buy the whole truck. Someday I’d like to reproduce them, but that’s a couple of years down the road. 

[MJ 4.0]

1 minute ago, 89 MJ said:

The roll bar is absolutely the way to go. Pete has a good point by saying you should learn what they look like and then just do generic searches for one. I’d also keep my eyes out for a cheap MJ with a roll bar and buy the whole truck. Someday I’d like to reproduce them, but that’s a couple of years down the road. 

Thanks! Good stuff!

[MJ 4.0]

20 minutes ago, Pete M said:

Hey Pete, 

Could you repost your pic of the roll bar. It only shows the fog lights on top...unless it's just not loading correctly...

 

very true.  mine came from a southern junkyard and a reasonably clean truck, but had been sitting for so long with leaves in the bed that one leg rotted off.  

 

bars have been discovered by searching FB marketplace for "truck rollbar" and knowing what you're looking for.  memorize the shape and the angle of the rear bars and the fact that the tippy top has a slight kink in it. 

 

 

 

[Salvagedcircuit]

Keep looking! That or ask @strictlyxjsHe has an incredibly good eye for finding these!

I grabbed it the day before vermont had a tremendous rainstorm. 8in of rain in one day. Crazy!

 

 

[MJ 4.0]

4 minutes ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

Keep looking! That or ask @strictlyxjsHe has an incredibly good eye for finding these!

I grabbed it the day before vermont had a tremendous rainstorm. 8in of rain in one day. Crazy!

 

 

Cool beans! Thanks!

[89 MJ]

1 minute ago, MJ 4.0 said:

Cool beans! Thanks!

Here’s a few pics of the roll bar since you said that one picture is acting up. 

[MJ 4.0]

1 minute ago, 89 MJ said:

Here’s a few pics of the roll bar since you said that one picture is acting up. 

Wow! Looks good! I didn't know those bars were so "beefy" looking!

Thanks for the pics! Nice truck!

[89 MJ]

21 minutes ago, MJ 4.0 said:

Wow! Looks good! I didn't know those bars were so "beefy" looking!

Thanks for the pics! Nice truck!

Thank you! They are very beefy looking. And they also have brackets that bolt underneath the bed and bolt to the frame. Jeep called them sport bars because they didn’t want the liability of people using them as roll bars and not being strong enough, but I think one would keep a person safe in a low speed rollover. Or at the very least, give the people in the truck time to escape. 

[MJ 4.0]

5 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Thank you! They are very beefy looking. And they also have brackets that bolt underneath the bed and bolt to the frame. Jeep called them sport bars because they didn’t want the liability of people using them as roll bars and not being strong enough, but I think one would keep a person safe in a low speed rollover. Or at the very least, give the people in the truck time to escape. 

 

5 minutes ago, 89 MJ said:

Thank you! They are very beefy looking. And they also have brackets that bolt underneath the bed and bolt to the frame. Jeep called them sport bars because they didn’t want the liability of people using them as roll bars and not being strong enough, but I think one would keep a person safe in a low speed rollover. Or at the very least, give the people in the truck time to escape. 

Amen! I really like the muscled up look. It 'finishes' the already timeless look of the best lookin' small pickup truck ever built!

Thanks again!

[89 MJ]

8 minutes ago, MJ 4.0 said:

 

Amen! I really like the muscled up look. It 'finishes' the already timeless look of the best lookin' small pickup truck ever built!

Thanks again!

Good luck on the hunt!

[Salvagedcircuit]

In case you are wondering, the tube is made of 3in OD DOM steel tubing. It is exactly 3in OD. That's what I had to get to repair and weld up my rollbar. THe repair is nice and flush. The wall thickness is 0.095in. Thick enough in my book

[MJ 4.0]

58 minutes ago, Salvagedcircuit said:

In case you are wondering, the tube is made of 3in OD DOM steel tubing. It is exactly 3in OD. That's what I had to get to repair and weld up my rollbar. THe repair is nice and flush. The wall thickness is 0.095in. Thick enough in my book

Sweet! Thank you!

[Gojira94]

Probably been mentioned before, but if we could get a 3D laser scan of both 6' and 7' bars and create an engineering drawing, almost any experienced fab shop with a mandrel could make them. I have just such a guy in north Raleigh, NC that is a flatout wizard...