Sports bar fitting to rx

I just purchased a new sports bar for $50 and I'm going to fit it to my rx. Was just wondering if someone could give me the measurements of the holes for the bolts that go through the sides of the tub. Just a measurment for the forst bolt hole from the back of the tub to the closest hole would be fine, cheers

Just put the sports bar on the tub as a template and mark where you are going to drill the holes with a texter. the bar goes in the very corner of the tub. Once marked take the bar off, drill the holes and re-fitt the bar. It couldnt be any simpler..

Was just wondering how far back they sat off the cab.. job is all done now and looks alot neater

How hard was it to take the steel bar off? was it tough?

bennyv said:

How hard was it to take the steel bar off? was it tough?

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it help on to tub on the sides by few bolts. anyone who can use wrench/spanner can take this off easily. its about 10kgs.

Yeah, I guess I wanted to know if there was any damage to the tub underneith. At first look it looks as though there is pain/sealer that would need to be taken off once the steel bar is off.

Is your RX a Spanish or Thai built one? I just bought a new 2013 Thai built Rx and want to put a sports bar on mine too.

What year/model was the sports bar off that you used?

Hey Benny. There are about 8 bolts holding the steel bar on. When I took mine off I did have to spray paint where it came off as it was bare metal underneath. Not a big job to do, took about 10 or 15min, little bit of a pain because of the tub liner.
Bob mine is a Thai built 2013 and the bar was off a Spanish built 2005. I really don't think they have changed them between models.
I also bought a second bar, took the two extra legs off it and have fitted it to the rear of the tub, can post some pics if you like.

Ah nice, pdiddy!

So you just lined the bar up and drilled the holes for the bolts, easy enough?

With the existing RX metal bars, are they just hold on with screws and adhesive? I was planning on pulling those off and hoping that the tub liner would cover where the RX bars were.

If you could put some pics up that would be awesome. thanks!

Hey Bob
Yep pretty much just lined the bar up, equal distance from cab on both sides and away I went, If you wanted you could take a tape measure to a dealership and measure an St to get the distance.
The existing RX bar wasn't held on with adhesive just the 8 or so bolts, 2 on each leg and about 5 or so across the rear of the tub, all have captive nuts so you just need to undo from the rear side, easy peasy.
I'm new to this forum so don't know how to put photos into this reply but I have uploaded some to the members gallery.
With the rear bar I just had some 6x35mm strips of aluminium plate welded to the existing feet of the bar so that my fixing bolts would be further into the tub, you can't get a nut on the bolt too far back due to the sill being closed. I did fit the rear bar at a slight angle to get a bit more distance between it and the front bar for load carrying and I will eventually fit a pull out awning, Having that slight angle meant that the feet of the bar sat flat onto the tub rail.
As you can see I have then fitted Rhino Bars that I kept from my Pootrol above the sports bars.
Hope this all helps
Good luck

Just had a look at the gallery pics pdiddy, looks good! Did you use the black STX-550 sports bars?

Noticed you have the tub liner, did you use the RX tub liner or ST/ST-X one? I was thinking once the headboard is removed does that affect the RX tub liner as it is meant to fit around the bottom of the headboard?

Last question are there holes for the sidesteps or does those need to be drilled?

Cheers pdiddy, learn't more today from you than 2 weeks of research

Sorry to hijack your post josh!

OK so the dealer put in the tub liner as a "free gift to sweeten the deal" so there are 2 30mm recesses sitting bare now. No Biggy.. The side steps also came off an st or stx I think. the bolts are already in your underbody all you need is the 6 nuts on each side to fit, once again they bolt straight on. The front bar was chrome purchased off ebay for $40, I then spent $100 getting it powdercoated, Then when I had the rear bar idea I found a black one on ebay for $50 ( winning) must have come off an stx as it had provision for a stop light, and due to the fact that I turned it around to face the opposite way I put in a white led strip to light up the tub at night. Also with the rear bar because the tub is slightly wider at the rear it allowed for me to insert the 6mm Aluminium on the tub side of the bar's fitting feet. Beware with ebay as you may have already seen huge differences in prices for sports bars ( up to $200) just hang out for a cheapy close to home. If your interested I also have a spare low rise nudge bar ( brand new never fitted) that I will be selling.
Have fun

That's awesome, thanks for all your insights, helped me a lot!

I'm buying the tub liner and tonneau cover (sports bar version) this weekend to get installed and found a sports bar for 70 (cheapest atm) which I hope to pickup. It's off an 07 st

The the plan is to buy a new, aftermarket rear bar, hoping it'll sit/clear the factory tow kit. Then eventually I'll find some cheap side steps and a bull bar.

I'll let u know how I go!

Thanks again mate