2023 Ford Everest build: AFN 4x4 full bull bar

The look of a bull bar can make or break the appearance of your new 4x4.

Sure it’s there to serve a purpose, and that is to offer protection for the front of the vehicle and your cooling system in the event of an animal strike or scrapes in the bush, but when you’ve just shelled out $70k or more on a shiny new 4x4, the last thing you want to do is sticky a dodgy looking bar on it.

So we were super excited to fit a new bull bar from AFN 4x4 Australia to our Ford Everest project. We previously had a loopless AFN bar on our PX3 Ranger build but we wanted a full bar for this one, and we’re impressed with the look of the company’s product for the new Ranger.

5

AFN had not previously fitted the Ranger bar to a new Everest before this, so when it came to the installation it was a case of ‘let’s see how this works’. The fitting and colour-coding was professionally performed by Paul and the team at Statewide 4x4 in the Melbourne suburb of Keilor East.

The front end of the Everest and Ranger are essentially the same so the installation proved relatively simple. To aid installation, everything is included with the bar including all hardware, lighting and a plug-and-play wiring harness. That said, the guys at Statewide 4x4 cautiously did a test fit first before sending the bar away for colour-matching. As standard, the AFN bull bar is finished in a durable matt-black powdercoat but we had the lower section of our bar painted to match the aluminium-colour Ford.

5

The AFN bull bar is a full bumper replacement piece meaning there’s no cutting and reusing the OE plastic bumper. The bull bar is all steel with various thicknesses used in different sections; 12mm steel in the standard winch cradle, and 4mm and 6mm on the lighter-duty parts of the bar. There’s an internal chassis structure that adds support and strength to the entire bar assembly.

Other standard inclusions on the AFN bar are a pair of antenna mounts, rated recovery points, a front underbody protection plate, high-lift jacking points, LED fog lights and LED indicators.

A feature we hadn’t previously seen on AFN bars is the recovery point soft shackle inserts. These aluminium inserts are a press fit into the steel recovery point holes and they have smooth rounded edges to protect soft shackles. They look super cool and are a clever addition, as we’re all using soft shackles for vehicle recoveries these days. These inserts are a $100 option which must be ordered with the bull bar and can be fitted to any new AFN bar. We reckon they are well worth the extra coin for the looks alone.

5

It’s the little details like these that make the AFN bull bar stand out from the many others on the market. Other notable features are the neat finishing edges where the bar meets the front guards with a compression rubber, the LED indicator enclosures and the indicators themselves, which are directional.

The AFN product is well finished and complements the look of any new 4x4 vehicle. As you would expect of such a quality product, it is made and tested to comply with all ADR requirements and all driver-assistance features and parking sensors are retained and operational. The plug-and-play wiring harness adapts to all these safety features. The AFN bar is covered by a two-year warranty for structural faults and the surface coating.

The AFN bull bar for the Ford Ranger and Everest sells for $3350 plus fitting, colour-coding and the extra $100 for the soft shackle recovery point inserts. AFN 4x4 Australia is based in Brisbane but ships nationwide and has approved installers around the country. AFN is based in Portugal where it specialises in equipping and armouring vehicles for military use, as well as in products for recreational 4x4s.

As mentioned, this is our second front bar from AFN and the fit and finish of the product continues to improve.

Pricing (RRP)

• AFN 4x4 bull bar: $3350 (plus fitting and colour coding)
• Soft shackle inserts: $100