N-Fab ARC Sport Bar For 3rd Gen (2016-2023) Tacoma: A Useful Mount For Lights, Accessories & Providing Anchor Points – Install & Review
Are you interested in adding some style to your Tacoma and making it stand out? The N-Fab ARC Sport Bar adds a unique style to your truck as well as a few other key benefits that may be just what you’re looking for.
The ARC Sport Bar both adds strength to your bed and gives you more tie-down locations for when you’re hauling large items. If you’re looking to add off-road lighting, you can also add up to a 30″ lightbar for those night-wheeling trips. If you get creative, you could probably find a way to mount out gear and accessories as well.
Features & Specs
- 1.75″ tubular steel
- Texture powder coating finish
- Sized to fit all cabs/beds
- Mounts to factory T-slot bed rail
- No-drill install
- Ability to add lights
- Built-in anchors for loads
- 5-year finish warranty
- Limited lifetime workmanship warranty
- Made in the USA
Find It Online
Installation
Installing the bar is pretty straightforward and only requires a handful of basic tools.
Tools Required
- 1/2″ ratchet
- 1/2″ extension
- 12mm socket
- 14mm socket
- 1/2″ torque wrench
Step 1. Prepare Bed Rails
If you have any tie-downs installed on your bed rails, they’ll need to be moved further back to accommodate the Sport Bar. You will also need to remove the black plastic cap on the front side of the bed rail.
Included in the packaging are four black M8 bolts and rectangle aluminum blocks. Prepare the hardware by threading all four of the bolts into the aluminum blocks. Then, slide two blocks into the driver-side and two into the passenger-side bed rails, respectively from the front end near the cab.
Step 2. Assemble ARC Sport Bar
The second set of hardware supplied is going to be four black carriage bolts with matching 14mm nuts. On one side of the bar, insert two carriage bolts into the two square-shaped holes at the top. Then, grab the long centerpiece and attach these two sections to align the carriage bolts with the holes on the centerpiece.
Once these two pieces are together, install the two nuts onto each of the carriage bolts. Only hand-tighten the nuts for now so you can make adjustments while installing the Sport Bar onto the truck.
After you attach one side to the centerpiece, attach the other side in the same fashion.
Step 3. Install Bar Onto Truck
Place the assembly onto the bedsides toward the cab of the truck. As you can see in the photo above, you want to align the two bolts on each side rail with the slots in the Sports Bar. Again, hand-tighten only until you have everything in its final position.
Now that you have the Sport Bar aligned on the bed of the truck, begin to tighten your hardware with a 14mm socket. These bolts and nuts don’t need to be crazy tight, just snug enough so that nothing moves.
Be careful tightening the hardware that secures the aluminum blocks in the bed rail as you can strip the threads fairly easily. Use a torque wrench and tighten the bed rail bolts to 16 ft-lbs.
Final Thoughts
The N-Fab ARC Sport Bar can be an excellent addition to your Tacoma’s style and function. The top of it has a rail to mount auxiliary lighting while the frame provides additional anchor points to secure your gear. The sturdy steel tube design and the black powder-coated finish should be able to stand up to whatever you can throw at it.
I’ve seen multiple sports bars for the Tacoma and N-Fab has the best-looking design on the market. The simple tube design has a clean look and it’s not overstated like some other options I have seen.
