Wow, it was just May! Why isn’t this kit out yet?!? Lots of busy stuff going on this summer. June was a blur - my daughter graduated high school (valedictorian to boot!) and my son and I went on a week long off-road camping trip to SE Oregon, with dips into Northern CA & Northern NV. The highlight was the Alvord Playa in SE Oregon- if you have never been I highly recommend. Here is video of me doing 90 mph passes with the train horn cracking my buddy Bill up: https://youtu.be/yfH72PNddbA
Anyway, all of this stuff has delayed my development on the 81-87 BBWM a bit. But, I have hit it hard the last few weeks - and I believe first round of kits will be available end of July / early August.
One of the challenges was understanding and accommodating the differences in the frames on these trucks and then designing to accommodate as many of the variations as possible. The military truck (CUCV) frames have a riveted reinforcement inside each frame rail. There is also a riveted strap on some trucks that reinforces the bottom frame tow hook
Another challenge was the driver side cross-member to frame bracket - there was an interference with the driver side frame bracket I showed in my last blog post, so that bracket has been modified and is even better now.
The new bracket bolts into the c-channel of the frame, into the front cross-member AND the latest feature (that I’m very excited about) ties into a steering box bolt - reinforcing this common weak area on GM truck frames! This kit, in the top configuration (winch cable exiting through the bumper) will bolt to the frame in 17 places!!! It will make the front frame sections of these trucks super solid and add an additional cross-member when winch plate is installed.
Anyway, how about some pics?
3D printed driver side bracket shown below - this part will be 1/4” thick steel welded solidly together in its final configuration…
Passenger side brackets - winch mount bracket in low-mount configuration (winch cable exiting just under bumper)
Previous prototype driver side bracket:
My goals with these kits are to provide a kit that can accommodate as many of these trucks, be as strong as possible, and still be at a decent price point shipped to you, the end-user/customer!
Thanks for the support and checking out my blog!
Reach out with questions!
-Ben