As mentioned in my previous post, I went this past Thursday to check the weld-out and dress-out of my Heavy Duty KK Off-Road Rear Bumper at the street rod shop that has been fabricating my prototypes (including the bumpers for me and my beta tester plus an extra that I'll be using to take to local steel fab shops to get quotes on having batches reproduced). Everything looked pretty good. Had few small items for them to address, but it was great to see the rear bumper pretty much fully dressed out. The weather finally broke in Kansas City in the second half of the week as we had sunshine and 60F+, so they had my KK sitting outside their shop for my review. It hasn't been very often that my KK has seen daylight during the developmental phase of my KK armor.
So, here's some photos:Note, you can see how much I still need to trim the rear fender flares up based upon all the clearance being gained. Also will have to have the exhaust resonator raised on this passenger side and finish my EVAP canister relocation on the driver's side to fully capitalize on all the clearance gained in the rear in the critical wheel path.
In the above mark-up, I've circled the exhaust resonator on the right/passenger side that I'll have to have raised and then the fuel tank's EVAP canistor I'm going to relocate/reposition and better protect on the left/driver's side. I hope that further clarifies my comment about repositioning these items on each side in order to capitalize on the notably increased clearances my Basic Heavy Duty Rear Bumper provides in the wheel path. This will definitely help get clear of, and the departure from, obstacles at the rear when wheelin.
Here's a close-up of a large, 3/4" pin diameter, 9,500 lb capacity, D-ring mounted to the nearly 1.25" wide recovery shackle tab. As some have commented, my shackle tabs are further out to the side than other rear bumpers on other off-road vehicles. I designed my Heavy Duty Rear Bumper with the shackle tabs out to the sides, beyond the sides of the opening of the KK's rear tailgate, so they wouldn't be 2 more knee-knockers when you're putting cargo in and out of the back of the KK. Took some additional design and fabrication work to do so, but I know in the long run I'll be glad I did so.
Here you can see the large, heavy duty, round bar that tapers up from the bottom of the rear's main structural tubing (and bottom protective skid surface) up to the back of the tow hitch receiver. If you recall from
page 1 of this thread, my OEM tow hitch receiver had taken some serious beatings, so much that the bottom half of the
steel reinforcing ring around the receiver got first bent, then broken clear off!
I'm using tow receivers that include the reinforcing ring, but have added the heavy round bar tapering up to it to act as a skid for it and to help protect it. The tapered round bars are also where safety chains to any towed load would attach and since they also taper out sideways, they help keep your legs from running into the side of the tow receiver when loading gear into or out of the KK's cargo area.
Full on side view where you can clearly see how much clearance is being gained in the wheel path, and back corner, by how much of the rear fender flare I'm going to have to trim off as well as how much the exhaust resonator will have to be raised. You can also see from this perspective that not only does my KK Rear Bumper increase clearances vertically (as seen in earlier photos above), but also horizontally tucks in tighter and closer (as close as physically possible) to the KK's body on the outer portions, which are in-line with the wheel path, which is critical when navigating your KK onto and off-of trail obstacles.
This view also shows that with the KK having the under-tail spare tire, and the OEM structure formed out and around it, without cutting into the OEM structure out and around the spare, any rear bumper is still going to have to stick out more than on other off-road vehicles that do not have an under-tail spare tire (e.g. KJ, XJ, JK, etc.). Since I know from experience the longer tail of the KK will take some hits when off-road, in my Heavy Duty Rear Bumper design, I have incorporated heavy duty structural tubing along the bottom edges all across the back horizontals. I know from experience with my OEM tow assembly that the structural tubing, when properly structurally connected to the KK, can take the hits. Plus, since I'm keeping my spare tire under the KK's tail (for now
), I wanted some serious protection hanging down so the spare tire wouldn't be made any more vulnerable.
So, after my prototype fabricator made a few changes to the welded and dressed out rear bumper, they took both my KK front and rear bumpers, and grille guards, radiator skid plates and various brackets, to the blaster shop. Yesterday afternoon, I went by the blaster's shop to coordinate his work and insure he understood the scope required. Then I went by my powder coater to coordinate with him. The blaster has a little bit of a backlog so it is looking like I'll have my powder coated off-road bumpers and accessories done and at home, ready for installation, within the next few weeks!
Plan to be doing install on my beta tester before mid-April. After my bumpers are installed on my KK and I've confirmed proper fit-up on a second KK, then I'll be working to get packages together to get competitive bids on having batches produced. Once I get bids in and work through all issues, then I'll finally know what the sale prices will be. Hope everyone interested is saving any tax refunds
.