Builds Well into my build - Herculiner today

[Black Rhino 13]

Brad, I just tonight had the heart to go through and see what you have done. I kept telling myself to, but I couldn't. So tonight I decided to just do it and if I had to cry for hours, I would get through it.

You have no idea how happy this has made me. Only happy tears. (Well, and a couple of sad ones when I read about you finding some of my girls' toys.) Thank you so much.

Oh, and Chris would have loved the pics of the boys on the back with the rifles.

~Catherine

 

[Black Rhino 13]

Oh, and this is YOUR build now, so move forward beyond what Chris planned. I am rooting for you!!!

(Please keep posting, though!)

 

[bhicks]

I'm so glad you came back to this thread. I have quite a few parts sitting in the garage ready to do my part of the build BUT the holiday season is now getting ready to start and my little side business is about to get crazy. I think the next phase of this build will have to happen after the holidays. For now we are just going to keep wheelin and camping in it. It's 100% road and trail worthy now so I'm in no rush to install the rest of my new goodies. I will post more pics as we continue to go out and have fun with the 80. I feel honored to be able to continue this journey that Chris started.

 

[bhicks]

I told Catherine I would continue to update this build so she could continue to see it's history. Catherine stated "this is YOUR build now" and there was one thing Chris installed that wasn't my favorite but I couldn't stomach undoing anything he did. I finally decided to ditch the ARB bumper and went with a custom design of my own. I wanted my boys to get their hands dirty with metal and welding and thought that a family project of a custom bumper would still fit the theme of this truck. Here's a few shots of that process.
Here's the before pic:

Here's the removal and blacking out the front grille area in satin black:

Here's my helpers:

 

[bhicks]

Here is the bumper build:

 

[bhicks]

And the final version:
Please ignore some of my ugly welds and slightly asymmetrical lines. When you have a 5 and 7 year old holding things in place while you tack weld you tend to get some screwy angles. When I had my 7 year old weld I was so focused on him not getting burnt that I did a poor job helping him with the quality of the welds. Most had to be ground off and redone but don't tell him that.

 

[Schmutz]

And the final version:
Most had to be ground off and redone but don't tell him that

He's going to read this one day, you know

I appreciate your respect for Chris, and we can sense that in your posts so far. But Catherine is right, this is YOUR build! Good to see you're respectfully taking ownership of it.

FWIW I have always enjoyed the classic safari look of the ARB bumper, and have one on my 80. But even so I really love your bumper design. It has a beefy presence, yet it's probably much lighter than its predecessor. I especially like the discreet front hitch feature! And I totally respect a fellow dad who's trying to get his 'helpers' involved and invested in the build. Good on ya mate! Looking forward to following future progress...