Originally posted by Raque Thomas
Ron, looks great - I can't wait till it's ready. One thing though, it looks like the opening fot the hitch is much too large. It may be just the pictures; but on the prototype, the area designed for cutout looks MUCH smaller than the area cutout shown on the pic with the hitch installed. On that picture, it looks like the opening cut out is much larger than required to clear the hitch.

I know when I was installing my hitch, I was concerned about how the cladding was going to look cut out around the hitch. I did it a little at a time until it barely cleared, and you couldn't tell that it had been cut, because of the close fit to the hitch - it looks factory. Again, the picture may be misleading, but it looks like there is a lot of open area around the hitch on the installed plate, which makes it look like an afterthought. The depressed area on the shot before hitch install looks about right.
hey Raque...

The opening slot on the "just painted" pic is the actual opening slot to accommodate the hitch in place. Originally, I was going by what Tone's instruction of cutting out a 4-4.25" long by 2.5" wide cut-out which I found out to be only applicable to the cladding itself and not anything else over it. It's kinda hard to explain, but I believe because the curvature of the skidplate over the cladding combined with the angle placement of the hitch's square tubing, resulted in lengthening the slot in order to have the screw holes match up with the cladding mount holes. Don't know if that makes much sense or not. But while I kept fitting the plate over the hitch, I found myself trimming off more and more of the slot and thus the longer slot than the cad model. I'd say about 2.5" longer. Anyway, I think you may have mistaken the reflection of the hitch on a glossy black surface as part of the opening which it's not. The slot is shown as it is in the "just painted" pic. It's also squared off at the top to fit flushed along the top surface of the square tubing of the hitch. Believe me, the slot opening is not noticeable unless your directly underneath the vehicle.

I plan to re-adjust the slot on the CAD model to reflect the measurements of the test model. If you look closely to one pic, you'll see that the plate surface actually cover the 1/2" locking pin hole partially. This of course will prevent locking any kind of hitch accessory to the hitch which does no one any good. I plan to insert either a "trench" detail of some sort to allow a pin to be snaked into the hole or maybe another rectangular slot opening may be needed as a last resort. Either way, I'll be purchasing a hitch accessory with a locking pin to test it.


hey Jose...

I don't know what font I used for the decal on my avatar. Just pulled out what looked legible from photoshop in small print. BTW, mount those Borbets yet? Yes, I DO miss them and would like to see them on your truck soon. I'm sure they'll look killer!!!

Anita...

I'll try my best to do as much as time will allow me. I'm afraid once I start releasing the new parts, my time may be thinned out even more. However, I do have back-up help on the stand-by once things get overwhelming.


Thanks for the kudos all..