Grill Guard

[photo_van]

Hey Astro fans. Can't say this was high on my list of mods, but after seeing Crawlers photo viewtopic.php?f=48&t=3535&start=15 I thought I'd check it out. Well Amazon has this guard for $89 free shipping. With $60 Amazon rewards, it's in the mail for $39! http://www.amazon.com/Aries-4063-Black- ... &carId=001
Well now, I guess I've got another project.... And maybe a HiLift point on the front?

[CaptSquid]

The Amazon price I saw was a bit higher than $89 -- more on the order of $319.00!

[photo_van]

Wow, I just clicked on the link, the price went up last night! I just checked my charge; $34.16. I'm not usually the lucky one on this sort of thing. We'll see if they ship it.

[photo_van]

Just so you all don't think I'm pullin' your leg, the guard shipped today;

Screen shot 2011-08-26 at 4.27.19 PM.png (24.32 KiB) Viewed 11336 times

I'll post some pics re the install here when it happens.

[OKflyboy]

Yup, shows up as $319 for me too, but if you got it for $96 thats awesome! Perhaps they realized that they mis-priced after you bought one.

[97CargoCrawler]

Gonna be a PITA to install. Expect to do A LOT of measuring and cutting on the bumper fascia if you plan to keep it (looks better if you do). Make SMALL holes first...then test fit and cut them bigger. Otherwise it'll look like $hit if you cut too much out. Not sure what parts you will get with your guard...but I was able to take what they gave me and repurpose all of it to work for me. At the time my welding skills sucked, someday I will pull it off again and weld some of the brackets to make it more sturdy. I would never use a hi-lift jack on my guard...it seems beefy enough but I doubt it could hold the weight of the front end. Good luck! I am very happy with the way mine turned out. I have yet to put some proper lights on it. Mine was for a 2500HD series truck.

As usual I have an assload of pix from my install if you need ideas. Both with and without the bumper fascia.

Just gimmie a shout!

[photo_van]

I was hoping you were still around. Thanks for the heads up. While I'd like to use it for the Hilift, it's not imperative, tho that's kinda why I was getting it (but for the price... ). I've got lift points along both sides and the rear, thought it might be nice to have in the front also.

The guard is an Aries for a Sierra 2500, from the pics looked exactly like yours. I would certainly like to see install pics if at some point you have time (I definitely plan on keeping the facia) . I probably won't be able to get to it until this fall. I figured it was going to be a PITA, hopefully not as much work as the rock rails were!!! Ya, and my welding skills STILL aren't that great.

No lights? No winch? Sig pic Photoshopped?

Thanks

[Astrophysics]

I am trying to find grille guard to fit on my 2003 AWD. When i did the 2" OV lift i installed a 35" wide steel cross bar of square tube to create surface to mount the grille guard brackets. I don't weld yet, so used Simpson Strong tie HL57 welded heavy brackets to bolt it in.
I will send photos soon from pc, my kids got me this iPAD but i dont know how to attach photos with ipad
AP

[97CargoCrawler]

Oh yeah, the lights and winch are photo-shopped. I always do that to see how it will look before I try it. This was the intended look for the front of my van but of course $$$$ is always an issue. The main center uprights on my guard are 1/4" maybe 5/16" thick and so are the brackets. If the brackets were welded to the guard then I would say a winch might be possible. But a hi-lift point maybe not. All depends on if you have two bolts attached to the frame per side. BUT, on mine at least, the cross tubes on the guard are not beefy enough to take the weight. I was going to weld a heavy duty square tube in between but never got to it...and didn't want to melt off the powder coating welding it in.

I will dig up some pix in a bit for you. Once you see how my brackets are attached you'll see why I have my doubts. But once you break out the welder anything is possible!

[photo_van]

Thanks guys, I'll keep a look out.

[97CargoCrawler]

I don't want to hijack your thread so I'll just post a few pix.

The whole thing started with a photo shop mock-up:



I thought it looked pretty cool so I ordered a 2500HD series truck guard not knowing if it would even come close to working. I got lucky!

Below you can see I only have one bolt going to the frame through Overlands bumper relocation bracket. I had intended to weld these two brackets together but never got to it. If i put a jack under the guard the whole thing would probably tweak upwards. You can also see that I had to cut slits in the metal bumper. I also had to drill my own mounting holes in the guard uprights, nothing will line up with the holes they provide.















Sorry, I don't have very good pix of how I cut the fascia. But you can see here I ended up cutting out squares instead of slits. I cut way too much out and I was pretty pissed, hence why I say cut small holes then make them bigger as needed. That's much easier said than done though.







There is a little bit of a gap on the bottom side. I had wanted to make plates to cover it up but in the end it wasn't very noticeable so I left it alone.



I'm definitely pleased with the results and would do it again in a heartbeat. It sets me apart from all the other vans I see on the road.



The openings perectly outline the headlight/turn signal assembly and grille. The outer edges line up pretty good with the fender lips too.



I hope these pix help. Good luck! Take lots of pix for us!

[photo_van]

Thanks for posting those, they will be VERY helpful. Does look like a bit of work, might make me finally fab some bumper brackets while I'm at it.

[unrreal]

theres a few different ways you can mount the grill guard, you can check out my pics on the other forum.. but here's one for ya:

avalanche guard on astro

[photo_van]

Thanks, looks good. My guard arrived, looks like it got nailed by the forklift driver; now I get to deal with returning it. No wonder it was cheap

Also, Crawler: this one is for an 03-06 Sierra 2500 and it's way different than yours. The only one I see similar is actually for 99=02. This one won't work without serious modification!

[doyoulikeithere]

Yup, Such a good deal, almost too good to be true eh?
Good luck with the return.