Made some mounts for bumpstops on my air bagged GMC

I air bagged my GMC last winter but never put in the front bumpstops. I'm using a 225/70/15 front tires and fenderwells. So when I let the truck down it sat on the fender wells. Not safe if a bag let lose. Here is my solution. I made the mounts away from the original location for clearance and so the bumpstop would rest on a solid place on the lower control arm.

I started by removing the air bag, so I would have room to work and keep the bag from welder sparks. Then I made template from cardboard. I changed the design around once I started making the piece in metal. I cut the piece out of some rectangle tube steel that I got at a scrap yard for $35.00, I can make a bunch of gussets and plates out of this piece. I checked and rechecked the clearance with the steering turned lock to lock. I held the mount in place to decide where the bumpstop would go and drilled the hole. I tacked it place and rechecked lock to lock steering. Everything cleared so now I have to make the ohter side and do my finish welds.

My airride came from Air Ride Technologies. I'm using 73-87 Strong Arms and
3" dropped spindles. On the rear I'm using AirRide's four bar. I plan on swapping to 17x8 front and 17x9.5 rear wheels, with 255/50 on the front and 275/60 on the rear. After I put in a new engine I plan on redoing how i mounted the rear four bar. All I plan on reusing is the bars. I'm going to scrap all the brackets.

Here ar the rest of the pictures. I dont have a band saw so I over cut the piece and ground it to shape with a handheld 4" grinder.

How does the ART kit ride? And what kinda wheels you plan on using?

Looks good so far, but you need a couple of gussets.

Otherwise, the welded on tab will bend the lip it's welded to after a good bottom-out or two.

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Originally Posted by C9x

Looks good so far, but you need a couple of gussets.

Otherwise, the welded on tab will bend the lip it's welded to after a good bottom-out or two.

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Ditto. That plate will bend real easy the first time it gets used. But looking real good so far.

Don

Yeah I had planned on making gussets. However the stops are two inches to short. Currently I'm running 28" tall tires when I move to 17s I'll be using 27" tall tires. So all that work into cutting and grinding the first design will be trashed. I'm going to make a mount that will be welded to the plate that the air bag mounts to. It will move the stops down 11/2 inches so I adjust the stops to get the tires off of the fender wells when I put them back in.

[QUOTE=Tukin15sLike20s]How does the ART kit ride? And what kinda wheels you plan on using?[/QUOTE



I like how it rides with the bags. The truck was originally dropped 4 inches then 5.5 inches. The quality of the components and the instructions provided were excellant. I always hear how ART is overpriced but I believe you get what you pay for.

Here are the wheels I will be using. They are knock offs of Boyd's Timeless. Some genuis used wheel adapters to use these on an S10. They are the correct bolt pattern for a full size truck. The size is 17x8 front and 17x9.5 rear. I will use 255/50/17 on the front and 275/60/17 rear.