Project Blue Belle

[desertrat]

While the gearboxes have been out and torn down over the last few months awaiting parts from the land of the rising sun, I decided to take care of some little projects.

One of those has been a new bumper. One suitable to mounting the new old stock Warn 8200 (1972 vintage approx) I've had on the shelf awaiting the right project for 20 years.

So I started with some 5" x 6.7# channel and curved it to resemble the original bumper. I went a few inches wider to give a bit more fender protection for a planned future brush bar.

[r1lark]

VERY nice work!

[Esteban]

Beautiful work. The curvature is perfect! And beefier too! Your fabrications skills are great.

[faux40]

So I started with some 5" x 6.7# channel and curved it to resemble the original bumper. I went a few inches wider to give a bit more fender protection for a planned future brush bar.

So, how does one go about gently curving 5" channel? That seems like it would be really tough

John

[RiverPatrol]

Any original front bumper that survived wasn't because of its fortitude but due to the skill of the drivers.

Yeah, I'm with Faux40 on that one. And how do you get the land of the rising sun to cooperate with your parts requests?

[desertrat]

Any original front bumper that survived wasn't because of its fortitude but due to the skill of the drivers.

Yeah, I'm with Faux40 on that one. And how do you get the land of the rising sun to cooperate with your parts requests?

Well Faux40, large radius bends in channel can be done on a roller, small radius are done in a press with little bites at a time. About 1/16" of an inch of bend at a time in intervals as small as you have patience for. So in realty it's very short facets, in this case 1/2" or so. Rudimentary dies help put the bend pressure in the corner radius of the flange and web. Easy for me but I been a fabricator for nearly 30 years.

So the parts side of my Patrol infliction has become a side hobby in itself. I've been working on building relationships with parts manufactures and distributors from all over the world for the Patrol since about 2019. Actually so far all of them have been very receptive and helpful. In some cases going outside their product lines to help. The main deal is they need volume in the orders to make it worth their time. I fully understand that and I try to return the favor by making large enough orders to return the favor. The reality is many of the parts are drying up and that's not unique to the Patrol, everything is going that way. But I've been making an effort to make a presence of the Patrol known to manufactures and in many cases requesting some parts to be newly produced/reproduced.

My effort has culminated in http://www.patrolsnorth.com. It won't be everything to everyone. It's certainly a work in progress and always will be. I work on it as time allows and what's here is a small fraction of what is in development. Much like bending channel it's a little-bites-at-a-time project. So River, you've got me to spill the beans but I won't hold that against you.

In the meantime enjoy some more build pictures.

[Esteban]

[RiverPatrol]

So the parts side of my Patrol infliction has become a side hobby in itself. I've been working on building relationships with parts manufactures and distributors from all over the world for the Patrol since about 2019. Actually so far all of them have been very receptive and helpful. In some cases going outside their product lines to help. The main deal is they need volume in the orders to make it worth their time. I fully understand that and I try to return the favor by making large enough orders to return the favor. The reality is many of the parts are drying up and that's not unique to the Patrol, everything is going that way. But I've been making an effort to make a presence of the Patrol known to manufactures and in many cases requesting some parts to be newly produced/reproduced.

My effort has culminated in http://www.patrolsnorth.com. It won't be everything to everyone. It's certainly a work in progress and always will be. I work on it as time allows and what's here is a small fraction of what is in development. Much like bending channel it's a little-bites-at-a-time project. So River, you've got me to spill the beans but I won't hold that against you.

Spill the beans? You've been dropping hints just begging to get it out. This is fantastic really. Is this an extension of Kellogg/RPM or a separate endeavor? If you're ready this should be promoted and blasted all over this forum and any FB group that will allow it. This could shape up to be an invaluable resource for our beloved Patrols.

[desertrat]

Separate endeavor. Sure blast away. Let the adventure begin.

The strategy is to first address the mechanicals that are specific to the 60 series that aren't readily obtainable or lend to substitution. Commonly available items from other channels I will leave to them for the time being.

I started this endeavor with Project Moctezuma ('64 LK60) but Blue Belle has been the test bed lately. Pretty much anything I've built, machined, repaired etc. I've documented with interchanges, substitutions, dimensions, technical drawings etc. and can be reproduced/repeated.

[desertrat]

If I free wheel off a few wraps of the rope the hand crank still functions.