ADDING STEEL - TUBULAR ACCESSORIES
MORE STEEL
After my Amigo has been lifted, what else, add more steel. I decided to
add steel first then get more tires since I couldn't (yet) justify replacing my perfectly
good factory tires. I looked at my local truck shops for hardware but no-one had after
market bolt-on for the all-to-new Amigo. I searched the Internet and found a few sources.
I settled on a WAAG side step bars and a SMITTYBILT front grill guard. I would have bought
both from SMITTYBILT since I really like the
textured black front grill guard but, they didn't make the side step bars (yet).
I am very pleased with my WAAG side
step bars even though they are not a textured finish. The installation was very easy and
the parts fit perfectly. WAAG did an awesome job on the
tooling and the quality control for the production of there product. My only complaint,
and it has nothing to do with WAAG but, the after-market
industry in general, apparently all side step bars are attached to the body mounts and not
attached to the frame of the vehicle. This has something to do with the engineering of the
Isuzu frame and the way it reacts in an accident. This leaves us SUVers with only
superficial nerf bars and they would not withstand the punishment of regular rock hopping.
Admittedly I would not be an avid rock hopper, I just wanted the extra "rock
solid" protection of frame mounted nerf bars. I understand that CALMINI is considering the addition of frame mounted
nerf bars to their line up of SUV accessories. I haven't seen them yet though.
I have since replaced the step bars with more substantial steel. I used the plans available on Dan Russo's web site. I highly recommend you visit his site for further details.
I ordered my SMITTYBILT
front grill guard from SUMMIT RACING. The grill
guard I ordered was for a 1998 RODEO.The RODEO and the AMIGO are the same, except the
AMIGO is slightly shorter, by less than a foot. You can see my Frame Diagram Pages to see the differences. Dave, at SMITTYBILT gave me the stock number
(302202T). When my grill guard arrived I was slightly over-whelmed, I didn't expect
three large boxes. I started to assemble the parts as per the instructions up to the point
that I could not continue since it was dark and cold outside. The next day I began
attaching the grill guard to my vehicle, after about 3 hours I was done. The grill guard
looks awesome. I recommend the textured black finish to anyone that wants black
accessories on their vehicle.
