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Pictures of tunnel conversion to '09?

Rixster

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Oct 20, 2005
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damnit... i just ordered the newer edges and I have fastlane no snos. Are the new ones alot wider or what?

Yes, they are a lot wider, they come out on to the running boards about 1 inch. Where the older style dont come onto the board at all, it is just the edge.
 
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65pony123

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Oct 1, 2010
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question

two questions about this, first is how do you attach the gussets at the bottom? if you dont weld them they look to me like thy are flimsy. sencond question is what size bumper are you getting are most putting the 162 bumper on the 153 sled? also best place to buy the parts from?
 

Rixster

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Oct 20, 2005
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two questions about this, first is how do you attach the gussets at the bottom? if you dont weld them they look to me like thy are flimsy. sencond question is what size bumper are you getting are most putting the 162 bumper on the 153 sled? also best place to buy the parts from?

I bought the 162 bupmer just cause I have a 162 sled. As for the gussets, you do have to grind them down quite a bit to make them fit the old style edges. You really should have them welded. Although, the M series tunnel support is much stronger then the 1M chassis support. I broke mine on the 1m (900) befoer welding them. I think the M series mightbe strong enough to hold them without braking them. time will tell.
 

Chewy22

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also best place to buy the parts from?

Send a PM to FreeAgent. She will hook you up!!!

Just like christmas, but instead of a fat guy, in a red sled putting it under the christmas tree; its a dude/gal in a sweet brown truck throwing it on your door step. Either way it puts a smile on your face and quick delivery!!!
 
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dp2826

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Dec 31, 2007
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NW Iowa
I put the 162 bumper on my 153. Worked out nicely, I was able to get two rivets in the suspension bracket ahead of the gusset to make it that much stronger. I was wondering if I was going to have to cut it down, but I did not.

Definitely weld your gussets if you do not do the 09 rails.
 

tdbaugha

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I did all this in the machine shop at my university. The only thing I paid for out of the whole setup was the new snowflap from proven design products and the crossfire cooler that Michelle hooked me up with. The taillight is from a Pro-RMK. This is on an 06 M7 153.

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C
Feb 9, 2010
35
2
8
Missoula, MT
I just finished up my bumper conversion. New style taillight, black bumper, black rail edges and gussets, powdercoated skid, and white springs. First picture is the before this season
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ilovepowder

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tunnel conversion weight loss?

Does anyone know if converting the tunnel to the 09 look actually drops any weight or if it strictly for looks and snow flow. Has anyone weighed parts on and compared to parts removed? I would be interested so see the difference.
 

Frostbite

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I believe I have all the parts now. I have a 09 153 rear bumper, 09 rail edges, the gussetts, a 09 rear flap, a 09 rear tail light and some big black rivets.

I have a flattened 06 cooler I was going to swap for the curved one on my daughter's 05 M5. How do people deal with mounting flattened heat exchangers when doing this conversion?
 
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ropinsno

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Jan 1, 2009
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TIG

I had a friend to it and he used his TIG. I know nothing about welding aluminum but he said it was not fun, the two aluminum pieces were very different compositions.
 

mp_2009

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bdx tunnel update with 09 flap and tail light

heres my tunnel update i didnt flatten my cooler i just moved it back a few inches hasnt rubbed once and i have a season on it

2.jpg 3.jpg 4.jpg 5.jpg 6.jpg 7.jpg 8.jpg
 

Frostbite

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I am in the middle of doing this mod. I am running into a couple issues. The 09 rear bumper has two hooks that need to hooked on slots cut in the tunnel. The cooler sits tight against the bottom of the tunnel so that's a problem.

I could take off the stock cooler and I did buy a flattened stock cooler from a guy and of course now that it's time to use it I see that it has a crack in it and I have no welder, dang again.

I'll go out and scratch my head a little more and I'm sure I will come up with something. I have a 09 snowflap, tail light and rear bumper but, I also see where some have trimmed the bumper off the 05-07 rear ends and use them with the 09 rear bumper. There are a lot of ways to do this mod. I also bought the $85 tunnel end cap suggested in here and I'm trying to figure out how that fits into the equation.

I added a couple pictures of the tunnel end cap installed both inside and outside the tunnel end.

DSC05507.jpg DSC05508.jpg
 
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madsigntist

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Dec 19, 2007
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Lehi, UT
www.summitsigns.biz
I am in the middle of doing this mod. I am running into a couple issues. The 09 rear bumper has two hooks that need to hooked on slots cut in the tunnel. The cooler sits tight against the bottom of the tunnel so that's a problem.

I could take off the stock cooler and I did buy a flattened stock cooler from a guy and of course now that it's time to use it I see that it has a crack in it and I have no welder, dang again.

I'll go out and scratch my head a little more and I'm sure I will come up with something. I have a 09 snowflap, tail light and rear bumper but, I also see where some have trimmed the bumper off the 05-07 rear ends and use them with the 09 rear bumper. There are a lot of ways to do this mod. I also bought the $85 tunnel end cap suggested in here and I'm trying to figure out how that fits into the equation.

FB, whats the $$ endcap? I bought the thin raw AL 09 pc. that the light/flap assembly covers and it was like $16 or something.
Sucks about the cooler crack. A flattened cooler is the way to go.
If you hadn't already bought all that 09 stuff, I'd suggest going with the $20 Brite Lites LED mini taillight and making a little mount for it.
I'll post some pics in a bit
 

Frostbite

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I finished up the rear conversion (for now). This is is about the best I can come up with based on some limitations I ran into. I wanted to add the the 09edge grips so the rear gussetts would slide right into them but, the sled has Snow Eliminators and there is no way to make the 09 Rail edges fit without major rework.

With the half round cut outs on the sides of the stock tunnel, I didn't really have a way to cover the huge open areas up (without swapping out the entire rear extension). So, I ended up using the stock tail light and flap again.

I used a 2009 153" rear bumper, the rear gussetts that will have to be welded, I trimmed out the holes in the footrests just like the 09s and newer. Here are a few pictures of what I came up with for my daughter's M5.

Oh yeah, I have several items I planned to use that I won't be using. A used 09 rear flap with a brand new tail light assembly mounted into it, the 09rail edges that I wasn't able to use, a flattened stock rear heat exchanger and the rear close out piece for the tunnel that didn't work out for my circumstances. If you can use the parts in the last picture let me know and I'm sure we can work something out.

DSC05521.jpg DSC05520.jpg DSC05517.jpg DSC05522.jpg
 
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