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Waiting on Westin Ovals for your WBH?

C

cudaowner

Full Member
Joined
Jun 26, 2003
Messages
316
Location
Panama City Beach, Florida
I initially inquired about 4 months ago. I have been waiting patiently for the Westin Ovals. Here is the latest response in case anyone else is holding out.

Emilio,



Do you think the Ovals for the Without Body Hardware AV will be coming out soon(within next 2 months)? If not, I plan on going with the stock GM step bars. Please let me know.

Thanks,

Larry

I believe they will be release by the end of November, the mount kit is the only thing pending. The Oval Tubes are universal so they do not need to be design since we already produce them.





Thank you,

Emilio Gomez

Marketing

Product Development Coordinator

 
Hi Cudaowner,
I am waiting to have chrome Westin ovals installed too. I was told by the shop that the ovals would be ready to instal next week. I'll let you know if that ends up happening as expected. :cautious:
 
Hokee,
Please do let me know how they are doing that. You do have a WBH model don't you?
Is your shop going to custom make the mounting hardware, or am I getting some misinformation from the Westin Rep.?
 
I don't know if Suburban application would fit.
I do know that I volunteered to drive my AV up to LA for them to use as a test bed. That was months ago.
I guess they have their priorities, but I would think they are missing out on quite a few sales.
 
Hey Cudaowner,
I do have a WBH. It's an '03 Z66 WBH Light Pewter. The shop owner told me that the ovals will arrive sometimes this week, and at that time, he would call me to bring my Ava in to get them installed ASAP. I'll try and call him tomorrow to see what mounting kit he's using. More info to come.....

P.S. When I contacted Westin about the ovals they have on their site, the rep. told me the ovals and matching Ava mounting kit will work for with and without BH.
 
Hokee,
Let me know how it turns out. Sounds like the folks at Westin aren't communicating. One of us is getting some bad gouge.
I was under the impression that the bars for a cladded model would stick out to far from the side of the WBH.
 
I need to know how this one turns out.

Here is another sure sell if Westin can pull themselves together and sell us WBHers a kewl set of ovals.

Keep us all posted.
 
The Westins are out for the WBH, per a local dealer. I also have a link for them from another vendor on the net. I'll dig it up and post it here.
 
Oops, sorry about that, I had to go back to their web site to see what the difference was. I personally like the signature series. :)
 
Hi guys,

This is quite frustrating now. I've talked with the shop owner yesterday, and he still hasn't received his "big order" of Westin Ovals/mounting kits (they currently don't have any in stock). He told me he is going to try and call his distributor to see what mounting kit they shipped for my Ava.

In the meantime, I had been contacting Westin again concerning Ovals for WBH Ava's. Here is my latest response that adds more to the confusion!!! I have no idea what to make of our situation now? :E:

"I talked to Emilio yesterday he had told me that there wasn't a specific kit being made for the Avalanche without body hardware. Since the Suburban and the Avalanche are built on the same vehicle platform the step bars from the Suburban may fit however there has not been any fit up to verify that they will work.

Jason Kaiser

Applications Engineer"

Please let me know if anyone has any enlightening info or breakthroughs. I'll let you guys know when my Ovals/kit comes in. Enjoy!
 
Hello again guys,
Just got another updated email from the engineer helping me @ Westin. He responds with the following:

"I will try clear up some of this confursion. I talked to Emilio yesterday and confirmed this information.

(1) Westin doesn't have any plans at this time to make a specific mount kit for the Avalache without body hardware.

(2) The mount kit for the Avalanche with body hardware will work on the vehicle without body hardware.

(3) The Suburban is built on the same vehicle platform as the Avalanche so the brackets from the Suburban bar will probably work on the Avalanche without body hardware and they would both use the same oval tube. I just wanted to caution you that Westin has not tried to fit up the Suburban brackets onto a Avalanche without body hardware therefore having not tired it we can't guarantee something hasn't changed between the two vehicles that would cause the brackets to not fit.



Jason Kaiser

Applications Engineer"

I'm now very eager to get a response from the shop owner I'm trying to get Ovals from. I'll post new info when I get it. Thanks!

 
I have the ovals on my AV (cladded)....

If the mounting holes line up they'll work! .... they use (I believe) a 3/8" bolt into a insert in the frame and a 10mm bolt through the sheet metal below that point.
The brackets can slide the full length in slots on the underside of the tubes. So that part is a cinch... if the brackets mount to the frame... no sweat.

I'd be really suprised if the ones for the Cladded AV did not work no the WBH
... Aren't these AVs' on the same chasis? If so, they must be similar at least....

If someone in the Portland area with a WBH would like to be a guinea pig... I would be willing to remove a bracket from my truck and try.

THey are bolt on only... nothing difficult...took this old fat boy about 15 minutes per side in the driveway.
 
Hi danlwil,
We appreciate the info. Unfortunately, we've known for a while that the mounting bracket kit for the Ava with cladding will work fine with the Ava WBH. The catch is that when you mount the kit and ovals you have on your Ava, there will be a good size gap between the Oval and the frame of the car. You don't have the gap because the body cladding consumes that space. Thanks for trying tho! :cautious:
 
do you know the difference in distance?

why not get a suburban mounting kit and a cladding mounging kit and compare the two ... if the holes line up but the width is correct... you'll know.

sounds like someone needs to find a shop/ store with both mounting kits... that may be the hard part... here the ovals are at the whse only
 
Sounds like that's what I'm gonna have to do. I'll have to make sure I get to see the Ava kit and Sub kit. I'll call some local shops to see if they have any Sub kits that I can size up. Thanks for the suggestions danlwil!
 
The brain surgeons at Westin need to wake up and realize how many potential sales they are misisng out on by not getting this straightened out. I've been waiting patiently for news on this front, to no avail. At this rate I just may have to break down and buy my steps from the General. Speaking of which, does anyone know who makes these for the General? It would be nice if we could buy them direct rather than have to pay top dollar at the dealer.
 
I was at Stillen today and they said that their book says to use the Suburban nerf bars for the Avalanche WBH. I asked if it was a straight bolt on and the rep said the he believed it was. If it wasn't, then I could return them. They don't sell the Westins.

Unfortunately, I also want the Westin Ovals. I went to the Westin website and located the installation instructions. Unfortunately, the instructions for the 2000-2003 Suburban are pending. It appears that there is a channel on the bottom of the tube. The mounting screws slide on the channel to match up with the mounting kit. So, I believe that we just need to look at the underside of a Suburban and see if the mounting areas look the same as the AV WBH. I went by my Chevy dealer to look at the underside of an '03 Suburban, but they ALL have running boards attached.
The exact spacing between the mounts doesn't seem to matter. The step tube and mounting kits are sold separately. The same step tube is used for the AV with Cladding, Silverado Crew Cab and the Suburban.

 
Everyone needs to kept e-mailing Westin , here is my latest responce from them on 10-20-03,

I have forwarded this information to the Engineering Dept. to inform them of the importance of this application on the models with out cladding. Please forgive me for any misinformation I may have provided. When I stated that Westin did not have any plans to produce the product I was merely stating that when I inquired the Engineering Dept. did not have any scheduled fitment verification. I believe once they read this message and the potential of sale for the models available they could schedule sooner than expected.





Thank you,

Emilio Gomez

Marketing -

Product Coordinator
 
I've sent a couple of e-mails to Westin with no response, so I decided to call them. I was transferred around a couple of times. In the end, I was told that Westin does not make the Oval step for the AV WBH and they don't make the Oval step for the Suburban either. I asked about mounting kit part number 22-1275 for the '00-'03 Suburban that was listed on their website and I was told that product was not available yet. They also did not know if it would work on the AV WBH without further research. Because they're only an hour and a half drive away, I offered my '03 AV WBH for R&D. I was politely declined.
I don't know how much longer I can wait before I reluctantly pick a different brand.

Funny. After my call to Westin, I received a reply to my e-mails. Westin will be addressing this issue in mid-November.
 
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