Bayfield, CO - One of the most popular shows on the Discovery Channel has become Monster Garage, led by Jesse James, to make vehicles do very non-vehicular things, like becoming hot air balloons, swamp boats, lawn mowers, etc.

Recently, the show offered a viewer vote and by a landslide the Rock Crawler was their choice (over 40,000 votes were cast and more than 17,000 of them said Rock Crawler). When Steve Rumore of Avalanche Engineering, Inc., and Avalanche Ranch Off-Road Park heard this, he made sure that Monster Garage heard that he'd be glad to pitch in.

When the producers heard that he designed the Sniper, won the 2000 WARN National Rock Crawling Championship, owned a shop that builds custom off-road rigs, AND lives on his own off-road park ranch, two weeks later he found himself in LA (quite a change from Bayfield, CO) to transform an innocent 1968 Bronco into a Monster Rig.

Over the course of 1 design day and then 5 work days Steve worked with a team of five very talented guys from around the US (Brandon Gillen, Andy McClosky, Mike Duncan, Mike Allen, and Ryan Lindbergh), sometimes fifteen hours a day, to get the job done, and done it is. The final test was executed on a donated Caprice Classic given that Long Beach, CA doesn't have much in the way of rocks, and the fully outfitted Bronco crawled up and over, forward and back
on the Caprice with not so much as a hiccup.

The hardest part was the beginning cut into the near-perfect body of the Bronco, but once they winced through that Steve and the crew pushed forward to narrow the grill by 13", narrow and section the rear quarter panels and tailgate, "backhalf" the rear chassis, install DynaTrac ProRock 60's, a full hydraulic steering system from Avalanche, an Advance Adapter Atlas II transfer case and a new motor complete with Edelbrock fuel injection. King shocks donated a set of coil-overs and BFGoodrich kicked in a set of prototype 39" Krawler TA's to round out the package, which were mounted on military-style Hutchinson beadlock wheels supplied by usa6x6.com

Steve is excited that Rock Crawling has caught the national public's interest and had a blast working on the project. Always up for a challenge. He is at the Moab Fairgrounds for Easter Jeep Safari if you're interested in hearing more, or seeing some of his creations. The Rock Crawler Build is currently scheduled to air on June 9th (subject to change), and you can hear all about it there, too! More information can also be had on www.avalancheengineering.com and www.avalancheohvranch.com.