Grille guard and deer guard brackets for the Kenworth T680 Next Gen
A deer guard is a lot of steel hanging off the front of a tractor. It's there to take a hit from a whitetail on a Pennsylvania two-lane at four in the morning, or a moose in Maine, or a brush pile on a logging road, and keep that impact away from the radiator and the hood. Drivers spend real money on the guard itself, then forget that the whole thing depends on a pair of brackets bolted to the frame rails.
Here's where the brackets come into the picture, and it's more often than you'd guess:
- The truck took a strike and the guard held, but one bracket bent and the guard now sits crooked
- A driver bought a used guard off another truck and it came without the mounts
- A fleet moved a guard from a retired tractor to a new Next Gen cab, and the old brackets don't line up
- Salt and brine rusted the original mounts to the point where the hardware won't come loose cleanly
- A guard was pulled for a front-end repair and the brackets were damaged or lost in the process
That last one happens more than anyone admits. Body shops set brackets aside during a collision repair, and by the time the guard goes back on, the mounts have wandered off. Ordering a fresh Kenworth t680 next gen grille guard bracket kit with the hardware included is faster than digging through a parts bin for the old ones.
One thing worth knowing before you buy. A bent bracket is not a straightened bracket. Steel that's been folded in a strike and hammered back holds its shape until the next hit, and then it doesn't. Shops that see a lot of guard damage will tell you the same thing: if the mount deformed, the mount gets replaced, and the guard gets inspected for cracks at the welds while it's off. We're not the ones doing the inspecting, but we can have the new mounts on your bench before the guard is even unbolted.
The reason the Next Gen cab needs its own mounts is straightforward. Kenworth moved the bumper, changed the frame rail end, and reshaped the lower fascia when it redesigned the truck for 2022. Brackets made for the 2013 through 2021 body don't reach the same holes and don't clear the new bumper corners. What we stock is shaped for the newer front end, so the guard sits where it's supposed to.
What's on this page and how to choose
We carry two flavors of mount here. One is a universal-style set with mounting hardware that fits the common deer and brush guards sold for this truck. The other is built specifically for EX-Guard products, which use their own mounting geometry. If you know which brand of guard you have, the choice makes itself. If you don't, take a photo of the guard's mounting tabs and send it our way. We'll tell you which listing matches. That's not installation advice, we don't do that, it's just reading a picture.
Both sets come as a pair, driver and passenger, with the bolts and hardware in the box. You're not going to the hardware store for grade 8 fasteners after the fact, and you're not guessing at thread pitch on a Saturday when the store is closed anyway.
What the order looks like from our side:
- Processed and handed to the carrier within 24 hours on business days
- Shipped anywhere in the country, tracking number sent the moment it leaves
- SSL-encrypted checkout, or a phone order if you'd rather talk it through
- A reflective safety vest packed in with the brackets
- Real support Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Pacific
For fleets adding guards to a batch of new Next Gen tractors, a run of Kenworth t680 next gen deer guard brackets ordered together is cheaper per unit than one at a time, and we'll quote it that way. Tell us how many trucks and which guard brand and we'll put a number together.
Owner-operators, the math is simple. A guard that's already on the truck is worth keeping. If the mounts are the only thing wrong with it, replacing them with a set of Kenworth t680 next gen grille guard mounting brackets costs a fraction of a new guard and gets the old one sitting straight again.
The steel on these is heavy-gauge and powder coated, because a bracket that rusts through in two winters isn't much of a bracket. It's the same class of material the guard manufacturers use on their own mounts, and it's rated for the loads a full guard puts on the frame under a strike.
Going with aftermarket t680 next gen bumper instead of ordering through a dealer or the guard manufacturer saves both money and time. Dealers often don't stock mounts at all and quote weeks. We stock them in SeaTac and ship them tomorrow.
Whether you're mounting a new guard, rescuing a used one, or replacing a set that bent in a strike, a set of 2022 Kenworth t680 grille guard brackets from this page is the fastest way to get the front end protected again. Pick the version that matches your guard, check out through tacoma-truckparts.com , and it'll be on the road by the next business day.
