[Wgasa84]

Here's what it started out as today....

And what we ended up with.

Various pics throughout the day...

We ran out of wire and energy. Still have atleast one more tube to put in, and a couple to fully weld. Spare tire mount is just like the one Lucky13TRD and myself built for my 85, a simple pivot of 1 1/2 sleved with 1 3/4" and some peices welded on the sides to keep the sleve from going side to side. We also have to cut his rear bumper right next to the frame so it isn't an rock anchor.

The fenders will be covered in plate. A Tray will be built above the gas tank for a cooler and the small sq tube box/tray directly above the diff is going to be a battery box (dual batts) which Taylor built a couple weeks ago.

We used roughly 80-90ft of 1 3/4" .120 welded tube. Probably 8' of 1 1/2 .120 welded tube, a bit of 1/4" plate and a bunch of welding wire/gas! Estimated weight is in the 150-180 range, possibly more.

Overall we got much further on his tube bed than we ever thought. My rig is still sitting on jackstands, needing front u-bolts and some more junk weled to the 'new' front housing. Steering stops, hydro assist ram mounts... I need to get new knuckle bearings for one side and it will be ready to wheel again!

 

[TacoDell]

Much better then when I left Mikey's house on Sat... :clap:

So you weld the tube ends straight to the frame without a base plate ?
(any added support going to the frame... like boxing that area ?)
I guess it wouldn't matter if it was rolled... the frame would be fawked anyhow...

So the PC program works good now that you figured out the mistake ?

Looks good... You guys must have been burning the midnight oil...

Oh and the main hoop doesn't look to be sticking out (width) at that bend enough to put that horizontal going forward to the proposed secondary hoop... Hmmm... maybe it's just the pic... :dunno:

edited: Wow and the upper shock mounts were relocated as well... better then the original 2" down travel... LOL

 

[Dunk]

Glad to see you all staying busy! Running out of wire is no excuse!! LOL.. looks good mang.

 

[freejake3]

Freakin' awesome. Nice fab work. Your neighbors must love you like mine love me. I can just hear them now "........what is he building now!!" Don't worry about what I'm building - just know that this NEVER ends.

Looking forward to the final pics.

 

[Dragon150043]

Wrench, wheel, Wreck Repeat!!! :rofl:

 

[mgyver1]

RaideRNation,
Ahh.....Now I see why you were leaving for the whole weekend. That wasn't just a "wrench a thon to help put my new coilovers on," that was a "wrench a thon to help rebuild the back half of my truck." Looks really good.

Also, I now know what you mean when you say you live in the Peoples Republic of Czheckoslifornia..............Santa Monica was NUTZ! You gotta pay for everything! Including parking (which is only for a max of 30min...if you can find a spot). Sorry, off topic.

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Drove home tonight before it rained tomorrow......1.5 hours of butt ass cold wind!!!! Anyway, big thanks to Critter for his awesome welding skills and also to Mikey for his infinate good ideas that kept making the project better. We accomplished a lot and still have a bit more to do. Ill post some more pics of the finished, halfway painted project tomorrow.

Good news is that Chris's pile is rolling again with some minor adjustments coming and that mine is now almost trail ready

Almost ready for summer wheeling!

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Updated pics. The rear cage has 8 mounting spots. 6 are directly to the frame, and in all 6 of those spots the frame is boxed.

 

[ljschnel]

Looks good. Interesting taillight placement...

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Im eventually going to put some dual stage red LED's in the rear. This is just a cheap temporary thing till I get that together.

 

[mgyver1]

Im eventually going to put some dual stage red LED's in the rear. This is just a cheap temporary thing till I get that together.

It looks like on the very end section of the rear you could mount some flat thin steel between the 2 tubes and cut a oval hole for a 6" led light like these:

You could probably fit a red brake and amber turn light on each side and then 2 white back up lights in the middle.

 

[Wgasa84]

Thats the plan... once he breaks the stockers off.

 

[cb77DEMELLO]

Not bad. Keep the pictures coming.

 

[CronusTRD]

Dang, your garage is as narrow as mine

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Dang, your garage is as narrow as mine

Yeah, it sucks trying to move around those darn 37's and opening doors and stuff....

 

[Wgasa84]

Taylor did get that shelf thingy built yet?!

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Taylor did get that shelf thingy built yet?!

Its built biotch! Got a ton of stuff done in the last couple days!!!

First, I got legal with some LEDs in the rear. They are not the flush mount but they are almos the same. I used some 16gauge steel as a backing plate welded into the bumper and tube, and then recessed them behind the tube and bumper.

Next, HighLift dialed in....Chris, the only place I could mount that mammoth 60" POS was right over the main cross on the main hoop. We are going to have to use a piece of 1x1" as a crush support instead of 1.5" tube......wont fit. The 1x1" will for sure fit, I made sure.

Now for the hard stuff, well not so much hard to do as a long process. I got the cooler, toolbox, shelf thingy built over the gas tank to mount all of my crap cuz I have no more bed space. Only hard part about the build was I had to build it so I could remove the whole shelf to get the to the gas tank so it could not be welded in. I used some angle steel and 1x1" .120 wall square tube and Chris and I came up with a good design that I slightly modified to make less work and an easier build. The whole thing fits snug inbetween the two exo horozontal supports. U-bolts are used to keep it from popping out (which I dont think will happen cuz I had to stand on it to get it to fall in place.) I put it in an jumped on it so it passed the fab fatass test

This is pre-two extra crossbars and diamond plate

How it fits

Steel grip plate

Painted purdy...At this point I was very tired of lifting and moving it as it kept getting heavier and heavier

Finished!

Also got the CB mount dialed in on the top center of the main hoop

So, Im nearly ready for Calico. Id like to get the dual battery relocate thing done but if not oh well.

 

[Enzogfx]

Damn nice man! All that worked definately paid off and then some. Hopefully one day my garage will evolve so I can do the same stuff on my own!

 

[RaideRNatioN]

Hehehe, I can do the little stuff at my place but I need the help of Critter and Lucky13TRD to do all the other nonsense. :saw: :welder:

 

[Wgasa84]

Looks good man! Blingin with the LED's!

Very well done my friend! I can't wait to wheel!

Didn't like Mikey's Gas neck holder?