Time to build the project truck (yes really)

[Brett Whitaker]

Didn't do much today as the temp is blazing. I did buy a sheet of Lexan and cut it and some pine board to length. I am a little concerned about the proximity of the gas tank to where the battery cables attach to the winch.



The two Lexan sheets and the board will be bolted together and positioned vertically between the tank and the winch and attached to the frame and the upper C-channel to keep it in place. I think the board will help spread the force of any impact, big enough to push the winch foward, across the inner Lexan sheet. I have a master cut off for the winch power, but feel better about having this in there as well.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

Skipped the Scout Club meeting I did a little more work. Since it started to rain (very surprised) I worked on the patio out of the rain. At some point I had to make some "long" shackles with a clevis to go in the cross cab square bars. They have to pin from the inside.

So I cut a 14" long section of square bar and drilled a 1" hole through it. Really appreciated the chop saw and drill press for this.



Then I had to grind down the end for the clevis to slide over.



I still have to add some 1/8" plate around to bring it up to the 2". But I slid it in to the tube by the door hinge.



Eventually I'll have to drill all the way through the tube and the other end of the bar so I can pin it from the inside.



I bought the clevises at Northern Tool this morning. Overall they're still cheeper than the Warn version. Hopefully, they're pretty strong.

Enough for now. More tomorrow I hope. Only going to be 101 tomorrow.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

Skipped the Scout Club meeting I did a little more work. Since it started to rain (very surprised) I worked on the patio out of the rain. At some point I had to make some "long" shackles with a clevis to go in the cross cab square bars. They have to pin from the inside.

So I cut a 14" long section of square bar and drilled a 1" hole through it. Really appreciated the chop saw and drill press for this.



Then I had to grind down the end for the clevis to slide over.



I still have to add some 1/8" plate around to bring it up to the 2". But I slid it in to the tube by the door hinge.



Eventually I'll have to drill all the way through the tube and the other end of the bar so I can pin it from the inside.



I bought the clevises at Northern Tool this morning. Overall they're still cheeper than the Warn version. Hopefully, they're pretty strong.

Enough for now. More tomorrow I hope. Only going to be 101 tomorrow.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

Realistically there is no way I'm going to have this thing done by the October Roundup. That's okay though. I'm happy with the progress and how things are coming together. I'll be out there bumming rides and taking pictures and video though.

Goal today is get the one link closer to final installation. I took a piece of I-beam that I cut off the rear winch plate and used a hole saw to drill a 1" hole through it. Here it is with the trailer ball bolted through it. I cut off the excess u-bolt length to allow for some movement.



The welds were cut off holding the trailer jack plate to the one link plate. Now I can put this one on my boat. It is beefier than the one on it now.



For reference here is a picture of the axle uubolts and the uubolts holding my the frame bracket. They are pretty much parallel.



Now with the plate jacked up at the appropriate angle. Making the frame thing allowed the plate/axle to pivot perfectly while holding the frame steady above it.



With the one link bracket positioned and the drivetrain at the correct angle. I had hoped the trailer ball would be immediately under the transfer case yoke. It going to be a little back, but I'm not going to sacrifice the perfectly flat belly. The line on the plate where the one link bracket is where I need to cut the plate down.



The plate angle from underneath. It's the same angle as the driveshaft and only a couple of inches lower. So I don't think I'm losing much; and I'm gaining a lot of protection for it.



Just had lunch. Now I need go out and cut that plate and tack the one link plate to it. I think I can just do it with a magnifying glass with this 100+ heat.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

I cut off the one link plate and tacked the link bracket to the plate. Also tacked the tube to the frame rails for now.



Look no training wheels below the truck.



Good day so far. Will probably doing work work tomorrow.

Brett

[Julian 537]

Brett,

Looking good! I like the progress you are making on the back suspension.

[Brett Whitaker]

So on a positive note I did get the new commode installed this morning. The rest of the day was kind of useless.

I find that I have to trim the Warn control boxes to keep the cables from rubbing so much. So the bottom was marked.



And then trimmed it with some tin snips.



Then I mounted it where I hoped it would work, like I've done with these boxes and the SSII grill in the past. It makes for a nice installation with the Warn box hidden behind the grill.



It looks good except for the fact that it won't work. Where I moved the turn signals interferes with it. So I'm going to have to strap it to the end of the winch, like the factory intended.

Then I did the useless thing of putting all the lights in to kind of see what it is going to look like.



I also tried to put the radiator in. It hits the winch plate. So I am going to have to notch it for the radiator to fit.

Looking inside the engine bay, I see the steering shaft comes way close to the frame. With the body dropped, I'm going to have to shorten the shaft and then make the double-D shaft longer to the steering box. Joy!

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

Not that I haven't had motivation to work on the truck, but starting a new company last September has just not left a lot of time to work on it. Hopefully, that will change in the near future.

Mike G. helped broker a deal between Arkansas John and myself, for me to get some 2" DOM tubing. Right now its in the weeds (literally) like the truck (figuratively).



Thanks John. And thanks to Mike for bringing it down and delivering it to my door.

Now I need to mount the tubing bender and start getting some exercise. I bet this will pack on some muscle.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

Well after a 7 month hiatus I may be able to start doing a little work on the truck periodically.

I've been considering what to do with the front end regarding the wheel opening and the front stinger thing. So I got out the PVC and started playing around a little. Here is a side view of what I've kind of come up with.



The idea is to run some DOM down the outside of the frame rails kind of like this.



I'll reinforce it at the back end at about the body mount.



One of the problems I've had was trying to figure out how to strengthen it at the end if it was actually needed. So I'm thinking that I'll run some DOM from the winch plate right (curve) of the stinger.



Thoughts?

The other part of the thought process today was the wheel arch. I'm thinking about lengthening the inner and outer fenders and the hood about 6 1/2" to put the center of the wheel arch over the axle center line. Maybe that's too far out there. I think it would clean up the front and make the winch almost hidden.

Brett

[Brett Whitaker]

So here is what I'm thinking for the front end.



It should have plenty of room for flex and growth

Now if I can make the metal look like the MS Paint.

Thoughts?

Brett