Seabass's Fish Taco Build

I agree man, You have a nice truck!

 

Love the color

that all pro bumper lines up very nicely!

 

Finally got my expedition rack all done this past weekend. Big big thanks go out to Bryan (Specalt) for not only the use of his garage and tools, but also his welding experience and overall general know-how-to-get-shit-done. He also dedicated 15 hours to this project on his weekend. Also the same big thanks goes out to Steve (Staticsquelch) for being there with us all day and helping out with angle grinding, cutting, measuring, assembling, and just about every other damn thing we had to do to this rack to get it done.

Picked the base rack up a couple months ago from Seth, who had it made by another member on TW. Rack was designed to be used with a soft topper, but I had other plans for it. RTT is the ultimate objective, but I don't have a grand laying around to spend so it's going to be my expedition rack until then. The goal with this first build was to make some under-slung baskets to hold my outdoor gear in their storage bins, and also to hold my full-size spare, thus freeing up the entire bed of the truck for much more gear.

The rack itself was a great base and it's quite strong, especially for being a bolt-together. It came with a very simple aluminum clamp system that installed into the bed rails with cleats, but the clamp that held the footrail of this rack to the bed just didn't seem trustworthy. A little bit of hard off-roading would have probably been trouble on the clamps, especially with any type of load on them. I didn't want friction being the only thing that was holding this rack to my truck bed, so new clamps were also part of the plan.

First, we had to take the base rack and straighten it all out. It wasn't built perfectly straight to begin with, so we had to break it all down to its bones, fill in the old bolt holes with metal, and level everything back out and drill new bolt holes. Once that was done, it was time to measure and start fabricating the baskets.



Because of the uneven build of this rack in the first place, and even after 3 hours of "straightening", the two top holes were slightly different sizes but at least now they were squared off. Both baskets had to be fabbed up individually. One basket was built first, installed on the rack, and then new measurements were made for the second rack. The important thing was to get them the exact same width though. Each basket is made out of 1" square steel, welded at 45 degree angles on the corners so there are no open ends. The front basket that holds the spare tire has 2 extra rungs in the middle as runners, made out of 2x1" steel. The other basket has 2 runners in the middle of just the 1" steel, but they are still strong enough to hold my 230# body jumping up and down on them without any flex at all.

Here's Bryan finishing up the welding on the second basket.



Last project to do was to install welded rail brackets for the bed. By using the cleats and bolts from the other clamps, all we had to do was to make 6 L-shaped pieces of steel that welded to the foot rail of the rack, and drill a hole in them. Simple.

Here's the rack after assembly and bolt-on, with my spare loaded in the front basket.



So, here she sits all prepped and painted 2 days later. I made sure to really clean up the rack and the new baskets good with steel wool and mineral spirits before applying two coats of Rustoleum bedliner spray. Let it all cure up, then re-assembled the rack and put her back on the truck.





And it all fits in my garage, even with the spare tire loaded. I also can take the spare off the rack and put 4 of my camping gear storage trunks perfectly up top. You can see a couple of them in this pic behind the rack on the shelf. I normally only take 2 of those trunks for even a long multi-night camp trip, so this just means I can leave the spare in place up top and then have the entire truck bed available for coolers, extra water, gas, more gear, etc.



All in all, I'm really pleased with this project. It's rock solid, holds everything perfectly, and gives the truck a really unique look while also being practical. There's room under the baskets if I still wanted to put a canvas or poly cover on the rack and sleep under it, but I'll just go with a tent for now and wait for the RTT.

 

Looking good man!

 

Very nice... If i ever get a deal on a softopper/bestop this will be the route i'll go. Slick.

 

That expedition rack is exactly what I am looking for...

 

Teach me how to weld.

 

Any more pictures of the Rack and where you altered it and the mounting feet? I got the same one and need to make "adjustments/repairs" to make it better...

 

Yeah I will take some new pics showing it closer up to the brackets we put on it. They were simple... just took some 3/8 flat steel and bent it into a 90 degree with a vise. Welded them to the foot rails in 6 places, and drilled some 1/4" holes in them for the bolts that go into the rail cleats.

We also just added some mount points to the top of it for my ARB awning. It's now all set up with my RTT and awning and it's solid as a rock. Next up... mount spots for jerry can holders.

 

Ok so here's the really simple bracket system we added to it. This is a somewhat close-up of one of the 6 total brackets we welded on. Just took some 3/8" and bent it in the vise, ground the edges smooth, and did a super quick weld job all around the bracket. Drilled a hole in each bracket for the bolt that goes to the rail cleat, and threw a coat of bedliner spray on it.

 

Recent work:

- New CV axles
- New UCA and LCA bushings
- New upper ball joints on the LR's
- Tepui Kukenam RTT added
- ARB 6' awning added
- Seafoam treatment through brake booster (worked nicely!)
- Moved UltraGauge from the windshield mount to new adhesive mount over the rearview mirror
- Tuff LED 4" round fog lights added to bumper

Coming up:
- Replace valve cover gaskets
- PCV valve
- Plugs/tune-up
- New serpentine belt

 

nice build.... that indigo is my favorite color

 

Thanks Jared. It's still my favorite, too. So glad I didn't go with Speedway. But, I'm planning to Plasti-Dip the whole thing army drab green this summer so it might be bye-bye to the indigo. At least the dip is removable.

 

Just updated front page with all current specs, and will be updating with latest pics soon.

 

Every-time I scroll and see this thread, I'm all like, "KICK HIS ASS SEABASS!"

I hope you've seen the movie I'm referencing, if not... nothing to see here.

 

Nice build man. It looks good.

 

As she sits now. This was from last weekend. Damn she sits low in the rear when loaded. This year is going to be the year of the expedition leafs and 10" rear shocks.

 

One more, on our way to our wedding photo shoot (how many of you wheeled in a tux before?)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B_qQCTbzCU