Deeezy's Locked Sport Grocery Getter Build

And.......it's finally done!

 

Dana...those beads look like Dimes...

 

I didn't like the idea of my power steering cooler being mounted right against the AC condensor with the "push through" plastic mounts it came with, so I made some mounts out of 3/16" flat bar. Now it stands off of the AC/radiator by a couple inches, instead of directly to it.

Before:




After:

 

Since there's no way to fit bigger than a 35" tire with the stock cab mounts, I decided to relocate it. It is very, very hard and time consuming to cut off the factory cab mounts. Even with a plasma cutter it took a very long time because you have to grind the frame surface area totally flat. I would never ever do this again.
After a couple days, I finally finished it.

Stock cut back as far as it could:


Cut off:




Mocked up and the hole in the frame that needs to be filled:




And........finished. (I did a second pass on the welds that looked like shit after this pic) Now fenders can be "tubbed" all the way back to the flat plate with the carriage bolt through it.

 

Wow! Outstanding work! And the welds look great!

 

Thanks! The first one I did didn't look too good, so I wasted a lot of time grinding the weld down to lay a second bead on it. It's a lot harder to weld in these awkward positions on the truck compared to welding on a bench.

 

I can imagine welding facing up is a PITA! Especially in a tight area. I guess you're gonna leave the metal exposed??... You did say you were finished...lol..jk Can't wait to see those 37's!!

 

Btw...did you plan on replacing the cam tabs?

 

I'm gonna replace the HID harness you provided today...lol I have the OEM lights in right now and it's time to get it back to where I want it..lol

 

Awesome! Let me know how it goes.

 

No, mine have a weld bead behind each tab which have been holding up fine to all sorts of abuse.

 

Dang, Dana!!! Going bigger?!? Looking forward to what you go with!!! Awesome work, bro!

 

Thanks! Appreciate it.

Yeah, most likely going with 37's.

 

I figured it was about time to change out the uniballs for my UCA's. They have almost 40,000 miles on them and are still in decent shape so I decided to use the same Icon uniballs as it came with. The kit also came with new snap rings and anti seize. It was a pretty straight forward install and could be done with the UCA still on the truck. I used a ball joint press along with an assortment of sockets and washers to press them out and in.

Remove the 12 pt bolt holding the tapered adapter while it is still seated in the spindle.



Remove the snap ring



I don't have a pic of me pressing the uniball out, but I used a 1" socket on top and a large cup from the ball joint press that fit under the uniball cup.


Once it was out, I applied anti seize to the cup and uniball



I used a buddy's Icon pipe tool that came with his delta joint to press the uniball in along with a large washer up top so the press could fit everything



Press it all the way in until it stops and the notch for the snap ring is clear.



I used blue locktite for all bolts. The 12 pt adapter bolt torqued to 90 ftlbs and the taper pin to spindle torqued to about 83 ftlbs.

 

Nice tutorial Glad the ICON press helped out

 

I finally had the confidence after much practice, to cut off and reweld a new tire mount on my swingout. The little hole in the corner of the gussets were filled in after the pic.

Bent:



New tire mount:



Welded up

 

I also decided that it was time to clearance my fenders more and "mini tub" the firewall. This whole ordeal took me almost two days!

This is the uncut firewall/fender marked with a paint pen where clearancing was needed



After cutting. The only other thing that was harder to cut than this was cutting the stock cab mounts off.




Cleaned up and ready to be welded, once I cut the sheetmetal patches out.



I used my welding blanket to shield the wires inside and also wet rags behind the sheetmetal while fully welding.

 

Dude...you're a legend. That's gotta be a crazy feeling cutting through into the cab...Point of No Return...

 

Yup, the only way I could get my truck back on the road was to fix the big hole. No turning back!

 

Wow thats a big tub job! Probably the most nervous thing I ever did