Run to the Hills! - Jason's Completely Stalled Colorado GTFO Build

More welding practice...

 

2nd attempt.

 

Looks good man! Thing that helped me a lot was getting in a comfortable position and stabilizing my torch hand and that gives me a real consistent bead. Now glue some cool stuff to the truck haha

 

Thanks!

You’re exactly right about being comfortable. I’ve been using my left hand to help prop up and steady the gun and it’s been night and day. It’s so much easier to keep the right angle and wire stick out. When I tried just using my right hand unsupported, I was all over the place.

I’ve got a TON of welding to do here shortly. Gussets and limit straps up front and shock mounts and straps in the back along with frame reinforcement. I’m getting a lot closer to finally feeling confident enough to weld on the truck, but I still need a little more time. Can’t wait!

 

That looks plenty good to start burning stuff onto the truck!

The one thing I wish I would have practiced more was out of position welding. Hard to simulate all the positions you'll end up in though. I can lay nice beads on a bench, but a lot of time you can't get into a great position welding on the truck.

I've found taking several dry passes to get comfortable and get yourself in a position where you can smoothly move the gun is what really helps.

 

I was just about to say. Great job!



till you try it upside down

Practice that. Upside down with one hand half blind. You'll be doing some of that. Also vertical welds.

And nooo!! 315s dude!!!

 

I’ll definitely be practicing in all positions, and I’m sure vertical and overhead will be a bitch! That said, I’m pretty excited to try it out and see how I do. I have a ton of scrap, so I should be able to practice all the positions and all of the joints. I really enjoy it so far.

And the 315s aren’t going anywhere! At least not for awhile. I may see if I can unload them at around the 20-25k mark, but that’s still a ways away. I was mostly just goofing off with the calculator and visualizer.

 

Thanks, Brett!

I like the idea of getting the setup nailed down as best as possible and then doing some dry passes first. Great idea when it actually comes time to weld on the truck.

 

285/75-17....
DO IT!

No regrets.

 

To anyone out there that has replaced their thermostat...

Did you guys install the new one with the jiggle valve DOWN, per the FSM? Seems like I’ve heard that that is incorrect for some reason.

 

Time to put her on jack stands and tear into the front end.

 

You want the jiggle valve down.

 

I think it's time for me to sell the kids. Especially right before Christmas.

 

Thanks, Brett. That’s what I ended up doing.

 

Alright, gents... Other than the parts I need to do my limit straps, I think I have everything I need to start in on all of the fun stuff on the list below. But before I start pulling parts off of the truck, I wanted to run this by you guys and get some input.

- For starters, does the sequence below look about right? I know it isn't terribly critical, but I want to work as efficiently as possible and this was what I came up with:

1 - Remove front suspension and drive parts
2 - Cam tab gussets
3 - Coil bucket gussets
4 - Steering rack bushings, TREs, PS cooler
5 - Spindle gussets
6 - Install LCA bushings, LCAs, UCAs, spindles
7 - Front limit straps
8 - Front bumps
9 - Tack weld mod​

- Do any of you that have done these mods before have any tips or things to look out for?
- Any good tips on welding all of the various gussets?
- In regards to limit straps up front: Is the critical droop limiter for a typical 1st Gen mid-travel setup usually the CV binding or the coilover extending to its limit?
- How critical is it that I strip down the spindle completely when I weld the gussets?

Thanks in advance, guys!

@Squeaky Penguin @Blackdawg @TMFF @thefatkid @SilverGhost @Reh5108 @Speedytech7

 

Gusset your front crossmember while you're at it.

If you're pulling the diff(not sure you just stated front drive parts) then gusset the engine mount perches while you're there.

Be careful with the spindles. Make sure to preheat them well and then let them cool very slowly. Id strip them down but leave the bearing and hub in.

I like to weld hot and fast vs low and slow. For doing vertical and upside down stuff its a game of settings. For vertical I find burning hot with a slower wire speed will get a great weld as the pool melts. Upside down, lots of things there. Just try to stabilize yourself as much as possible.

For the front straps, plate the frame where you put your clevis mounts. You can go as low as you want either CV bind or just the full droop. But if you go past CV bind be aware of it when you have the locker engaged and are crawling.

Gonna be a great project! Should be fun. Jealous. Wish I was doing all that and more this winter

 

The heat will cook the seals in/around the wheel bearings. Don't think you have an upper ball joint in the arm anymore because of the aftermarket UCA, if you do take that out also. So yes, after welding the knuckle gussets you need new wheel bearings. I would leave the old ones in though until after welded so the knuckle doesn't chance warping in that location because of heat.

 

List looks good. Couple things off the top of my head.

Get a spot weld drill bit. Makes it much easier to remove the old cam tabs. Also a right angle die grinder with a rollock is invaluable for all those little jobs.

I didn't have any issues with wheel bearings being installed and welding spindle gussets.

Take you time setting up the coil bucket gussets and leave them slightly loose. Makes it way easier to get the UCA in and out, and it will be just fine when you tighten up the bolt. I didn't and it's a pain in the ass.

Your coilover should be your downtravel limit unless you have shitty aftermarket CVs. You'll want to setup the limit straps to just barely prevent the coilovers from getting to their full extension.

 

I used a step bit to drill the spot welds. Work pretty well but it did walk on two of them because the angle. I think I just drilled as much as I could then used a pry bar and hammer bending it back and forth.

Make sure your tabs aren't going to limit the cam rotating. I think the first one I did is and can't quite max the cam out.

I haven't had any issue with my spindle from welding it with everything on it. Don't have a whole lot of miles on them yet. I kept the heat low, welded an inch and a half then jumped to another spot to try and keep the heat to a minimum.

Prepare for the LCA reinstall to be a pita. An extra set of hands helps. My mounts were bent so that likely complicated things for me.

 

My LCA mounts are bent to shit (and now cracking) so I had the same issue. I was trying to devise a way to expand them, but didn't come up with anything.