reh5108's 4 Banging SHITBOX tUrBo 4x4 Build

It would be best if I redrew in solidworks to take advantage of the 250 CNC press brake and make them out of 14 GA steel.

 

The laser cutter can only cut 1 to 1.5 times the thickness of the steel. They recommend erroring on the 1.5x so that's what I went with. I could probably get them down to .135“, I made them.2". Scouring the "bridges" made bending them a breeze and only took a minute of grinding!

I did get a quote from a company for doing everything and I think it was around $450 per support. I wasn't about to drop $1500 on these things! Haha

It's drawn in Fusion 360. I'm guessing youd need a STL file? They are made of 10 guage, 14 guage is pretty close to the failing factory thickness. What kind of tolerances can you get out of a water jet?

 

It's doable. I bet.135“ wouldn't be bad at all.

 

Go get yourself a MIG. Especially now that you have a shop to do it in. Really though looks great for flux, never ran flux but my experience with stick makes me not want to go anywhere near shit that makes slag lol

 

I'm honestly not minding it. I don't have to worry about gas and can do it outside with better ventilation. Cleanup will be annoying with all the spatter and slag but not $1000 annoying.


There is way to much welding on these to make these a feasible production item. Might not be as bad with a smaller gap, super slow process the way it is.

 

Hahaha I'm just fucking with you, you have made some kick ass shit with flux cored. I really think you are onto a badass idea though.

 

4lbs of wire later and all the folds are welded. That gap made it a painstakingly slow process. I get why plate bumpers are so expensive now, it's in the labor! I'm surprised the welder still works, I paid no attention to the 3 minute duty cycle...

Tomorrow I hope to get the end plates welded on, clean everything up, final fit to what's left of the original support and then paint.

Sunday will be setting it down and hoping the body lines match up! Then lots of drilling and riveting!

 

You need to bend them on a brake to eliminate the 6ft of welds per part if you want to produce them. There are shops out there that can do that for you too but will add costs.

 

I'll look into it but I don't think it's going to be a cost effective solution by that point.

 

We have used https://tabandslot.com/ at work for large cut jobs and sometimes they will bend parts for us too, get a quote and see if it's doable.

There are many more out there you could shop around. I bet there is a fab shop local to you that could do it too.

 

Well I think it's pretty damn close. Maybe 1/8" high. If my frame wasn't bent I think it might be spot on.



Now to install 80 something 3/16 stainless rivets. Not sure how I'm going to get he bed to lay flat in the areas that it's bent. Might need to invite the neighbors to stand on it.

 

Added in some bedside supports. Should have taken some before pictures but it was almost to the point that the tailgate would not shut. May have made it a little tight on the driver side but o well.

 

What material thickness did you use to make the bedside supports out of curiosity?

 

1/8" flat stock. I'd recommend doing it for any one that has weight on there bed rails. They might not need to be as obstructive as mine are but anything will help fight the metal fatigue and future cracking.

 

whats the length of the legs on the gussets? My pass side is almost un-closable now compared to the DS.

 

Legs are 8" the gusset is 9.5" at its longest. I really didn't put any thought into the lengths or anything. It doesn't stick out further than the wheel well so they should be much of a problem for sliding things in and out of the bed.

 

Couldn't you just buy some of these, lol: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-15-63-in-Shelf-Bracket/1000080131


Shorter version:https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blue-Hawk-11-69-in-Shelf-Bracket/1000069207

 

Probably could. Might be a bit long.

 

Gotcha. I'll be making some soon out of some 3/16" flat stock that i've got laying around. Some people have said that you should use 1/4" at a minimum for the supports, but that's just way overkill imo. Maybe if you wanna use them as beefy tie down points.