Fully polished TuRD

Used these a lot at my old fab shop; co worker hated them whereas I freaking loved them.

 

Good to know!
I have never used them but read reviews and it seemed split on them. When I saw the size and the fact they don't twist like c clamps I was sold. I hate c clamps, especially if you are trying to contour plate onto something.

 

I use this style at home if an item is too big to use the plier type

 

Finally got some shop time today. I had 2 tool failures right off the bat, my laser level took a shit and a jack failed, so that set me back. I have been chipping away at prepping the frame rails and cutting off old frame repairs, so it's slow going. I did however get a rail heavily tacked on and it's all level!
I'm going to fully burn it in one day after work and work on the other side. Should go much faster once that other rail is on.

 

Please don't tell me the new fancy clamps were the tools that failed!

That piece looks great tacked in place. What a beautiful and solid piece. It's really the best idea I've seen so far for frame repairs.

 

Lol no, I would have been pissed! It was my laser level and the trans jack. I fixed the jack, the level is still broke which sucks.

I got them made at sschassisworx, they also ship nation wide. A guy on irate4x4 got an entire 4runner frame made by them, they specialize in making custom frames.

 

Guess I didn't read your previous post all the way through. You did mention the tools that failed. My bad lol.

I'll save that resource for future reference. It looks like they make a really good product. Really great solution for frame issues.

 

Got some shop time today. Pax side rail on, somehow square and level. I have all the frame rail welding done, except for the fish plates, I'm waiting on the steel for those. Also waiting on steel for the cross members.

@cynicalrider is this what you were talking about for the gas tank lift?


Cleaned the cross member up, holy crap that sucked:

I didn't burn it in, I'm waiting to make the bed mounts and test fit it all, but if I can get it this high, this will be awesome!!


So now I'm waiting on steel that I ordered and leaf springs. Ill probably order a bunch of tabs and crap from Barnes this week as well.

 

Eh not really. So this is what I pictured, tried to describe:




And then the weld bead would be at the top of the xmember where this sits at at the front and rear of the xmember. The front part I was totally blind welding it at but the part that faced the rear was easy to fill that gap. The angle iron would need to match the width of the xmember for it to work, the small angle is for demo only lol

And pic of mine that might better help describe it too:

 

Lol I did it upside down eh I'll make it work!!

 

that was my thought when I saw it

 

I was looking at it under thinking, how the hell is this easier LOL

 

Looking like a truck again:

Getting the bed mounted took way longer than I thought,.working solo with an engine hoist slows you down. I also had to build custom forward bed mounts which sucked up some time.


Nice and sketch


Tomorrow I want to get the axle under it and flex it out, get a shock cross member built, and get the bump cans tacked or maybe even fully welded on. I also have to make the fish plates.

 

Spent most of the day on the garage, made some progress. Broke down the leafs to the main leaf:

Tacked in the spring mounts and swung the axle under it:.

Fawk too far forward:

Fixed a bunch of shit

Much better. Now Barnes4wd, I love them I really do, but why the fawk would you sell shackles with 1/2" bolts when all your hangars and mounts use 9/16?? That ate up a few hours running around town to get a drill bit and longer bolts. I then built a shock mount/crossmember:.
Hammered it in there:


Shock fits under the bed with just about the same travel left as before. Next up I need to figure out the air bumps and then make the fish plates. Almost there....

 

I think a worm hole opened up in my garage, I went out there at 9am and next thing I knew it was 4pm. I got not a lot done, I worked on the part I was dreading the most, the fish plates and I my band saw was being a PITA. Well at least this is mostly done, just need to make a cap to go on the bottom.


There was a shit ton of frame prep not shown.

 

Update on 2 weeks of progress.

I dropped it onto it's wheels to check shackle angles and pinion angle, it didn't break in half!


Today I ground away on this thing. Seems like a never ending project. I did a ton of welding, wrestled with this damn front part of the gas tank mount. I took the bed back off to weld in the gas tank cross member..

I'm probably going to regret welding the charcoal canister on but time will tell. I also installed the lspv, the brake system just needs to be hooked up and bled.

Rear suspension is totally done minus the air bumps, and bolting in the shocks.


Almost there....

 

Cutting off the rear factory C channel is looking better and better with each of these pics. Looking good

 

Also found this:

Still holds air fine, can't say the same for my 2003 Avalon DD that the tires go flat on evrey other day despite no leaks that I can't find.

Looks I'll be ordering a new tire this week.

 

Should just do one of these over it and keep running it
https://www.gluetread.com/products/4x4-kit

Works super well. There's a video where they did the rubicon after slashing all 4 tires and patching them with those.

 

Would that throw the balance off on the road though? With the to and from the trail highway driving I do I would be worried it would blow out or something, especially when it's hot as hell here.