So you push your 1st gen offroad - what cracks next?

Been chasing a phantom squeak for a couple weeks. Guess I cracked my bed lol.

 

Only a matter of time for those front corners to go. Time for @Kwikvette to prototype some front braces for you

 

@m3bassman did just that; used an L-shaped bracket and just ran bolts from the top down

If @Wulf wants a pair, I'd make some

Got a thread for my stiffies if you need a set to go with said bracket

 

Noooo if I end up pulling the bed off to add stiffeners like that then I'm gonna get sidetracked stripping/plating/reinforcing the frame

 

Oh no, the one's he used were simply an L shaped piece of metal that he drilled through the top of the bed!

Really you'd be able to do it yourself easily.

 

ahhh I see

I was thinking of someone else who added them to the front of the bed on the inside corners.

Something like this would be easy enough and keep it from getting worse.



I've been wanting to repaint the truck and my entire DS quarter behind the fender is full of Bondo from the PO and both taillights are smashed in from wheeling in the trees so I might just find a new bed long term lol

 

Ugh.

Not surprising, easy to fix/reinforce:



This though, wtf. Must be because of poly cab mounts? Not even sure where to start on this other than drilling the crack and praying it doesn’t spread further.

 

Damn, that's some shit

Is your slider flexing into the pinch weld when it's supporting the weight of the truck? It looks like it got flattened out and maybe pushed beyond flat

 

No, I hammered the pinch welds flat around the legs of the sliders when I first installed them, to get them tight to the body. Then I went and put a 1” body lift on a few years later, so there’s more than enough gap
The sliders are super sturdy, I’ve dropped the whole weight of the truck on one side and they hardly deflect.

 

I've had poly cab mounts for years. Just checked, and have a little crack starting there, but nothing like yours. Nice work, Dan!

 

Yeah wouldn’t think that it would cause that big of an issue. And there’s nothing heavy on that side of the cab either, other than the fatass in the drivers seat I guess.
Might pull off the interior panel to see if I can see it from the inside.

 

Doubt it. If you remember from tubing that's a big channel. So at worse you're letting water and shit into the channel and it'll slowly rot out from the inside but won't go into the actual cab. Unless there is a crack on that side.

 

Hey at least all the water should drain back out of the crack right?

I think if you take the speaker enclosure and everything out of there, you can access the space between the inner and outer skins. At least I think so from what I recall while sound deadening all that. Not that there’s room to do anything other than see how bad it looks from inside…

 

I think where I circled red is the channel tube that runs along the base of the truck. Blue line and above is the cab interior.

I think.

 

Ah yeah you could be right. I’m still not even sure what is causing the cracking, the only load on that corner is the weight of the back of the cab, which I’d think it is designed for.

 

Truck in an accident before you got it?

 

Nope, it was cherry when I bought it 15 years ago. I’ve done all the damage to it might just be from a production line fluke, who knows

 

yeah pretty strange spot to start cracking.

 

I'm curious for those how push the trucks hard while wheeling or on trips?
What spares do you bring along?
Cv axles, inner/outer tie rods, lbj, lbj bolts seem to be the most likely items to fail pushing through truck for a few days of hard tracks. Would a Manual Hub be worth taking or are CVs more likely to fail.
What else do you bring?

 

Friends who bring spare parts and tools.

Out of the circles I run in, axles probably a for sure. Never seen tie rods let go, and the ball joints that failed have been from those that aren't great at maintaining their rigs @Blackdawg . Honestly your spare tire is most likely the part that will see the most action. Set of spare brushes for the alt would be another good one, only thing that ever failed me over 13 years on the trail. These trucks are pretty robust if you drive competently.