The Frankenstein Build! LT/Expo/Trail rig..and BS

Hey Chris

 

Looking good!

 

Yea the lights are just sitting on the bar in that pic haha

I put on on the light tabs after i took it off. Suprisingly i can take it off and on all by myself! kinda awkward to carry..but still can.


uploading lots of other pics now!

 

Oh and about time you showed up! so used to you commenting on my build ASAP that i was getting worried you had died or something

 

Okay, so pretty productive day. The rack is like 85-90% done i think. Fought with the welder too..i think the dials got moved while i was moving it and the arc amps were way to low..then the freaking wire speed was too low..took me a while to realize this

First i started off the day by putting the rack back in the truck to see how the roof part looked...it was horrible..lol WAY TOO TALL

as you can see..







sooooo off came the rack i and i cut off 3'' from the main supports.

this looked much better.







Decided to put the lights on just to get a feel for how it would look. They are just resting on the front bar.








From there. I took the rack off again( all by myself! its actually pretty light..kinda hard to balance..) put on the rest of the caps. Did more final welds and then built my light tabs from a spare piece of 1.5'' angle iron i had left.




here is the cool part.

The roof rack is stiff as hell! even with just that one support..its rock soild. Shakes a bit..but not bad at all. I figure its only gonna get firmer too with the other supports, light hoop and base bars. Turned out great! im very happy with it so far.

i need about 20 more feet of 1'' angle tho and then some steel mesh for the roof rack. i have a SHIT ton of grinding to do as well..other then that! its read for paint! ha..easy money.

i will also have to fab up some sort of enclosure and power/ground bus bar system for the HID ballasts for my Hellas.

 

Nice work!

 

That looks awesome Monte. Your truck is so sick.

Is that a Mach 1 in your friend's garage? For some reason I don't think it is, but my brain isn't firing on all cylinders to name that car

 

Thanks!

thanks man! its coming along

and its a 72 BOSS 351. Its getting totally repainted why its tore a part. The motor is already overhauled like you wouldn't believe. like 600ish or more hp it hauls ass!

 

My buddy completely rebuilt a 63 Impala and it dyno'd at 575 HP or something like that. He took me for a joy ride and it was ridiculous. Then, outside of his shop, he smoked his tires to the point of disintegration (he was getting rid of them anyway... might as well do it the fun way).

When he had the interior tore apart to refinish it, I brought a toilet to his shop and sat it next to his car. He looked at me and said, "wtf is that?"

I replied, "your new passenger seat"

 

Must.Stop.Looking.At.Your.Build.

You've inspired me to want the same on mine. Really would like something that I could throw a cage on top of that will fit over my SuperTop. Let me know when you can get started...

 

HA!!

thats awesome..i might do that

a cage over your topper?..ooo..that would be sweet..i know it possible too. I have seen it done.

give me a few weeks

 

Will do...I'll find ya. How big can Wyoming be anyway? lol, actually saw that setup on a 2nd gen on CBI's website, but they told me they didn't do that rack, and don't know where it came from....rats!

 

it can't be that hard. I have seen one on a 1st gen too on Expo..

it would really have to tailored right to it tho as the topper would be different for each truck..

very do able tho.

 

alright so spend about 2 hours on the rack today mostly just grinding down welds. slapped the lights on as well for kicks and giggles



here are my self made tabs. Took some left over 1.5'' Angle and trimmed .5'' off one side then chopped off 1.25'' sections. so then i had 4 1.5x1'' angle so that the 1'' side lined up perfect with the front bar




then i got to thinking. In my orginal plans i had supports coming from the back of the roof rack to the main rack to help it with supports..i still wanted to do that..so i mocked it up. Ignore the tire, it was just there to help me hold stuff, its way to tall to ever live up there.








i like how it would add strength to the roof rack a lot im sure even tho its very rigid as it sits. But i think it'll increase the weight capacity of it a lot. i just can't decide if i want to do that cause im not totally sure how i could really utilize the space in between the two braces? Gas cans? water tank??..not sure..

either way, nothing is getting welded on for a few days. I need to pay some bills before i can go buy another 20' of 1'' angle iron to finish the roof rack off.

 

I'd say go for it as long as there's enough room for your RTT

 

kinda what im thinking man..

i mean if i gain capacity for the roof rack..not really loosing out on anything..plus, i am fairly certain some army gas cans/water cans will fit nicely right there..

 

Weld another piece of square tube across the upper rack supports. Then weld the support braces straight down at a steeper angle to gain room so your ammo box will fit between the braces and your tent when its installed.

 

Ya i was gonna use some angle to go across the top to save weight and height..i could just run one in between it tho. then i could run the supports strait down..kinda like that dad..

the ammo box i am wanting to go bellow the rack now. Grant and i tried put it up there and it was way to hard for both of us even. So a small rack for it just bellow the main one so that it can slide in and out will be much better. Its just too high otherwise.