TIPICOTACO's "Rad Baron" - '01 DC

Sure, I'll just wheel by myself!

 

Just get a first gen like all the cool kids.

Next RC trip I am def hitting the comp course. No one wanted to come play at the end of the day.

 

Oh nice, what kinda rear set-up are you thinking about? I've never had a bike but I could certainly see the draw.. Down the road I'd be interested in getting a bad ass cruiser but that go fast stuff scares the shit out of me

1st gens can just flat out get it done. They're very capable stock and once built up right they can go anywhere! The guys I wheeled with on Saturday wouldn't even spot me most of the time.. ha ha.. I was the tailgunner for most of the day and every time I got to a difficult obstacle they just kept going, hardly even looked back b/c they knew the 1st gen would just crawl over it w/ ease

I guess we can allow one charity case..!

 

My memory may be flawed but I seem to remember some playtime on the comp course

 

Yellow Jacket

 

Troof!

No worries with your rig - just like wheeling with Sander1032 (Steve) it's that 1st gen superiority.

 

I meant wheeling I would wanna do with my own rig ha!

So far thinking about a simple 5100 and aal but ideally build a pack out of Chevy springs, relocate the shock mounts, and then measure from there what length I need.

 

Aw c'mon now Tyler, don't go blaming a perfectly good day of wheeling on your rig, a shitty driver with a good rig will have a bad day of wheeling.

From what I saw in my rear-view mirror, we could put you into a 2nd gen and you would do just fine. Although you would have needed a little spotting on that boulder on 23 with a second gen.

And while I did keep an eye on you, my failure to kill any of my children has given me a little experience in staying out of people's way, yet being not too far off to lend a hand.

Good driving with a first gen on tall and skinnys makes for a good day at Rausch.

 

Thanks for the pics.. Yea, another case of "they just don't make them like they used to".

Don't think I've wheeled w/ Steve, gotta get him to RC next tme!

Sweet! Chevy swap has flex for days! Requires a lot of fab work though.. Hows your stock pack holding up? Maybe a 3 leaf AAL like icon or wheelers would suit you nicely.. I'm still happy w/ my wheelers/alcan "6" pack fwiw; 1" lift shackle and 10" 5125s def make a difference

Thanks for the kind words! Made plenty of mistakes when I first started wheeling, one of the main reasons that I armored up right away lol.. Aand I was just busting about the spotting.. I know you guys had my back if I needed it!

 

I plan on actually doing the "OMD" mod and making the pack from chevy springs while maintaining the stock top leaf. No fab work required minus cutting/shaping donor leaves. And that only requires an angle grinder which is my favorite tool in the whole world. How do most people run shocks like 5100's on a OME pack? Isn't the strut only for 0-1" of lift?

 

Oh Good deal, OMD leaf pack can be awesome! and cheap.. I too <3 my angle grinder!! Some say the 5100s are good for 0-3", and I ran them for about a year at about 2.25" lift w/o a problem but after I put in the AAL to the 5pack and moved to 33" for wheeling my shocks became the limiting factor in my droop. Measured travel and went with the 10" 5125s.

 

Over the wknd I started to work on the hidden hitch in my rear bumper.

first I cut off the existing hitch that came on the bumper, ground it smooth, and marked out where the hidden hitch receiver would be.

 

this is a pic of the hitch that came w/ the truck


the cross-member/receiver is attached to the mounting plates with 4 thru bolts/nuts on each side positioned at 12,3,6, and 9 o'clock. My idea was to remove it from the hitch mounting plates and bolt it to the bumper mounting plates. I figured this would save me quite a bit of fabrication as it was already the right width, already had a plate on each end and bolt holes to work with, and was rated as a class III hitch so would be plenty strong.

After quite a bit of measuring and test fitting I was able to trim down the receiver gussets to allow the whole thing to fit in behind the license plate 'box'. I also drilled out the holes for the hitch pin.




I then cut down the receiver tube so that it sits flush w/ the outside of the license plate box. This will allow me to get a flip-up license holder, or even just still use the 4 license mounting holes that the bumper came with, which I drilled/tapped to take a m10x 1.5 bolt.


I had to cut down the top of each end plate on the cross-member b/c it stuck up above the frame, thus causing me to lose the bolt hole in the 12 o'clock position


The bumper mounting plates had a 5/8" hole on each side (possibly for a shackle mount) which unfortunately interfered with the ability to use the bolt holes in the 6 o'clock position. You can kinda see what I'm talking about here vv


So what I was left with is mounting bolts in the 3 and 9 o'clock positions


Here are a couple more pics..




Overall I am very happy with what I was able to come up with! the hitch seems extremely stout despite only being able to use 2 mounting bolts on each side. I used grade 8 bolts which join the 1/4" cross-member plate to the 3/8" bumper mounting plate. When my buddy gets back from Hawaii jellydance I'm gonna get over to his shop and add a few small welds to the mounting plates (top, bottom, and maybe a couple tacks to each side) and where the receiver tube exists the license plate 'box'

 

Busy wknd..!

Got the hitch installed into the rear bumper, repainted everything, and mounted it up. Gonna add some small welds down the road whenever I get around to boxing the rear frame, hopefully within a couple months. Having the bed removed for that will make the welding easy. The hitch is F'n solid though! Currently looking for a flip-up license plate holder that I like, might end up making one.


Also got some All-Pro UCAs installed! Picked these up from Greg (ToyRyd04) who is currently doing a SAS. The uniballs and bushings were replaced not too long ago, so I just did a little refurbishing to the spindle slug adapters and the mounting hardware and gave it a nice coat of caliper paint.. slapped some stickers on for good measure




wrapped it all up w/ a new fuel filter

 

Looking sharp man!
That list pic is almost begging for some diff armor....

 

Thanks Murph!

Deleted the pic cuz double post haha.. But Yea u ain't kiddin.. The BAMF one is a slick design but $$$, diff diaper is on the list but got a few things ahead of it right now..

Just gonna have to pick good lines til then

 

Subbed!

Good looking truck!

 

Looking great Tyler, caliper paint ftw !

 

Looks awesome dude! Great work as always.

 

Thanks buddy

Thanks man! I used the aerosol paint, hope it holds up as well as the brush on stuff, was kinda unsure about the red actually but it looks good

Thanks Mike.. she's comin along