HomerTaco's big old bucket o’ bolts build

Sweet. also is it just me or does it look like you got rear ended in the last pic?

 

Thought the same thing! Awesome family day though, Craig!

 

How was the coal mine tour? Fun for you too? It sounds interesting. Looks like a good day Craig!

 

^^^correct^^^

I did this tour years ago as a kid. Still really interesting. Amazing how there's so much wrapped around the mining business - history is awesome. :Cool:

 

He explained that in post #3243

 

Someone's been paying attention...

Gold star for Mason.

 

You know me, #CraigFanClub

Thought of you and your boy when i got this patch in the mail yesterday:

 

ahh. i saw the assistance post in live but never got to the detailed one here before it got buried.

 

I honestly went and looked for it, but i remembered them talking about it. Can happen to any of us, just glad it wasn't any worse

 

That makes two of us.

 

yeah, having wheels pop off is no fun.

 

I think the reason people say that double shear gussets are a pain to install is that they are either unfamiliar with them and /or are excepting them to fit perfectly...and then do not foresee some of the domino affects.

Here are a couple of tips wrote up previously and saved :

1. They will not fit perfectly because every frame wrinkle and every weld booger from Toyota is slightly different. You can't just hold them up and burn em' on you generally have to do a bit of grinding on the aforementioned lovely OE weld boogers and the gussets themselves....super simple with a 4" grinder and a flap disc.

2. UCA bolt will now be even more fun to get in and out because the gussets eliminate the wiggle room you had before.

• Before you install the gussets look at the bolt holes and sand down any burs or sharp edges that could catch the bolt threads on the way through. A uni bit works great too, just lightly hit it with the bevel of the next step.
• Make your own UCA bolt removal tools - Buy a few feet of 1/4" solid rod, any size smaller than the UCA bolt will work for this. Cut one piece short enough to fit between the end of the bolt and the firewall but leave enough room to tap it with a hammer or wrench etc this will get the bolt removal started easily. Cut a second piece long enough to tap the entire bolt out.
• I made myself a third tool to reinstall the UCA bolt too, just a piece of the same rod long enough to reach all the way through the core wall. This lets you easily tap the UCA bolt back in with a mallet from out front ( with the grill off of course ).
• On my truck the UCA bolt did not come close enough to any holes in the core wall ( post gusset install ) to get the bolt all the way out anymore. This was due to the lack of wiggle room for both the bolt and the UCA itself because the UCA is now sandwiched in the gussets and the bolt now passes through more junk...grab a hole saw and make your own hole in the core wall for the bolt to pass through. No point in fighting it every time you touch it in the future.

If you do all of these tricks removing and reinstalling the UCA bolt takes just a matter of seconds.


3. Get some very very thin washers to use to locate the gussets properly I.E. like brass crush washers. If you can't find any cut your own out of heavy construction paper. Place a washer on either side of the UCA bushing between the bushing and the gussets surface. This will give you a MM of wiggle room to wiggle your UCA in and out.

4. When welding the gussets into place the welding process will make them shrink or pull in..this is why you should have the UCA and the washers all installed during welding so it will not shrink / warp past that point. If you are welding any outside edges of the gussets weld those last, again - when you weld the inside edge it pulls in so when you weld the outside edge it will pull back out a bit.

5. Having the UCA fully installed also keeps the bolt holes in the gussets perfectly 90 degrees to the bolt. I've seen people get em' a bit crooked and then have to chase or ream the gussets hole.

6. Grease the outside edges of you UCA bushings where they will now meet the gussets unless you like your suspension to sound like you are torturing ferrets in your wheel wells. It's funny how many people think their uniballs mysteriously got super squeeky when it's actually their UCA and LCA poly bushing screaming for help as they dry hump the truck.

7. Drink beer.

8. Have fun.

9. Wear a face shield when grinding.

10. Don't let weld sparks go down your shorts...if one does refer back to #7 repeatedly.

 

@Evenflow exellent information sir! Thank you!

 

^This

 

FTFY

 

Hoods all whackadoodle again...

 

Fender looks good at the a pillar and headlight, my guess is that the core wall is crying for mercy

 

Probably

 

Yikes, I'm watching out for that myself as I have a pair of group 35's in that front corner. I've seen some impressive gussets and braces made and am thinking about following suit just to keep that section from fatiguing earlier than necessary.

 

The best thing you can do is get the weight off of the body completely, build a battery tray that ties into the frame rail. Pretty easy to run some tubing to the frame there.