Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread

looks like a lot of fun!

 

Lots of fun

found two bits of damage from the trip. first was that i finally broke a head off of one of my LCA skid bolts. from what i've been reading, the stainless allen head bolts john supplied me with hold up about twice as long as the grade 5 carriage bolts jerry sends out with his. i actually shaved the majority of the head off of a second bolt, but it's still there, so my recomendation to anyone who brakes one of the grade 5 bolts is to go stainless.

second bit of damage was to my leaf spring retainer. under the right load, the springs flex towards the gas tank. a gas tank skid provides a lip onto which the retainer can hook. It's fairly well known that this is an "issue" with gas tank skids. iknewabout it, but didn't care enough to do anything about it. all I should have to do is bend it back andweld a cross piece connecting the two sides, making the "U" shape a full circle, so it can't hook it anymore.

 

Nice pics, I remember trail moose a jeep bounced off a tree at speed shot backwards and blew both diffs at once

 

nice pics bro!!!!!!!!! looks like a good trip id love to wheel there

 

oh god, that sounds terrible lol. we had a ton of rain all friday night, so it was nice and slick. very few people made it up without winching. it's a pretty steep trail.

it'd be quite a drive for you, but i'll let you know next time i go.

 

back in florida in just a couple weeks, where the bumps are big andspeeds are fast.....aka, your d-rings are loud as hell, slapping your bumper.

got some d-ring washers and isolators to quiet things down.

poly washers for 4 d-rings


Isolators

 

if its too loud your getting old...lol

 

it's quite iconic now that i think about it. after bringing my girlfriend along on the last wheeling trip, she cracked up when i told here these were to make the truck quieter. she said it was a lost cause (she's right)
the bigger plus will probably be that that it will help with the shackles chipping the paint when they swing up and hit the top of the bumper. bare steel rusts in about 10 minutes in FL

 

This is why i don't have fancy aftermarket wheels..... (John knows what's up)

for anyone thinking about treadwrights, the marks on the wheels are from pinning wheels agains rocks and spinning the tires.....this ate through bedliner and gouged the wheels, but the treadwrights do not have any gashes or chunking as a result. +1 to them for durability.





went full circle on this one and turned the wntire rim lip silver again

 

and, if you're not rubbing your UCA on the innder fender well, you're not using all of your travel....

 

Wyatt/awsumdc/the beast...........whatever you know him by, he will be in town in a couple weeks, and i'm hosting a BBQ for anyone who wants to hang out for the afternoon and meet Wyatt.

meet thread vvv
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/florida/234095-beast-comes-florida.html#post5529254

 

just picked up 2 sticks of 1.5'' x 3/16'' wall tube for the bumper

guys where i get my steel always make fun of me when i'm strapping 21 foot pieces of steel to my roof.

 

waiting for the pics of said bumper mounted biatch!!!!!!!

 

We all are.

 

brief outline of the bumper build.

it is all done with the exception of reinforcing the hell out of the hitch and maybe some gusseting other areas. i'm going to hi lift the truck from different parts of the bumper to see where it flexes the most, and gusset if needed.

got a 2''x12'' hitch from northern tool.


42 feet of steel frommy local supplier


out with the old


about time......


got the shackle mounts in the mail


ok weld shot


finished minus the hitch




On





sticks out far enough to protect against backing into a tree or rock......or rear end colision.


tailgate should be pretty safe with the bumper covering the bottom, and the bed rack sticking out above the top.


Rear plate flips up to gain access to the hitch (which again, is not finished)

 

That looks badass Colin!!! Well done!

 

Looks damn good!!!

 

thanks guys. still some testing/tweaking to do, but it's almost there.

 

Nice work!