Barlowrs 06 Taco Expo Build Thread

hands down one of my favorites on this site

 

thanks guys

 

How do those tires perform offroad? Are they able to keep up with and or beat the trucks rockin' wider tires?

 

Yeah, I love them. Skinny tires actually have a lot of advantages. If you have some time, take a gander at this:

http://www.expeditionswest.com/research/white_papers/tire_selection_rev1.html

 

Awesome. Thanks for the info.

 

Sub'd

 

I'm in love with your truck. Its obviously very well thought out. Nice build.

 

Thanks

 

Just finished up a smaller project, will post it tomorrow sometime if I get a chance.

 

OK, well if you are like me running a high clearance bumper, you have probably removed your rear mud flaps, since you have to cut them off for the bumper. I still wanted to run mud flaps, as I kept getting rock chips on my nice high class rustoleum paint job, and I suppose because it’s also the law here, so I decided to fit a pair of 1st get flaps. While I was at it, I also decided to try to fit up the 1st gen front flaps as well, these are not nearly as stiff as the 2nd gen flaps, so they do not get ripped off. So here we go.
Front Flaps:
The front flaps required a little trimming a little drilling and a little heat+bending, but overall they fit pretty well.
First just mock them up where you want them, the inner bolt hole actually lines up pretty well with an existing bolt on our trucks, so I based it off of that. Once you have the general idea of where you want them, start trimming. In the picture below you can see where I trimmed (the red lines). I also decided to heat the plastic up and bend it to allow me to use another exiting hole.

Once you have it trimmed and fitted where you want, drill holes so that it will bolt into existing holes. I was able to get 2 bolts and 2 clips per side, it is pretty sturdy.


Rear Flaps:
I cannot take credit for this, I got the idea from TACODOC, but here is the way I did mine. These took a bit more caressing, as you have to trim the bracket. Basically, once again, mock it up how you want it (cardboard works very well) and cut out the profile of the bumper from the flap. Once you have it where you want, hold the mounting bracket up and see what needs to be trimmed there. I ended up doing a lot of hacking on the bracket, but it is still pretty sturdy. Again, you can see where I cut (red lines) in the picture below.

Once you get the hanger and flap looking how you want in the correct spot, it’s just a matter of drilling some holes, using self tapping screws , and your good to go. I also drilled a third mounting hold on the flap itself (see pic above) to provide more support to the top of the flap.

And here is the final result, no more pesky rock chips, now only nice rock scratches haha.

 

Nice!

 

Have you begun any construction on the roof rack yet? I'm stoked to see how that goes.

 

No, I REALLLLLY want to, but I cannot seem to get my hands on a bender with a small enough die (1/2" and 3/4" is the plan)....if you know anyone with one in the so cal area that I can use, let me know..haha

 

Somebody help this dude out!!! lol

 

Sick ride man...

 

Awesome build, definitely one of my favorites!

 

Very nice build! Very inspirational.

 

Where did you get those fashlight brackets? would love them for my truck

 

Quickfists. They come in many sizes to hold everything you can think of (currelnty hold my extinguisher, ax, shovel, flashlight).

 

awesome thanks man!!!