Colinb17's kinda sorta build thread - now with 4-link and long travel

Blowing pretty hard too I heard.

 

Yeaaaahhhh

 

Winch tray/hitch are in. Measured, and I need a 16" drop hitch to properly tow my boat, so I placed an order for one with bulletproof hitches.

 

Got the cross bracing under the fuel cell in, as well as an additional brace to the hitch.





Then I got the fuel cell mounted up and tacked the mounts into place. Removed the cell and welded everything out.

Next steps are to add a bunch of bracing to the structure that's already in place, because once I start adding the upper portion of the cage, it's going to get a lot harder to contort myself around things to weld.

 

Found a little time this afternoon to get the second cross brace in.

 

Not a ton of progress, but got the additional braces in that tie the upper link mounts to the back-half. Previously only welded to the inside of the boxed frame with a couple of gussets.



Also got in what is probably the strongest part of this entire build. 16" drop hitch from bulletproof hitches.
$500 trailer hitch and now I see why. Shipping weight was 52 lbs. The 2" piece that goes into the receiver isn't tubing, but solid stock. Nicely machined chamfers on the edges and pin holes. The gusset and c-channel are 1/2' plate. Everything about this hitch is absurd, but bulletproof is one of only two companies that make a 16" drop hitch, so options were limited. I have some rod ends on order to make some braces for the hitch that will attach the bottom of the hitch back to the frame. Bulletproof makes an additional on kit for this, but I would have had to modify it significantly, so just making my own.

It dwarfs the winch tray that will be holding a 13,000 lb winch.

 

fucking BEEF hitch Colin!

 

Messing around with hitches on my Tacoma and my F150 I found that all the standard drop hitches I had were just tubing. I think I was running a 12" drop shank on my Tacoma. When I stepped up to a weight distributing drop hitch they were all solid stock shanks. I assume the WD hitches see a lot more force than standard ones, but I can only imagine the leverage a 13,000lbs trailer would have a 16" drop hitch!

The random thing that was annoying was that the WD shanks had different pin spacing than the non-WD shanks. So I couldn't just mix and max the balls with the shanks when changing trailers!

 

if you're still in that situation, these guys might be the ticket. For a company that has most of their hitches powdercoated fluorescent colors for SEMA trucks with missing driveshafts, i'm very impressed with Bulletproof. they have a ton of additional attachments for their hitches (all interchangable given the proper hitch class), including a couple of weight distributing adaptors. believe it or not, this thing is rated for 22,000 lbs, and a 3,000 lb tongue weight

 

I don't anticipate the Taco ever towing again so I'm probably good. I also sold the F150 for an F250 and have a 5th wheel toyhauler now. Though I have ambitions of going back to a bumper pull. Pros and cons...

 

Since I started planning out this project, I've struggled with what to do for tail lights. There are hundreds of options out there, but most were just kind of ugly to me. I know this is a very individual preference kind of thing though. Ended up going with the Baja Designs chase bar (RTL-S). Surprisingly hard to find a single light bar that has running, brake, and turn signals all in one. Most either don't have the running lights, or the amber portion of the has built in strobe patterns and can not be used as a turn signal.

Planning to mount this just above the rear winch. Made a test video. The center white light will make for a nice reverse light as well.



https://youtu.be/zolCrCvSwQQ?si=Na29OPrnZK0lCBKR

 

Worked on the truck for the first time in a week and a half today. Hurricane Debby tossed some record breaking rain at us, but all's well. Now it's 95 degrees and humid again...

Got the main cross bracing behind the cab completed. Next is the side bracing around the corners of the cab. After that, I can bolt up the axle and shocks (hopefully for the last time), and move onto the upper half of the rear cagework.



Very thankful for the rear slider window. Made welding the cab-facing side of the big tube intersection a lot easier.

 

starting to look like a truck again. got a few more tubes into the bottom section, moving it to the point that the spares, fuel cell, and winches get loaded up. i'll be putting the links, driveshaft, axle, sway bar, and shock on tomorrow. then at full compression and all the major items in place i'll be able to start the top half of the cage and fenders.





more detailed look at the 3K winch tucked under the sway bar tube, between the spares and fuel cell. this will be the suck-down winch for precarious crawling situations. works great to lower the COG and even keep the truck from leaning as much in off camber scenarios.

 

Forgot to add, a cylinder hone does a fantastic job of cleaning out the rust and scale from inside of the bump stop cans before painting.

 

That's a great adaptation with the cylinder hone.

 

spent most of the day coating what felt like 100 pieces of hardware with anti-seize and putting the links back together. axle is on and driveline is all together.

bolted up the swaybar and put the bumps in. i have high hopes that most of this stuff can stay on for good, but doubt i'll be that lucky.

I do have to rebuild the links for the swaybar. every other calculation i did, i factored in the the height of the tire dollies........forgot to do that for the swaybar links. ideally, the sway bar arms are horizontal at ride height.

 

I bet you can almost feel driving it on a trail.

 

It's tempting to toss the coilovers on and hook up fuel/brakes just to drive around the neighborhood, but it'd probably fold in half the way it is right now. Kind of like a suspension bridge without any cables. The part that stuff sits on is there, but the pieces that carry the load aren't.

 

Truck is off of the jackstands for the first time in months! started by getting the coilovers assembled with springs and on the truck. Measured for limit straps. then tires back on and under her own weight. very excited that the spring math was correct, which was one of the last question marks. it sits a little high in the back, but as i complete the cage, and toss a bunch of tools on the back, it'll compress a little more. Front LT will also probably lift the front about an inch as well, so we're on track for a level ride when it's all done.

 

Best part of this entire build came in the mail today!!!