samiam | One Thing Leads To Another

I finally found a little time to cut a section of scrap expanded metal that I acquired from a friend to use at the front of my rack for carrying some small cargo boxes. The only device I own for cutting metal is a hacksaw so it took a minute to complete.





Now I just need to paint and bolt up.

 

I know it's one of the first mods one should do for offroad travel, but I ordered some sliders last night.

 

Good stuff

 

Nice!

 

I added some L-track to the rack today.


And some goodies from ARB arrived


I'm preparing for a big install of another ARB product tomorrow.

 

I did the install of my ARB Safari Snorkel today. The install was agonizingly tedious, but I had fun especially with the 4.5" hole saw. Luckily no major mistakes.

I used rivnuts in the A-pillar to seal against water intrusion, and because I just received the rivnuts and tools and needed to experiment on something...worked great.






The Safari Snorkel is obnoxiously huge, but for some odd reason it suits my eye, which is why I chose it.

 

We'll see how long it takes the wife to notice it.^^^

 

I also received my Hi-Lift slider adapter from @adanfon . Workmanship looks incredible. Now I need my sliders to arrive, and maybe buy a Hi-Lift .

 

Thanks man, I appreciate your support!

 

Some more fun stuff arrived today. Total Chaos UCA's and bed supprts. My bed walls are still aligned properly so the supports are a preventative measure, and they're bad ass!

@Crom thanks for sharing your experiences with the rivnut gun. I bought the same one that you have and love it. All I want to do is drill holes in my truck now.

 

I have one as well and its amazing. Not sure which one you guys have though. I used it for my trailer and the L-track. And going to use it to mount the front license plates. lol

 

It's the

$72 Astro Pneumatic 1442 13" Hand Rivet Nut Setter Kit - Metric & SAE W/ 60pc Rivnuts

Astro Pneumatic 1442. It was a great purchase.

 

Same one I have lol I must have taken @Crom's advice also

 

There is no doubt that I have taken many ideas from him also.

 

Your build is coming along so nicely!

That's whats great about the forum is shared knowledge and experience.

I've learned a ton from both of you. Certainly more than you probably know. lol



The Astro tool has been really great. Only found one issue, the supplied mandrel will pull only the metal rivnuts. I tried for my longer 1" rivnuts for plastics, for the bed, mandrel too short. I couldn't find one in marketplace, proprietary part too. Called manufacturer, talked to mgr. Told him that I needed longer mandrel for Tacoma bed, he was very apologetic, told me no can do.

I begged him to have one made in 1/4". No dice!

Oh well.

 

If our trucks were the same color and I had a shell, our trucks would be identical.

 

The Astro tool has been really great. Only found one issue, the supplied mandrel will pull only the metal rivnuts. I tried for my longer 1" rivnuts for plastics, for the bed, mandrel too short. I couldn't find one in marketplace, proprietary part too. Called manufacturer, talked to mgr. Told him that I needed longer mandrel for Tacoma bed, he was very apologetic, told me no can do.

I begged him to have one made in 1/4". No dice!

Oh well.


So you're saying it doesn't work with the bed?

 

I used special rivnuts for plastics on the bed at the forward wall. The Astro mandrel too short to pull them.

They are 1" long before being pulled.

This is what the rivnuts look like after they've been pulled



New rivnut for plastic pictured.


, Here is a link the ones I used. I got them at McMaster-Carr

Dimensions #1 Click for picture

Dimensions #2 Click for picture

It's not a huge deal, just something I noted.

 

Thank you

 

TC UCA's complete. No major problems. Alignment tomorrow.