Stu’s UTE

Today I put the truck on the ramps and moved the spare tire hoist an inch or so back to make room for future larger tire.

While I was under there I extended the diff. breather up into the flatbed headache tube.

 

Also above the spare tire I built a storage shelf for stuff like Tarps, logs , grill etc.. The aluminum shelf was salvaged out of an old ambulance.

 

Stu I love this build. I’m close (relatively) to the Fourwheelcampers buildings.

Curious how much the flatbeds go for?

 

They start at $27,000. There seems to be a $10,000 premium over the slide in models. I’m not clear quite why that is. I’m guessing, on the slide in, the base is made of wood. On the UTE, I imagine that lower structure is aluminum, so more expensive materials plus welding etc. Also there is more space, so again more materials.

The real shame is they don’t do a shell model in the UTE. I would have loved to build it out myself.

 

I spent the day fabricating brackets for the Viair heavy duty onboard air system, which I am mounting underneath the flatbed.







The compressor is going to bolt to this platform, which in turn will be bolted to the foremost cross member and the underside of the flatbed. Primer has to dry for 24 hrs before top coat!

 

Next to the compressor and above the exhaust will hang the 2.5gallon air tank. I bent some aluminum in the bench vice that will assist in bolting the tank to the underside of the flatbed.

 

Looks good!

Will the tank bolt to the bed or the frame?

 

The tank is going to bolt to the underside of the bed. Initially I was thinking of avoiding that just in case I ever have to take the bed off. In reality I don’t see needing to remove the bed, and it makes the project sooo much easier to use that space to bolt stuff to.

I got the top coat on the bracket first thing this morning, so hopefully I can start bolting stuff on this afternoon.

 

Pulled the grey water tank out for a final tweak. The drain was hanging out a little too far on the passenger side. It’s a tight fit between the bed and the gas tank and I had to soften it up with the heat gun and squash it with the mallet, until it set.



Now the drain is tucked in a little, I can worry less about it getting snagged on a branch.

 

Well that was a royal pain in the arse! A tight fit and really difficult to get to the bolts.







Now to figure out plumbing and wiring.

 

Ran the main power to the auxiliary panel in the engine bay with an 8 gauge wire yesterday. I used some aluminum foil as temporary heat shield as it runs parallel to the exhaust. Will have to look into some thing more long term.

Today I worked on the cubby mount for the pressure gauge. I modified the dash mount to fit in the cubby.









I sprayed everything with plasti-dip to try and blend the textures.





Identified the ignition fuse to tap into for power.

Unfortunately I’m off to Florida for a week or so. Project on hold.

 

dude this thing is bad ass i want a flatbed so bad for my short bed truck

 

This is a dream build.

 

Worked on making the mounts for the air hose quick connects.



Used cardboard as a template then cut the 1/8 inch aluminum with a worm drive with a beater blade and a jigsaw. Finished the edges with a belt sander and a palm sander.



I thought I was using primer, but it turned out to be inferno! It helps show where the brackets sit in the photo. But not really the look I’m going for, so I’ll paint them black on the weekend.

 

I kind of like them in Inferno

 

I ran an 8 gauge wire up to the battery. At first I tried splicing it to the 12 gauge wire from the pressure switch with solder, but it didn’t seem very clean. Eventually found these step down connectors that solved the problem.



Also put some extra heat shrink on, just in case.

 

Sub'd for a sweet build.

Not that anyone should ever be continuously removing/reinstalling things, but might I suggest one of these fine products for handling the bolts underneath?
https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Fastening/Ratchets

 

Ran the wires and hose to the cab this morning.



I used a dowel with a point on the end to poke a hole through the fire wall gasket. Then fed the hose through from the cab with a little plumbers grease. It was not easy but worked. Once the hose was into engine compartment I had a hard time threading it under the fuse panel and ended up kinking the tube. Luckily I had some spare and managed to cut the kink out of the run. The 14 gauge wire I fished through the fire wall with some stiffer wire. I ran both down behind the driver wheel well and along the chassis to the bed.



Bolted the quick connect to the brackets I made the other day. Masked them off and sprayed the brackets black.





Routed the hose under the compressor platform and used 3M tape and zip ties to hold everything for now. I’m not convinced this will hold up to the vibrations, but we’ll see.



This took all morning!

And it’s still not ready to go. I want to run the filter into the cab and mount it in the corner near the rear seat belt. This involves removing the rear panel. I can strip out the head rests and do some sound dampening at the same time.

Also I haven’t figured out how to tap into the dash panel lights to back light the pressure gauge.