The Alpha Build

I am getting Eddy to fab me up mounts for when I get one. He is making me axe and shovel mounts now.

 

oh yeah? how much is he gonna charge ya for those? there are so many things that I want to get from Eddy...but I dont have the money for right now lol, I want bigger tires and get rid of these tiny things. then Id like to get glass, sliders, roof rack and etc. wondering if eddy would be up for making a roof rack

 

Yeah its like a combination tool. They jack, push, clamp & pull. They've been around forever since like 1905. They have a bunch of accessories too.
I've even seen pics of firefighters using them for like prying open car doors.
Hell I remember when Jacks that came with cars were similar to hi lifts, they hooked in slots in the bumpers.

 

Not sure yet. I sent him some ideas that I wanted and some quick fist clamps to mess with. Just letting him do his thing and get creative .

 

I've had to use a hi lift before in a-pit I got pinned up against a tree on a down hill slope at an angle and couldn't backup
It was in this spot at a different time I had come off of that at a different angle and pushed me down onto a tree

 

got my damn bed cover sold finally, only got $150 for it...but it's finally gone and no longer taking up space in my closet lol

thats pretty awesome haha, didnt think it had all those extra uses lol, what size bolts did you use for your custom mounts? im gonna go to Lowes or Home Depot later today and try and see if I can find some steel or metal something that I can use my angle grinder to cut to size then bolt them together in the bed rails like you did

pretty sure eddy will come up with something awesome haha

oh damn lol, well im lookin forward to actually using it haha, even if it's not on my truck, it'll at least get some use out of it

 

I wanna say I used 1/2" bolts with wing nuts, I wanted it to fill the holes on the jack so there was no play. Measure your holes (flat to flat) & get bolts that fit. I'd measure mine to be sure but momma took the truck.
For yours I'd suggest stainless if possible since yours will be exposed to the weather.

 

awesome thanks, and what about that piece that goes into the bedrail? what size (if you remember) was it, and im guessing self tapping screws to go with it?

 

It was 1/4" thick & 1" wide steel cut to be as wide as the bracket. I didn't use self tapers I actually drilled & tapped those for the 3/8" bolts I used to hold the brackets to the rail.

 

Here's some more pics.




They started life like this, had them laying around at work.

 

well I started drilling the 3/8 hole for the bed rail metal piece...and my shitty little 7.2 volt drill died half way through the first hole lol....its gonna take awhile to get anything drilled with that pos haha

 

3/8 hole in the bracket or in the piece that goes inside the rail?
If your gonna tap the rail piece for a 3/8 bolt a 3/8 hole will be too big. When I say tap I mean cut threads.

 

I know what tapping is lol, and ya that bed rail piece, the bolts/nuts that I got will fit inside the bed rail with the 1/4 steel

 

Well I just went to the BX and bought a 20v porter cable drill...i that other one was pissing me off haha

 

Oh ok I figured I'd explain, not everyone knows. Haha
No drill press at the hobby shop?
I see what your doing now, gonna put the nut in the track?
I only used the flat steel so it wont turn in the track.

 

What do you guys think? Just got done fabbing my hilift mounts I guess you could say, just gotta paint em and they are done

 

Looks good, that should work. How's the jack fit?

 

Fits pretty good,Lowes for some reason did not have 1/2 wing nuts...so I just used reg hex nuts to keep the jack on. those bolts barely got with the 1/4 steel in that rail lol, I had to remove the rail screws just to get them to slide where I wanted them lol


it looks ok I guess lol, this was my first time actually building something like that myself. I think it turned out ok lol

 

all good lol, Im not sure if they do or not, plus the one here on Eglin is closed Sun/Mon and I didnt feel like driving over to Hurlburt since they are only closed Mondays I think. the back of the hex screw is inside the bed rail piece so the nut is on the outside. then I just used my channel locks to hold the bolt in place while I tightened then nut down on the bedrail nuts. It really seems to be holding in there really nicely, not much freeplay what so ever, which is really really nice

 

Looks real good for your first time building something from scratch & it didn't cost near as much as mounts already made. Well you did buy the drill so that raised the cost a bit. Haha
If you flip the jack & put the base by the tailgate it wont be so noticeable sticking up above the bed, or will it not work that way?
Just another idea for ya I ran a small cable with a padlock through jack & the tie down up by the cab. I didn't want my jaxk to grow legs. Haha