Builds A fabricators 80 build.... (2 Viewers)

[RDC76]

Hello all. New to this section but not mud. I also own Ingrid a sweet 60 series with only 135k miles that was owned by a few great members on this site. Anyhow I've acquired a 95 80 series that I traded a motorcycle for. The truck was from Arizona. I got it with the lift in it. It's OME and sits on 35's mounted to 17" fj steelies. Had a tjm bumper that was rusted through and in rough shape. It's also 3x locked and 7 pin mod is done. I just recently started going through the truck and have completely done all the brakes over. I used Disc Brake Australia 4x4 extreme rotors and hawk pads. Very happy with the upgrade to these and would recommend them. Looks up the specs there pretty nice. I also replaced the birfs with RCV axles $$$. Happy with those too.
The basis of this build is set the truck up for overlanding. To be good and useful at most things and reliable. I've had a lot of yotas. Trucks and runners. All built. Now that I have a family the 80 series seems to fit all my needs. And is more kid/wife friendly than Ingrid. Plus I don't drive the 60 in the newengland winters. Keeping her salt free.
About me. I'm a full time fabricator at a company And went to school for engineering also. I do most of my designs on solidworks. I build machines and equipment that pic stuff up with vacuum. Anything from micro chips to 30k lb objects. I also have a small shop/business at home. And build/repair cars,bikes and trucks. I also do custom projects/furniture for people in the winter months. I'll post some pics of some work and recent projects. One of which was one of my favorites. A pair of twin Gatling guns for a customers front entry. These were crazy. I laugh every time I drive by his house.

 

[RDC76]

More Gatling guns. Also these do not fire!

The buttons depress and the guns rotate up , down and swing left to right 180 degrees. I designed these on the computer and had the parts laser cut. As there were way to many pieces to cut buy hand. The shields and barrels are stainless. The bases painted and the gun boxes and barrels are powder coated by me in an oven I made that cost next to nothing. Using an old metal cabinet I got for free. Some stone board to line the cabinet from lowes and a free old electric oven off Craig's list. DIY!

 

[RDC76]

Ok back to the 80. So as far as the bumper goes my goal was to make something that was clean and complimented the truck. Be light weight for a winch bumper and offer as much clearance without cutting anything on the truck. And utilize the factory mounting. The main box or center winch bay is all 1/4 inch plate steel. And the wings a 10 gauge steel. So far I am very happy with how it is coming along. I run synthetic cable so I needed to spec out a fairlead. I was going to make one but it was one of those things were for the price I'll just buy it and save the time. I believe Factor 55 makes some of the best stuff available. So that is what I chose. I also bought their Prolink.
Another objective was to keep the winch as low as possible and not block the radiator as I've read some people have had overheating issues with to much in front of the radiator. I also wanted to run a light bar and not round lights as I think they look cleaner and also will not interfere to much with airflow. So the bumper was designed for that too. Here goes with the pics

 

[BlueCruiser84]

Awesome... So what kind of house does that fella live in? And is it similarly decorated??

 

[RDC76]

 

[RDC76]

 

[RDC76]

The outside is fully tig welded then stitch welded on the inside with mig.

 

[RDC76]

All hand cut with a Hypertherm powermax 380. A great machine.

 

[RDC76]

And here is where it is at the end of today

 

[RDC76]

 

[RDC76]

 

[RDC76]

Awesome... So what kind of house does that fella live in? And is it similarly decorated??

It's a huge ass house. Looks like a compound.

 

[RDC76]

So some other food for thought. And feel free to give input. With wanting my winch low but my fairlead as high as possible. It brought forth a challenge? The line spools from the bottom. As we all know. And I've always had it. I wondered and couldn't find a definitive answer as to why it couldn't feed from the top? And not by respooling and reversing the connections but by simply turning it from left to right. Backwards if you will. Other than increasing the load and stress on the winch feet ( not worried about my base plate) I wouldn't be changing anything? The brake and clutch should function as it should and the controller buttons still work the same. To double check I called and spoke to two people at WARN and they said after some thought that it is fine to run it that way! They said their industrial line and some other models feed that way. So I'm gonna try it! Now my winch is low and my fairlead is where I want it. It's centered between the empty top part of the drum and where the last wrap would be. And about 5 inches higher than where it would have been if I had to go from the bottom. I also recessed the fairlead area back so only about a 1/4 protrudes from the bumper to clear on full side pulls. But doesn't stick out far. I went with Factor55's 1.5" fairlead as well.

 

[RDC76]

So now I'm thinking about recovery points. I don't just wanna throw big D-Ring mounts on and call it a day. I want some thing that would be good not only front pulls but full 90 degree pulls. I was thinking of those swivel shackles but the ones rated for anything safe are huge and huge money! I also want to keep weight down and keep it a clean package. So I was looking and found the Gator jaw soft shackle by bubba rope. I called the company to ask a bunch of questions and let him know what I was looking to do. And he said I could definitely use it how I wanted and also that he knows the owner of Factor55 and that the soft shackle was designed to be used on the factor55 Prolink I will be using. He was actually interested in seeing the bumper so I sent him some pics and he's sending me a free soft shackle to try out. Great service!
So my plan or intent is to cut 2 pockets into the front of the bumper on both sides. Of the center section. That will have large pins that drop through to capture the soft shackle or any strap with a loop at the end. And if I'm running line out and through a snatch block I can capture the Prolink in there as well with no additional shackles! Or if I'm doing a side pull I can run the soft shackle to connect the Prolink to the recovery pin. He also gave me the minimum radius that he would recommend for the pocket corners to not damage the shackle. These are what I have to create next. I just need to run some stress numbers on the computer to figure out the proper pin diameter and pocket size.
Please let me know any thoughts. Constructive input is appreciated.

 

[RDC76]

After I finish the front bumper I will be building the rear bumper, sliders, a roof rack. ( I love the one on boxrockets! Very innovative). Mounting my factory snorkel that I got off a great member here. Fabbing up an aluminum auxiliary fuel tank as I don't wanna carry jerry cans on this truck. Adding water and oil storage (custom). And rear cargo barrier maybe? And also rear storage and a stove in the tailgate(been working on that idea for a while!) and last but not least a different way to sleep on the roof. My wife is the one that motivated this build. She said you should build all your own stuff. You make everything for everybody. And why buy what you can make better. She's just trying to save us money. Lol! And I really couldn't find a bumper I liked 100% anyways.

 

[Golgo13]

I'm subscribing to this post. My favorite posts all involve out-of-the-box thinking. The reverse winch position and soft shackles are great ideas! Thanks for contributing some Tech here...

Now get ready for a dozen guys to offer possibly, maybe, considering buying a bumper, kit, or plans from you(if the price is right).

Seriously though, I totally dig this. I can't wait to see your ideas for sliders and a rear bumper!

 

[RDC76]

I'm subscribing to this post. My favorite posts all involve out-of-the-box thinking. The reverse winch position and soft shackles are great ideas! Thanks for contributing some Tech here...

Now get ready for a dozen guys to offer possibly, maybe, considering buying a bumper, kit, or plans from you(if the price is right).

Seriously though, I totally dig this. I can't wait to see your ideas for sliders and a rear bumper!

Thanks man. I do this for a living so everything I make is for sale. But before I go any further on that I wanna say I would go through the proper Chanel's on here of becoming a contributing vender or what ever you have to do to sell on here. if the interest calls. I may become a dealer for Factor55 though, they offered me a great program. This thread wasn't started to sell my stuff but to show what I was doing and inspire more out of box thinking! And like you said show some tech. Oh ya and I forgot to mention the soft shackle is rated to 32k lb breaking strength ! And floats! How many times have we dropped d rings in the mud.

 

[RDC76]

Also. Before mounting the hoop , led bar and fairlead the bumper weighed 76lbs. Not too bad... Trying to keep as light as I can with out sacrificing to much strength. The mid section Is plenty strong. I'm gonna test the wings to see how strong they are in vertical load. I still have to box out the back of them which will help a lot. And finish some welding.

 

[starski]

wow...I like it,very nice!!...add some fog lights holes like the arbs ironmans and that would be a sweet bumper..now make a back bumper that doesn't look like all the tractor bumpers out now...lol..please....lol

 

[RDC76]

wow...I like it,very nice!!...add some fog lights holes like the arbs ironmans and that would be a sweet bumper..now make a back bumper that doesn't look like all the tractor bumpers out now...lol..please....lol

Thanks man. I have been thinking about adding lights like those. But because the blinkers are in the valance it isn't a necessity for me. My light bar is a flood spot combo and switches to amber for rain/fog or snow. I will be adding Lux lighting systems high powered led rock lights though. The cool thing about the bumper design is the wings fit 3rd gen taco's and runners. Only the mid section is scaled down. I'm building the first one in the next couple weeks for a 4 door Tacoma that I lifted last month.