Builds The Rushing Turdle (1 Viewer)

[roadstr6]

The Turdle always had the stinkbug look. In an effort to level things out a bit I replaced the OEM front shackles with a set of slightly longer ones from CCOT. Here are a couple of pics as she sits now. Also, I added a couple of pics of the newly-painted headlight bezels.

 

[roadstr6]

Turdle poser ditch flex:

 

[roadstr6]

I decided to load up the kids and the dog and head out to the family land in Anson County NC for a day of fishing and exploring. Our base camp for the day was what we call the "Hunt Cabin" which is actually a 3 bedroom house built in the late 1800's. My grandfather fixed it up in the late 50's and the family has done it's best to keep it looking good. The Turdle got us there and back with no issues.

 

[roadstr6]

I charged up the AC a week ago with the help of my buddy Rafael @Roxx. He had the charge hoses and vacuum pump and was the brains of the operation. I did my part by tracking down some cans of R12 on my local Craigslist. AC blows cold!

This week I decided to do something about the mismatched Tuffy console. The standard tan Tuffy color is a caramel color. The majority of the Turdle's interior is either dark brown or tan so the console really stuck out like a sore thumb. Here's what it looked like before:

Thanks to my friend George @joyRidaz for suggesting that I try this paint for my console re-do:

After stripping the hardware off the Tuffy and a quick scuff and clean up, I shot it with the rattle can brown. Here's what it looks like now:

My OCD likes the new color much better! One of these days I will have to do something about the cracked dash. It never ends....

 

[Cruising Canuck]

That looks like a pretty darn good colour match. I'm going to copy that

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Yeah, I'm going to copy that too. The last one I tried wasn't very close of a match

 

[izzyandsue]

Looks great, and not amazingly that color interior from the 80s is coming back, seeing more and more on high end European flighty cars.

 

[87CRUSR]

Looking sweet.

 

[TLC Norway]

looks real good!

 

[roadstr6]

Nathan and I drove the Turdle to the First Annual Olde North State Cruisers Relic Run this past weekend. Full weekend of camping and 'wheeling. The Turd did awesome in the woods and on the road. Fun event!

 

[roadstr6]

I've been wanting to install a roof rack on the Turd from day one. My buddy Eric @forrest5000 just happened to have an ARB rack or two...or five for sale. Problem is the racks he has are for the 100 series 'cruiser. They are quite a bit narrower than the typical rack for the 60/80 series. I have seen a roof rack completely ripped off the top of a 60 on the trails. If the rack is as wide as the truck and if you are in a tight off-camber position the rack becomes very vulnerable to side and rear corner impact from trees leaning into the trail. My thinking is that running a narrower rack would partially eliminate this problem (with the exception of the brackets). I told Eric I would give the 100 series ARB a try to see what it would look like and to see if I could get it to fit the 60. I knew some bracket fab would be in order. I just laid the rack on top (no brackets) to see how it was going to look.

 

[tgadd]

Doesn't look too bad. I like the dimensions.

 

[tnkayaker]

I bet you could buy some from Trail Taylor, @reevesci, or maybe Gamiviti.

 

[roadstr6]

I bet you could buy some from Trail Taylor, @reevesci, or maybe Gamiviti.

I did buy six gutter clamps from Trail Tailor @reevesci. Beautiful pieces by the way. I decided not to have him make a custom set of longer clamps to reach over to the narrow rack. Instead I am planning on fabbing some extension brackets to make up the extra couple of inches. I'll post pics as I get that part done.

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Mine won't work with that narrow ARB rack. @nakman mounts are a little deeper than mine. Check with Tim or make extensions like @roadstr6 mentioned.

J

 

[roadstr6]

100!

 

[roadstr6]

Last night I welded up the extension brackets to mount the ARB rack. As I mentioned earlier, I purchased six gutter clamps from Trail Tailor. These brackets I made will extend from the TT clamps toward the center of the truck to the narrow 100 series ARB rack.

The TT Clamps are very sturdy and well made.

My extension brackets consist of a piece of 3" flat stock drilled to mount to the bottom of the ARB, welded to a piece of 2" flat stock that will extend over and pick up the TT clamp.

Here's how my extensions will meet up with the TT clamp.

 

[roadstr6]

I mounted the clamps on the gutters of the Turd and mounted my extensions on the rack. Sat the rack up on the clamps to see how everything will work out. It got late. My pics were taken in the dark so they are not great. I'll post more later. It looks like I need to trim about an inch from each extension. Then I will drill the extensions to accept a bolt and nut to attach to the TT clamps. I plan to prime and paint the clamps and extensions. I am thinking of plasti-dipping the clamp mounting points (using the type of plasti-dip that you dip tool handles in) to keep them from scratching the paint on the gutters.

 

[NCFJ]

Turned out well Dave

Cut fuel tubing in half for under the feet?

 

[roadstr6]

Turned out well Dave

Cut fuel tubing in half for under the feet?

I like that idea, Stan. A whole lot easier than Plasti-dip!