Builds Moonshine - A Build Thread (1 Viewer)

[woytovich]

These?

17" Trail Worthy Fab Double D Bead Locks

 

[GLTHFJ60]

These?

17" Trail Worthy Fab Double D Bead Locks

Close, but no. I have recentered H1 wheels , specifically 8-bolts. Looks like they don't do 8-bolts anymore, probably because 8-bolts are old as s***.

Closest equivalent still sold by TWF are the 12 bolt wheels. The 17" Double D is a custom job by them, but it does look cool.

This is the 12 bolt recentered wheel by TWF. I have standard rock rings on mine:

12 Bolt Hummer Wheel Special

 

[GLTHFJ60]

My back hurts just looking at those tires and rims.

My arms hurt more from torquing all of the nuts.

 

[roadstr6]

Waiting patiently for pics of new swampers mounted on truck....

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Hello hardcore forum! My ROTW thread has not been FJ60 specific for the last few years so I asked the mods to move it here for me. Hopefully this is a more appropriate audience for mods and adventures of my truck moving forward.

Planning on getting the intercooler mounted this weekend. In a perfect world, new battery trays will be fabricated, and the radiator will be mounted, by the end of the weekend.

 

[boots4]

Agreed, it makes more sense this thread is in the Hardcore section. Welcome.

 

[lt1fire]

I plan to groove the ones that have less tread and run them on the rear. Thinking that I'll leave the others untouched for now.

if you need a hot knife for this I believe Keefer still has mine

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Made some progress on the intercooler mount yesterday. Project became more involved at the same time.

I had been seeking a new core support because mine is rotted out, but as I developed my IC mounting plan, I realized I'd have to remake most of the lower-half of the core support anyway, especially considering it needs to be carved up to fit the 42s.

Pulled the PS fender and the core support:

Haven't seen this look since the cab swap. Feels good!!

IC test fit on the core support:

Made a pretty aggressive cut upwards on the sides to fit the tires, then cut away the bottom of the core support to correct rust, but also to fabricate a shelf for the IC to sit on. I also cut away some of the interior flanges of the core support to enlarge the opening for more air into the core support. Practiced my CAD to template the new lower plate (that joke never gets old, lol):

Need to punch out holes to bolt the new plate to the core support, prep all surfaces, clamp it up and weld it in place:

This will restore the strength of the core support and give me a place to mount the IC and radiator.

 

[cruisermatt]

Looks good, what thickness is that sheetmetal?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Looks good, what thickness is that sheetmetal?

10 Gauge (.135"). Have a decent amount left over from a purchase a few years ago so it gets used a lot!

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Punched some holes in the plate, put a bend in it to follow the frame, and bolted it to the core support for a test fit:

Fit well, so I glued it together. Had to put a patch in front of the core support due to my not-straight cut and rot:

Next up, building a cradle for the intercooler that gets welded to this plate. After that we'll mount the radiator to the intercooler.

 

[cruisermatt]

Looks good. 10 gauge is plenty strong for that it looked thinner in your earlier photo.

 

[Devils Paw 80]

I had been seeking a new core support because mine is rotted out, but as I developed my IC mounting plan, I realized I'd have to remake most of the lower-half of the core support anyway, especially considering it needs to be carved up to fit the 42s.

Mine is rotting too. Perhaps a stupid question, but do the body mounts bolt up to the core support, or is there another piece underneath? And will you be reusing or replacing body mounts?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

The body mounts do bolt to the core support. I replaced the body mounts when I replaced the body 6 years ago and will not be replacing them again.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Work has been going slow. I find I'm just not motivated to get a ton of work done with my current fabrication setup. I can't figure out if it's just because its been hot lately, or if it's because my workspace is somewhat cramped, or something else, but I need to figure it out so I'm more motivated to do fabrication work. I'm open for ideas!!

Despite that, I have made progress in the past few weeks. Placed the intercooler and made up lower mounts:

Figured out the spacing and distances to the radiator and made up lower radiator mounts:

Then made radiator upper mounts that attach to the intercooler upper mounts:

Yes, there's about an three quarters of an inch of space between the radiator and intercooler. After verifying that this works in the truck, I'll build a shroud of some type to fill the gap.

I cut so much away from the middle of the core support that it was super flimsy. Adding these braces made it rigid again:

Also had a gnarly split in the top rail that was corrected:

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Upper intercooler mounts are come sections of rectangular box that slide over the core and bolt to the upper mounts. This is where the upper radiator mounts bolt as well. This will tie the radiator, intercooler and core support together at the top.

As you can tell above, I didn't take a lot of time to properly prep all of this old rusty metal, so some of the welds looked rough. The two spots with porosity (through the whole project) were ground out and replaced. All of the rest that is accessible was blended:

Overall, I'm very happy with how the project is going at this point. I plan to get more done tonight so I can be done with the core support for now

 

[boots4]

I've found I'm not as fond of working on my rig when it's too hot out either. When welding and metal fab I like to cover up and wear a mask, that sucks in 90 degree weather. The other little projects I've been pushing off until it cools down a little more too. Then there's the fact that I've been working on my same rig for 11 years now so taking a little break won't hurt anything.

 

[cruisedeisel]

Any testing on the intercooler yet?

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Sadly, no. Have been distracted with other projects for the past week and a half.

I did get the upper mounts on the intercooler in place, but they need more finishing. Working on planning how they'll finish out.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

Embarrassingly enough, it has been almost exactly 3 months since the last time I worked on Moonshine. Fortunately, I was able to make some good progress yesterday. Carved a few more holes in the core support to pass AC lines and PS cooler lines through. I also put two rivnuts in the bottom of the core support on each side to facilitate mounting the inner fender. I then primed and painted everything.

Radiator and core support are now installed, hopefully for good. Sure don't intend to pull them out again.

This week I'll work on plumbing the radiator and intercooler. Will have to buy some more boots, and probably piping, to get it squared away. Plan to have the majority of the lower radiator hose made with metal instead of the giant rubber abortion of a line I put together with the swap. Upper radiator hose will stay as-is most likely.

Thanks for coming over to help @ontherxs