85 4x4 1st project: white oak trayback

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DIESELJEEP said:
Glad to see the truck is coming along.I think it found a good home!But whats all this talk about stacks and dbags.All diesels need a stack,its just the guys that have 5+" stacks that are dbags.What engine part are you waiting on?Just curious
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Yeah, The dbags comment may have been un-called-for, but I wanted to make sure I could use the full bed, so I turned it into a tailpipe. As for the engine part, there's a story...

So I'm driving around from junkyard to junkyard trying to find some wheels when all of a sudden the cab fills with smoke that smells electrical. I pull over and lo-and-behold the positive battery alternator cable had blown. It drove home, though and I set out to replace it with some heavier gauge wire. In doing so, I removed the alternator, which meant I had to unhook the vacuum pump from it. When i moved the pump out of the way, the oil line for the pump flexed and cracked. It's braided, so I didn't notice until I got the alternator back on, started the truck, and saw oil spewing from the oil line. I ordered a factory pressure and return line set from Jerry Lemond from isuzupup.com. Truck runs great now and no leaks, at least from those two oil lines anyway.
 
So I haven't been able to come up with a good, solid way to attach the bed to the frame without adding some pressure treated. GASP! I know, Adam, it's evil by all respects, but if i had some 8/4 white oak laying around, I'd be all over it. So I'm going with a couple 4x4s along the frame and some 2x4s for the "joists" (lack of a better term). As for the headboard, I'll be building basically a studded wall out of 2x4s and sheathing it with the leftover plywood that was lining the old rusty bed. So it won't be completely white oak, but I'll run a skirt around the outside too, so that you won't really notice the treated lumber.
 
Not saying all stacks are for d-bags. Forgot Calvin was on here :doh:. I was just talking to my girl the other day when we were riding in the HJ saying I should put a stack on it. She replied, "Why would you want do that?" I said, "So you can look Bad A**." I'm wondering if it would be loud right behind the cab and in that case what side do I put it on? I think it would be nice to have the intake run up beside the stack like an old cab over Mac or Peterbuilt.

Waiting for more pics on the build. I thought for sure you were gonna sharpen up that old adz and hew out some nice Ash 3x5s.I know you need to just get it finished.
 
I'll get on that today. The last couple days have been nice weather, so we spent that time dealing with the giant pile of tree that's now in the yard. today is rainy and cold, so I guess I'll be in the garage. Pics to come.
 
Well I made a run to Harbor Freight and "Blowes" today to get necessary supplies for the bed. I had one 4x4 here so I bought another one and some 2x4s for the framing, a bunch of screws, LED tail lights and halogen fog lights for my reverse lights. When I got home, I set out to building the bed.

I hollowed out grooves in the beams for the swell in the frame with my chainsaw. Then lined the bottom of the beam with old bicycle inner tube as suggested by KFL. Thanks again for the suggestion. I bolted the beams to the bed pillars on the frame. Then I built the headboard out of 2x4s and plywood and attached it to the beams. I then attached my stringers running laterally across the frame. These will hold the decking. I'll get into the decking, skirting, and trim tomorrow. I'm excited to see some wood on the frame finally.:beer:

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Nice carving with the chain saw. I'm sure you had all the proper PPE. Are you gonna use the chain saw to bore out a place for the lights?

With those reverse lights you should be able to back down a W. VA trail at 20MPH.
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ZombieResponseUnit said:
Nice carving with the chain saw. I'm sure you had all the proper PPE. Are you gonna use the chain saw to bore out a place for the lights?
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I'll probably use the jigsaw for the lights, but I was going to bore down into the headboard for a place to carry the saw:flipoff2:
 
More headway today. I made the stake pockets and fashioned some stakes out of cutoff white oak. I'm going to cut dados into the outer two planks to fill that gap between the pockets and the outer trim piece. That'll cover up the ugly treated wood.

Maybe get to working on the tailpiece with the lights tomorrow and trying to rig up something for the fuel fill to attach it to the bed somehow. The decking in the photos is not attached, I just placed it there to see how it will look.

The guy from WNCautoparts found me a set of wheels, so I should be getting those soon. Then I can remediate my tire situation and throw some 30" bias plys on the rig.:D:clap::steer::beer:

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If you can't get the fuel filler neck to work out right you can always just carry around a large rock to roll up on to tilt the bed. Or go hunting for one at ever gas station. There's usealy a pile of rocks somewhere.:bang:
 
Worked on the tailpiece today. I got it built, the lights installed (although not wired yet) and the board attached. Then I cut out the scuppers (that's what they're called in a canoe, not sure what they 're called on a truck bed:meh:) on the outer two planking boards.

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So in my attempt at wiring the taillights, I came a cross an interesting issue. The tail running lights work and the turn signals work. The brake lights do too, but they run on the same wire as the turn signals, so I just wired them in together. What this does is it turns on the front signals solid when I hit the brake pedal. I could just leave it, but that's goofy. Plus HFT sells 2" amber LED lights for pretty cheap, so I think I'll run down there again and pick some up. That way the turns would be on a different circuit than the brakes. I think it'll give the tailboard a more complete look with more lights.
I'm going to bolt those fog lights right to the frame so they'll be below and behind the tailboard. I also cut the fuel fill hose a little so it doesn't stick out so far and removed the inner "anti diesel fixture" so I can actually fill up at the pump without a funnel. I think the truck is really moving up in the world.
 
I like the tail light board. Sucks the table saw burned it a bit. That's pretty funny about lights. I wounder if just putting a diode on the turn signal would fix that? One light seems to work on other rigs. Who knows? I guess more lights is not really bad thing, unless you are on the front lines and getting shot at.

Wow, you think you'll actually be able to fill up at the pump? Well, anyway you should be doing that less after we get some vegetable oil flowing.:clap:
 
Yeah I know I've got to get up there soon. I've got my g-ma's funeral today and family stuff this weekend. Next weekend is our naturalist group's maple festival, so I think I'll stick around for that. Sap's a flowing, syrup's a boiling!
As for the table saw burn, once I get everything assembled, I'll hit it all with 80 grit on the random orbital. Then douse with motor oil.:hillbilly:
 
Truck looks good. The only problem i can see with the bed is the that there's no veg tank built into it. I was thinking about building one of those tanks/tool boxes with a hot fox in it.

Also, I think there's more snow here than in WV.
 
Fred taped some tress around here but I don't think much is flowing, too cold.

Are you gonna plunge cut some holes for the extra lights with the Stihl?

If you need more used motor oil I've got 15 gallons that I'm calling 'no good' for burning in the diesels. I found some antifreeze in one bucket :clap: Don't know which vehicle that came out of:doh:.
 
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