Gertrude - cut/rebuild full body into cab (1 Viewer)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

Joined
Jul 17, 2005
Threads
15
Messages
799
Location
Wellington, NZ
Trucking the body...

I decided to cut down the body to a cab - I was never carrying more than one passenger.
The cab would be lighter, and the new rear would be higher, fixing the rubbing I was getting on full flex.
Also, I was hitting a lot of trees, especially at the rear, so loosing the high roofline at the rear coners would prevent damage to the roof.

The cab etc took about 6 hours - really easy - the hard part was all the fiddling around little bits to finish it (as it always is) - about 40 hours total to completely finished.

Tailgate removed

15.jpg


Glass removed, lines drawn - ready to start cutting...
I cut down along the lip each end of the side window - this gave me an easy weld to put in back together later...

16.jpg


After the first cut - the backs off and stored now...

17.jpg

18.jpg


This is how much I chopped out of the body - the final build is about 4" longer than an FJ45 cab, giving some room behind the seats for storage etc.

19.jpg


I slowly cut out the bits I needed - the top of the rear corner was removed then welded back on at the rear of the cab.

20.jpg


First rough fit of the cab rear - fitted Ok so welded up then off to have the roof fibreglassed up (I could have done it but I hate the itchy bits!)

21.jpg


Yes it was dark when I took this one! These are the old rear sidebars - you'll see in later pics I had to lift them, and change the connection to the rear xmember...
This is as dissassembled as it got - now the work starts...

22.jpg
 
New rear panel welded in place and painted...
(this is also a good shot showing winch location)

23.jpg


Rear bars all in place - now to check the cab roof fits...

24.jpg


Yes the cab does fit - now pull the bars off and finish the cab...

25.jpg


Cab finished - now to start the rear bodywork...

26.jpg


Rear shell in place - about to assemble the tool box...

27.jpg


Getting ready to cut the rear guards to shape...

28.jpg


rear guards and tailgate finished now...

29.jpg


Almost done now, now to put all the 'loose' stuff on and check it fits...

30.jpg


And with everything strapped on in place.
This is almost finished - just need to fit the rear quarter windows...

31.jpg
 
I cut new rear quarter windows out of 3mm polycarbonate - really easy to do - just used tinsnips.
Was the easy way to get the rear stays through but still retain visibility.
The only problem was 3mm doesn't come in scratchproof, so they've got quite scratched - I may replace them with 4mm soon...


32.jpg

33.jpg

34.jpg


This is my spade mount - I wanted something that was easy to fasten/unfasten but wouldn't come loose.
This is what I came up with - note - spade blades are hardened steel - took forever to drill the hole!

35.jpg

36.jpg
 
a/farmer, you have givin me inspiration on what i want to do with my 40. :)

thanx brother!
jim
 
Nice work man, you make it look so easy!
 
Love that Kiwi innovation!
 
I'm kinda surprised, but, dude, I dig that! Really cool look! Nice job
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom