Builds Intro: Ugly Betty(so far)

[tmarx]

Thanks again guys !

..
Also, how high are the mountains that you were climbing in the pictures?

The Richtersveld is a mountainous desert landscape characterised by rugged kloofs and high mountains, situated in South Africa’s Northern Cape province. It is full of changing scenery from flat sandy plains, to craggy sharp mountains of volcanic rock and the lushness of the Orange River, which forms the border with neighbouring Namibia. The park ranges in altitude from less than 60m (less than 200 feet) in its far North, along the Orange river, to 1377 m (4518 feet) at Cornellberg somewhat South of centre.
Located in South Africa's northern Namaqualand, this arid area represents a harsh landscape where water is a great scarcity and only the hardiest of lifeforms survive. Despite this, the Richtersveld is regarded as the only Arid Biodiversity Hotspot on Earth, with an astonishing variety of plant, bird and animal life (much of which is endemic).

Taken from Richtersveld - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Theo

I cant see your rollbar pictures ??? Does the front cage go all the way to the floor or did you tie into the floor?

By the way I plan on painting mine the same Olive Grey color someday. Very nice looking 40! Love it.

Alex

Sorry about that For some reason those pics are dead and I cannot get to the web host from here. I will try to revive them later from home, or if not I will take some new pics for ya. The cage goes all the way to the floor just like the MT and then we tied it to the frame from underneath with some brackets. In total it is tied to the frame in 6 places. Unlike MT we chose to "clamp" it to frame instead of welding it. This way it is completely removable , should the need ever arise

 

[peteinjp]

Theo-

Your build is killing me! I'm fighting internal demons to not tear down my truck and go thru the entire thing. Its my daily and with a young family I can see myself tearing in apart- only to find there is little or no time to get any work done on it.

Fantastic work and in good time too!

I would also love to see the cage pics posted. I'm looking into getting a cage sent here (japan) or trying to find someone to build one locally- however there is not quite the level of automotive expertise one can find in your part of the world. I basically need to design it myself- and its for a bj44. Being a family oriented vehicle I'm in need of the cage for safety in terms of a roll- as well as for additional pick up points for the rear seat belts. I'm planning on making the front half of the cage removable from the rear as I will likely only run the front windshield bar when the roof is off. If you can get those pics back up and offer any further advice/specifics in terms of bolt in removal with frame attachments I'd really appreciate it.

Great rig!

Pete

 

[tmarx]

Thanks Pete.

I am just spending very long hours at work lately and have not had the time. Hopefully I will get those up by tomorrow eve

 

[peteinjp]

No problem- I'm in no big hurry- and I understand about long hours at work!

Best!

Pete

 

[tmarx]

Sorry for the delay guys ...

All loaded and ready to

 

[mattcamp]

One of the coolest land cruisers I have ever seen. I love that cage.......so nice.

 

[M5driver]

Outstanding, Theo! Superb craftsmanship on that cage. I love this truck!

 

[crushers]

buddy, what can i say? unreal.

PCP (Pure Cruiser Porn)

one small suggestion, where you have the frame mount bolts sticking towards the tire, i would suggest reversing them so the head is toward the tire and the nuts and extra threads are inside the frame.

 

[tmarx]

Thanks guys, much appreciated.

Wayne, you never miss anything - The problem is that we used custom & slotted "U bolts" - we figured if decent U bolts are good enough for axles it should be good enough for this ? I ran out of time(before going on the trip) and therefore only the closest bolts were trimmed but I will do the others when I get around to doing the extended bumpstops that are now also overdue !


BTW I found a 13BT manifold in Zimbabwe through a friend and it should be here on Tuesday. I have a TD04 mitsu turbo gathering dust in my garage and now I have a lead on Ct26 out of a 1HD-FTE. The TD04 possibly needs a rebuild9and adapter) but the ct26 not ???

 

[twoturtlesracing]

Thanks for the info about the country. And thanks for getting those pics reposted. Beautiful work!

 

[peteinjp]

Theo- Thanks for the shots! Some great ideas there that I'll have to steal.... The frame mounts are brackets that wrap around the frame- is that correct? Also wondering what size tubing you went with.


Top notch! I'm Olive Grey with envy!

Pete

 

[tmarx]

Thanks Pete.

The brackets are "clamped" to the frame via some very stout custom square U-bolts. Cage tubing is 38mm x 3mm as opposed to the usual 50mm x 2mm - not unlike my tyres(and )I like tall and skinny ...

 

[waiting for time]

Hello Theo,

At first I realy love your truck.
And I like the way you create things to add to it.
I have one question, did you use some sort of damping material on your cage like between body and tub?
I would think that if you didn't the vibrations from your frame will damage your tub where the cage is mounted.

Keep them idea's and pics comming.

 

[tmarx]

Thanks Michael.

I didn't put any dampning material between the tub and the cage cos the top side of my tub is covered with a thickish layer of PU lining and the bottom is covered thick with "Stonechip". But you got me thinking ....

 

[tmarx]

On our recent Legends trip I realised that I had cut my Haystee shackles to short & to soon- I should have waited longer. With the extra weight and the flexing in the tough conditions, the rear springs started to bang and she was also a little "arse down" for my liking. I had gone from 120mm (centre of pin to centre of pin) back to the stock lenth of 75mm(cop to cop). With next weekend's trip around the corner it was time to fix it. I put the OEM shackles back on and used the shortened Haystee shackles as samples for the new plates. It was a close call but eventually I went with 110mm in the rear and 95mm in the front.


New vs old

Before

After

She still drives great and I can just get her in and out of my garage ..

 

[waiting for time]

Hello Theo,

Nice to see from you again.
I must say that I enjoy seeing pictures of your truck, your paintwork loofs amazing and the overal picture is very apealing.

Did you change anything on the connection between frame and cage?
If you want to change it this might be an Idea.

And here's how this will tie into the frame:

These will be welded onto the frame, and then a bar will run from the plates under the body down to these bushing/bolt combinations. That way vibrations from the frame are isolated from the body, and the arms are removeable.

It came from DanS HJ-45, https://forum.ih8mud.com/diesel-tec...6-here-we-go-fj-40-getting-3b-turbo-h55f.html

Thanks again for the pics and the update

 

[tmarx]

Thanks Michael

I haven't changed anything yet ....

I have been following Dan's thread for a long time. He is an amazing fabricator. That drop down cum step up tailgate is fantastic !

 

[waiting for time]

His treads are adictive, he sure gives me inspiration.
My problem is I don't have his skills, tools and space.

Have fun wheeling

 

[waiting for time]

Theo,

Just noticed something on your dash, did you upholster your top dash cover with leather or was that already on your car?

 

[tmarx]

It was re-upholstered using the same leather and stitching as for the seats and the door panels