How much bed space do you have? (from hatch to tailgate)
I love this crop but would like to go a little further and shorten up the rear overhang a bit. In the end I want to have enough space for a 315 tire back there.
Thats only thing I would really gripe about. Went to all that work to cut up rear but left the length. I would have cut it down some too. Weight is the biggest enemy of the 80 I think even more so then length so if your willing to scrape then no biggie. Would have been awesome to shave weight and length though. Either way you got some skills and real clean work so far. When your done learning from your gramps come teach me.
We cut 24" out of the top so the bed is 24". We have a 315 on the spare rack, I think they are 12 inches wide, so it would fit in the bed no problem. We lifted the tire up high so we could see thru rear hatch. We wanted the look to be slanted straight down, but then all we could see thru the back was tire. We intended to remove 11 inches of frame and rear body, but the weigh savings was minimal and that would have left us with a 13 inch bed which we thought was too small. We removed the frame back to the body mount, raised the bumper and hitch above the frame, so the departure angle is greatly improved (have not measured it yet). The rear edge of frame is the lowese part. The body really dosent weight much. The realweight savings will be from removing the hatch and doors. We removed the rear door and it was 40 lbs. The tube door weighs 16 lbs. Have not done the front yet because of weather (truck won't fit in garage). L.B.
Shane welding the b pillar roll bar to the frame mounts. The tube doors are done, just waiting for the correct bear claw latches to arrive. We built a prototype latch that worked, but it was to noisy/loose. The sub/speaker box is finished and the speakers, amp and head unit should arrive tomorrow. I'll post photos of the box when complete. L.B.
OK then, here is where we are at. The doors are finished. My prototype door latch worked, but was too loose and the door rattled too much. I bought "Bear Claw latches" online and made my own knobs. My latch is on the left of photo. Speaker box is finished and sounds clean and bang'n! Pioneer head unit, pioneer 9500 amp, 5 way pioneer 6x9's and JL sub woofer. Every compartment is volume correct with a storage box in the middle. Today Shane fabbed and welded the flanges for the cross bars to tie the B pillar roll bar to the C pillar roll bar (we will finish next week). He also rivited the patches around the roll bar where it goes down thru the floor (roll bar welded to frame).
Shane and I got the roll cage finished. I got a chance to weigh this hoopty and it weighs 5,350 lbs. (full gas tank). We are still waiting on the winch to arrive. L.B.
We welded up a skidplate and decided to test the rig on sunday morning. We have never done any wheeling, anywhere, ever before, so we took 8 oranges and 8 bottles of water, and headed up to Wentworth Springs for a day trip to see if the Hoopty would hold together. We went up and down a granite slab a few times, then up the Devil's postpile, turned around at the bypass and headed for home. We Met DouglasHuft in his White Toyota pickup around Wentworth Springs campground, and he gave us some info on the trail. Next time we will bring camping gear and go a few miles farther. When we get the rear locker working and our winch mounted, we will do the whole enchilada! Here is a video of our truck decending a granite slab. L.B.Rubicon trail - YouTube
We did this project with a very low budjet. The tubing bender, welder and die grinder-cut-off-wheel, were less than $700.00 total. We also have a Ryobi $120.00 drill press that barely works. Would have been a lot easier project with a good quality drill press, a band saw and good tig welder, but these are the kind of low budjet tools I used when I was a kid, so Shane learned to cope with what he had. L.B.
L.B.
