Hooper
04-05-2002, 03:27 PM
Thanks to the man with the firestick Rick, I got the main hoops for my front cage cut and welded to the feet last night. He also welded my front shock tower on again. That was pretty much the last of my old MIG welds gone bad. Funny thing was the tower itself had gobs of weld on it. Stuff was stuck well, too. Had to cut it off with the grinder, but the frame hardly had any. So, it looks like I did a good job of welding, but I missed the seam. Told you I was a poor fabricator. :D
Also cut off my 2x2 .25 box tubing I am going to use across my rear crossmember to support the tub. I happen to have a 2" body lift, so I will take the lift blocks out and slide this bar in. Should work sweet. One thing is for sure, the rear of the bed is not going to bend.... and those dinky little ears on the cross member C-channel won't be taking up any weight at all.
Stopped by Tacoma Screw and picked up some grade 8 bolts to use for body mount bolts. They don't make a carriage bolt for the application anymore. The feet of the roll bar are large enough that I can run my body mount bolts down through them, tying the roll bar into the frame, kind of. In addition to that, I have two bolts along the rear edge that go through the floorboards, then through 1/8" strap on the back side, before the nut and washer go on. That should secure it.
Still need to measure for the top bar, and dash bar, but we made good progress last night.
I also put rust converter on an area of my floorboards that had some holes, poured some more in behind my rear fender flares where rust flakes are at, and kind of any other spot on the rig that had a spot of rust. I figure I will use some type of silicone between the feet and the floorboards in an attempt to keep water from getting trapped under there, in addition to hitting the area with a heavy layer of POR-15. Since the bar is not coming out very often, I want an install and forget type installation down there. If I can keep water from collecting inside the body mount, it will go a long way toward keeping my body mounts intact.
Productive evening!!
Also cut off my 2x2 .25 box tubing I am going to use across my rear crossmember to support the tub. I happen to have a 2" body lift, so I will take the lift blocks out and slide this bar in. Should work sweet. One thing is for sure, the rear of the bed is not going to bend.... and those dinky little ears on the cross member C-channel won't be taking up any weight at all.
Stopped by Tacoma Screw and picked up some grade 8 bolts to use for body mount bolts. They don't make a carriage bolt for the application anymore. The feet of the roll bar are large enough that I can run my body mount bolts down through them, tying the roll bar into the frame, kind of. In addition to that, I have two bolts along the rear edge that go through the floorboards, then through 1/8" strap on the back side, before the nut and washer go on. That should secure it.
Still need to measure for the top bar, and dash bar, but we made good progress last night.
I also put rust converter on an area of my floorboards that had some holes, poured some more in behind my rear fender flares where rust flakes are at, and kind of any other spot on the rig that had a spot of rust. I figure I will use some type of silicone between the feet and the floorboards in an attempt to keep water from getting trapped under there, in addition to hitting the area with a heavy layer of POR-15. Since the bar is not coming out very often, I want an install and forget type installation down there. If I can keep water from collecting inside the body mount, it will go a long way toward keeping my body mounts intact.
Productive evening!!