Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Well it looks like I have a free day today. I'm going to start on it this morning. If I do anything pic worthy I'll post up in the morning. I have a few ideas in my head.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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Well I got started yesterday morning. The old trusty beer box template. I had to do one for each side.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I started by cutting just enough of the bracing off the pieces so it would still have some support.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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And then the point of no return. I took a hole saw and drilled both pieces.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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Then I had to make a decision on where I was cutting them. I'm going to do some of the welding from underneath but I have to weld some up top. The problem is minimum access to grind and smooth it out. I also tack welded the braces back when I made my cut.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I was back and forth in and out of the truck taking baby steps grinding and testing. Of course my measurements were a tad off but it will be ok.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I got both pieces just about ready to go. I had enough after six hours of eating aluminum oxide. I have a bunch of prep work to do. I need to get the truck off the ground. Pull the tires off again. Unhook all the battery cables and ignition box. Then figure out where to start welding. I may also try to adjust the bed before hand. I may have to weld the braces to the frame to get the floor to lay down so I have to be sure before I start.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

repairs look great Regan..!!

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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Friday afternoon I came up with this idea. I took some sheet metal and trimmed some pieces to help fill the gap for welding.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I was able to form these into the hump and tack them in.

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Finished product and ready to fit. This little project took all afternoon.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I got the pieces stitched in yesterday. It's slow going when you have to use a die grinder to smooth out the hard mig welds. Ken came out and provided a second set of eyes for tacking the tubs back in. The passenger side tub is soup bowled but I don't know if I can fix it. I have some more metal work and then I get to move on to paint and bed liner.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

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I got the bed repairs looking good enough to cover with bed liner. I'm tired of working on them. Lol

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Oh the joys of masking off this mess. I think it took me two hours to do all this.

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I went ahead and sprayed the bars. I've got a few runs to deal with and then I'm spraying it again. Afterwards it dawned on me I used satin black before and this is semi gloss Dupliclolor. I hit it with some grey Scotchbright and it looked pretty good. I'll still respray it though. Then I get to try and seamseal the tubs. That's going to be a task because it's hard to access everything. After that I will attempt to spray bed liner.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Looks good.

Here is a tip next time when masking odd shaped items like your fuel cell vent tube or brake lines. Get some dollar store aluminum foil, just wrap it around the odd shape, tape the end for a clean line. Works for a lot of different things, I used it on suspension parts too.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Thanks Greg

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Thanks Karl. I may try that when I mask off the cage so I can spray the bed.

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I got some seam sealer in yesterday afternoon. I also scuffed and repainted the monkey bars.

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I don't think this shock mount has been out in over 15 years. I cleaned it up and put a few coats on it.

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This is the same paint I use on my Dodge Dually wheels. Hopefully it just looks clean and black. The bars are black to make them less noticeable. The same reason the bars on the inside are body color.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Good to see it fixed and almost ready to roll again.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Thanks Monty. I hope to be done with it by Sunday. We have a race in Houston Tx in a few weeks.

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Well I got it done on Sunday as planned. The truck needs a real good cleaning and it will be ready to go. I'm hoping this new stuff is a game changer.

Re: Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime
 

Looking good!