My 63 farm truck build thread

[N2TRUX]

Sorry to hear about needing to sell your Toy. Times will get better and you will get another one when then. In the meantime...

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

I sold my beloved Toyota Tacoma 4x4 today, so all I have to drive now, every day, rain or shine is the 63. It was damn tough. I've had a whole lot of trucks in my life, but that little Toyota was the best I have ever had, bar none.

It's going to be nice having the Toyota payment money to spend on other things though. I'm going to start building the rack soon and order gauges soon too. I want to finish blacksmith school (two weeks) before I build the rack though. I've got some little blacksmith hand forged touches I want to add to it.

I've got something for your new daily driver.

[markeb01]

Congrats on the win, got my vote too. Too bad about the Toyota, seems like just about everyone has sacrificed something because of the economy.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

I've got something for your new daily driver.

[JohnC]

[Tx Firefighter]

Well, here's where you fellas start to wonder if I am crazy or not...

I use a ton of steel in my shop doing jobs and projects. The steel yard is close to my work which is 45 miles from home. It just works best if I stop by on my way home from the station and buy my steel. No way I want to pull a trailer in metroplex traffic 90 miles round trip just for some angle iron or tubing. Plus, parking a truck and trailer at the station for 24 hours is a pain.

Here is the preliminary stage. I still need to weld everything solid since it's just tacked in place, add gussets, and add a truss on top to support the cantilever section over the cab.

I angled the vertical tubes in 8 degrees to make them match the cab angle when viewed from behind.




I know it's diverging from the norm, but this is truly my daily driver now and it has to fill 100 percent of my needs everyday, which includes hard work.

[joe231]

Kevin,
there is no question....you are crazy....like a fox!!
I really dig the rack. It screams tha the shop truck theme is no BS!!
nice work, I for one can't wait to see it finished

[LOW DOUGH]

Looks good! Let’s see some pics from the back so we can see the vertical tubes at an angle. I like that idea. Should make it flow with the truck better.

Are you going to add any "walls" to the top like you see on racks or keep it bare?

Oh, and congrats on TOTM! You and the truck have earned it.

[tommyd241]

That looks great. it's removable right? I have a rack for my truck too. I took it off for awhile but I just put it back on last night because I need to take a huge load to the dump soon.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by joe231

Kevin,
there is no question....you are crazy....like a fox!!
I really dig the rack. It screams tha the shop truck theme is no BS!!
nice work, I for one can't wait to see it finished

Joe, I'm thinking about coming up to meth-lahoma for ya'lls board meet. Are you expecting much turn out? Tell your wife I won't spit anywhere public while in your state either.

Originally Posted by LOW DOUGH

Looks good! Let’s see some pics from the back so we can see the vertical tubes at an angle. I like that idea. Should make it flow with the truck better.

Are you going to add any "walls" to the top like you see on racks or keep it bare?

Oh, and congrats on TOTM! You and the truck have earned it.

I will get some more pics. Yes, I'm going to add about a 6 inch truss on top of what you see now. That will give the front section strength so it doesn't sag. It will also give some "walls" for the material on top so they can't fling off the side of the rack while turning corners.

Originally Posted by tommyd241

That looks great. it's removable right? I have a rack for my truck too. I took it off for awhile but I just put it back on last night because I need to take a huge load to the dump soon.

It is removable. I started by building a set of bed caps out of angle iron to bolt it all down to. Then, everything is welded to the angle iron base runners. I don't imagine I will remove it much though. I will need it at least weekly.

[JohnC]

Rack looks good Kevin. I agree with Joe it really adds to that shop truck feel. That and what's the point of having your truck if you are afraid to use it. Go for it man!!!

[70k52wd]

Nice rack!!...I had to.
It doesn't take away from the trucks awesome looks. I like it.

[VA72C10]

Looking good. So are the gussets going to be the "decorative" iron work you were mentioning? What finish are you going to go with?

[markeb01]

The rack authenticates the whole truck. It looks like something that's had friendly use for a long time, and more recently received new wheels and suspension updates. Very purposeful and still cool.

[aerotruk63]

Rack looks great, we ratchet strap off the bumpers, lengths of tubing up to 24' long under the truck when transporting. When you top load heavy above the cab, you can get a whipping motion started with a short rack, if you swerve while driving. Please just be careful of how much you carry on top. To help cut down on the whipping motion of the load, we installed a removable rack on the front bumper. Try not to bundle the load together, as the mass will have more whip force than individual pieces. You probably already know this, thought I'd share with others reading this thread.

[joe231]

Originally Posted by Tx Firefighter

Joe, I'm thinking about coming up to meth-lahoma for ya'lls board meet. Are you expecting much turn out? Tell your wife I won't spit anywhere public while in your state either.

feel free to spit anywhere but her sidewalk
we had a good turn out last year, hopefully it will be bigger this year.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by aerotruk63

Rack looks great, we ratchet strap off the bumpers, lengths of tubing up to 24' long under the truck when transporting. When you top load heavy above the cab, you can get a whipping motion started with a short rack, if you swerve while driving. Please just be careful of how much you carry on top. To help cut down on the whipping motion of the load, we installed a removable rack on the front bumper. Try not to bundle the load together, as the mass will have more whip force than individual pieces. You probably already know this, thought I'd share with others reading this thread.

Sounds like sage words of wisdom from someone who has been there before.

I haven't really worried about most of the issues you have mentioned. On average, I'd estimate I buy 150 pounds max of steel at one time. Most times, a lot less than that. I'm hoping this thing will be perfect for my needs. As an example, this week I bought two sticks of 1/2 round rod and 2 sticks of 14ga square tubing. That's probably under 50 pounds total.

I also figured to build a front carrier that drops into a receiver on the front bumper to support longer pieces. I will make it removable and make some fixture in the bed to store it securely when not in use.

I really appreciate your taking the time to point out some issues though. It's nice when someone who has learned things passes them on to folks to save them some heartache or hair raising lessons.

[ruffrida2005]

Kevin that looks really good. I'm hoping to go to the OK meet as well. I would love to see your truck.

[Tx Firefighter]

I worked some more on the rack today. The most difficult part is saddling the round pipes to fit together properly. Now I know why so many of them are built out of square tubing instead of round. I still need to finish the upper truss out to the front of the rack and grind a lot of welds.





In person it has a real old school look to it.

[joe231]

Dig it!!!

[oldblue1968chevy]

wow sweett!

Not sure about the toolbox but other than that IT ROCKS

[Tx Firefighter]

Tools, jack, jumper cables, my overnight bag for the station.... all of that has to go somewhere.

[aerotruk63]

If you have a horizontal band saw or a steel chop saw, set the angle to 30 degrees. Then cut 1/2 of the width of the pipe from the center, then flip it around 180 degrees and cut the other half off to form a V. This should give you an exact fit butting two pipes together in a T fashion of the same dimension pipe. There is a book, I've heard, that gives you all the cutting angles depending on the different size pipes butting together at different angles as well. We mostly work with 90 degrees and fudge the rest.

[aerotruk63]

Somewhere I saw a company that made a tool box that uses the exterior sheet metal profile for a door on the side of the fleetside, The tool box extended into the bed of the truck replacing the inner fenders. It retained the distance between the inner fender, something like 49" so you could carry plywood sheets. But let's not get to crazy here!

[Captainfab]

I couldn't find the first one I was looking for, but this should help with coping your pipe/tube

http://www.metalgeek.com/static/cope.pcgi