Ok Boys and Girls it's Storytime

[regan wilson]

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.

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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.

[regan wilson]

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.

[regan wilson]

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.

[mongocanfly]

repairs look great Regan..!!

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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.

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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.

[aggie91]

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.

[regan wilson]

Originally Posted by mongocanfly

repairs look great Regan..!!

Thanks Greg

[regan wilson]

Originally Posted by aggie91

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.

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

[regan wilson]

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

[regan wilson]

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.

[regan wilson]

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.

[71Dragtruck]

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

[regan wilson]

Originally Posted by 71Dragtruck

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

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

[regan wilson]

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.

[71Dragtruck]

Looking good!