So what did you do with your truck today?

Went and helped my parents pick up their tree, then started a project.

 

Well it must have been a pretty big tree if it took a Tank to bring it back.

 

Hahahaha nope but that was a good one! Actually took Diego, Tank has a loaded trailer hooked up waiting for the scrapyard to decide if they want to open or not....

I was on my way and dad said "can we put the tree in your truck?" I said "I thought that was the plan."

Why they would think they have to ask is beyond me, I have to drive by their house to get home, why would I expect them to tie it onto their compact car?

 

Took off and replaced the driver valve cover three times. First time forgot to put the wing clamp things on. Got that sorted then realized I couldn't feel the rear most locking tab of the gasket, off she goes again and discovered the gasket got folded. Back on again, go to snug it up and can't find my 1/2". After some searching off comes the valve cover again and yup there it is. Sigh. Had to remind myself of my gunnys old saying, slow is fast. Slowed down and took my time. Finally got that sorted

 

@Exhumis I feel your pain a little bit...

After sitting here staring at it trying to figure out how to accomplish my goal, I finally realized it's not going to build itself....

I took some measurements and tried to figure out what "level" would be.

Then I bolted the frame brackets on. I decided I should probably use those front holes for something, so I made up some captive nuts to weld on.




I got them semi-bolted in and got ready to tack them in place. I remembered I've had tacks break with this little 110v welder so I started to burn them in and.... Ran out of wire




So I've got one in place and the other isn't. My fog lights are just laying on the ground still wired up so I'm going to have to unhook the trailer from Tank to run into town and grab another spool of wire.

It's not the end of the world just a royal pain in the rear. Especially since I had a spool in my hand yesterday at Harbor freight and decided to wait and get some better wire elsewhere

Please excuse the ugly welds. I'm running flux core and learning as I go.

 

Hey man welding isn't a skill I've learned so I can't judge. I wish I could tho. Would have solved many of my problems easily

 

There's lots of people that can't weld that tell everyone else how. That's why I stopped sharing stuff on Facebook!

 

It's been almost 20 years for me, but from what I can remember about using flux core wire, it's hard to get a really good looking weld while using it. It's a lot easier while using gas shielded.

 

Gas is a lot easier. Anything I use flux on looks like sparrow squeezings lol

Sent from my SM-G988U using Tapatalk

 

Yep. That flux really messes with the appearance of a weld. One pass isn't nearly as bad as trying multipass welding either.

 

Yeah.... It's only money right?

What I really need is a 220v setup with gas, not for everything but for this project.

Well I tried one of those Lenox Metal Max diamond cutting wheels..... Never again. Takes three times as long to cut and chatters like a bitch. Wish I had just spent the same money in the 15 pack of zip wheels!

Anywho.... Got my wire and cut a piece wrong so I had to recut. Finally got it together enough that it should come off in one piece once it cools down. It's certainly far from fully welded but I have to put the other bumper back on so I can go to work tomorrow.

The frame rails are wider than I needed so I had to make a bracket off my bracket... In the end I can box it all in and it'll be better so it's fine.



Winch plate tacked in place. I'll have to trim a lot of stuff, but I'm kinda flying by the seat of my pants right now and making it up as I go.



Eventually it'll get faced with some 6" channel kinda like this:



And will have something at a 45° angle underneath the channel. I'll be wrapping the channel around to just in front of the wheels, hopefully tying into a brush guard.

I doubt this will get finished before spring, because there's not enough room in the shop to work on it on the truck, but maybe we'll get another good weekend to knock some more out on it.

 

The brackets I'm kinda proud of because they turned out great. They pick up the bottom hole on the front of the frame horn, and one on the side. I plan to add to the top of them so they can pick up another hole too.

They also pick up the sway bar bolts and utilize two holes that are already in the frame behind the sway bar mounts.

 

I wired up air horns on the bus. I can't even find where the original horns went, and the factory button doesn't do anything. Now it's LOUD!

Eli

 

Yes but I was letting you know that you're using a difficult method of welding to get good appearances. Don't worry about it if the welds aren't textbook perfect. The important thing is that they hold. Also if you don't have the room to do the welding inside, gas shielding may not be for you. It doesn't take much of a wind to blow the gas away and you end up with a weld that looks worse than a flux core weld. Not to mention that it won't have much strength without the shielding gas.

 

I do just not on the bumper while still on the truck. I can nose it in but that's about it. Hopefully that'll change this spring when I do some rearranging in the shop.