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What did you do during Spring Break?

chavey

chavey

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So, I went a little overboard.  Had the entire week off - unpaid.  Saw accessories that I wanted but couldn't afford.  So I made my own.  (If you bolt it on, it's an accessory; if you make it, it's a Mod!)

Some of you may have seen a couple of my threads:

So without further adeiu, here's what I did:

Hmm?  I wonder what that point is for?
BullBar002Small.jpg


Lots of Grinding!
BullBar003Small.jpg


First Mock Up
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Even my 9 yr old daughter helped!  (Small hands to get into tight places for those bolts!!)
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Didn't like the mock up, so cut some of the pieces.  All ready for some grinding & welding!
BullBar011Small.jpg


All welded up!  Special thanks to Tom/Z66Modder - I forgot to get a pic at this point!
BullBarTom.jpg


1 more mod (moved it closer to bumper), just a little paint and diamond plate, and it's done!
BullBar021Small.jpg


Notice that there's even a front hitch receiver mounted into it!
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Qtr View
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And side view were you can see I moved it closer to the bumper
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Oh, and here's the wheels and calipers painted!
BullBar018Small.jpg



Even got a "JoBox" made up!
BullBar024Small.jpg


And that's right - the "Move Over" under the lid is backwards!
BullBar023Small.jpg


 
adamjeeps said:
Looks awesome! May I ask what front level kit you went with and your impressions of the ride and quality of the kit?
Click to expand...

Got the 2.5" Front / 1" Rear kit from CCMOffroad on Ebay.  Very happy with it.  Uses stock springs so ride is just like new.

And Thank You! :D
 
I bet you could fit 4 Lights across the front of that sucker I really like that. Nice Job

I also had spring break also from college though. Anyway I think I got about 10 or 15 mods done and I still have a list of crap I haven't started gonna have to wait until schools over now though and I'm working full time.

You can see the list and pics on this thread on the 2nd page list on post #29 and pics on #41

Spring Break Modathon
 
Thanks All.  Not bad for my FIRST TIME EVER welding.  And, no, I don't weld that good.  But bondo does wonders!

And Yes, I plan on mounting lights to it.  That's why the cross-beam is a 2x4 tube.  I even had some rectangular lights already purchased.  I was planning on mounting them behind the diamond plate and cutting slots for the light to shine thru.  But I decided I didn't like those particular lights  (n) , so I took them back and am now looking for something different.

And yeah, the "honey-do" list didn't get touched.  (Went today to Home Depot and bought about 15 1-gal plants to make up for it,)
 
Just out of curiosity, how much was did you pay for the entire mod? can't imagine you paid very much at all. Great job on it though! really.  :love:
 
I was waiting for someone to ask:

  • 20' of 1-1/2" Round Tubing - Free from Uncle!
  • 10' of 2x4" Rect Tubing - $10 from local steel guy - it was on his rem rack and he didn't want it.
  • 2 bends on the main upper tube - $30 from a guy who builds roll cages. (I bent the lower tube myself with a torch.  I should have had him make all the bends.)
  • Rental of MIG Welder - Free from Uncle
  • 2 rolls of MIG wire - $13.68  (1 to use, 1 to give back to my uncle as "rental fee")
  • 1 can of Bondo - $8.99 (for smoothing all those welded corners)
  • 3 misc cans of black paint used as primer - Free (Whatever I could find in the garage!)
  • 1-1/2 cans of Duplicolor Paint - $6.99 (I had 1/2 can left over from painting the bowtie)
  • 1 piece of Stainless Steel Diamond Plate - Free - left over from my previous bed slide
  • 1 pkg of SS License Plate Bolts - $2.99
  • 4 each 1/2" x 6" bolts - Free (Used 2 from the stock tow hooks and had 2 others in my tool box.)
  • Front Hitch Receiver - $17.99 from Joes.

Total cost of Materials: ~$90.00
Total Labor = About 35-40 hrs over the course of a week and a half.  I made some mistakes that I had to fix and I would have done some things differently, so I could easily see this down to 20-25 hrs.

I could have bought this pre-runner bar for about $350 plus paint & shipping.  So I figure I paid myself about $6.95 per hour to build it.
 
So now that you have practice, when are you gonna start selling one off pre-runners?  :laugh:

I laugh but it can keep you from messing with that silly honeydew list and make you a couple $ for more mods!  (y)
 
At $6.95/hr?  Are you kidding?  That's below minimum wage here!  (And I already applied to work part time at Costco!)
 
Okay, found a problem.  There is too much "slop" in the bolt holes holding it to the frame, allowing it to bend down under weight of the trailer.  I can put my weight on it and it holds, but the trailer (tongue weight 600 lbs) pushes it down.  I even put a self-tapping screw thru the metal mount into the frame, but that snapped right away.

So looking for other mounting suggestions?

You can see the mounts in the "mock up" pic above.  What I did was cut open the welded 2x4 tube, bent it vertical, and then used the tow hooks to mark and drill the bolt holes.  Used the stock bolt holes, but you have to drill a 4th hole thru the frame (Don't ask me why, but Chevy uses 1 long bolt to go all the way thru the frame and then 1 shorter bolt that only goes thru 1 side of the frame into a welded nut on the hook itself.)  I had to drill the 4th hole thru the frame to put in another long bolt to go all the way thru, using the existing hole to line it up.

I really don't want to weld it to the frame (but will if I have too).  I thought of making another u-shaped mount that would fit flush on the frame and then welding that to the existing bar.  Any other suggestions?

I'll try to get some better pics of the mounts later.
 
Okay, never mind.  See Pic.  Metal isn't strong enough - it's bending all over the place.  I'll have to rebuild the mount from scratch and reinforce it.  Red paint on frame is where I mounted it originally and then painted and drilled hole.  It's a 1/2" off that.

 

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Hey chAVey, great looking Prerunner.  Nice work, now Im debating building one or ordering one...I kinda wanna to get creative and try one myself.

Okay, never mind.  See Pic.  Metal isn't strong enough - it's bending all over the place.  I'll have to rebuild the mount from scratch and reinforce it.  Red paint on frame is where I mounted it originally and then painted and drilled hole.  It's a 1/2" off that.
Click to expand...

I see that you still have it on your truck...how did you finally end up reinforcing the mounting point?
 
Funny you mention it - that's exactly what I was doing today.  I cut off the flanges and welded in some 2-1/2 x 2-1/2 x 1/4 angle to make a "C" channel.  And then reinforced the sides with more welding and capped the end of the tube.  It's sitting in the garage now drying from the new paint and I'll mount it up tomorrow.

If you're going to Wild West (Reno), I'll show you there.  Or you can come up to the "Tour De Oregon" in July and I'll show you there.

The one thing I would say is go ahead and pay someone to bend the tubing.  I paid someone to do the big 45 degree bends - and they look good.  But I did the smaller 5 degree bends myself with a torch - and you can tell.  Otherwise, I'm happy with it.  Get lots of comments.
 
I think we will come up and do the Tour De Oregon.  I dont think we will do the whole loop since we will be coming up from Brookings...But start in Portland, and do the loop till we get to the end of the 101 run, and just keep heading south. But I'd love to see it. 

Glad to see you got time to work on the mounting of it.
 
Okay, so rebuilt the mount.  Used 2 pieces of 2-1/2 angle welded into a "C" - you could probably use some 4" C-channel, but the angle is what I had.  Cut it to 2" on 1 leg and welded into a "C".  Then welded it back into the oriiginal 2x4" tubing, using another piece of that angle to block off the tube.  Seems to be holding tight now - I even jumped up on it and it didn't move.  (Weld isn't that bad - just a single coat of paint over unprimed grinded steel.)

I also moved it 2" back, closer to the bumper.  Compare the 2nd pic below to the original above.  Still had another 1" to go but this is close enuf.
 

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chAVey said:
Okay, so rebuilt the mount.  Used 2 pieces of 2-1/2 angle welded into a "C" - you could probably use some 4" C-channel, but the angle is what I had.  Cut it to 2" on 1 leg and welded into a "C".  Then welded it back into the oriiginal 2x4" tubing, using another piece of that angle to block off the tube.  Seems to be holding tight now - I even jumped up on it and it didn't move.  (Weld isn't that bad - just a single coat of paint over unprimed grinded steel.)

I also moved it 2" back, closer to the bumper.  Compare the 2nd pic below to the original above.  Still had another 1" to go but this is close enuf.
Click to expand...

Just an update: Been a year now and the new mount is working perfectly.  Even carried a bunch of bikes while moving and it held up great.

 
nice we were talking about something like this for my cargo carrier however also adding in a E Z to remove spots.

 
Great write up. I am thinking abour installing a front hidden hitch to put a platform onto when I am working on the engine. It would make it so much easier with the lift.
 
Just been another year now.  Someone else was asking about Bull Bars and it made me bring up this thread.

The bull bar it self is holding up find.  Even have bumped it against a few things (mostly garage wall, but did get 1 tree.) 

But carried bikes again in the hitch mount - and the cross beam tubing was bending.  The hitch receiver is welded to the underside of the 2x4 rect tubing I used - it's that tubing that is actually flexing.  Welds are still good and mounts/bolts are still tight to the frame.  But at this point, I think it's got a new rebuild in it's future if I ever want to carry anything on the front again.  (BTW, did carry the bikes 2400 miles from Ore to TX when I moved last summer so maybe it's just a time vs strength thing.)
 
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