2014.09.17 - UPDATE! - "I TRY TO THINK BUT NOTHING HAPPENS!...."
That classic "Three Stooges" line sums things up pretty well from last night's efforts...
I didn't end up operating a single power tool all night, just a lot of measuring, thinking, looking and laying on the ground under the truck looking up at things.
It's really not that bad. I ordered up some square and rectangular tubing (3/16" wall) so that I can start the process of building outriggers from the factory frame. These will be the basis for my integrated rocksliders.
While I am waiting for metal to arrive, I played around with green tape and tried to visualize some of the ways I can support the rear struts from above, and get it all tied-in to the frame and other beefy stuff below.
I'm still going back and forth about the best solution for cage plates. Sometimes I think I want to do a custom-CNC milled plate that follows the profile of the convoluted floor, but then I think about the fact that I will eventually Line-X the entire tub.... so the precise dimensions of the plates will actually NOT fit once the extra sound deadening materials are sprayed in everywhere.
The other option is to weld-in a series of small beveled strips to create the flat landing pads that I need. If I'm careful, I can dress-down the welds and blend them into the floor nicely. Then the Line-X can be sprayed right over the factory floor and integrated cage mounts. Then the cage itself can be dropped down into position (with it's own mounting plate obviously) and I can run the mounting bolts through both parts to secure it.
At this point, I'm leaning toward the second option. In terms of assembly, it just seems like the more logical way to prepare the bed for the rollcage installation, and it will not be affected by the bedliner when that is eventually sprayed in at the end of the project.
I was also sweating the other little details last night for things like carpeting... Obviously if you want the carpets to be removeable, they have to install AROUND the rollcage. You cant' just plop the cage down on top of it and run the bolts through...... if my interior ever got wet, leaving a bunch of wet, soggy carpet permanently installed would be no bueno.
Ultimately, I still want to use as many of the factory trim pieces as I can to preserve the "feel" of the original truck. Here's a shot of the rear carpet hold down strip.
If I dropped a simple square cageplate into the corner, I'd have about a 1" gap between the plate and the carpet trim strip that would be hard to fit carpet into.... So I think it makes more sense to just extend the cage plate so that it touches the carpet trim plate in that area instead. Then I can run the carpet straight back without a bunch of crazy cuts and turns near the tailgate area. (The red template would replace the existing cage plate, and would wrap around the C-pillar frame and tuck tightly into that rear corner)
One of the other areas where I'm using up a bunch of brain cells lately is the B-pillar area and it's relationship to the rock sliders (and the reinforcement of them). At this point, the plan seems to be to add a new 2" x 3" x .188" wall cross-sill directly underneath the roll cage B-pillar area. Basically it's a 6 foot long rectangular tube that will be attached to the framerails (running over the top.... there's just barely enough room!) and then extending out to just below the roll cage plates on each side. This allows me to give much needed structure to the outer b-pillar cage tubes. And since the "V" bars are in the same alignment, they also get to tie-in to that new cross sill too. In a strange twist of fate, if you were to drop a plumb line directly below the b-pillar tubes you would land right on top of a great rockslider support spot! So instead of trying to bolt the rocksliders to the framerail for support (and creating a huge 24"torque arm against the frame) it is possible to actually tie-in vertically to the b-pillar area and the new cross sill.
It's a little hard to explain, but as this moves along, I'll post up more photos and it will all make more sense...... the same effect happens in the A-pillar area as well. I can drive the loads from the rockslider up into the rollcage and support it from above AND by tying it back into the framerail.
With the addition of that new cross sill, it also opened up the opportunity to rework the diagonal braces behind the front seats in the B-pillar area.
Although its hard to argue with the original "V" shape from a strength perspective, it makes rear seat access even MORE of a pain than it normally is. Having even just a few inches of space between those tubes on the floor will make a world of difference in terms of legroom and ease of ingress/egress. I played around with a few different options (straight bars, bent bars, crossbars) and it seems like the one of the right side is my favorite so far.
It's puts the lower bars about 20" apart, so when you flip the passenger seat forward and take that first step into the back area... the whole thing is a LOT easier.....
More thinking.....more planning.
-G
