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73 K20....crossmember time

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watching the sliders build/install. I have a beefy set of tubes off a Tacoma that I started to cut up to make fit my K5, so watching mock up for tips,angles and tricks.
Waiting to see finished bracket and install of your fan set up. As I would like to get mine installed before end of Sept when baby is due.
 
brans87 said:
watching the sliders build/install. I have a beefy set of tubes off a Tacoma that I started to cut up to make fit my K5, so watching mock up for tips,angles and tricks.
Waiting to see finished bracket and install of your fan set up. As I would like to get mine installed before end of Sept when baby is due.
Click to expand...


Yeah so far im really happy with the slider itself pointed up 15* and the supporting tubes at 9* up from that. I felt really unsure about the whole thing until i got it tacked up last night but i know its going to work out really well now that i got it under the truck.

Still working on the fan brackets. My design changes made the driver side much better. Im going to make a quick mounting plate and some other things and it'll be ready to bolt that side on. Then its on to the passenger side.

If the passenger side is similar id say i could get them in the mail in 2 weeks.
 
Went back to the drawing board with my coolant overflow tank bracket. Hoping this works better...





Got the slider legs tacked on last night. Im going to add one more tube to the back for extra strength, then i have to sleeve them and add a small section of 1.75" to them all.



Its really hard to see but the legs are terminating in about the middle of the frame, which should give me enough room to weld around them.

 
Ok got 3 out of the 4 legs welded on last night. The 4th one i need to make a better measurement of where its going to land on the frame. Once i have that on then ill weld the other side up. Im basically learning how to MIG weld as i go haha. You sure to move faster than with TIG! Im loving the welder so far!



Heres that coolant bottle bracket i made. I need to make some small standoffs to allow clearance for the hardware.



Were getting just a bit closer to being ready for Fordyce! Slowly but surely. Im taking off tomorrow to make sure the sliders are dealt with by the end of the weekend along with pulling the tcase and splitting that open. Im debating on saying to hell with taking the tcase out. Its grinding wicked, which i believe to be something (shift fork) broken off and getting stuck somewhere in the 4 lo region. Its gone through the rubicon and hollister like that. I know the right thing to do is tear it apart.

Wiring has shown up for the e-fans so i need to get that set up too. Lots of work to do but itll get done.

 
Im thinking theres a small chance i can inboard my shocks before i head up to fordyce so ive got the materials ready at least.





Temp controller that i still need to hook up...



Still working on the sliders...there almost ready to go on, hoping to get the driver side welded on tonight. I had to sleeve them at the end but they came out great and should be pretty damn strong. There was another piece of tubing added to each sleeved part so they arent done in these pics.





Heres where the 4th bar terminates...



Whats a tubing notcher?



Here they are all painted up and ready to go!



 
blazinzuk said:
Gonna plate the frame?
Click to expand...


Im not sure. I know the 2 middle legs i can plate but the first leg ends up where the frame starts to narrow on its way to the engine bay. The 4th leg obviously is a no go on plating.

I have some little gussets i can put on the first tube so i think it will be plenty strong.
 
I would plate it.

otherwise you'll definitely need to tie them to the body.
 
GWeakland620 said:
x2:popcorn:
Click to expand...

lol :D

skunked said:
I would plate it.

otherwise you'll definitely need to tie them to the body.
Click to expand...

Yeah im going to try but i cant make the plate bend around the part of the frame the 1st tube lands on. Well see what i come up with. I think if the middle ones are plated, theyll probably take the brunt of any slam and ill be fine. Im also tied to the frame in 4 places so that will give me some added strength.
 
skunked said:
It's worth the effort, the frame needs all the help it can get.
Click to expand...


True. Im going to do what i can. I have a bit more room than i thought with the end legs so i may leave them unpainted for the moment and at some bracing.

Not a fan of tieing to the body at all so im avoiding that. Ive come to the realization i want to re-do the cage at some point, which it will be tied to the frame and sliders.
 
skunked said:
It's worth the effort, the frame needs all the help it can get.
Click to expand...

I have had to weld up cracks where sliders attach after a couple years of hard use. Plate the frame and then use gussets. You will still notice some movement but there's only so much you can do.

It's the reason I suggest doing sliders welded to the body. It doesn't move cause the load is spread out over a very large area. But it is challenging and time consuming to get it to look right
 
blazinzuk said:
It's the reason I suggest doing sliders welded to the body. It doesn't move cause the load is spread out over a very large area. But it is challenging and time consuming to get it to look right
Click to expand...

^This is what I did with my sliders. Did very similar sliders to you and had them just attached to the frame, but noticed I still had some frame flex and knew after a few hard hits it would probably start to bend/crack the frame. So made some simple little tabs out of 1/8" plate that go from the main tube to the body supports and welded them up (similar tabs to how DIY4x does their mounts for their bolt on sliders). So it's solid as a rock. Only took me about 2 hours to make 8 total tabs and weld them on. I am pretty sure I have pics in my build thread. Link is in my sig line
 
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wetoolowdingbangow said:
True. Im going to do what i can. I have a bit more room than i thought with the end legs so i may leave them unpainted for the moment and at some bracing.

Not a fan of tieing to the body at all so im avoiding that. Ive come to the realization i want to re-do the cage at some point, which it will be tied to the frame and sliders.
Click to expand...

I see no issue bracing them to the body if it's done right with poly mounts.

blazinzuk said:
It's the reason I suggest doing sliders welded to the body. It doesn't move cause the load is spread out over a very large area. But it is challenging and time consuming to get it to look right
Click to expand...

:waytogo:
 
blazinzuk said:
I have had to weld up cracks where sliders attach after a couple years of hard use. Plate the frame and then use gussets. You will still notice some movement but there's only so much you can do.

It's the reason I suggest doing sliders welded to the body. It doesn't move cause the load is spread out over a very large area. But it is challenging and time consuming to get it to look right
Click to expand...

I follow you. Ill see what i can do about getting 3 plates per side.

Kay86K5 said:
^This is what I did with my sliders. Did very similar sliders to you and had them just attached to the frame, but noticed I still had some frame flex and knew after a few hard hits it would probably start to bend/crack the frame. So made some simple little tabs out of 1/8" plate that go from the main tube to the body supports and welded them up (similar tabs to how DIY4x does their mounts for their bolt on sliders). So it's solid as a rock. Only took me about 2 hours to make 8 total tabs and weld them on. I am pretty sure I have pics in my build thread. Link is in my sig line
Click to expand...

Yeah i checked yours out. I have pics on my phone of your sliders as my guide lol.

skunked said:
I see no issue bracing them to the body if it's done right with poly mounts.



:waytogo:
Click to expand...

yeah ok i could see the poly mounts. The body obviously moves separately from the frame, so to me its a no no to attach anything stationary. Otherwise you may as well get rid of rubber or poly mounts to the body and put in hard spacers.

Maybe the right thing to do is to box the frame.
 
Worked on wiring the fans up last night. Ive got a bit more to do to that and then i need to mount it. I machined the passenger side mount last night and ill test fit that today. It would be great if i could get the fan in and running, then ill work on getting the driver side slider on the frame.

Ive had to cross some things off my list for this trip. I hate doing that but i have to be realistic about what ill get done in the next few days. This is the third trip i wont have rear shocks on lol. Im going to be twerkin hard again.


These trips are always stressful until i get the truck off the trailer and on the trail head, then its fun.

Im going with a couple other fullsize guys which is always awesome. There at the point with there trucks that they can just get gas and hit the trail. I greatly look forward to that day with this truck of mine. Its coming together fast and if i dont have a trip planned i relax on getting stuff done to it, so its sort of a necessary evil for productivity haha.

I just realized the other day ive had my truck for a few weeks over a year. Pretty awesome transformation so far.
 
Well ive got the fan working. I need to snap some pics.

One set of sliders is on. I ended up not plating all together....it sucks i know.

To my defense theres nowhere near the about of room that a side saddle tank truck has. The other down side is i didnt take into consideration where i put the legs, which somehow seem to land in every curved section of the frame. Its simply not possible to put a flat plate over a proud curve in the frame.

So the current setup is 4 legs welded to the frame and the plan is to gusset where i can and when i get back from this trip ill add diagonal bars tieing from slider legs to frame so id have 6 or more bars to the frame. Im going to look at how some other fullsizers have theirs done this weekend.


Anyways thats it for now. Hoping to wrap this turd up tomorrow and get it on the trailer friday.
 
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