'74 K5 build: Smurf

[dremu]

Had to pull the rear bumper off to change it up a bit. I strive to keep my Master Plan in mind when I'm working on the truck, so I don't end up un-doing and re-doing work ... but it happens occasionally.

Switched to LED backup lights in the oval trailer style (more on this in a bit) on the bumper wings. Two passes with the right size hole saw:

and then two straight cuts with the cutoff wheel

Et voila, the gasket and light just drops right in. Also welded tabs to the center for the tire carrer and hinge points to the top outers. (These latter may be slightly overbuilt as I had some 1/2" plate of the right width in the scrap pile. )

Taking pictures of the lights in the dark never turns out well (see below.) The LED's aren't bad, though. While not as insanely bright or as widely dispersed as the halogen, they are markedly better than the factory ones in both regards.

Yes, I like lights.

-- A

 

[AJMBLAZER]

We hadn't noticed.


So are the swing away can carriers and tire stinger going to tie together?

Not that I know fab'ing from a hole in the ground but is that reinforcement for each of the bolts going to be enough? I know I've always heard that even with the reinforcement plates inside the body those were prone to tearing or sagging the metal. Even heard that about the Ford Bronco factory setups.

 

[dremu]

We hadn't noticed.


So are the swing away can carriers and tire stinger going to tie together?

Not that I know fab'ing from a hole in the ground but is that reinforcement for each of the bolts going to be enough? I know I've always heard that even with the reinforcement plates inside the body those were prone to tearing or sagging the metal. Even heard that about the Ford Bronco factory setups.

Well, time will tell. I also committed the potential sin of tying the body to the frame with the swing-aways, as their lower mount goes to the bumper. However, the lower mount will share the weight/force. I tried hefting my fat azz around on the mounts and they withstood the abuse and I'll be checking it periodically.

And be patient, I'm still posting pix and story

-- A

 

[AJMBLAZER]

No now!

 

[dremu]

Those who cannot bend, miter. I have yet to get a bender, so I got some square and rectangular tube, and broke out the angle finder.

The main hoop is half of a dodecagon, or whichever of those D&D things is ten-sided (albeit irregular cuz the center is a bit wider than the two side bits. WhatEVER.)

I just figgered having two side angled bits was slicker than one at 45* as it looks more like a bent hoop, and it was easy enough to sort out that they would go at 30*. And two more pieces wasn't THAT much harder to cut and weld.

Then a prodigious amount of tack welding and test-fitting on the truck. There was actually a cardboard mockup of the tire for a while. This helped me judge where to place the tire vertically, how much rear visibility I could lose, etc... and in cardboard was a HELL of a lot lighter and easier to test-hang than a real tire

And the stinger looks ridiculously high -- it's near level with the top -- but the longer it goes, the gentler the angle is when it's down.

After a long weekend of repeated weld-grind-flap cycles, it looked like this

 

[dremu]

Speaking of welds, some came out pretty good:

and some were apparently done by a drunk Stevie Wonder

Thankfully most are in the former category, and the worst offenders were ground or cut off and re-done.

The wings were enormously complicated, to get the miters cut the right way, and painting them was tedious as all hell. They're like something out of an Escher painting, you start on one surface and end up somewhere completely else

As the square tube is relatively thin-walled, I didn't feel comfortable just drill and tapping it. A fully loaded gas can is nearly forty pounds, so I wanted some extra beef in there.

For the can mounts, then, I drilled the holes stupid big and welded a nut in.

Using a bolt to keep the nut aligned properly and to keep the threads mostly weld-booger-free. You still gotta be careful to tack the nut in a coupla times without zapping the bolt. Then you do the rest of the welding with the bolt out but without boogering the threads. I still ran a tap down 'em quick after they cooled (and yes, Scott, I saw your thing about thread chasers, and I'm gonna order a set. Never knew they were different from taps!)

You can see this one has a small booger in the threads

 

[dremu]

Again, my fixation on lighting will be my downfall. I really have GOT to stop reading the Vendor forum here, as I saw this

http://coloradok5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=301629

the product itself:

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/LITEBAR.html

and got very happy. This is why I put matching backup lights on my bumper

I actually bought the bar early on, before RuffStuff sold the lights to go with, and had some trouble with the gaskets (as they mention in the thread.) Dan was kind enough to send me the stuff to make it all fit properly -- thanks! You would think the oval trailer light is a standard size, but "standard" is an ugly word. If you're going that route, I highly recommend using a single vendor to have everything fit properly, and Dan & co @ RuffStuff are good folks.

And yes, I painted the aluminum; time will tell if that was a mistake.

The connections inside are all soldered and heatshrink-ed (heatshrunk?) as I LOATHE crimp connections.

In addition, there was some creative wiring up under the dash and steering column, as I wanted to separate the turn and brake lights (as opposed to the rear lights' arrangement where they are wired together.) I snagged the turn-only wiring off the column and tapped into the brake light switch, and ran a new trailer-type harness down the inside of the frame rail to the bumper. The light bar is set up with the center two lights red, as a third brake light (aka "Center High-Mounted Stop Lamp" or CHMSL) and the outers in orange as turn indicators. PM me if you're interested in this part as I can tell you more, but it's year-specific so I didn't want to put it in the thread.

Finally, I did a quick inventory of the hardware involved in mounting this monstrosity to the truck

Yes, I really should have shanked bolts inside the bushings, instead of riding on the threads, but as they're greased I find they rotate adequately on the poly part. Just gotta keep the bolts tight. (The two quick-disconnect points are the exception as they're not hinge points. They're bushed only to provide some misalignment.)

 

[dremu]

So, the money shots. With the wings swung out and the stinger down:

And all buttoned up:

It's surprisingly quiet, doesn't rattle or squeak at all. It all fits pretty well and is mostly the way I imagined it from the git-go.

The eagle-eyed will note that the LED bar is angled up a bit. This is intentional. The LED's have a wide dispersal angle but their lens has a bit of directionality to it, so they are STUPID bright from straight on, especially at night. I figger the slight up angle will avoid blinding folks immediately behind me (especially those with red & blue lights on their cars )

-- A

 

[AJMBLAZER]

At some point we need a shot of your truck at pitch black dark night with all the lights on. Betting it'll look something like daylight or a nuclear explosion seen with night vision goggles.

How big's your alternator anyway?

 

[KansasTwister]

Are those leaf spring bushings for the pivots?

 

[dremu]

Are those leaf spring bushings for the pivots?

Yep. As I said, lots of spares after the front spring changeup. You can actually get 'em with a chunk of tube:

http://diy4x.com/cart/index.php?route=product/product&path=39&product_id=133

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=BUSHDOM

(for example -- IIRC, both vendors have variations.)

At some point we need a shot of your truck at pitch black dark night with all the lights on. Betting it'll look something like daylight or a nuclear explosion seen with night vision goggles.

How big's your alternator anyway?

You mean in my sig where it says "140A alternator"? It's the Pontiac Transport one, think this particular one's sheet said it clocked in at 150 or better. Also note that LED's take stupid low power, so it's only the light bar up top that would really have any draw. (Well, that and the winch.)

And the pix are only impressive 'cuz my camera is so bad (or 'cuz I donno how to take night pix of lights )

Also, speaking of pix, the GF and I took Tankie out on errands this weekend:

Real easy to locate her in the mall parking lot. Head and shoulders above the rest, literally

-- A

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

Looks great, Aaron!

 

[AJMBLAZER]

Woot!

Good point on the LED's.

What, you think I read sigs? Especially when I'm harassing you?

 

[colbystephens]

Did you reinforce your hinge points above the taillights somehow? I'd be curious to know how you did it for future reference.

 

[dremu]

Did you reinforce your hinge points above the taillights somehow? I'd be curious to know how you did it for future reference.

Ehh, how do you mean? There's flat stock on the inside as well as the out:

or do you mean on the outside? There's a lip of carefully notched flat stock going around the rear 2/3 of the curve:

which when finished looks like

-- A

 

[colbystephens]

Interesting. How did you install the inner piece? Isn't it a 2 wall structure on the corner, or no?

 

[dremu]

Interesting. How did you install the inner piece? Isn't it a 2 wall structure on the corner, or no?

Yes, there's two walls, but you can reach inside, inbetween the walls, with the tail light out. (This is why the light is missing in all the pix.) To install the inner piece you gotta reach up and around, so it requires a flexible wrist, or you drop the inside piece like fifty times . With practice it's doable.

-- A

 

[colbystephens]

That's really cool. maybe I will like to try something like that, someday.

 

[TheBeast_88K5]

I like that 50% of your welds look great....
The other 50% are like a baboon did 'em...

 

[dremu]

I like that 50% of your welds look great....
The other 50% are like a baboon did 'em...

Yes, well, my mad skillz are a work in progress. I also think I'm gonna splurge on a better welding machine one of these days, but no matter the machine, the welder himself is the key.

-- A