CK5
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Are you building a receiver back there somewhere...hidden behind the plate maybe?

I sure am, my cold handed buddy. :D

It will prolly come in just under the plate tho. As high up as I can make it, but low enough that I can still hook on to stuff.





So, I made a huge sacrifice yesterday in braving the cooler weather up in the garage. I made some good progress but, by the time I shut her down last night about 6:30, the damn temp was around 67 degrees. Brrrrrrrrr :pimp:


On with the progress... :waytogo:

I have been searching the interwebs lately for a badass spindle for the rear swing out tire carrier. I finally found one that appears to have enough beef, but still be in a smaller package.

I actually found it here in town at one of the local offroading/welding shops.





It only has the one race to keep the size down.



But has an insert where the bottom race and bearing would go. This keeps the size down a bunch.





and compared to the Dana 44 that I was thinking about using.



I was pretty excited that I could finally push forward on the back bumper, hitch and whatnot.

It started with digging out the old tailgate and finding the brackets for it. The rear bumper still sat too high on the shackle build out, so I had to figure out something. Either the bumper was going to get cut, or the 4" shackle hangers were going to get mowed down.

So it started. After 5 years, the tailgate finally was back on the rig. Sounds weird, but what an awesome feeling that was.



Pencil line to see how much stuff needed to move.



So I started to garage mill those things down. :whistle:



And where I ended up for now. Not bad for some free hand cuts coming in from both sides.







and after a little love was put to them, the tailgate would drop down nice on top of the bumper. It's still a little close between the two and I'll need to clearance it a little more just in case Eric and I both sit on the tailgate at the same time, but it came out nice.





Now it's off to hidden tube bumper, hitch and swingout. Pretty damn excited to be moving forward.

One last pic, not a lot of room on the 1st gen bumper skin for a spindle...



Should be some good progress this weekend.
 
Looking awesome as always Mike! That spindle is slick! I may need one of those in my life at some point:whistle:

I imagine hanging that tailgate felt so sweet! I remember some of those milestones. Can't wait to get back to mine next year. Then I can start my own tube farm too:woot::woot:
 
Looking awesome as always Mike! That spindle is slick! I may need one of those in my life at some point:whistle:

I imagine hanging that tailgate felt so sweet! I remember some of those milestones. Can't wait to get back to mine next year. Then I can start my own tube farm too:woot::woot:

Thanks Brother. :waytogo:


The tailgate felt pretty damn cool. When I had it mounted and in the down position, it actually felt like a truck again. :woot: I guess it sounds pretty stupid to "Normal build guys", but for us 5 year + build guys, it felt pretty huge. :doah: :haha:

It looks like I might get a little time today to play up in the garage and maybe start to bend some tube. My partner called in sick this morning and I was waiting for an 8:00 phone call. He is 40 minutes late and I'm losing all interest in banging nails today.

Maybe I can get it mocked up to see how it will all play out.. :popcorn:
 
Nice update! :haha:

That spindle is going to cover your taillight?


Nope.

Mike is going to hide that behind the bumper itself, so that the tire carrier AND bumper swing out as a large assembly. It will be called the Bumperlith....

He posted a bunch of into about it on his MySpace page.


-G
 
Nope.

Mike is going to hide that behind the bumper itself, so that the tire carrier AND bumper swing out as a large assembly. It will be called the Bumperlith....

He posted a bunch of into about it on his MySpace page.


-G
This made me laugh really hard. Maybe I need to slow down on the rum and Cokes...
 
I didn't think you had access to my MySpace page. My kid said that he blocked you... :angry1:


This isn't going to be like copyright infringement with the whole transformer thing you have going on, right? :dunno:
 
This thread always makes me laugh! :thumb:

Should be Interesting to see what you come up with for sure! :popcorn:

MySpace... :haha:
 
So if the rear bumper is bumperlith is the front bumper bumperlith top secret ?

You know I am gonna sit on that tailgate. When you come to blazer bash we shall sit on your tailgate and taunt everyone else
 
So if the rear bumper is bumperlith is the front bumper bumperlith top secret ?

You know I am gonna sit on that tailgate. When you come to blazer bash we shall sit on your tailgate and taunt everyone else

Why do I get taunted:confused:

Nevermind, it's probably because I did something really stupid. Taunt away.
 
Why do I get taunted:confused:

Nevermind, it's probably because I did something really stupid. Taunt away.

you make it to blazer bash we welcome you to taunt with us.

And if some one tries something twice we shall taunt them a second time ha HA!:D
 
you make it to blazer bash we welcome you to taunt with us.

And if some one tries something twice we shall taunt them a second time ha HA!:D

What year BB are we talking about? I'm going to try for next year (assuming our move goes smoothly), but definitely 2016! And I have a tailgate too...just saying.:haha:
 
If you are planning on bb next year I better get my ass in gear so I can be there too!
 
If you are planning on bb next year I better get my ass in gear so I can be there too!

Not so much planning as hoping. If they move us to Cali or Colorado though, I feel like I'm obligated to make it happen. We should be finding out here in the next month or so (hopefully) and then I can think about the feasibility of it then. All I know is it needs a cage before I do anything!!!
 
Not so much planning as hoping. If they move us to Cali or Colorado though, I feel like I'm obligated to make it happen. We should be finding out here in the next month or so (hopefully) and then I can think about the feasibility of it then. All I know is it needs a cage before I do anything!!!

CO would be rad! :waytogo:

You'd be mere hours from Moab... And would have lots of local experts to help you spend your money and build your truck!


-G
 

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