ATTN: Those with Beaters

[BranndonC]

http://www.branndoncoelho.com/jimmy/
thats my truck now, about ready to drive after a year and a half build up. Anyway I had planned an exo from the beginning to keep the body lasting as long as possible. I want to have this truck around when I have kids. However, I was thinking that if some of the rusty panels got too bad, i'd want to replace them. I couldnt do that with an exo. So I was thinking of a Removeable exo. I didn't like that idea.

The wife has wanted it to be a beater from the start, she's all for carnage. I'm starting to think that's the easiest way to go. But i'm afraid i'll regret denting this straight body up.

do you regret denting your truck up?

 

[pauly383]

I regret denting the pretty truck I drive all the time .

Thats why the garage truck went on a diet from the get go , I.E no font clip , no doors , no tailpan

 

[85HeartBurb]

I don't regreat beating mine it is just alot easier todo once you get the first one!!!!!!!

 

[TruckNutzDude]

Mine went from a pretty decent looking, comfortable to drive... used to have heat K5. Right into a hacked up, no doors, no rear floor, no top, no heat... open fendered, 44" tired beat up truggy in less than a year. I get at least one major dent every time I go out. Last night I blew up the front driveshaft and had to winch myself out of a 4' deep swamp in 30* weather. Ended up winching sideways into a tree (had no choice, but I got it on video ) I do kind of regret losing the heat and rear fenders since I'm getting tired of being cold and wet every time I go out. Having no transmission tunnel meant I got to watch the u-joint explode under water (pretty damn cool looking!) I enjoy the "truggy" but I'm thinking of adding a pick up cab w/ heat this winter (along with a diesel engine)

 

[onlychevy6]

you should ask The Beeter from scbd. he will give you his opinion. LOL...

I was in the same boat as you with my yellow blazer. once i got one ding i was like who cares. now i have the 75 and plan on getting a few dents.

 

[6.2Blazer]

When I started wheelin' (actual trailriding) my '90 around '98 it was really clean and a nice looking truck. The first couple small dings hurt but it was a lot more fun on the trail once I got over that. With that said I spent several more years trying to be at least somewhat careful to not beat up the body without avoiding all of the harder and tighter trails, but the "acceptable" size of the trail dings kept increasing.

Nowadays the K5 is definitely an off-road only beater (though it still has heat, glass, and all of the lights work) that gets trailered. I'm at the point that in general body damage doesn't bother me and I won't avoid an obstacle unless there is a very large chance that major body carnage will be unavoidable.........major carnage as in peeling off a fender, breaking the windshield, hitting the doors (when they are installed) so hard they no longer close, etc....

The one thing I do wish is that I would have added body protection BEFORE starting to slowly beat up the body. I wheeled for years with stock bumpers (worthless) and no side guards. If I would have added my cut and raised 3x3 rockers and front and rear bumpers a couple years earlier it would have saved the body quite a bit. I would have also reinforced the body in a few areas with small square tube welded along the seam and style lines on the sheetmetal. A buddy of mine in a fullsize Ford (78Buford) did this to his doors and they have held up really well.......I've seen him basically pivot the entire 7,000 lb. truck around trees and rocks on the doors and they don't bend. And it doesn't look too Mad Max-ish after painting the tubes the body color.

Even though the current "hardcore" craze seems to be to completely disregard sheetmetal, I think overall you can ride some pretty tough trails with minimal damage with a little smart body armor and some common sense.

 

[mtnman210]

with my current truck I cringe everytime I hear the bushes attacking the sides and I just try and stay away from rocks completely. But thats what the new one's for. Except I know once its all done it'll be hard to take a newly built truck out and beat it to death. but I'm with Throttle Boss after the first one I'm sure it won't matter anymore.

 

[Seventy4Blazer]

my dodge is my tow rig and partial DD... it has dents....

my blazer once running will have dents on dents on dents...
chicks dig dents
Grant

 

[PDXCHVY]

I like my dents, I can tell you where I got everyone of them. I treat them like trophies. The only way I would get upset about on is if I trashed the cab.

 

[BadDog]

When I got my m1008, it had new GM sheet metal on the front cap, nice doors, decent cab, and a sorta decent bed. Rather than tear it up, knowing a wanted a serious off-road truck anyway, I pulled all the sheet metal off and stored it for future use. Then I cut the cab as needed, bought a $10 skinned up junkyard hood to skin and cut down, and called it done (well, as regards the body anyway).

Now I've got the 1 ton K5 that's all beat up when I got it, and I thought I might decide to make it nice at some point. I've got all new sheet for it, including a perfect set of AZ bed sides. But right now, I think I'm going to save those for later and have some fun with the K5...

 

[cbbr]

I really don't want any major damage because I use mine to get to and from trails/camping which normally involves long distances. I try to keep everything working and intact. 24 hours in a truck is bad enough without losing a/c, windows, doors.....

 

[chopped&bobbed77burb]

I don't mind dent's , but seeing how I took a sawsall to my burb and then did a camo paint job dent's are the last thing on my mind . When I first bought my burb I knew what I was going to do to so I made sure I didn't get a burb with a really nice body . I do kinda feel bad for cutting up an almost rust free burb NO not really . I mob my junk prety hard just to freak out my buddies with their toyota's . Beside's chick's dig scar's RIGHT ? . I have seen some really nice rig's on the trail and I alway's wonder why people thrash nice stuff when they could start with junk and build it up and beat it and it will always be junk ( with nice parts) . Bruce

 

[K30CJ]

It's nice not having to worry about damage, and just be able to concentrate on conquering the obstacle.

 

[trailblazr81]

Well Ive never had a nice 4x4. The only nice, good looking vehicle I have owned is my Mustang GT thats only a couple years old. I had a couple Blazers that were decent, one of 'em even had real paint on it. But I wanted to wheel 'em. So on came the scraches and dents. Now I have a rusty 73 K20. My beater from hell!! I just banch it, and dont care about nothing. Tho would be nice to get it to stop blowing fuses for tail lights and brake lights when I turn the lights on. But it has rusty fenders, rust hole in both doors for some A/C, rusty floor and a plywood bed floor!!

 

[Brocky]

Well my buddy rolled his Jeep and decided to rebuild. They chopped the roof off another one and some doors. They decided they wanted it to be able to roll and not worry about it, but they had a nice paint job and this rig is in all the Shows around. So They design his exo cage to be removable. They tied it into his rock sliders and bolted it onto the front and rear bumpers. They wrapped it all in rags and lifted it over the Jeep and bolted it on. We have even towed him from this and it hasn't moved. They bent this with a manual bender. Not air or power operated. It looks good and I want one. Oh yes if you look closely to the ps taillight you can see the hatch is showing busted fibreglass. I spent 11 hours in the woods towing him out and the straps busted and sent a shackle thru the hatch and into the back seat. Stupid idea of joining straps using a shackle I know. But after the pms and into the early breakfast serving ams you can do stupid things.

 

[guido666]

Well my buddy rolled his Jeep and decided to rebuild. They chopped the roof off another one and some doors. They decided they wanted it to be able to roll and not worry about it, but they had a nice paint job and this rig is in all the Shows around. So They design his exo cage to be removable. They tied it into his rock sliders and bolted it onto the front and rear bumpers. They wrapped it all in rags and lifted it over the Jeep and bolted it on. We have even towed him from this and it hasn't moved. They bent this with a manual bender. Not air or power operated. It looks good and I want one. Oh yes if you look closely to the ps taillight you can see the hatch is showing busted fibreglass. I spent 11 hours in the woods towing him out and the straps busted and sent a shackle thru the hatch and into the back seat. Stupid idea of joining straps using a shackle I know. But after the pms and into the early breakfast serving ams you can do stupid things.

Interesting cage, I would like to see how it held in a roll. It looks like it could use another connection to the frame near the back door. I like the chevy badging.

 

[Brocky]

Interesting cage, I would like to see how it held in a roll. It looks like it could use another connection to the frame near the back door. I like the chevy badging.

Ya it really needs another connection by the back door. Jeepers buy a rig, remove all the guts and run Chevy Gear. So why are we not allow to stick Jeep badges on our rigs and go to Jeep Jamobree and show them up. He is upgrading this winter again. 454/sm465/205 going in there. The stock gear doesn;t have enough power.

 

[Joshinator]

Exo It!!!

For a family rig, i think it needs an Exo, just so the rig will be around when you have kids. Friend of mine has a full body Jimmy with Exo. He goes down all the same trails i do, with my hack job of a K5(no doors or front fenders core support, part of rear fenders) and he has just a few scratches from tree branches. After seeing him rub on trees without "Any" body damage, im now a fan of Exo'd Family Rigs. Without the exo, count on building a family rig later (windows, doors, roof, fenders, a/c heat, ect ect). With a wife that enjoys carnage, the sheet metal wont be around long enough to see the kids!!

 

[TruckNutzDude]

I should build an exo, my girl hates when I dent up the body. Too bad for her it's so much fun to squeeze between things you're not supposed to... the last time I did that I had to jump out the window to pry her door open since I had mashed the fenders so badly neither door opened. And I JUST put those new fenders on two weeks ago (they got the sawzall/cuttoff the same day they went on though, so they weren't virgin)

 

[muddybuddy]

my rig is my dd, so i avoid the dents as much as possible. fortunately body parts arent too exoensive used on here, so if there is a lil body damage on doors or something it dont be much to replace.