well, i got a big extra job this week - i'm painting a couple rooms in someone's house and they're paying me $500 - so next week should bring some tube. i also gotta order those mounting plates from kert.... and gussets and mounting tabs and... 
CK5
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colbystephens' '73 blazer build!
- Thread starter colbystephens
- Start date
Damn that Kert, always making cool stuff for me to need 
Looking forward to the cage and rest of the build, you can't beat a topless k5
Looking forward to the cage and rest of the build, you can't beat a topless k5
Damn that Kert, always making cool stuff for me to need
Looking forward to the cage and rest of the build, you can't beat a topless k5
Not to highjock, but I really enjoy that Keystone exhaust patch...
With 3 layers it held all weekend
well, just ordered 8 of these suckers from DIY4x....
i should be picking up the tubing on friday and starting the cage this weekend!! killer price on these plates - the website says $16.50 ea, but when i called, they informed me that the price is wrong on the site and that they really only cost $9/set. that's a pretty huge benefit to me!
i should be picking up the tubing on friday and starting the cage this weekend!!
killer price on these plates - the website says $16.50 ea, but when i called, they informed me that the price is wrong on the site and that they really only cost $9/set. that's a pretty huge benefit to me! 
Here are the 2 pics I have for now, will post up more asap. This is the area we talked about, the B pillar right behind the driver/passenger seats (first pic) Driver side facing towards the rear of the truck. I cut a Square hole in the double wall box in the front of the rear wheel well under the truck to access this area from the bottom.
In the 2nd pic from under neath (top of pic is the rear of the truck) you can see a 1/2 in bolt going thru the regular raised pleet in the bed floor. There is a 1/4 thick washer under the nut. I may still do something different there but for now its the way it is.
You can see the lower Left bolt is thru a double thick area. Thats fairly strong. I will probably put a thick washer there aswell.
The bottom right bolt goes thru the bed floor of the same raised pleet as the top bolt. You can see where the flange that is bent down from the factory, has been cut and bent up. I took one of my thick washers and ground it on the diameter to fit between the raised pleet and this bent up flange.
The bolt actually has the bed floor thickness and the double flange thickness and the thick washer is sandwhiched in between the two. I might weld the bent up flange to what its bent up to, which is a pleet on both sides. I tried to cut and bend it so it landed on the lower pleets on both sides for strength and so I could weld both sides to the pleets. Hope this make sence.
One of the bolts you can't see and I want to try to get a pic of, actually runs thru one of the bed floor bolt holes, (see first pic). Its a 5/16 welded nut on the bottom of the truck but I drilled it to 1/2 then dropped the bolt in and ran a nut on it. That nut was tough to drill as there heat treated.
The last bolt, also one you can't see is just thru the bed floor thru a pleet but is only thru one thickness of sheet metal. I may not be able to get a pic of that as its up inside there but I will try.
Its a tough area to get a backing plate up in there. Remember I used my design of round mounting plates too. A different plate with fit differently.
You can also see the spacer I put under the cage mounting plate so as not to crush the pleet in the floor.
In the 2nd pic from under neath (top of pic is the rear of the truck) you can see a 1/2 in bolt going thru the regular raised pleet in the bed floor. There is a 1/4 thick washer under the nut. I may still do something different there but for now its the way it is.
You can see the lower Left bolt is thru a double thick area. Thats fairly strong. I will probably put a thick washer there aswell.
The bottom right bolt goes thru the bed floor of the same raised pleet as the top bolt. You can see where the flange that is bent down from the factory, has been cut and bent up. I took one of my thick washers and ground it on the diameter to fit between the raised pleet and this bent up flange.
The bolt actually has the bed floor thickness and the double flange thickness and the thick washer is sandwhiched in between the two. I might weld the bent up flange to what its bent up to, which is a pleet on both sides. I tried to cut and bend it so it landed on the lower pleets on both sides for strength and so I could weld both sides to the pleets. Hope this make sence.
One of the bolts you can't see and I want to try to get a pic of, actually runs thru one of the bed floor bolt holes, (see first pic). Its a 5/16 welded nut on the bottom of the truck but I drilled it to 1/2 then dropped the bolt in and ran a nut on it. That nut was tough to drill as there heat treated.
The last bolt, also one you can't see is just thru the bed floor thru a pleet but is only thru one thickness of sheet metal. I may not be able to get a pic of that as its up inside there but I will try.
Its a tough area to get a backing plate up in there. Remember I used my design of round mounting plates too. A different plate with fit differently.
You can also see the spacer I put under the cage mounting plate so as not to crush the pleet in the floor.
interesting. i don't think that particular design will work in my case - but i'd like to see whatever pics you've got for ideas. as posted above, i'm using those plates from kert so i'll have to figure something out. perhaps i'll have to find a way to grind out the supports under there to make the backing plate fit. i don't have rocker boxes, so i'll be mounting that point to the frame also.
I had issues with the support under the b-pillar as well in my cage build. I ended up moving the pillar back to about 2" off the wheel well. On the drivers side I bent up the support enough to slide my backing plate under, this turned out to be a pain and made it hard to line up the holes. On the other side I ended up trimming the backing plate down to fit. I am still not really satisfied with the way it turned out and plan on redoing it this summer so I will be interested in what you come up with.
Edit:
Do you have any pictures of where your rocker boxes used to be?
Edit:
Do you have any pictures of where your rocker boxes used to be?
Im curious aswell. I have thought about removing mine for clearence for boat siding and rock sliders.
i'll get under there and snap a few pics probably on friday. 
Sweet thanks
A couple new pics. Considering the area, there is no way to get a backing plate up in there. I think since I was able to catch a couple of double thick areas its pretty strong. I might still look at it and see if I can improove it, but for now I just want to finish the rest of the cage up, its good for now. You can see Im right next to the structure under neath so I could come off that with a upside down "L" bracket welded to the structure or something and have the bolts run thru the bracket. would be hard to get up in there and weld it to the structure though. three out of 5 bolts are in double thickness material.
Gorillajeep
1/2 ton status
How much of the bottom of your rocker boxes did you cut out? I ma hainvg ahard time visualizing. . I am also building a cage in a 74 K-5.
For now, all I have cut is a window in the front of the rear wheel well. here is a couple of pics. Colby wanted to know how/where I mounted the B pillar behind the driver/pass seats, in front of the wheel wells.
The previous pics on page 15 are of the mount point looking straight up thru the opening in the rocker box. The last two previous pics are the camera held inside the opening, and pics were took capturing the two bolts you cant see from the straight up shots. Hope this makes sence.
I also sanded the inside of the rocker box and painted inside with rust inhibitor paint as you can see. I had to cut access to get the cage mount bolted down.
still gotta clean mine up - going to do some more grinding to make things a bit cleaner, then go after it with the flap disc and hit it with herc. whole underside is going herc'd. the 2x4 tube made it plenty rigid to do without the rocker box. additionally, i'm going to hard mount the cage, so i shouldn't have much of an issue with lacking rigidity due to having cut the boxes out...
whole underside is going herc'd. the 2x4 tube made it plenty rigid to do without the rocker box. additionally, i'm going to hard mount the cage, so i shouldn't have much of an issue with lacking rigidity due to having cut the boxes out...
Thats my plan aswell, get the rocker cut out them tube it, weld it, then cut the rest of the box out. I thought it would actually make for some decent storage but I would rather have the clearence for rocks. My cage will keep the body rigid too. Im leaning more and more towards boat siding my K5. Not a lot but some. Will still have a full door and tube door setup.
offroadblazer764x4
1/2 ton status
what gauge steel did you use for that rocker box ???
offroadblazer764x4
1/2 ton status
i read this thread last nite this thing looks awesome colby keep up the great work its gona be a beast 
well, i got my first hoop bent up - i did the rear most hoop tonite. talk about a TON of math to get it all going. i'll post pics tomorrow of my chalk board and the hoop. sure took a lot of work. i'll probably get quicker as i get the process down... but for now, my head hurts! 
i screwed up and made that back hoop about 6" too narrow- so it's in too far from the bed sides, but since it's the back hoop, it's not that big of a deal. infact, it might be pretty cool to have the cage dove-tail inward a bit at the back. i just can't make that mistake again! 
it won't work to have it too skinny behind the front seats and in the dashboard. i figured out my mistake tho, so it shouldn't happen again - simple calculation error. i'm very pleased tho.
i screwed up and made that back hoop about 6" too narrow- so it's in too far from the bed sides, but since it's the back hoop, it's not that big of a deal. infact, it might be pretty cool to have the cage dove-tail inward a bit at the back. i just can't make that mistake again! it won't work to have it too skinny behind the front seats and in the dashboard. i figured out my mistake tho, so it shouldn't happen again - simple calculation error. i'm very pleased tho. 
