Project Truggy progress thread

[balterbuilt]

Well, out of sheer boredom of haveing only one of two days a week worth of work and having my truck look the same for the past two years i've decided to start project..da da da daaaaaa..SUPER TRUGGY!!. Ok, yeah so that's a lame name, maybe you guys can hook me up with a better one. Here is where i'm starting. I have no idea where it's going to end up.

I started by making some tie-in's from the rollcage to the body for super dooper uber strength. Still need to cut in the "speed holes" or whatever you wanna call them and weld it in place.

 

[sled_dog]

is that a kit cage?

 

[balterbuilt]

no its' a custom 4130 chromoly cage I built about 4 years ago. First thing i ever made with a tubing bender and I eyed it all!!!! See how it's a little narrower at one end then the other..haha . The rest is pretty square though

 

[sled_dog]

I was just noting the fitment to the cab, haha. Eh for eyeballing thats awesome, haha. I spend way too much(but need to) time laying out main hoops.

 

[BranndonC]

"BaltersBeater" lol i'll watch for updates on its progress

 

[balterbuilt]

oh you need to though, I went throug ha faze of spending half a day laying out cages for people, but now ihave it down where i just take some simple measurements and I can get it super tight! I kinda hat the fact that the cage is outta wack and rigth where people can see it. But it's 4130 and I dont want to start over because of one little spot ya know. I'm goign to exo the cab and tie it in like i am the inside as well so i think i'm gonna be covered.

 

[sled_dog]

my cage looks like crap. Its off center, the welds are ugly, and the halo is a little lower than I would like(close to the head). But I have the simple thing to fall back on, I didn't build it . I let some kids do that while I 4 linked the rear. they did a crappy job but I knew they weren't rocket scientists and it wouldn't turn out amazing. I'll just redo some stuff and live with the rest.

 

[balterbuilt]

the cage is solid in my rig, just the f-up. i had been a lead welder and fabricator for a year or two for a HUGE company out here in cali, but we never bent tube, it was a structual steel shop. Now i got it down, it's what i do all day

 

[balterbuilt]

*update*

I planned to finish the tie-ins tongiht but like the dummy i am I tore the tip of my toe off cause I was wearing flip flops! Big time, like no more tip of toe..gone..no mas. Let this be a lesson to you all, flip flops and coronas make a bad garage combo!

 

[balterbuilt]

made some changes since i was around a while ago. Bobbed the bed of hte truck and started the exo cage this weekend. Check out hte progress so far...

much more to come

 

[muddermilitia]

wow i havnt seen you on here in a loooooong time! Your trucks lookin real good, I may have to steal some ideas for my exocage next year

 

[lunchbox]

that looks great!

 

[walla2k5]

Where ya' been Jesse ? This ought to keep you busy, for a while...

 

[balterbuilt]

sorry i gave up the whole balterbuilt thing because it just wasn't takin. So I got hired as the lead fab'r for a high end lighting fixture shop in novato california. But now we are in rhonert park which is right down the street from my house so i now have much more time on my hands. In terms of hte blazer, the exo should be done this weekend (at least the rear) im so raring to wheel, it's been 5 months! So i'm going to hold off of the front exo and suspension for a while and get to workin on my finace's flatfender. I still do custom work on the side for people, trying ot build a local name fro myself as a custom builder.

notm uch has changed on the blazer except i cut 28" out of the bed and added a fuel cell. Oh and now the taillights work! Still only have one dm headlight though :-/

 

[balterbuilt]

hey lunchbox, you in novato, that's right down the street from me, we should go wheeling at cow sometime!

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

So i'm going to hold off of the front exo and suspension for a while and get to workin on my finace's flatfender.

pics of the flattie?

 

[Randy92782]

that is one sweet exo cage. i love how it follows the body lines all the way up. perfecto man. i want one

 

[balterbuilt]

the exo isn't even near being done in the rear, some more bracing and some aluminum are in the plans...

 

[resurrected_jimmy]

And its a GPW..... add 1 cool point

 

[balterbuilt]

actually it's a gpw frame with an MB body on it. Used to have a turbocharged flathead four but it kept blowing head gaskets so we swapped in a buick v6. Going to redo the suspension with coils front and rear but it will be the same ride height as above plus maybe an inch. It's my girls and we are keeping it low key. Plan to lock the rear also but keep the front open. Probably throw on a 6000lbs winch and call 'er good.

Right now it has a full cage, repalcement seats for a new jeep, custom dash and consol, 31x13.5 swamper sx tires, camero power steering, dana 18 t-case with t-90 tranny, bucik v6, dana 41 rear and dana 25 front with cehvy disc brakes. oh and hte body mounts are air bags which sounds cool but is a bad idea, creates tons of body roll and didn't really help the ride.