The RedBurb

[AugustDiesel]

Rubber dip the whole thing like they do to playground benches.

So like Plasti Dip spray on rubber coating?

 

[Truckman4life]

I didn't think of that but yeah probably would work. I'd do the aerosol truck bed liner I think.

 

[AugustDiesel]

I didn't think of that but yeah probably would work. I'd do the aerosol truck bed liner I think.

Thats where I’m leaning as well.

 

[ktmoutfront]

A real welder would lay a bead over each end onto the tubing.

 

[AugustDiesel]

A real welder would lay a bead over each end onto the tubing.

That’s actually exactly what I’m planning on doing … although I’m not a real welder

 

[AugustDiesel]

The winch mount is all burned in. 1/4” plate wedged between two .120 wall tubes. I say that’s plenty rigid and fo sho overkill - but I won’t have anything to worry about. I didn’t have enough plate left over to do this after all, so a quick trip to Lowes got me a couple pieces of plate that I stitched together to get what I needed.



The plate is 12” wide x 16” long and centered in the rack. The actual mount that comes with the winch, which I will also use - primarily for the fairlead - is only 7” wide, so I have PLENTY of room here for offsetting the winch to accommodate opening the passenger side cargo door without having to disconnect the winch.



All tucked in for the night. Tomorrow gets some supports for the side rails and the expanded metal finally gets trimmed and burned in.

This thing is getting heavy.

Andy

 

[AgDieseler]

Really good work dude. I love the deliberate approach and thoughtful design. Pretty sure I’m remaking my rack, and plan to steal a handful of ideas from you.

David

 

[AugustDiesel]

Really good work dude. I love the deliberate approach and thoughtful design. Pretty sure I’m remaking my rack, and plan to steal a handful of ideas from you.

David

Thats very appreciated man! Thank you. My absolute favorite part about building is how it encourages, inspires, and motivates others - whether giving others ideas or just getting others back to work - so I love these kinds of comments. No doubt, whatever you come up with will be 100x improved over what I’m building here. Enjoy the process.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Man what a busy few days, and with a cold too.

Side rail supports were added, along with those “gussets” that really only provide tie down points. Added 6 of the 7 available D rings to the side rails, but, without their anchors, because I figured out the anchors are too big for the 1.5” tube. But, the D rings were perfectly sized to be welded to the side rails, so that’s what I did. The 7th D ring was welded to the winch plate, just for fun. And I have mad respect now for those who build trailers and weld expanded metal to the frames. Very tedious.

It’s not perfect, plenty of warping. Turns out my plywood isn’t the best fixture table and there are various other mistakes that probably only I’ll ever notice. But it’s all good nonetheless.



Andy

 

[AugustDiesel]

Yesterday we got the rack up on the roof and mocked up for mounting. I owe a huge thank you to @Mrpandazz for coming out and giving me a hand with this. This steel rack is no lightweight, but we developed a pretty good system to get up and down the heavy Chevy. Despite its flaws, I’m really happy with how this rack turned out and am excited to put it to use later this week!



Andy

 

[ktmoutfront]

It looks like it belongs there.

 

[AugustDiesel]

It looks like it belongs there.

Thanks Wade. That means a lot. I had my reservations but as soon as we got it up there, I was totally satisfied. As Michael put it, it fits well with the theme of the rest of the truck.

 

[Fastereddie]

It looks like it belongs there.

I was thinking the same thing. Looks really good on there.

 

[mrk5]

It does look good!

 

[AugustDiesel]

I was thinking the same thing. Looks really good on there.

It does look good!

Thanks guys! I’m real excited to put it to use. We’re going camping this weekend, and bringing our bikes. It’ll be easy to toss those up there and strap them down.

 

[AugustDiesel]

All painted up.

 

[mrk5]

Bet that took a fair bit of paint.

 

[AugustDiesel]

Bet that took a fair bit of paint.

3 cans of primer, 5 cans of undercoating for the expanded metal, and 5-6 cans of gloss black.

 

[mrk5]

Haha! YEP!

 

[Truckman4life]

I am not a fan of Rustoleum paint and I don't know how well it holds up but I ended up with some paint plus primer gloss black 2x coverage Rustoleum spray paint and man does it put down some coverage for brackets and such.