Rebuilding an '85 Toyota Pickup

[Brucker]

Fordboy77 previously posted:

[Brucker]

With the frame support fabricated and welded into place, I could focus on the bumper itself. The main structure of the bumper is fine, but needs some modifications. First, I cut everything out of the middle to make room for a winch tray.




Then I cut off the stinger:



Looking better already:



On to the winch tray. Again, keeping "light weight" in mind, I start designing the winch tray out of two pieces of 1/8" plate steel that will be mated together to form one piece a 1/4" thick. I also decided that I was going to do everything by hand. No sitting behind the computer drawing up the designs, then exporting them the the CNC table. Nope, forcing myself to do it old school. Keep the skills sharp. So I came up with a quick design and sketched out both pieces, then overlaid them both on a paper template.



I then transferred each onto the 1/8". Here's the first one:



Using one of my plasma cutters, I cut each plate to size. I did "cheat" on the round hole that were being cut for dimpling. I used some jigs (fixtures) I made up on the CNC table. There is one for each different size dimple die I own. Makes cutting dimple die holes on the fly a breeze.

The jigs:





Jigs in action:



Cutting one of the plates:



Plate one:



Two:



Together:

[Popsgarage]

I'm going to remember some of these techniques. The dimple die hole jig is a good one.

[Brucker]

Popsgarage previously posted:

[glacierpaul]

Very cool Aaron!! Jigs are way cool Nothing wrong with old school!!

[Brucker]

glacierpaul previously posted:

[Brucker]

The first plated warped pretty good from the dimple die treatment. Too big of holes too close together in too thick of material.



No worries, I will be able to attend to that when I weld the two plates together. So I clamped the two plates together and against the fab table.



Once all the clamps were tight, I tack welded the two plates together.





Before the material becomes more hardened from fully welding the two together, I bent up the tray in the brake press:





Once it was done in the press, I fully welded every seam.



At this point, you are probably asking yourself if all that was actually worth the effort. In my eyes it obviously was, but here are some numbers for you to judge for yourself.

I was able to save 9 pounds over a solid 1/4" steel plate of the same size. 9 pounds may not seem like much, but consider that it's more than a 1/3 of the total weight that the 1/4" plate would have been. The standard 1/4" plate runs about 23 lbs, whereas ours' comes in at just 14 lbs.

Also, I learned a couple different things. First, I should have gone with slightly smaller holes to dimple. That would have given me a little more room to fit the two pieces together, and would have not warped the material when I dimpled it. Second, that from now on I will bend each piece separately, then weld them together. There are a few places I believe the bend lines would have turned out cleaner if I were to do so. But all in all, it came out pretty well, so I am happy with it.

[glacierpaul]

You made it good, and figured out a better way to do it next time, you are a true fabricator dude!!

[Brucker]

I fit the winch tray between the bumper and front frame support and clamped it into position.



Then tack welded it into place and removed the clamps:





Then I cut a few more pieces out to run along the sides of the winch tray. Then tacked them into place





As was stated before, I am not a huge fan of front stingers. However, I do realize and understand that the bumper needs to also protect the top of the winch and give some protection to the top of the radiator in case of roll over. So here is what I came up with:







Then I removed the bumper from the rig for final welding.

[Brucker]

Since I want to easily touch up the coating of the bumper and the likely amount of abuse it will probably see, I chose to use a rattle can. With our paint booth completely occupied with another project, I dragged a stand outside and hung the bumper.



I then cleaned, scuffed, and shot the bumper with paint. While it was drying I also took the time to finish painting the front fame support:



Once everything got a couple coats and had plenty time to dry, I reinstalled the assembly back onto the Toyota. Then I reinstalled the Hella's but I didn't install the winch yet as it will be arriving later. Here are a couple photos of the completed bumper:







Then I promptly took it out for a little sun:

[Rick]

Nice work,love yer rig

[glacierpaul]

Very nice Aaron!! I like the 'Toyota' axle brace, did you make that?

[xaza]

bumper looks sweet. I am not a fan of stingers either but that one is nice. Will be adding a little stinger to mine eventually

[Brucker]

Rick previously posted:

[Brucker]

Pivoting rack/Tire carrier

When the truck was first put together we incorporated a pivoting rack meant to hold the spare tire (or anything else for that matter) in multiple different positions. This would allow the "bed" to be of more use than just a place holder for the spare. Allows more room for additional spares or a cooler, or camping gear, or etc. There is more detail into this on the first page of this build thread.

Original plans were just to use a strap to hold the spare tire in place. A strap is quick, strong, and easily replaceable. And it worked great the first season or so. But straps have their downfalls. They weather quickly and easily, as well as stretch and tear, and they don't provide any sort of security. So I made the easy decision that a better system was needed. Here is a before photo, one with the spare held in place with a strap:




Quickly designed and fabricated a better way to secure the spare tire on to the pivoting rack. Created a complete plan of attack and a chop list. Sourced and then cut, bent and machined all the different materials and parts needed



Then started assembling the various pieces and welded everything up:



(Above) Notice the hole in the end of the threaded rod for a padlock



Then I did a quick layout on the rack to find center. Then drilled a through hole for the weld in threaded bung. Cleaned everything up and welded the bung into place. And finally threaded everything together for a test fit.







With the spare in the lowest position



With the spare in the first middle position



With spare in the second middle position



With the spare in the highest position



After the test fitting, I dismounted everything and painted it all black to match the rest of the tube work. The remounted everything including the padlock on the end of the threaded shaft. Here it is all painted, secured, and trail ready:

[glacierpaul]

That is really sweet Aaron!!

[dscowell]

Wow that's sweet! Would have never thought to have it pivot to mount it in all those different positions.

[Cr33p3r]

Aaron thanks for sharing the build up on your rig. I like all the versatility you used to make the different parts. I need to get with you sometime and see what you would charge me to do up a gas tank for the ranger so I can get rid of that black plastic one.

[Brucker]

Thanks everyone!

@freaky- I would be happy to chat with you anytime. Have you tried to see what is available off the shelf? As you know, off the shelf is way cheaper than custom. And with places like Jegs, Summit, Speedway, etc, offering many different designs and configurations, you might be able to find what you need. Either way, I am always willing to help out, so just let me know!

[Cr33p3r]

Brucker previously posted: