Another expedition truck on portals...

Ash@Geared

Member
Kip, the bedliner really isn't that harsh against your skin. It definitely has some texture, but the polyurethane component gives it a sort of rubbery feel.

Nothing terribly exciting to report at the moment -- Axletech is four months out on portal boxes currently, so priority on this build isn't exactly the highest with the other builds in the shop. Puma bulkhead showed up last week, so that's dismantled and off at media blasting before paint. X-Vision-X has the pop top on the way, so once the frame modifications are done we can get the body roughed together and start working on interior storage while we wait for axles. I think I'm going to have the interior of the truck digitized and then do all of the design work in CAD to try and maximize the space we have to work with.

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Kgh

Let’s go already!
Going to be a fantastic rig. Very interested to see how the storage shakes out. Lots of voids and typically wasted space on a 110, I am sure you will get creative.

Shayne and I are headed up that way next week, if all goes as planned. Excited to see the truck and X-Vsion-X top in person. Still lusting after their 130 Staion Wagon pop tops.
 

Ash@Geared

Member
Just about done getting the frame stripped and prepped to go to out for galvanizing. I couldn't bring myself to use a boring piece of rectangular tube for the new outriggers so I drew up a low profile replacement. I added a base flange at the frame and may end up doing a gusset on either side as well to keep them strong since they went from 7" in height down to 2". Between that and making them out of 0.125" material I think they'll do the trick.

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Kgh

Let’s go already!
Took a trip up to Florida’s Defender Mecca, Orlando, and visitied Ash and other shops. This truck is going to be amazing when completed. Ash’s attention to detail shows on this and other rigs in his shop.
 

Ash@Geared

Member
Got the outriggers welded up and fit to the frame. The amount of space freed up underneath them makes a pretty substantial improvement for packaging the water tanks, and I'm really pleased with the new configuration. From here I'll come up with a couple of prototype tank designs, then work on fabricating those while the frame is off at sandblasting and then galvanizing.

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zelatore

Explorer
I'm curious about the portals. I didn't think they were actually selling them...most of the places that had them listed for the Jeep crowd have pulled them from their website.

I have a fantasy that I'll put a portal'ed pair of built D44s and 39s on my D1 rock crawler. The wallet doesn't like that idea, but I can dream.
 

Ash@Geared

Member
Interesting, that's the first I've heard of it. I wonder if the ~4 month lead time has some vendors shying away from them. Being that they're made by AxleTech, more commonly known for the insane axles found under MRAP's, I imagine the setup will be bullet proof. You're right about the price tag, though. I think the customer is still reeling from that purchase .

Frame is gone and off to the sandblasters, and the freshly painted and bedlined body now takes its place. We went with a color matched liner which really came out awesome. Aside from water tank design work it's kind of a waiting game for now until everything comes back, upon which I'll test fit all of the tanks and then send it out one final time to get powdercoated for final assembly.

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El-Dracho

Overlander
Hi,

Wow, this is a really cool project! :)

I am curious and excited how you will fit the gauges for the TDi into the TDCI/ Puma dash. Do you have already any plans for that?

Regards, Bjørn
 

Ash@Geared

Member
Been slow on updates as a handful of parts needed have taken quite some time to arrive, on top of a new warehouse move, but these beauties arrived yesterday. We were able to get most of the brackets figured out, but I'll still need to design up a truss for the rear axle's upper link attachment point. Pretty excited to get back on this thing!

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