Canadian Disco 2 Build

[R_Lefebvre]

Alex, I think that's the way I'm going, but mirror image of that.

I prefer the more common term coldlap, as it more accurately describes the condition when it occurs, which is common with MIG, not so much with TIG.

Yes, and just to put this to bed, you can see inside the tube that I penetrated right through as there is a bead on the inside was well.

 

[tweak]

is that a custom trailer? Pretty bad ***...

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yup.

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=35013

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Got a bit more done on it this weekend. Hard to get some solid time in between Christmas shopping, and 2 young kids at home. I wanted to spend all of today on it, but I took the opportunity to take my little boy to the pool to teach him to swim today. :snorkel:

So, I've now got the main part pretty much finished, all welded and ground and the ends are capped off. You can now see how I tapered the ends of the bumper up. I also put in one of the shackle mounts. Well, it's tacked, but I'll bring it in to work to use one of the big welders because my machine doesn't do a great job on the 1" thick bar. I made the shackle mounts from scratch from 1x3 solid bar. They pass through both sides of the beam, and will be welded directly to the 1/4" mounting plate on the back.

I've also been thinking about how to finish it. I think I'll either just use a good quality black paint, or maybe have it LineX'd. People don't seem to use it on bumpers and things that much, and I wonder why? I don't think I'd bother trying the store bought stuff.

Once I get the other shackle cut in, I'll start on the side wings to the back tire. I was looking at how to brace them back to the frame, and I think I'll end up welding some new mounts to the side of the frame rails. That'll just be the best way to do it.

I was also thinking about cutting off the factory frame mounted tow hoops. They won't be necessary anymore, and just hang down to catch on things. Thoughts?

 

[michaels]

looks good. go ahead and trim your quarter panels. that's what i did before i finally attached the "wings" six months after the one weekend i spent building the main rear beam. trim again if necessary for your design.

i would just use rustoleum paint and primer. if you scratch it touch ups are easy. line x is expensive to begin with. i'm sure it would be the same to fix the scratches.

are you keeping the tow hitch or making your own?

 

[michaelgroves]

Good job! I'd go with paint rather than LineX too - I think the rough finish would spoil the looks.

And yes, you may as well cut off the lashing eyes, IMO.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yes, I will be trimming the quarter panels, but I don't think I'm going straight across... not sure yet. I want to keep the fender flares, so I was going to go to the bottom of them. But looking at my Paint markup, I don't know, the angle required seems a bit steep. With the Greg Davis rear bumper, are people cutting the fenders flares too? I guess that's one idea. What I want to do is match the slope of the fender slider to the slope of my taper. Just keep them the same so that visually it looks right.

I'll see if it's possible to put the bar *behind* the end of the fender flare somehow.

I'll be making a new tow hitch design. Very much like the tow bars they use on Defenders in the UK.

 

[RonL]

I may have missed this somewhere in the 240+ post, but what are you doing with your rear tire?

 

[R_Lefebvre]

I'm going to make a swing-away tire carrier with 2 jerry cans and some tool mounts.

 

[michaels]

yep cut the fender flares. no big deal, ya big sissy. here is what i did before finishing the sides. cut it an an angle close to the original. it's just about 6" more clearance in the photo. i think i cut about 8 inches off total from the sides.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Yup, that's what I'll do then. I just hadn't gotten far enough down that road yet to realize what it would look like, and didn't know people were cutting them for the GD bumper. Plus, then I don't have to do another miter cut at the end of the slider to match the angle of the bottom of the flare. I'll just cut if off at an angle, and be done with it. With the tube underneath the flare, you won't see the unfinished cut bottom edge of the flare. I think I'll use 2x2 box tube for the quarter slider, and it will visually match the rocksliders I'll be making. I could use 1x2, but that seems a little narrow for strength, and I can't get 1.5x2.

The tow bracket will look kinda like this, but without the adjustable sliding plate. I will have 4 mounting holes in the bumper with the same pattern as a 5t Dixon Bate jaw (so I could put one on later if I wanted). I'll have a section of 6x3 channel drilled similarly, and it will also be reinforced at the bottom back to the frame. I'm doing this because I think it's the best way to get the huge drop I need for the trailer hitch. When I don't need the hitch, I can just unbolt it and have great departure angle. I find that a 12" drop hitch in a 2" reciever tube is just too sloppy.

I think I'm going to go with reverse lights in the bumper. I'll go see what I can get at a nearby truck/trailer place. If I do, I'm going to cut a nice 1/4" reinforcement plate to weld around the light hole. Both to protect the light, reinforce the bumper around the hole, and add a bit of style so it doesn't just look like a trailer light cut into the bumper.

 

[AlexJet]

Rob, looking realy nice.
As of LineX. This is durable stuff, but have a few major downpoints. On of it is stopping me to cover my bumpers too. Its the finish. LineX is not flat, it's more like very touch sanpaper. I've seen a few bumpers done with it and you get mud, dirt, sand into the tiny arear between those roughness which can't be taken off even with powerwasher. At some point bumper will start look brown in color and dirty all the time nomatter what you do to clean. I was told that the only solution to keep it looks clean (not counting never drive off the pavment) is to spray it with tireshine every morning. This is not soomething I'd like, so all my custom work is having primer, rubberized undercoating and flat paint to make it shine. Works good for years.

 

[Roverhound]

Rob, looking realy nice.
As of LineX. This is durable stuff, but have a few major downpoints. On of it is stopping me to cover my bumpers too. Its the finish. LineX is not flat, it's more like very touch sanpaper. I've seen a few bumpers done with it and you get mud, dirt, sand into the tiny arear between those roughness which can't be taken off even with powerwasher. At some point bumper will start look brown in color and dirty all the time nomatter what you do to clean. I was told that the only solution to keep it looks clean (not counting never drive off the pavment) is to spray it with tireshine every morning. This is not soomething I'd like, so all my custom work is having primer, rubberized undercoating and flat paint to make it shine. Works good for years.

I have bed liner on the side of my truck and have no problems keeping it clean. I just use a car washing brush.

 

[R_Lefebvre]

Alex, what is the rubberized undercoating you're speaking of exactly? I used some asphalt coating in the wheel wells of my trailer, but it goes on top of the paint. Sounds like you're saying you put something under the paint? Is it what they call rocker guard?

Earlier I had this crazy idea about having strips of black delrin material fastened under the bumper as wear strips, but I discarded it as being too costly and complex.

I got some standard basic clear oblong lights from the truck/trailer place at lunch. I'm still not sure I want to do that because... well... they look like trailer lights.

 

[Red90]

Put some real lights on for reversing. When in the bush, it makes life much easier. Mount them high as they stay cleaner and provide better coverage.