Desert Turtle - M1010 Build

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Okay, next project, building a method of getting the box off the existing truck and over to the Ram. My wife asked me the question, was there a way to use the lift stands I already bought for doing the roof raise? Hummm... there might be. My mind went to work and came up with these corner brackets that I could use the lift stands. Picked up a little metal plus what I had laying around and fabbed up these. They have tubing on the bottom plate, which locks into the aluminum extrusion on the corners of the box. Rear ones are shorter, to accommodate the tapered rear box but they all four come out with the same lift point height for the stands. This should work well.

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pith helmet

Well-known member
been following and enjoying your builds. im just a seat of my pants diy fabricator and dont want to be 'that guy' but id feel better with a solid gusset and a greater angle on those brackets. you could even put it on the bottom so you dont have to move what you already have on there. great plan, though.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
been following and enjoying your builds. im just a seat of my pants diy fabricator and dont want to be 'that guy' but id feel better with a solid gusset and a greater angle on those brackets. you could even put it on the bottom so you dont have to move what you already have on there. great plan, though.

Appreciate the concern. I tend to overbuild everything and I feel confident these will not have a problem. The empty box is only about 900 lbs, so corners are only getting about 225 lbs each. Cannot put any braces on the bottom of the arm, as I need to be able to spin the lift nuts and need room for the arms to spin.
 

Zuber

Active member
Have you measured the frame widths? I remember that year RAM had wide 38" frame and the Chev/Ford had 34".
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Have you measured the frame widths? I remember that year RAM had wide 38" frame and the Chev/Ford had 34".

Yep, knew about that before I bought it. Basically most everything by late 90's had gone to wider frame rail width. Cab and chassis models still were 34" but have a longer cab to axle length.

Planning to build/weld a "sub frame" to replicate the narrower frame rails. Think I have it all figured out but time will tell.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Well did a few things over the long weekend. Both projects worked out but both ended up being more work than expected. First up was replacing the very yellowed headlights. Due to the grill guard and the alignment of the bumper, I could not get to a couple of the bolts that held in the headlight assemblies. Ended up having to remove the grill guard and then pull the bumper out enough to get to the bolts. Glad I was replacing them as I found the driver side mount broken and the headlight loose. Got those install but decided not to reinstall the grill guard.

Then the big project, removing the flatbed off the truck. Don't have pics of the actual work but ended up using chain ran diagonally across the bed and my engine hoist to lift it. It ended up being a lot heavier than expected and I had to get a couple neighbors and my wife to help out. Next step will be to get the truck weighed so I know where I am at before I put the M1010 box on.

Headlights replacement

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Flatbed removed

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Zuber

Active member
I see you got the Sport headlights, excellent choice. If you add a relay, you can power low beam when the high beam is on, so you get both. More excellent.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
I see you got the Sport headlights, excellent choice. If you add a relay, you can power low beam when the high beam is on, so you get both. More excellent.

Actually mine is the Sport model so this was the factory setup. Being factory, low beams stay on with the high beams. Still underwhelmed by stock lights but I needed something that was more than the brightness of a candle the original lights gave. I am really spoiled with my JW Speaker LED lights in my Cherokee and the factory LED lights in my RAV4. Would really love to build a new mount setup that would take a set of the JW Speaker 5x7 lights, like I have in my Cherokee. This will work for the time being.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Well that went sideways. Working on taking the box off so I could test fit to the Ram. Got all the rivets out holding the boot to the cab. Got all but 4 bolts removed, holding the box. Moved the M1010 to my side yard, to remove the rest and lift the box off. Well.... I hadn't counted on the fact that the car lift stands end up wider than my pad and even if I could get that to work, it blocks all access to the yard as they would end up blocking the gate opening. Well crap... Didn't see that coming. At a standstill at the moment.
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Well... having stalled on the box move project for the moment, I decided to tackle a very long, outstanding project. 2.5 years ago, I installed the front Bilstein shocks but never the rear. Problem I ran into was, I had read the lower bolt was 9/16" diameter but the sleeves for the shock bushings are 1/2". Removing the bushing would allow it to fit but nothing would prevent the mount from crushing when you tightened the bolt and having the movement of the bushing on the bolt could cause it to turn and possibly loosen. Recently I found that Ballistic Fabrications made weld on reducer bushing, to covert a 9/16" hole to a 1/2". Cool, ordered them and once they arrive, set out to finish this project up. Well what I didn't know is, even though the upper mounting stud has a nut that is equivalent to a 1/2" bolt, the actual mounting stud itself is also 9/16". Well crap.

Looking at the old shocks, the sleeves are the right size for the mounting hardware but would never fit into the shock bushings. Hummm.... I wondered if someone made bushing that would fit the shock loops but have a 3/4" ID. I happened upon Daystar bushings that looked like they might work. Ordered a set off of Amazon and got them the next day. They looked like they should work so I set out to remove the old shock sleeves and removing the Bilstein bushings. Installed the Daystar ones, which fit the loops perfect and pressed in the old sleeves. Bam! Just what I needed.

Weekend came and I set out to finish this up. With the shock bushing/sleeves figured out, they bolted right into the factory mounts and hardware. Yay! Finally done. Took for a test drive and definitely better ride and handles bumps and dips much better.

Difference in bushing ID size

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Daystar bushing with old sleeve, Bilstein bushing and sleeve and the Ballistic Fab reducers (which I am not using now)

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Daystar bushing and old sleeve installed on one end, still the original Bilstein on the other

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Shock installed (hose is nowhere close to exhaust, picture illusion)

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ExpoMike

Well-known member
Well crap... Another unforeseen issue with moving the M1010 over to the Ram. The rear tire width is 3" wider than the outside of the box. I didn't think of this until a neighbor parked his newer Chevy truck behind the M1010 and I saw it was a fair bit wider. That prompted me to measure the Ram.

I think that likely killed the box move. I already had a few other questionable issues that I wasn't 100% sure would be solved. Guess I'll put the flatbed back on the Ram and use it to haul materials for the box build and then sell it. Wish I would have checked that before heading that direction. Oh well....
 

ExpoMike

Well-known member
Well... moving forward. Picked up some aluminum tube and sheet to start building the rear wall. Much to my surprise, by using 1.5" thick tube on the bottom and 1" thick tube on the top of the opening, the door fit perfectly. I knew it was going to be close but I figured I would have to shim the door to fill the gap. Nope, nice and snug. Got the wall studs framed up. Need to do some final welding and make a couple filler pieces for the curved part of the door. Then install the frame and skin the wall. By moving up to .063" sheet (instead of the .050" I have been using), I was able to get it 60" wide which means I can do the full wall in one sheet (60" high x 75" wide). No seams!!!

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