Hello, meet Elsie.

[Allof75]

Great thread, beautiful 40, and awesome scenery! I was born up there in Nevada City and have visited on occasion (went into truckee area last may)- love it!

Peace,

 

[hairy_apple]

Almost done! Got a ton done today after spending the day yesterday doing some unexpected repairs to the tailgate. Got the latch figured out, got the ends capped and sanded pretty. Just have the jerry can mounts tomorrow to build, and mount them on there. And then... I think I'm going to sell it and build another. haha.

I learned a lot and there are a few things I thought of along the way that I want to change and incorporate into the design and they are too big of changes to modify this one. I'm really happy with it, and might hang on to it for a few months, until after DV trip is over. But I already have the next design in my head and it's going to be a big improvement in a few areas.

Padlock keeps the latch from being able to come open.. 200lbs of tire and fuel cans swinging around in traffic would be a very bad thing. Also, keeps the rear of my cruiser more secure.

Pins to lock it open. My last one was really annoying if you weren't parked perfectly even. One side would constantly be swinging into the side of the cruiser, the other side would be constantly trying to close and hitting you while you were unloading camping stuff. Ratchet straps solved that.. but this is soooo much more clean and fancy.

 

[Scrapdaddy]

Hairy Apple,

You're really getting good with that plasma table. Welding is looking great. Keep it up and get back working on the 55's.

 

[hairy_apple]

He he.. yeah.. my 55s are getting jealous from all the work on my 40... the rust bucket needs a starter... a $35 starter. I just got upset when my 40 started falling into disrepair and it will always be my first love. The blue 55 will be finally getting it's motor transplant this spring. I finally got a cherry picker so I'm going to go get the motor from my parents soon and start working on it again. I hope by June to have all three running and driving.

My welds were a bit wobbly today... my dog ate my gloves so I was burning the crap out my myself and was not as steady as I could have been. ha ha. Going to have to go buy some new gloves tomorrow.

 

[hairy_apple]

Got the bumper done finally. Although I am still going to add a few small things I've thought of after the fact. And I still have to build the jerry can mounts that go on the shelf. I had a cool idea after building the shelf, I am going to box in the angled part of it and make a little cubby for the tow strap and jumper cables. Also have to finish my extra tough license plate mount. I'm very happy with how it all came out. It works great and looks good too.

Now... got to start the roof rack this week.

 

[hairy_apple]

Yay. Finally got it done!

Ujoints and starting the roof rack tomorrow.

5 weeks until Death Valley. SOOOOOO much left to do, but I'm feeling good about this!

 

[ober27]

I love the versatility of your rear rack, and you're going to like being able to keep those dirty cables and strap out of the cabin. I look forward to seeing what you do for the roof rack.

 

[Chevrolado]

Sweet! It looks great! Nice work on that. Very handy modification.

 

[hairy_apple]

Snack rack! Made a rack to stick stuff like snacks, camera bag, ect. Stuff that we will want to have quick access to during trips and don't want buried under camping crap. I will have one on the other side on trips the dog isn't with us.

Also put a plywood shelf, I MIGHT make some pull out drawers if I feel motivated, but I highly doubt it. Tools and spares will go under here. Again, stuff that you need access to and don't want buried under too much stuff. I used to have one in there and it was super handy, but it was rotten and broken so I ripped it out a few months ago. Nice to have it back again.

 

[ober27]

Snack rack, Great idea. Camera, binoculars, first aid kit, there are many items that when you need them seem to be out of reach.

 

[hairy_apple]

Been having fun with Elsie the last few weeks. We had to cancel our Death Valley trip, and I was very disappointed, but we went camping Easter weekend and snow wheeling 2 weeks before that.. weird how fast that snow melted! Same area two weeks apart.

 

[Expedition.Report]

Sweet rig!!!


Sent from handheld smoke signal device

 

[reldred]

Looks good with the roof off and a few kayaks on top. Love the shelf for the ice-box on the back!

 

[hairy_apple]

Elsie has been down since the start of June. The rear brakes were leaking and failing so I started to get together parts for the rear disk swap. I make and sell the bracket to mount the calipers, but I had not yet converted my own cruiser. I finally started, and ran into a bunch of little issues, then it got ungodly hot out, and what was going to be a weekend project turned into a month. Finally got it all together and needed to get out and play.


I was going to head to Fordyce, but my parents wanted to go somewhere this weekend too and they have a stock 02 4runner so we went up to Signal Peak instead. Ended the day at Lola Montez and went swimming and had a pretty awesome day trip. I couldn't have been happier with the way the disks functioned. They are great! Couldn't be happier with them.

 

[hairy_apple]

Yay, finally got a mount for my tablet. I've only had the tablet for a year... which I bought for this purpose. This is going to be great to have a nice big screen in easy view. I almost want to flake on Christmas and go explore this weekend now! haha.