Farfrumwork
Well-known member
Nice work Hodakaguy, as usual!
You could mount parallel bars on those L-tracks - solid
You could mount parallel bars on those L-tracks - solid
Hodakaguy's 4x4 Sprinter Build
- Thread starter Hodakaguy
- Start date
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
More progress...
Welding up more roof L-track braces. The first brace now has the proper angle set, I just used that brace and flipped it upside down to replicate the angle on the other braces.
Counter sinking the bolt holes in the forward piece of L-track.
Bolts will now sit flush in the L-track
Next up I decided to install the OEM roof rails. These rails will ultimately be used to attach a roof rack to the van and support solar, an awning etc. The van comes from the factory with holes already punched into the body to accommodate the roof rails, there are plastic plugs in the holes with adhesive sealing them from the weather.
Plug viewed from the roof...
And the plug from inside the van..
Removing the plugs is pretty easy. Use a heat gun from inside the van and heat the plastic plug to the point where it just starts to deform. At that point just use a screw driver to push up on the plug and it will pop right out. While the adhesive is still hot use a plastic scraper to remove as much as the adhesive as possible.
Piece of plastic lexan cut to use as a scraper.
Up top after cleaning it up with the scraper.
Working my way down the channel
Using a little acetone to clean up the remaining adhesive around the holes.
Before cleaning with acetone...
And after....
I chose to go with the OEM roof rails...if you shop around you can find these for not a lot more than the aftermarket units and you know they will fit perfectly.
Here's one of the studs on the roof rail. The rail has a rubber washer at the base of the mounting studs to seal the rail against the roof.
I added some Butyl rubber around the base of the stud to ensure a water proof connection to the van.
I placed a small amount of Butyl around the base of the stud on the inside of the van as well.
Loctite 243 applied to the threads then started slowly tightening the nuts down. I slowly went back and forth allowing the Butyl to ease out between tightening steps. Eventually they were all tight and the rails are now in place.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
Welding up more roof L-track braces. The first brace now has the proper angle set, I just used that brace and flipped it upside down to replicate the angle on the other braces.
Counter sinking the bolt holes in the forward piece of L-track.
Bolts will now sit flush in the L-track
Next up I decided to install the OEM roof rails. These rails will ultimately be used to attach a roof rack to the van and support solar, an awning etc. The van comes from the factory with holes already punched into the body to accommodate the roof rails, there are plastic plugs in the holes with adhesive sealing them from the weather.
Plug viewed from the roof...
And the plug from inside the van..
Removing the plugs is pretty easy. Use a heat gun from inside the van and heat the plastic plug to the point where it just starts to deform. At that point just use a screw driver to push up on the plug and it will pop right out. While the adhesive is still hot use a plastic scraper to remove as much as the adhesive as possible.
Piece of plastic lexan cut to use as a scraper.
Up top after cleaning it up with the scraper.
Working my way down the channel
Using a little acetone to clean up the remaining adhesive around the holes.
Before cleaning with acetone...
And after....
I chose to go with the OEM roof rails...if you shop around you can find these for not a lot more than the aftermarket units and you know they will fit perfectly.
Here's one of the studs on the roof rail. The rail has a rubber washer at the base of the mounting studs to seal the rail against the roof.
I added some Butyl rubber around the base of the stud to ensure a water proof connection to the van.
I placed a small amount of Butyl around the base of the stud on the inside of the van as well.
Loctite 243 applied to the threads then started slowly tightening the nuts down. I slowly went back and forth allowing the Butyl to ease out between tightening steps. Eventually they were all tight and the rails are now in place.
More to come.....
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Bit more work today on the upper supports.
Here I have the holes pre-drilled in the L-Track and the support clamped in place to the track.
I'm using the drill to just lightly make a center mark on the support and using the pre drilled L-track as a guide.
Next up is to center punch the plus nut locations using the marks left by the drill bit then drill the holes for the plus nuts.
Installing the plus nuts and seating them in place.
Before and after seating the plus nuts.
And mounted up in the van. Now that the brace is mounted to the L-Track I can mark and drill the holes for the Plus Nuts that will support the braces to the cross members.
Then Just more of the same....
More to come...
Hodakaguy
Here I have the holes pre-drilled in the L-Track and the support clamped in place to the track.
I'm using the drill to just lightly make a center mark on the support and using the pre drilled L-track as a guide.
Next up is to center punch the plus nut locations using the marks left by the drill bit then drill the holes for the plus nuts.
Installing the plus nuts and seating them in place.
Before and after seating the plus nuts.
And mounted up in the van. Now that the brace is mounted to the L-Track I can mark and drill the holes for the Plus Nuts that will support the braces to the cross members.
Then Just more of the same....
More to come...
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
More progress.....
With the upper braces completed it's time to remove them and get them painted before final install. I'll mark them so that I know what area and direction that they came out of to make re-installation easy.
Here I'm using an Air Scribe to mark the braces starting from the rear and moving forward.
Braces painted and drying.
With the braces out it's time to finish counter sinking the holes in the L-track.
I used plus nuts to install the front two braces into the vans roof ribs, on the remaining units I switched it up and decided to go with heavy duty steel 1/4" pop rivets. Here the passenger side rear brace has been riveted into place. Solid!
On the middle two braces I had to mix it up a bit. Since this van was a passenger model with the roof AC unit there are factory braces welded onto the under side of the roof that the AC unit used to mount to. These factory braces interfere with my brace design so I had to come up with something a little different for the middle two braces. Ultimately I decided to just use the factory bracing to support one end of my brace.
Here my support brace is in place and slid into the factory brace on one end.
This is the piece that will join the two braces.
Joining piece slid into place
Adding the side plates to join everything together.
And finishing it all up.
Continued Below....
With the upper braces completed it's time to remove them and get them painted before final install. I'll mark them so that I know what area and direction that they came out of to make re-installation easy.
Here I'm using an Air Scribe to mark the braces starting from the rear and moving forward.
Braces painted and drying.
With the braces out it's time to finish counter sinking the holes in the L-track.
I used plus nuts to install the front two braces into the vans roof ribs, on the remaining units I switched it up and decided to go with heavy duty steel 1/4" pop rivets. Here the passenger side rear brace has been riveted into place. Solid!
On the middle two braces I had to mix it up a bit. Since this van was a passenger model with the roof AC unit there are factory braces welded onto the under side of the roof that the AC unit used to mount to. These factory braces interfere with my brace design so I had to come up with something a little different for the middle two braces. Ultimately I decided to just use the factory bracing to support one end of my brace.
Here my support brace is in place and slid into the factory brace on one end.
This is the piece that will join the two braces.
Joining piece slid into place
Adding the side plates to join everything together.
And finishing it all up.
Continued Below....
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Continued from above...
At this point I ran out of rivets so I'll switch over to something else for now.
Here I've removed the horizontal L-Track so I can counter sink the mounting holes. At this time I'm going to install a piece of wood to form a wire chase for the factory wire loom.
Rear piece in place.
When the panels are added this piece of wood will kick the panels out just enough to allow the wires to run through the channel behind the panels.
Front section going in.
Time to remove the rear passenger side horizontal L-track and finish counter sinking all the holes.
More to come...
Hodakaguy
At this point I ran out of rivets so I'll switch over to something else for now.
Here I've removed the horizontal L-Track so I can counter sink the mounting holes. At this time I'm going to install a piece of wood to form a wire chase for the factory wire loom.
Rear piece in place.
When the panels are added this piece of wood will kick the panels out just enough to allow the wires to run through the channel behind the panels.
Front section going in.
Time to remove the rear passenger side horizontal L-track and finish counter sinking all the holes.
More to come...
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Time to upgrade my pneumatic rivet gun. My old JET unit is only made for 3/16" rivets but I installed a 1/4" tip and it kinda got the job done so far. To pop a 1/4" steel rivet it took many pulls of the trigger and its hammering the poor thing. Time for a upgrade.
I read a lot of good reviews on the Harbor freight 1/4" rivet gun so I snagged their"Proffessional" Chief unit today and came home to give it a try. Pops aluminum or steel 1/4" rivets with ease every time! Quality looks and feels great as well. Time will tell how it holds up but it's not a high use tool in my shop so it should be fine.
Hodakaguy
I read a lot of good reviews on the Harbor freight 1/4" rivet gun so I snagged their"Proffessional" Chief unit today and came home to give it a try. Pops aluminum or steel 1/4" rivets with ease every time! Quality looks and feels great as well. Time will tell how it holds up but it's not a high use tool in my shop so it should be fine.
Hodakaguy
jgaz
Adventurer
Well timed update on the rivet gun. I was going to ask you how your Jet Model worked With the larger rivets.Time to upgrade my pneumatic rivet gun. My old JET unit is only made for 3/16" rivets but I installed a 1/4" tip and it kinda got the job done so far. To pop a 1/4" steel rivet it took many pulls of the trigger and its hammering the poor thing. Time for a upgrade.
I read a lot of good reviews on the Harbor freight 1/4" rivet gun so I snagged their"Proffessional" Chief unit today and came home to give it a try. Pops aluminum or steel 1/4" rivets with ease every time! Quality looks and feels great as well. Time will tell how it holds up but it's not a high use tool in my shop so it should be fine.
Hodakaguy
I used to have what I think is the same model Jet gun and mine also really struggled with 1/4” rivets.
My solution was to borrow the 1/4 gun from work but that’s no longer an option.
Im glad to see the Harbor Freight unit is a viable option.
Also will you post where you restock your 1/4” rivets. Ive never bought any online.
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Yeah the HF gun works great! I snagged my rivets from Tacoma Screw locally but I'm sure they are available everywhere including Amazon.
Tom
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
More L-Track Work. I'm going to add a couple small sections of L-track on the rear doors, they will be good for numerous things like hanging a cloths line between them when the doors are open, handing small bags for your pocket items when on the bed, etc etc.
Time to break into the angled L-track and cut a couple pieces down to size.
Rear door pieces cut to size. I'm applying tape along the edges to keep them from getting scratched up while in the vise.
Drilling holes....
Here I'm using a Forstner bit to recess the back side of the L-track. The heads on the Plus nuts stick up about a 1/16" or so above the vans sheet metal causing the L-track to tighten up against the head of the Plus nut only. This causes the loads on the L-track to be distributed directly to the plus nuts instead of spreading the load out over the entire rear surface of the L-track and the vans sheet metal. With the rear recess holes in place the L-track can now sit down completely flush against the van.
Recessed holes complete for one side.
Here you can see how the head of the plus nut will recess down into the L-track to allow the L-track to sit flush.
Front side counter sinks completed.
Here are the plastic end caps that will finish these pieces off.
Continued Below....
Hodakaguy
Time to break into the angled L-track and cut a couple pieces down to size.
Rear door pieces cut to size. I'm applying tape along the edges to keep them from getting scratched up while in the vise.
Drilling holes....
Here I'm using a Forstner bit to recess the back side of the L-track. The heads on the Plus nuts stick up about a 1/16" or so above the vans sheet metal causing the L-track to tighten up against the head of the Plus nut only. This causes the loads on the L-track to be distributed directly to the plus nuts instead of spreading the load out over the entire rear surface of the L-track and the vans sheet metal. With the rear recess holes in place the L-track can now sit down completely flush against the van.
Recessed holes complete for one side.
Here you can see how the head of the plus nut will recess down into the L-track to allow the L-track to sit flush.
Front side counter sinks completed.
Here are the plastic end caps that will finish these pieces off.
Continued Below....
Hodakaguy
Hodakaguy
Adventurer
Continued from above....
Installing the plus nuts into the door.
And installed. These should be great for any number of uses.
Next up the passenger side horizontal L-track.
Thinsulate installed in the recesses behind the L-track.
And installed
Next up is to use the Forstner bit to recess the back sides of the upper L-track. This will allow the braces to sit down completely flush on my support braces and add a lot of strength/rigidity in the process.
And re-installing the piece back on the ceiling braces
In this shot you can see the huge difference that the recess makes in allowing the L-track to fit up tight against the Braces, will be a LOT more solid.
And after both sides have been recessed.
More of the same on the drivers side.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
Installing the plus nuts into the door.
And installed. These should be great for any number of uses.
Next up the passenger side horizontal L-track.
Thinsulate installed in the recesses behind the L-track.
And installed
Next up is to use the Forstner bit to recess the back sides of the upper L-track. This will allow the braces to sit down completely flush on my support braces and add a lot of strength/rigidity in the process.
And re-installing the piece back on the ceiling braces
In this shot you can see the huge difference that the recess makes in allowing the L-track to fit up tight against the Braces, will be a LOT more solid.
And after both sides have been recessed.
More of the same on the drivers side.
More to come....
Hodakaguy
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