As I'm sure many of you have been waiting with baited breath for an update on my Trooper, you don't need to wait any longer! Since the last
major update, I've recovered from a
major injury/illness, bought a house, and got married. So the Trooper has understandably taken a bit of a back seat. That said, it hasn't just been sitting collecting dust. No, it’s been out on about a dozen trips of varying lengths since last summer and has performed admirably. Which brings us to today’s update.
Phase II:
On a couple of my recent trips I’ve come close to my fuel limit between the 22 gallons in the tank and the five gallon’s out back in the Scepter can holder a friend built for me years ago. A double Scepter can holder was always in the plans of
upgrades I wanted in this project. Back before the
world ended, a friend and I bought six Scepter cans off a guy. Included in that purchase were two holders that were, shall we say, extremely over built. Each one weighed in at over 20 pounds, for comparison the single holder that I already had weighs only 9 pounds! After having them sitting in my garage for a few months, I finally thought I’d do something with them. Now, I am no fabricator; I’m just a guy with an angle grinder, reciprocating saw, a 110v Craftsman Mig welder, and a free Sunday!
I wish I had thought to take a before picture, but basically each holder had a ton of unneeded metal on the sides. And this isn’t light stuff, its 1/8th inch steel. By cutting them down to an “L” I shaved 10 pounds out of each holder! After hacking them up, I flipped the ol’ buzz box on and did a really ugly job of welding them together (that’s what flap wheels and paint’s for, right?). Once they were solid, I pulled the old holder off the back of the Trooper and started the process of mounting the new one.
Since this setup is significantly taller than my old one, I had to drill holes into the top and bottom of door in addition to the old license plate holder holes I’d been using before. All told, I used ten mount points, connecting all of them with steel bars on the inside of the door for rigidity.
Once I’d drilled all the holes it was time to clean up the door panel, plug all the old excess holes, and paint it with some bed liner.
After everything had dried, I mounted it and loaded it up with two full cans. My biggest worry was if the door could handle the weight. But I’ve seen other Troopers out there with similar setups and honestly, that door is pretty stout. So far, everything seems sturdy and solid!
Aside from where the plate is mounted, I'm happy with how the "recycling" project turned out. I thought about mounting the plate down low, but I really didn't like how that looked. And if I have to open both sides, meh, no big deal.