Wow that number was a reality check. I planned 10k on the trekker.
I'll just play congress and raise my own debt ceiling I guess...lol.

This thread is invaluable to me and i look at the rolling chassis pictures and it inspires me.

I know you got your soul into this...it's easy to see.

 

Day one of no wife, no child:

I cut out the patches for the rear of the cab. They were cut out of 16ga steel to match up with the thickness of the factory metal which seems to be a thin 16ga or thick 18ga.


I then tacked them in:




I had to slowly weld the patches in using series of tack welds so I wouldn't burn through the steel. I used .030 wire in my welder, but I should have gone out and got some .024 wire. Just roughly welded in the patches from the inside - I'll do the clean up with the grinder after I touch up the outside.

I then used some 3/4" angle stock to create "ledge" for the floor pan to sit on. The last approximately 8 inches of the floor will be angled upward toward the tunnel to allow clearance for the center cross member. The rest of the floor will be flat so the angled section will actually help provide some structural rigidity to the floor.

Here are the ledges tacked in:


And burned in:


My welder has been giving me hell - I think my wire feeder motor may be going up so my welds are all kinds of jackedd up and uneven. They are still good enough, but I'll clean everything up later. My goal is to get everything assembled this weekend, the cosmetics can come later.

 

These pictures are better than porn . Keep em coming. I should be paying you for the knowledge I am getting!!

You sir have personally, unknowingly, commited me to this trekker forever.

Ok back the Cards slaughtering the Dodgers.

 

Yeah the Dodgers are toast! The only one I feel bad for is Kershaw - he deserves a ring. I'm an O's fan, but I'm still rooting for the BoSox - Nobody thought that they were going to amount to much at the beginning of the season, but personally I thought they had what it took to win the AL East. (plus I despise the Tigers)

 

Welp, didn't get as much done as I wanted to this weekend - got distracted hunting Saturday afternoon and of course I would shoot two doe that I had clean up and throw on ice. Good news is that I'll make a whole bunch of deer jerky out of them!

I was getting sick of the burnt sound deadener smell so I scraped all that off:


Welded up the panels for the back side of my rockers. Just use some 1" angle stock and 14ga sheet steal. Mock up was pretty crucial to get the panels to sit properly so that my body mounts go on level - took lots of clamps:



Fast forward a little and here are the results, just tacked in where the spot welds were drilled out:





Tacked in the body mounts that I made a few weeks ago:





Used some 3/4" angle stock to make a "ledge" for the floor pan to sit on across the rear wall of the cab (notice my plethra of clamps - you can never have enough clamps!):



For right now, everything is just tacked in. I want to shoot it again with the sandblaster before I burn everything because I was getting some contamination in my welds from old seam sealer, paint and sound deadener (you can see my "burnt" weld in the pictures). Not to mention, seam sealer smells awful when it is burnt!

The backs of the rocker panels still need to be trimmed up even with the door sills and the bottom of the rockers, but I'll probably do that after I get the cab set up enough to roll around on wheels so that I don't bang it all up moving it around. I also only ran the rear patch of the rocker panels up to the front of the door opening. I plan on tying in my floorpan "ledge" with the kick panels as I have some bad metal in there to replace as well.

All-in-all, it was a productive weekend - I finish everything that I needed to get done. At least now I can move it around without worrying about bending up the rockers.

 

Awesome work..

 

That first pic looks like the rear cab wall I have out against the garage...great job on the new body mounts


While you are cutting and welding you should cut out the middle stiffener in the wall...A buddy of mine did it and ended up with a surprising amound of room..just an idea..

 

Thanks Rob and Gmack! I've thought about it cutting it out, but that metal is so thin - it's nearly 18ga and I'd be worried that it would be rather flimsy. It would also potentially throw off the geometry of the cab (given that I have so much cut out already) and make it lobsided if I don't get it welded back together properly. Not to mention that it would cause more body work that I don't really want to have to do. Plus, I'll be fabbing up a center console so that space gained will be taken up anyway.

 

The geometry of the cab is a good point with as much as you have cut out at this point..

I would love to go as far as you have with your frame off some day...

 

sent you an email
I didnt get the first one I guess , as otherwise I would have answered
I try to answer every email within 24 hours , unless its a weekend or long weekend .. so I'm sure I didnt get your first ?

progress is lookin' great ..


.

 

Floors...we want floors!!

 

Shot you a PM about that template for the body mount brackets.

 

HighLux, patience my friend, It will come. Toyota time isn't super abundant in my household, I'm at the whim of my wife and son. I have to dance a very fine line between trying to get as much done as possible without pissing off my wife (who absolutely hates my truck!)

Yoda, email sent with the template. Let me know if you need any help.

 

Understood. My wife loves the Toyotas. Now...the Mach1....she hated.

I constantly proclaim...boy these toyotas sure are cheap to work on....she buys it or at least tolerates it. She wouldnt part with the 99 runner for anything.

 

I haven't had much time to work on the truck this week since my brother's apartment building had a major leak that I've had to deal with. I don't have enough time to get all the repairs done myself so I've had to hire a couple contractors to get the plumbing, drywall and flooring repairs done. I should have those guys lined up and starting work tomorrow.

I did some more bargaining with my wife this week and she's going to give me all day Saturday to work on my truck. Don't get me wrong though, my wife is an awesome wife and she doesn't really nag me about working on my truck, but I don't like pressing my luck so I like to ask for permission rather then begging for redemption after the fact.

In other news, I spoke with Corey at Toyota Fiberglass today about building my bed. I'll be sending off my deposit by next week so I can get in his production line up. I'm looking at a delivery date some time within April or May. I'm super stoked about the bed after talking to him - he's so passionate about what he does and truly believes in his products and doesn't hide anything. Great salesman!

Hopefully I have some progress to post this weekend.

 

Funny how those negotiations with the Missus work out. We get a bonus at work in january, about the same time the tax refund comes in. That is when I seriously start sucking up for truck cash..
My wife is like yours, pretty cool when I want to spend a couple of hours 'relaxing' working on the truck..

 

thanks Dave .. hope I didnt have to "sell " you to hard .. I believe our product sells it's self .
It was really good chatting with you


.

 

He's a Dave? Im a Dave too!! Daves rule!!!

 

I was going to buy the bed regardless, but you definitely sold me on the tailgate! LOL

Yep, I'm a Dave... Dave's are kinda a big deal!

 

I always thought Dave's Drool