Whitey turns red build thread!

[Dannyboy]

Khris, great build! I'm sorry I've been MIA. We just had a baby, work is awesomely bust as always, my Explorer is still in storage 1800 miles away. If you get a chance, weigh your truck. I'd be curious how much different it is from mine. We have similar tires, suspension etc, but mine has a cage and the interior is gutted.

We'll wheel when it cools down!

 

[sirhk100]

No worries man, I've been jealous of all the boat pics I've spied on your facebook so... LOL

 

[Dannyboy]

No worries man, I've been jealous of all the boat pics I've spied on your facebook so... LOL

Sadly, most pics are me sending off a customer to have fun, only a few lake days compared to a ton of office time for Dan.

 

[Rick]

Khris, someone asked me for photos of a rear 'glass install recently. Do you have any photos of the process?

 

[sirhk100]

Rick, check out posts # 22 & 23 in this thread. I can pull a panel off and get better pics but that's pretty much what I did.



Also, lost one of the blades off the fan yesterday which also took out my radiator shroud. Oh well, picking up a new fan on the way home today and will stitch the shroud back together with some safety wire...

 

[Rick]

Thanks Khris. Now I'll know where to point people to

 

[sirhk100]

Got the front axle shafts slid in monday evening. And then had about 45 minutes to kill yesterday afternoon so I started slangin some tubing at the rock sliders. The plan is basically what you see here with 2 spreader/support pieces in between equally spaced. Across the whole top of it I'll have a plate once it's done so it'll act as a step/running board kinda while at the same time hopefully giving myself a bit of body protection for the sheet metal/pinch seam/fiberglass rear fenders.

Hoping to have the tube work 100% finished tomorrow night and then I'll knock out the plate work ASAP. My plasma cutter source is down for a week or two moving shops but once he's up and running again I'll get him to cut my plates and weld em up...

 

[Rick]

3 months 'til T-haven

 

[sirhk100]

Shoot, I've completely ignored that. I'll have to find the thread and dates and put it on my calendar. I've got 100% of my days off for the rest of 2013 planned right now with basically one remaining day floating around to use somewhere. Maybe that's the right spot to plug that day in!!!!

 

[sirhk100]

Popped it's cherry this weekend! Did pretty good for it's first time out. I wanted something a little bit on the mellow side trail wise to make sure it's good to go so of course I end up on a trail run with a local club to do what they mostly consider the hardest of all the local trails they ever run and we're gonna do it at night with a pretty gnarly thunderstorm surrounding the canyon we're running! What could be wrong with that for a first time ever on the trail with the 100% freshly built rig? LOL

Escaped damage free though!!! Rock sliders got proven for sure! I will say, the jeeps do have us expos beat in the rocker area between the wheel wells cause we for sure hang low! Only issues I have is in regards to my fiberglass fenders, they need trimmed for sure! I cycled the whole suspension front and rear with tires on checking clearances but in the real world with the weight of the rig involved, I didn't cut enough. No biggie, 15 minutes with the body saw and it'll be ready to rock.

Other then that, everything was a great success!!! I did end up getting winched up one waterfall but 2 out of the 4 jeeps on the trail with me go the line also so it wasn't just me. I had nothing to prove and being fresh and unfamiliar with the true capabilities of my rig I didn't want to push it. Had I been aired down lower I probably would've been fine to be honest.

All in all, a great time!!! No pictures cause it was dark but it's good to be back in the rocks again! I should be taking it on another trail run this sat on a bit more mellow of a trail and during the day so I'll make sure someone snaps some pics along the way.

 

[sirhk100]

I guess I lied, there was 2 pictures the other night. LOL

 

[Rick]

Awesome! Congrats

Did you cut out your rockers and put your sliders up as high as you could? I didn't go that far, but the pinch weld is folded and the bars are tucked up as tightly as possible.

 

[sirhk100]

Mine are probably similar to yours. I just notched out the pinch weld and folded them over to run my attachment tubes thru each place.

This angle is a bit weird, it looks like there's a big gap on the one closest to the camera but I assure you it's tucked up into the pinch seam like you can see on the next one back.

I plated the frame where the middle two are welded to the frame, the front and rears were a bit interesting with other stuff in the same area so I just went straight to the frame with no plate work.

So far, between my old jeep TJ on 35's and this expo, that's about the biggest disadvantage. Jeeps definitely do have the edge on clearance outside the frame rails. My expo has them beat between the frame rails in ground clearance but they can put their tires over larger rocks without dragging the rockers.

 

[Maniak]

Mine are probably similar to yours. I just notched out the pinch weld and folded them over to run my attachment tubes thru each place.

This angle is a bit weird, it looks like there's a big gap on the one closest to the camera but I assure you it's tucked up into the pinch seam like you can see on the next one back.

I plated the frame where the middle two are welded to the frame, the front and rears were a bit interesting with other stuff in the same area so I just went straight to the frame with no plate work.

Bring this out to truckhaven so I can copy it. I really need some sliders. Although I think I may need to cut out the rockers up to the doors as they are really dented from not having sliders.

~Mark


So far, between my old jeep TJ on 35's and this expo, that's about the biggest disadvantage. Jeeps definitely do have the edge on clearance outside the frame rails. My expo has them beat between the frame rails in ground clearance but they can put their tires over larger rocks without dragging the rockers.

 

[sirhk100]

As of right now I'm definitely planning on the Truckhaven trip for sure. The picture up above in post 107 isn't actually even current anymore. I tossed two short stubby little spreader type tubes equally spaced in between for support for mid rail rock hits. I'll be laying a plate across the whole top of them here in the next week or two so they'll double as a step/running board of sorts.

 

[Dannyboy]

I'm in Wisconsin right now. I should get my truck loaded up & get it on a trailer Westbound. Truckhaven roadtrip would be a good time.

 

[sirhk100]

Oh shoot, are you actually bringing it out here finally?

 

[sirhk100]

 

[Demo1986]

Awesome pics! I want to see this rig airborne!

 

[sirhk100]

Art work here. Frame grab from dust to glory. My old original expo on the left with the yellow arrow pointing to it and me on the right with the horrible red arrow.