bought some 3/4" I.D. x 1" x 2" steel bushings, 4 of them. 2 1/4" hitch pins. and some 1/2" hot roll bar for hooks on the risers, and some 3/4" O.D. tubeing that fits in the 4 bushings.

the 1/2" bar is for hooks, ill heat and bend some nice strong ones up. once bent ill heat them cherry red and let air cool to stress relieve the steel. plus its kool as hell to heat stuff cherry red with fire!

the 4 bushings will get welded togeather into a pair. once welded togeather i will weld them to the risers above the crossbar. these will recive the 3/4" tube i bought and later on hold an oversize load sign that i wall make at a later date. the 2 1/4" pins will keep a sign from flying out of the bushings as they are not ment to be a sung fit.

all the little touches i want to do. plus im trying to do all my welding stuff now before i get some paint on it. were expecting rain tuesday so i might remove the bar untill it can be painted.

heres where you can chime in. im planning on painting it gloss black. my light bar infront of my truck is black, my front towhooks and reciver is black. lol not that i like black just basic and simple and matches fairley well with my gray truck. so any other suggestions be nice to hear. ill get a few good coats of primer on it once all the welding is done. once thats dry ill put a bunch of coats of paint on it. make it durable.




the 2 gussets in picture 1 are for the lower risers to cross bar area. i need to cut them to fit and ill knock them pointy ends off them so i can have a nice smooth rounded edge to weld up.

progress so far, more to come.

 

I used semi-flat Rust Oleam(however you spell it) on my headache. I use that color on all my little stuff. Turns out great and matched my mirrors, flares, bumpers, grille, etc.

 

mine wasnt that complicated to make i used an old carport for the tubing and a sawzall to cut it where i wanted and a hobart mig to weld it together, heres a pic

 

Why not get it powder coated? there's a place off foothill that does a good job cheap. we get all our ladder racks coated there..

 

it is an idea. any idea what im lookin at pricewise?

 

My rack, i have been quoted, including sandblasting.......in the $75-150 range. Depending on if it needs to be send out to get blasted.

 

thats not too bad..... well i need the rack tuesday or wensday so ill paint it half assed to keep some of the rust off. there calling for rain in socal tuesday possably through the end of the week. first tho all the welding i did had tweaked it some so i need to use some brute force and violance and a little oxygen/acetylene torch to get it back to square.

btw im uploading pictures from todays progress. pics coming soon

 

pics:













of course the steel bushings and tubeing and 1/2" steel rod i bought last night did nto work. the bushings once welded would not fit the tubeing, and the round rod would not bend nice, crap blend of steel.

so i found to big steel bushings with 1/4" wall thickness, i drilled the 1/4" hole for the pins, they worked fine lol. so now ill use 5/8" round rod for my sign supports.

overkill.....yes....

and for hooks i cut the old safety chain hooks from my harbor freight trailer i took to the scrap yard a week ago. they welded on nicley and turned out to be the right size.

 

today tuesday did not get much done, rain in SoCal. put on a cap and jacket and did some work tho.

mainley reinforced the bed some. and painted the flat steel parts that will get bolted back on. the one bolt about the hole for the stake pocket really fixed alot of the flex in the bedrail. and the strap will only help evan out the load. pics of just the right side but both sides are being reinforced.

if i ever get the bed spray lined im going to weld the **** outa it and plate up corners.

 

coming along great.

 

i hear this weekend going ot be in the 70*s and sunny sooooo i might have it all togeather and painted up

 

Taking your time are we? Lol i did mine in 5 hrs...Im just giving ya a hard time looking good.

 

got the bed reinforcements in. got my light tabs welded on. and painted the mounting plates on the rack so they will be dry when i turn it over to paint the rest of it this weekend.

Pics:

 

Looks good. Hope to see it painted soon. Paint is irritating- just ask me. I'm trying the 50 dollar paint job and having no success so far. Suprised you didn't install forward facing daylighters on there.

 

nice dude!..
ya in those quick release pins you should make a removable light rack.


JOSH

 

Tis' Exactley What There For, my Blue FX4 Friend.

 

ha...i now understand why no mesh or leuvers.....coming along nicely. Looks great.

 

painted it today with a can of gloss black. wet it looked like ***, see all the grinder marks, where i cleaned splater off. so ill see what its like tomorrow once its dry some.

just a cheep paint job and i suck at painting, so a few runs too. but once i get the dough im getting it powder coated.

pics tomorrow in hopefuly sunlight.
getting closer to being installed.

 

what no primer? lol.

 

bah wanted a color on it now.

 

what aare the hooks on the side for? I guess I missed that part....looks great though, nice work!!

 

they are there to tie the load to.

 

sorry guys havent posted up any new pics yet. i have it finished and installed. paint still looks like *** but a coat of mud like i put on it today hides a multitude of sins haha. ill get pics up tomorrow.

 

Looks good Justin, you doin pilot work now?

MB2, you race? I've been planning on goin over there to check it out sometime.

 

im trying to get into pilot work with a trucking company. its a trickey deal cause on insurance reasons. but it the deal breaks my truck is ready to go.

ive been to mb2 its a awsome place. i havent raced there track but i raced at Pole position raceway in corona. which is exactley the same idea. mb2 has group partys lol rent the entire place for a day......hmm do i feel a ranger meet brewin??? haha i have too many ideas.