Got a younger fella here that has a CAD run aluminum plasma cutter etc at his shop. I'm going to yank the old doors right off and He's going to weld in 1" aluminum tubing in the back where the doors went. He also does colored aluminum skin like cargo trailers. It will be glued and riveted to the tubing. The old hinge supports on the box will be used as partial support for the ladder, spare tire/roof rack that will fit in there. Going to tie it to a nice 8' X 6' roof top carrier. Did you do any extra reinforcing to the under frame? I am missing a few of the angle iron cross pieces that came out from the frame and were mounted through the floor with counter sunk bolts. Those will get replaced next. Going to wire wheel the box frame and paint it. Sand blast and paint the truck frame.
My 550 build The "Ford Escape"
- Thread starter Fatboyz
- Start date
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
I have not added anything, yet. I am mounting the propane tank under the left front corner of the box, and a gray water tank on the other side. Those mounts will also add structure for the items sitting over them inside the box. The fridge is on one side, and the bathroom on the other. I am trying very hard to keep the back of the box wide open. It will have some type of seating but the plan is to have it fold up against the wall. I want to haul my bike back there. I hate having stuff mounted outside in the elements and available for thievery.
Got things arranged to take the truck next week to the welding shop. Young guys there have done lots of truck decks and some RV haulers. They'll take the box off. Do some reinforcing, build new mounts and front spring mounts. Will be closing in the back and doing the frame to close in under the cab over. I'll be spray foaming and they will skin the overhang. While the box is off, truck frame is sand blasted and painted, cab gets painted too. Hope to replace the rear springs then too. This is a major part of this summers work. Then I can take my time with the inside!
Still waiting for the upfitter to get to my truck and get the box off. Repainted my propane tank and mounts in between two more swiftwater rescues this weekend. Our local Audio Video shop closed down so got a great deal on a new deck and dash fittings. Will have bluetooth and XM capability now.
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Had the truck at the heavy duty shop while we were on holidays for the week. They installed the new rear springs, got the broken bolts out of the AC compressor mount, got the battery draw fixed, and checked my glow plugs and solenoid. Tomorrow I finish sanding the cab and hopefully get it painted Sunday Afternoon.
pappawheely
Autonomous4X4
That's a nice propane tank, how many gallons?
It's 12 gallons. Got it and the mounts from the wrecker for $20.00!
I stopped by the upfitter today. They finally got a start on my box. He's doing a nice job and convinced me to re-skin the whole outside. He's going to add it on right over the existing. There was a few patches I had put on over some tears which will be removed and covered over. My windows weren't sealed yet so that will work out perfectly. Figured if I'm doing all this work might as well make it 100%. Now I'll have to prime that new aluminum before I paint it. Glad I have access to that shop to paint it! It was snowing here today.