Nice! Hope the carrier works real well and the ladder looks very promising. :) I can't believe the price on your parts or that you actually have access to 4Runners of any years in the yards. That doesn't happen much here. :(
Printable View
Nice! Hope the carrier works real well and the ladder looks very promising. :) I can't believe the price on your parts or that you actually have access to 4Runners of any years in the yards. That doesn't happen much here. :(
That actually doesn't happen very often. The reason I got it is because I had a woman at the register and I called it by the correct part category. Spare tire carrier.
Here's the last couple pics for the night. I moved it back up to make sure I didn't need to adjust the arms anymore and I am pretty sure I got it right the first time!
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...3f7fdf1a75.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...375cd62aff.jpg
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...6f6dc231da.jpg
The whole thing will fit even tighter after I do the center mount. I am going to try and make all the bolt holes on the mount work....but honestly if I get 4 with a piece of plate behind it I think I will be doing pretty well.
I am going to make the hinge mounts last since the center will be the weight bearing portion and it is the more crucial of mounts.
The other awesome thing is that it leaves me plenty of room of the other side for the ladder.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...aaaebd6367.jpg
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Man it looks like you have your work cut out for you.
I was surprised how thin the sheet metal was when I was poking around back there for my shelf project. Make sure you tie into enough/big enough spots or I think you'll be fighting the project the entire way.
I know it's hard to tell without sitting right in front of it, sweating and holding the carrier to the back but what about cutting into the body a bit. I'm thinking on the side of the body under the window near the crease in the side sheet metal, as far back as needed. Again this is just thinking but what about a pillar type support that hides inside of the body and then slice a small slit in the sheet metal to attach some 1/4 plate or something that you can work off of. The pillar could poke through the bottom of the body and then have an arm that attaches to the side of the frame.
A loaded carrier is going to create a lot of leverage. Having a solid purchase point will reduce ripped sheet metal and keep it nice and straight.
That's close to what I'm trying to do. It is really hard to see but what I'm up to with the tube steel and the curved piece of plate but I am filling the gap that exists between the body panel and that support for the roof.
That corner brace is what I am going to use as the support on the inside.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...47871d4eb9.jpg
Right now for fitting and measuring purposes I have a 1x1" square tube and then a small curve cut piece of 1/8" plate that fills the gap to the panel. I will be using a bigger piece of 1/8" plate that butt up directly to the panel and curves with the body to hold weld nuts, act as a seal, and to stiffen the panel. It will be ribbed to further transfer the force into the corner support
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...1fe0a98437.jpg
I had to cut into the tube a little to slide it up far enough to get to that crease on the outside
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...ac984122f9.jpg
Here's a drawing of what is in my mind. I'm a bad artist though so hopefully you can see it.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...f96c230d40.jpg
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Figured out the hinges and ordered my parts this week. The only thing that could make this perfect is if I found a place that could bend some 90 deg tube for me. I can make it work without but I think it would look a lot cleaner with the hinges tucked right to the body and the tube bending around the corner of the truck.
The hinges are going to be heim joints. I priced a bunch of options out and I was able to get loaded heim with jam nuts and bungs for 22 apiece. Heims are chromoly with a 9/16" misalignment spacer.
Everything else was all of the hardware I needed for some projects. Wish to hell McMaster wasn't so expensive on shipping....
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Well all parts are in. I am booked for this weekend as long as the weather behaves. It's been muggy as can be these past few days.
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/09...4fdd43cd2d.jpg
I was able to talk my buddy (a certified welder to boot) into coming over and helping/teaching me improve my welds.
Also I am going to break my spot welds as I should have thought of the best way to align all of the joints back up. Best way to make sure they are absolutely straight is to use a sleeve. I have smaller tube that will fit inside fairly snugly. Probably only 1/16 of play.
The bungs fit a little loose as well but I am just going to cut slits in the end of the tube to where the bung ends and then weld them all back up. It seems like it would work just fine. Any reasons why not?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk
Or a plug weld.
We use plug welds a lot at work. Very strong!
I went and got some tube that fits the bungs exactly. I'm going to try and bend these with sand but it is .090 so it's gonna take some grunt. Good thing I picked up 6 ft of it. I just don't have anything to act as a radius to bend on.
I wonder if the hobby shop has 1.25 dies for their hydro bender. It would be nice if they did.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk