Hope you all had a great 4th! 
More updates... was able to escape into the garage over the weekend, basically a lot more cutting and removal of bent/broken parts. Got most of the interior stripped which helped me find bent battery trays. With the "rebuild" I plan on relocating these, so it was the prime opportunity to cut them out to start fresh.
After that I started working on the rear. I figured I'd just work from the back to the front to help minimize the overlook of something. I removed the oil coolers, spare box and brackets, cut out a bent tube holding the sway bar, all the fun things. After inspecting everything else, I figured it was time to see how I was going to relocate things and see what all would be needed. In order to relocate a battery to the rear, I'd have to move the spares box over a bit. Laid it out, should also have enough room for a 4-quart fluid holder as well.
My goal is to sleeve the sway bar through the intersection point, giving it strength. Will probably add small gussets on the outside to help minimize this from happening again. Also have to come up with a good mounting solution for the battery tray. After straightening the better of the two, I will more than likely just add a support on the bottom to keep them from bending. Then just reuse my brackets for the spares box. But before I burn in any refurbished parts, I needed to make sure everything would clear with the spare tire carrier. HAHA amusingly I put it back on the chassis to see what if anything could be salvaged. Luckily all the damage was on the rearmost portion, so I chopped it all off in order to rebuild. For the first time in months, I actually made progress on putting something back together.
Once I get the tire carrier back together, I'll finish up with the battery tray and spares box. Hope to have some more time this week/weekend to get more done before I travel next week. Guess the countdown is on!
More updates... was able to escape into the garage over the weekend, basically a lot more cutting and removal of bent/broken parts. Got most of the interior stripped which helped me find bent battery trays. With the "rebuild" I plan on relocating these, so it was the prime opportunity to cut them out to start fresh.
After that I started working on the rear. I figured I'd just work from the back to the front to help minimize the overlook of something. I removed the oil coolers, spare box and brackets, cut out a bent tube holding the sway bar, all the fun things. After inspecting everything else, I figured it was time to see how I was going to relocate things and see what all would be needed. In order to relocate a battery to the rear, I'd have to move the spares box over a bit. Laid it out, should also have enough room for a 4-quart fluid holder as well.
My goal is to sleeve the sway bar through the intersection point, giving it strength. Will probably add small gussets on the outside to help minimize this from happening again. Also have to come up with a good mounting solution for the battery tray. After straightening the better of the two, I will more than likely just add a support on the bottom to keep them from bending. Then just reuse my brackets for the spares box. But before I burn in any refurbished parts, I needed to make sure everything would clear with the spare tire carrier. HAHA amusingly I put it back on the chassis to see what if anything could be salvaged. Luckily all the damage was on the rearmost portion, so I chopped it all off in order to rebuild. For the first time in months, I actually made progress on putting something back together.
Once I get the tire carrier back together, I'll finish up with the battery tray and spares box. Hope to have some more time this week/weekend to get more done before I travel next week. Guess the countdown is on!
