Build TrashE

[Grendel]

Mustard is a good, cheap gear check compound

 

[Dan]

Mustard is a good, cheap gear check compound

No kidding?

Now I feel silly spending $7 on this oil paint that will probably only last 20 years.

 

[Dan]

Not much work on this project lately as I’ve been trying to make the shop a better place. Since I decided to put my ‘19 ram 3500 for sale soon I realized I’m going to need another work horse to replace it. So here we go.

…………………………………………………….


3/32 smaw rods.

Hammer the flux off.

Clean further with scotch brite, I also wipe the rods with acetone anytime I’m tig welding something. Did this to about 12 rods to make sure I had enough and wasn’t scrambling to prep more while I was welding.

Rear axle just hanging around waiting for the procedure to be over with.

 

[Dan]

I mig welded the front 14 bolt but I didn’t really like doing that, it just didn’t feel right. Welding the chunk/tubes this way only added 1-2 hours which is not a big deal since it’s just me having fun in the garage anyway.

2 passes/side sealed the deal.

Burned through almost 8 rods total.

After post heat and peening a final time I wrapped the chunk in two 6’x10’ welding blankets and went to bed.

I had the steps I used written out but deleted them to keep the post simple. Pre-heat, post heat, peen (often), and slow cooling seemed to do the trick.

 

[arse_sidewards]

Did you peen those welds with a Q-tip or did you just take the pics before you peened them because "muh stacked instahoe dimes".

 

[Dan]

No dummy, you hit the toe of the weld with a hammer to relieve stress. There are a bunch of ways to peen a weld and most of them will make good welds look like ****. I would think an internet cwi like you would understand that but I guess you’re just here to talk ****.

 

[arse_sidewards]

There are a bunch of ways to peen a weld and most of them will make good welds look like ****.

That's why I asked for clarification.

All you had to do was say "those pics were before peening"

If I wanted to give you **** I'd be asking you questions you don't have a good answer to.

 

[Dan]

That's why I asked for clarification.

All you had to do was say "those pics were before peening"

If I wanted to give you **** I'd be asking you questions you don't have a good answer to.

Oh you just wanted clarification? Perhaps you should phrase your comment like a civilized human.

To clarify:

No I didn’t peen with a q-tip.

No it wasn’t for "muh stacked instahoe dimes" as I don’t have instagram.

For a welding procedure like this pictures are the last thing on my mind.

For further clarification I didn’t show these welds to my welding buddies because they would laugh. I posted them in my build thread because they’re relevant & I already MIG welded the front axle casting for comparison.

 

[rockota]

updates?

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

****ing rockota , I got excited when I saw the ***le pop up.

 

[Dan]

updates?

All I have at the moment is some dumb stuff I wasn’t going to talk about.

Stupid cleaning, painting, and final assembly chit I don't like doing so I haven't been doing it

Rear axle is all set up, welded, painted, and hopefully wont leak. Gears look like gears. etc.

Neoprene under the fuel tank.

Used this marine fuel line for the feed and return.

Tank is in and plumbed/done. Shocks are in, air bags are all set up, stuffs painted and generally just getting **** finished.

Parking brake is done. Mock up driveshaft to check for binding during suspension travel.

Rear brakes are roughed in, just need a couple studs to hold the lines in a couple spots on the axle and then come back and tighten everything.

Just got the front axle pulled last night and on the bench, went ahead and finished bending and routing the brake lines. Hard lines are all NiCop, I'll tear into this next. Figured I should start working on it again if people are bumping for updates

 

[Bebop]

Your work is very clean Mr Dan

 

[rattle_snake]

This thing done and driving yet??

 

[Dan]

No….. somehow I have less done than my last update


Just kidding, I got a little more done.

Front gears are in with pipe dope on the revolution 14 bolt spanners, loctite on everything but I’m realizing I should have ordered my shafts as soon as I had the measurements instead of waiting to finish another axle and buy 2 pairs at once to try and save on shipping. Not sure when those will show up.

Another ez gear set up on the super simple 14 bolt. Only difference this time was I set everything up once, then pulled the carrier and installed the axle seals into the spanners, added rector seal 5, and put it back together a final time.

Interior portion is good to go. Built a new seat bracket, corbeau jp buckets for the driver/passenger and a little prp roadster in the middle. Replaced all of the seat belts with some random black ones.

I put sliders under the corbeau seats which should make driving this a possibility for shorter people too.

Both sides are on sliders to give me a little better access to the storage area behind the seats.

Yeah, that’s about it, just bolting stuff together. Not much time to work on it lately but it’s getting there. Everything is welded and mostly painted. I’m going to change the pan gasket next and start putting lube into various holes.

 

[rockota]

And then?

 

[Bebop]

so clean !

 

[Dan]

Sometimes I need to remind myself this is a hobby and to treat it as such, helps me get through the lack of progress. I’ve only been able to dedicate 2-4 hours a week on this thing and that’s spread out time so it’s hard to get anything done. But there has been a little bit of progress.

Inner axle shafts are from Dutchman, outers are from ecgs but I think they are Yukon so probably Chinese made. U-joints are ouverson 300m made in good ‘ol’ USA.

Front assembly coming together with my OG spicer lock outs.

Bought these little caps to keep crap out of the frame where the steering gear mounts.

Got everything assembled enough for a test drive. No trail lights, mirrors, leaking radiator, etc. but it was a fun little ride and very motivating. The 4.88 axle gears are perfect in this thing.

Replaced the factory style radiator with this one from mishimoto, American made with a lifetime warranty.

 

[Dan]

Driveshafts are from Adams.

Only drove about a mile on my short little test drive to avoid overheating the truck but it was enough to feel the flat spots in these new tires. I’m going to see if the flat spots go away with some more driving but I already bought a new set of 40” trail grapplers in case they don’t.

Front winch is on and done.

Relocated the winch box to the engine bay.

Rear winch is done also, it hooks up with these Anderson connectors, I also have a set of jumper cables that I can plug in here.

 

[rockota]

what chassis paint are you using?

 

[Dan]

Rust-oleum semi-gloss black on the chassis, axles, and whatever other random brackets that need paint. I sprayed it over the rust looking primer because I had a few cans left over from past projects.

You can tell by the runs how good I am at spray painting

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

 

[NORDFORD]

I love this build. Please update more.

 

[350TacoZilla]

Good find on the little caps. The one good thing about the internet is when your part hunting for something like that, some random little piece that you don't want to drive all around looking for but not sure if it's even available.

 

[Dan]

Forgot about this. I originally cut a hole in the body and welded in a fuel bezel but there wasn’t enough elevation. It took fuel but very slow. I was going to patch the hole but I think I’ll see if I can fit a small hose reel in the wheel well that feeds through the old fuel bezel. Hopefully this works out and I don’t have to patch the hole, already some oil canning from welding the body back together and I’d like to avoid anymore that I’ll have to fix.

New location flows a lot faster.

I ended up making a little box and welding it into the compartment. Went ahead and put my air bag schrader valves there too, eventually I’ll have it set up to fill or drain the bags from inside the cab.

Once I get it painted I’ll put a gasket along the new fuel bezel rim and it should seal to the inside of the door when closed.

 

[Dan]

Stripped all the brackets off the bumper and removed the lower plastic part that clips on the bottom. Made some new mounts out of 1/4” plate and welded them to the backside, the bumper slides over the winch and bolts on to the frame with (2) 5/8” bolts/side. There’s also a piece of tube that extends out to the sides to reinforce the factory bumper, pretty sure I used 1.25” tube for that.

Cut up these stainless brackets to mount the lights, welded them to the 1/4” mounting plate.

I narrowed the little horizontal slots where the lights are sticking out about 4 inches on each side. Then I cut the hole for the winch.

To free spool the winch you just stick your hand in the driver side slot and the lever is right there.

My tow rig was in the shop so I parked this next to it out of curiosity. The roof is about 8” taller than the stock dually and the headlights are almost at the same height.

 

[Bebop]

IDK how I didn't see the latest updates on this thing.
Love it !

 

[350TacoZilla]

My tow rig was in the shop so I parked this next to it out of curiosity. The roof is about 8” taller than the stock dually and the headlights are almost at the same height.

Obvious thing to do here is AEV lift and 40s on the tow rig. just 335\80R20s instead of 40x13.50r17 like they normally run.

TrashE is looking great

 

[pennsylvaniaboy]

can we get a side profile of the front winch/bumper? looks like a clean fit!

 

[Alexis700]

Your fab work is insanely clean 👌.

Guessing you weld fabricate for a living?

 

[Dan]

can we get a side profile of the front winch/bumper? looks like a clean fit!

I took a couple just now.

Couldn’t quite get it all the way behind the bumper without moving the AC condenser.

Your fab work is insanely clean 👌.

Guessing you weld fabricate for a living?

Metal fab payed the bills for about 8 years, now I do other stuff and it’s back to a hobby.

And thanks!