General Tech What did you work on Today?

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Today I finished up several projects to prepare for a trip to Texas in a couple weeks.

Wired up a replacement for my 3rd brake light that fills two holes left in the tailgate after removing the spare tire.

View attachment 124626

Finished building a platform to go on top of my spare tire.

View attachment 124625

And removed the back seat and built a platform for two loving adults to sleep on. This is actually wider than the mattress in my work truck by several inches.

View attachment 124627


Looks good Jeremy. Have fun on your trip.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
A few pictures from last night’s progress on my son's WJ winch bumper.

e53aa7cc8f2342be2c1932071df4964a.jpg


6df000debb7f3b8116fd635e8ed29f72.jpg


bb4b5f7a9d5b62de36b538779b021de4.jpg


356a8b9800b2663d90633ab4f7498414.jpg


ba0c807d2311a63b746cd4272a355356.jpg


575dbc4601c96fa527464ca7b649746a.jpg


Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I thought I had posted this a couple of years ago but maybe I forgot.

This TIG torch holder was repurposed from an old GS1100 Suzuki engine that we used in our sand drag quad.

I bought a 3" diameter magnet and then cut and rotated the rod cap to create the torch head cradle. I then drilled and tapped the piston to accept a set screw against the wrist pin to prevent it from rotating.
b76e4226715da8651f530a5e7807a2ed.jpg


c5b130ab83a5efe161553019bdd2456d.jpg


Mike
 

Hickey

Burn-barrel enthusiast
Supporting Member
Jeremy, great idea on the 3rd brake lights, that's awesome. Love your craftsmanship Mike.
Thanks Bart. I can't even remember where I bought those LED's but they covered those holes perfectly and they are much brighter than the pic shows.
The wires were really tiny though. So small that my wire strippers were too big to strip the insulation.
 

4x4_Welder

Well-Known Member
Location
Twin Falls, ID
Today I finished up several projects to prepare for a trip to Texas in a couple weeks.

Wired up a replacement for my 3rd brake light that fills two holes left in the tailgate after removing the spare tire.

View attachment 124626

Finished building a platform to go on top of my spare tire.

View attachment 124625

And removed the back seat and built a platform for two loving adults to sleep on. This is actually wider than the mattress in my work truck by several inches.

View attachment 124627
Did you use dual intensity lights or are they just brake lights?
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Last night’s progress consisted of mounting the lower valance under the winch to the lower radiator support. This panel will serve a couple purposes. It needs to allow airflow to the lower section of the cooling stack plus add cosmetic appearance to hide the lower radiator support and yet not impede approach angle.

9f8ec313a346a6d60a797550a137eae3.jpg


31f9779f75b39db0d40db253064ca208.jpg


d7c88b1862682f0711bc28415fc2e50f.jpg


0906553315c28e8cf0363229e53c74da.jpg


c3f6ecfc51a7d9bcaa60688ecf8f0a5a.jpg


651a098cb21e1f17e44293b57f6cf5d4.jpg


9093308839afa136dba7ce918ed46e3e.jpg


5ac58a80b179b2d4f480b1167e55219e.jpg


Next we will focus on enclosing the winch and building out the center section.

Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
We didn't get much done last night as I had mental block of trying to make a box look sleek and aesthetically pleasing yet still strong and durable.

Here are a couple more pictures of the winch bumper progress.

Welded the lower valance together and cut pieces for the winch box.

269099fe5b4048f62376db114345d05f.jpg


8f24bfd58bf4bf3a243aecb8def55eaf.jpg


Thanks for looking.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
zmotorsports, how do you like the Swag Finger brake? Been looking at getting one myself. Nice work on the bumper!!

It works ok. I'm going to be modifying it here shortly as it is not as precise as I would prefer. It is stout and well thought out but with the large angle iron as the die it is difficult to get very tight bends. In the past I have stacked up various sizes of angle iron inside of the 2.5" one at the base and that has helped but I recently purchased an actual press brake 4-way die that I am going to try to incorporate into the base. I will take some pictures as I go so in case anyone else wants to duplicate but I'll first make sure it works before I get too carried away.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
I had a great day hanging with my son in the shop on Saturday.

We completed the center section of the winch bumper and started laying out the driver’s wing of the bumper. A lot of welding and some blending to build out the box and ensuring it is plenty stout enough for a recovery situation.

I started by putting some nuts in muriatic acid to remove the zinc coating while I drilled the holes and notched the side plates. Each side has two plates, one plate welded to the center section and the other plate will have nuts welded to them and be the mounting point for each of the side wings of the bumper.
e1277a37693e94c989af95542c11e1b6.jpg


84c0844e04f10559cc0d2dfee516e895.jpg


Next I clamped each plate in the mill vise and used a 1.5” end mill to create a notch in the side plates which will allow the connector of the 4” KC LED driving lights to pass through which will be mounted on the bumper.
0b8d10a6b73177104bfaff0e7d21546d.jpg


All four plates drilled and notched ready to weld the nuts to.
2fb737ad25b8bd2bc19e0ab5b2a9a883.jpg


Plates fastened together for welding.
1ffafe05f68c1fd07ae77a598e8286b3.jpg


Nuts welded in place and then separated for mock up.
a27db983be3292d002c5479c88ea2bf8.jpg


7b14f53224d2688e6cbbba7e0f85e3c6.jpg


1d13dfeef48285e816bed62276b2aa75.jpg


While the nut plates were cooling we started prepping the front plate for the winch box.
4da8b64850ee928f8c7297f60924ef2e.jpg


37a1ee29413ea3145396c513d9f483c3.jpg


Mocked into place.
2b8f89e434b266f4f4a9a2e3e8e322f2.jpg


Next was another process in the mill to create slots for the D ring mounts.
4b38c892d1a8fb72dc9423865d568e69.jpg


Weld through slits machined, deburred and wiped down with acetone ready for welding.
e688e8c64658a3eb0b75a4d38e12c376.jpg


e20ba62e6008fd4ddd9f755919a8eac9.jpg


65eb8a6e9b3c2034a65cfcb1bee6b8d3.jpg


2d7baf9c974665000161200fd0032439.jpg


17a8a8e4926fd3f213b370263065e6a9.jpg


0d25ebce0ccba50b7e95a65ae6958ea6.jpg


a78ca1f83d84a44acc056a18e3ac0f7c.jpg



Thanks for looking. More to come.

Mike
 

zmotorsports

Hardcore Gearhead
Vendor
Location
West Haven, UT
Saturday's work continued.....


Corners radiused and blended.
011bdbb965e9bbd789773ee825f85a64.jpg


Probably overkill but I welded the inside of the box as well.
3f50977803a1d77b3f3642c3558709f5.jpg


D ring mounts welded around the perimeter as well as through the backside.
1bf51678eeb535ee7dc691968dcefecc.jpg


7456a71b7ffa2d77767a9ee3d0e2d52a.jpg


854d094a67134a46725bd31e5b0c9b64.jpg


This part is more cosmetic but should also add some strength as a gusset. I think it finishes off the box nicely by filling the gap.
fab5a4123fa55067631565e8c8c0b025.jpg


8ba6f3d5ad096361a0b62e45679bdc94.jpg


617c5fd8089a3ecf3bf69ef3673206b2.jpg


68fcd901b0e5c4a2cd9da9301f6e3ed7.jpg


d2a5d3e2fc69e9c2bde0943792e28e93.jpg


747bef02a0da81a9fad3306cd5a50118.jpg


After some more blending my on mounted the winch box so we could start building out the driver’s wing with cardboard.
d08c3e9c83db4114ed74e92e5ab7aeb8.jpg


dd914c589fe1992119a2850010103390.jpg


f9522fc85140e4c0a1836de96ac620ea.jpg


0351400b86ade968225367530d2e0d63.jpg


Thanks for looking.

Mike
 
Top