The Glorified Tonka Truck

[YellowDodgeBrian]

Question, for my roll cage, should I chop the roof skin off to finish weld the cage as well as make more clearance for other spreader bars? As of now I don't have any roof spreaders due to them being a little too close to my head for comfort.

And for the bed cage, how would ya'll recommend I mount it to the inner cage? Ive seen rigs tie into the cage itself at the top and middle of the B pillar as well as to the frame but Im not sure how necessary that would be for rigidity or not.

I plan on removing my bed completely except for the bed skins and building a flatbed of some sort between the frame rails so I don't really have any limitations. Hell I might even go full back half trophy truck on it. Ill post up some pictures here in a bit of my ideas.

[BlueDodgeRam]

A lot of people drill holes in the floor and then drop the cage down the holes enough to weld the tops.

When I did the cage in Treehugger last year I added 4 tube couplers to the A and B pillars so I could take the cage out and weld it. I was going to drop it through the floor but those tubes were on top of the body mounts and thay that would've been a giant PITA. The tubes on my cage are pretty much touching the cab all over since that cab is so small and I need all the space I can get.

Depending on how tight you make yours to the cab, and being that you dont have a B Pillar and can open your doors up or take them off, you may be able to just slide the whole cage out the side.

My interior cage isn't tied into the tube bed but mine also isnt a 6k lb pig

[alk1174]

I tacked mine together then pulled the A pillar bars out and tilted it forward. This allowed me to weld everything up except the A pillar. I then stood it back up and tacked in the A pillar. I then cut about 8 inches off the end of the A pillar. This gave me enough clearence to weld up everything pretty good. I sleeved the 8 inch section I cut off the A pillar and tied the whole thing to large plates that cover the body mounts as the last step. It wasnt to get fully welded everywhere except at the A pillar. If I had removed the windshield that would have made things a little easier.

[YellowDodgeBrian]

I currently can't drop down the front bar due to the fact that my dash won't allow it to drop so I was trying to find other ways around it. I was hoping for an easier solution that the Sinking Creek elders knew of but it looks like my only options are pulling the dash or chopping the roof. The dash looks pretty bad and comes up pretty high now that I have the bucket seats in so I think Im going to pull it and build a new dash. I have the aluminium to do it so I think this is my best bet. The corners are mostly all welded up but since the node at the A pillar is the weakest its just in the back of my mind that its not as strong as it should be.

[YellowDodgeBrian]

Thanks for the input, its nice to see more traffic on the forum.

[alk1174]

I forgot to mention but my dash bar was done after all of the roof area was done, With the A pillar legs cut short and nothing yet tacked to the floor this allowed me just enough wiggle room to place the dash bar and get it fully welded before I sleeved the A pillar and welded it to the floor plates.

[YellowDodgeBrian]

As classes come to an end Ill have a lot more time and money to work on my turd bucket with. The main thing that needs to be done to patches is get the fuel tank out and replaced with a bronco tank in the bed and also making new control arms for the front axle. I also plan on trussing the front axle as it has the CAD cast iron part on it still making it much weaker. The control arm mounts are also pretty flimsy, Id say they are only 1/8" thick. For now I think Im just going to keep stock length on the arms until I have enough saved up to do the whole front end stretch.

As for the rest of the truck, Im going to be dropping the trans and transfer case to see if I can find the culprit of the bad transmission shifts. I believe it to be faulty wiring since when I was installing the shifter I found a few stripped wires. The second reason for dropping the trans is Id like to replace the torque converter since Im pretty sure mine is fried; the stock stall is between 2300-2600 so I was also curious as to what stall range is best. A stock replacement converter is about $50 and an aftermarket one is abut $150. Not sure if its worth it to get a different stall but it honestly isnt as big of a cost as I was expecting.

The reason for dropping the Tcase is that I have not gone through it and looked at wear and what not and it seems to have lost 4 high. Might be just the shiftier acting up but I dont want it blowing up on the interstate at mile marker 187 again. Figured while im at it Ill check the axles as well. Its been about a year since Ive done any maintenance and I want to go through it for the piece of mind. I haven't had the chance between wheeling trips and class to make any major repairs so it'll be nice correctly addressing problems for once.

Let me know what yalls recommendations are for everything.

I also have plans on making a tube bed and maybe a rear bob over the summer so Ill post up some plans I have for that as well.

[YellowDodgeBrian]

Here is a picc I chopped up in paint to simulate what a bob would look like if I was running 4Ds