Project Kaoss: Bagged and Bodied 620.

[kaoss]

Well, if you were just bagging it and not body dropping it, you wouldn't have to replace the frame rails like I'm doing. I'm shortening the frame rails to make the distance between the body mounts and the ground lower, which in turn makes the body lower to the ground, other wise known as a body drop.

 

The front would have been a ton easier with drop spindles.

 

Ultimatly, these trucks just need a narrowed 92ish Toyota front frame clip.

[kaoss]

Did a little fabrication by numbers yesterday. Dug deap into the supply drawer and found any old blade and roloc disc that I could to get this done last night.

 

Hand cut these with my 4.5" Makita grinder and cut off wheels. They are fish plates to strengthen the connection between the old frame rails and new.

 

 

Tacked them to the plates I also hand cut to fill the gaps between the old frame rails and new.

 

 

I also cut the plate that goes on top to cap it off. I hope to get it welded up tonight. Total time for these little plates is 6 hours. Not sure if I'm just slow or what.

[]2eDeYe]

Sounds about right for hand cutting. No oxy acetylene or plasma?

[kaoss]

Nope. opted for a 220 welder and a nice compressor instead, of course I'd need that nice compressor if I ever did get a plasma.

[Rhapakatui]

Yuck. Why the hell would anyone gouge when Victor could handle the job quicker and cleaner?

 

....Victor is my torch. Forget you guys aren't fitters some times.

[kaoss]

Gouge as in use a plasma cutter?

[]2eDeYe]

Yuck. Why the hell would anyone gouge when Victor could handle the job quicker and cleaner?

 

....Victor is my torch. Forget you guys aren't fitters some times.

 

lol, mostly so I don't have to get the tanks filled all the time ;)

 

The cuts with my plasma are pretty clean though.

[Rhapakatui]

Plasma is okay. I thought you meant gouging rods when you said welder + compressor. Gouging sucks. I actually don't have a plasma setup in my shop. Really only use one for stainless, but it does make a slick cut.

[kaoss]

Ah, no I was saying that those were the tools that I bought. That and a my awesome Makita Chop saw.

 

 

[Wide14u]

i just wish i had half your tools :D

[kaoss]

Got the plates welded up and capped off last night.

 

[]2eDeYe]

I love my 175 :D

 

Caps look good.

[kaoss]

I'd love mine more if I knew how to use it better.

[Pacific coast Datsun]

Your welds look very good.. :D

[Wide14u]

the welds do look good

[Siqx20]

Agreed

[kaoss]

Thanks, they are alright, but you only have blurry pics of them on the internet.

[kaoss]

Nothing too exciting, I cut a couple more fish plates, welded in the front to be fish plated, and ground down the welds on the caps to smooth them out a little.

 

 

[kaoss]

I decided to document the making of my fish plates, and time how long it took.

 

I started by making a template. I like to use construction paper that I find in my wife's scrap-booking stuff, cardboard is to bulky. I already had half of the plate cut out from the other side.

 

 

Traced this onto my plate.

 

 

Tool of choice for this.

 

 

Then the timer started. Here I gouged the metal with the blade, tracing the sharpie lines.

 

 

I gouge until the blade can cut through the metal like butter. This is after 9 mins

 

 

Time for a new blade.

 

 

Getting closer.

 

 

For the rounded edges I usually do one of to things, I gouge the metal a little at a time in a circle. This take a while but works great. Sometimes I'll just make a bunch of different straight cuts at different angles.

 

 

 

After 26 mins, here's a rough cut

 

 

Time for my favorite tool. This Makita is awesome. I've used some good DeWalts, but they just don't compare. That's a flapper wheel on it.

 

 

Into the vise it goes, smoothing out the edges.

 

 

I can't get that corner, so off to the hand file.

 

 

32 mins in, it's done. Pissed off neighbors, numb hands and ringing ears. Too bad neighbors, I still have another one to do.

 

 

Luckily with this one, I already had a straight edge.

 

 

 

Then there was two.

 

 

Off to the fab shop, I don't have enough heat and pressure to make this work.

 

[Rhapakatui]

Nice work. You really should invest in a torch though. Those cutting wheels get expensive quick.

 

Totally agree with you about the makita. I was raised with dewalt, but we have a 4 inch makita in the shop that we picked up one day when a dewalt burned up and we didn't have time to change brushes. It's outlasted a couple of dewalts and at least one matabo.

 

One suggestion, when we are grinding alot, we spell our grinders out so they don't get too hot. Saves the brushes pretty well. We grind enough that we can burn up a set of brushes in a day if we aren't careful.

 

You're doing a lot of grinding, using those cutting wheels on 1/4 in steel, so watch that you don't overheat one grinder.

 

You can put a cutting wheel on the makita with an adapter btw. Have to take off the guard, so be careful if you do.

[kaoss]

I'm almost done with this project and can't justify buying any more tools.

 

Both are Makitas. That little one has been with me for close to 7 years now. If it dies, we are going to have a proper funeral for the little guy. I've put a cut off wheel on the big one, but the damn thing has so much power it scares me a little bit.

 

Oh, and a little trip to the local fab shop this morning where he has a big torch.

 

[Wide14u]

i like the time stamps :D

[Laecaon]

I like the amazing skills :D

[]2eDeYe]

I like the structural integrity. :D

[kaoss]

Thanks, I'm really amazed that no one commented on my two different colored shoe laces.