Gary Lewis Posted May 24, 2021 Share Posted May 24, 2021 Well, I made about 3 weeks progress on my Bronco today! I finally got started on the driver's side rock slider, and I got it about to the point where I was after 3 weeks on the passenger side! Of course I already had all of the material, including the bent rash bar. Plus I knew what I was doing as opposed to figuring it out as I went before. So I knew it would go faster, but I'm really pleased with where I got. Here is the "before" picture. Not quite as crunched and the passenger's side was, and the cocker wasn't as rusty. But unfortunately there was a little more hidden rust on this side. Not so much that I need a new plan, but more. First step was to remove the aux fuel tank. It's right up against the inside of the rocker, so it had to move to give me access. Plus I didn't want to be grinding and welding right by it! Then I got everything out of the way of the 4x4 tube: I did cheat on the timeline a bit, because last week I cut the angle on the front of the 4x4 and took it to work where I could drill the holes for the rash bar stand-offs as well as fish-mouth the ends of the stand-offs so they fit snug against the rash bar (lots easier to do all of that with a Bridgeport than with a hand drill). So here is the 4x4 tube held up in position (before cutting the back end off to length): That's the last picture I took today, but after that I cut the 4x4 to length and cut the holes in the top for where I'll weld in some thicker metal to drill and tap to hold the fenders to the 4x4. I still need to cut the end caps, weld the plates and caps on, and weld the rash bar and stand-offs. Then I'll need to clean up everything for welding, drill 69 holes and plug-weld it in place and paint it. There are a few more minor things, but three or four good days working on it ought to wrap it up (he says knowing full-well that everything always takes 4 times as long as he thinks) You are on a roll! Well done! My father frequently said "Misery loves company." So in a way I'm glad to see that you said "everything always takes 4 times as long as he thinks". That way I'm not alone. Nor are you, for that matter. But, while it does sound like a lot to do, having done it before it'll go a lot faster this time, as you've already seen. So maybe six or eight good days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted May 26, 2021 Author Share Posted May 26, 2021 You are on a roll! Well done! My father frequently said "Misery loves company." So in a way I'm glad to see that you said "everything always takes 4 times as long as he thinks". That way I'm not alone. Nor are you, for that matter. But, while it does sound like a lot to do, having done it before it'll go a lot faster this time, as you've already seen. So maybe six or eight good days? Well, I got one good evening in on Monday, but another medically induced vacation delayed posting. I got the plates welded in the top (to provide meat for bolt threads to attach the fenders to the top of the rock rail) and I got the rash bar and all of its four standoffs welded in. My welding hasn't improved over the last year of not welding, but fortunately it's not any worse and I have a good welder. One brief moment of concern after I tripped the breaker in the house (I can use this welder on 110V, but not for too long evidently). The next weld just wasn't working for me. Then I looked at the welder and saw that it had reset to 16 ga instead of the 3/16" I had been using. Apparently it doesn't remember its last setting if it loses power. I'll try to remember that in the future. Anyway, here is my handiwork. It'll hold up, but no one will mistake it for professional. I still need to grind down the welds on top and the back, cut and weld on the end caps and then everything necessary to hang them on the Bronco. Hopefully I'll be able to put in the 3-4 (or 6-8, or 12-16...) good days before we're planning to take it on the next trip ("just" up to Grand Marais MN to be used as transportation from the campground, not another 'wheeling trip). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted May 26, 2021 Share Posted May 26, 2021 Well, I got one good evening in on Monday, but another medically induced vacation delayed posting. I got the plates welded in the top (to provide meat for bolt threads to attach the fenders to the top of the rock rail) and I got the rash bar and all of its four standoffs welded in. My welding hasn't improved over the last year of not welding, but fortunately it's not any worse and I have a good welder. One brief moment of concern after I tripped the breaker in the house (I can use this welder on 110V, but not for too long evidently). The next weld just wasn't working for me. Then I looked at the welder and saw that it had reset to 16 ga instead of the 3/16" I had been using. Apparently it doesn't remember its last setting if it loses power. I'll try to remember that in the future. Anyway, here is my handiwork. It'll hold up, but no one will mistake it for professional. I still need to grind down the welds on top and the back, cut and weld on the end caps and then everything necessary to hang them on the Bronco. Hopefully I'll be able to put in the 3-4 (or 6-8, or 12-16...) good days before we're planning to take it on the next trip ("just" up to Grand Marais MN to be used as transportation from the campground, not another 'wheeling trip). Ok, I have to ask - what's with the "medically induced" delay? What's going on, Bob? As for the welding, it looks good to me. I'm certainly no pro, but it looks substantial and complete, so I'd be proud were I you. This one is going LOTS faster! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted May 27, 2021 Author Share Posted May 27, 2021 Ok, I have to ask - what's with the "medically induced" delay? What's going on, Bob? As for the welding, it looks good to me. I'm certainly no pro, but it looks substantial and complete, so I'd be proud were I you. This one is going LOTS faster! This was a surgery to finish dealing with the issues I had back in March. It was planned and went well I'm told. But I'm feeling a little more beat up than I expected, so I think I'm feeling sorry for myself Which likely doesn't help. Anyway, I'm sort of wishing that I hadn't started the rock slider before the Grand Marais trip. But I'm only one day out of surgery and I'm home and moving around, so if I just take that for what it's worth, it really is worth quite a lot. Anyway... I don't know that my welds are anything to be proud of, but I'm sure not ashamed of them either or I wouldn't post pictures. I see some people's fabrication projects that do look professional, and I know that I'm not going to be that. But I also know "that ain't goin' nowhere" (one of my dad's catch phrases). So like I said in my last post, it'll hold up, but no one will mistake it for professional. And I'm OK with that. I'm happy that I'm building my Bronco rather than just buying it from professionals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpin Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 This was a surgery to finish dealing with the issues I had back in March. It was planned and went well I'm told. But I'm feeling a little more beat up than I expected, so I think I'm feeling sorry for myself Which likely doesn't help. Anyway, I'm sort of wishing that I hadn't started the rock slider before the Grand Marais trip. But I'm only one day out of surgery and I'm home and moving around, so if I just take that for what it's worth, it really is worth quite a lot. Anyway... I don't know that my welds are anything to be proud of, but I'm sure not ashamed of them either or I wouldn't post pictures. I see some people's fabrication projects that do look professional, and I know that I'm not going to be that. But I also know "that ain't goin' nowhere" (one of my dad's catch phrases). So like I said in my last post, it'll hold up, but no one will mistake it for professional. And I'm OK with that. I'm happy that I'm building my Bronco rather than just buying it from professionals. Looks great! If I did it, well...picture a molten ball! Hope you heal quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted May 27, 2021 Share Posted May 27, 2021 This was a surgery to finish dealing with the issues I had back in March. It was planned and went well I'm told. But I'm feeling a little more beat up than I expected, so I think I'm feeling sorry for myself Which likely doesn't help. Anyway, I'm sort of wishing that I hadn't started the rock slider before the Grand Marais trip. But I'm only one day out of surgery and I'm home and moving around, so if I just take that for what it's worth, it really is worth quite a lot. Anyway... I don't know that my welds are anything to be proud of, but I'm sure not ashamed of them either or I wouldn't post pictures. I see some people's fabrication projects that do look professional, and I know that I'm not going to be that. But I also know "that ain't goin' nowhere" (one of my dad's catch phrases). So like I said in my last post, it'll hold up, but no one will mistake it for professional. And I'm OK with that. I'm happy that I'm building my Bronco rather than just buying it from professionals. Yes, hope you heal quickly. And thanks for the explanation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted May 27, 2021 Author Share Posted May 27, 2021 Ok, I have to ask - what's with the "medically induced" delay? What's going on, Bob? As for the welding, it looks good to me. I'm certainly no pro, but it looks substantial and complete, so I'd be proud were I you. This one is going LOTS faster! Oh, and the actual quote was "medically induced vacation" which is a slightly dark joke about companies now offering PTO instead of separate vacation and sick time benefits. I suppose it's easier to administer and it's less easy to abuse. But it results in people not staying home when they're sick because "I don't feel good enough to take a vacation." So when it's to the point where I HAVE to take a "vacation" day, it's a medically induced vacation. Prior to March I had only taken 1 day of PTO for health reasons (not counting for annual physicals or whatever) in the previous 15 years, and that was for food poisoning. So I've been REALLY healthy, and this spring is an unwelcome new experience for me. But it's expected to end soon and with a good ending. So I can't complain ("but sometimes I still do..."). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 Oh, and the actual quote was "medically induced vacation" which is a slightly dark joke about companies now offering PTO instead of separate vacation and sick time benefits. I suppose it's easier to administer and it's less easy to abuse. But it results in people not staying home when they're sick because "I don't feel good enough to take a vacation." So when it's to the point where I HAVE to take a "vacation" day, it's a medically induced vacation. Prior to March I had only taken 1 day of PTO for health reasons (not counting for annual physicals or whatever) in the previous 15 years, and that was for food poisoning. So I've been REALLY healthy, and this spring is an unwelcome new experience for me. But it's expected to end soon and with a good ending. So I can't complain ("but sometimes I still do..."). I'm still moving kind of gingerly, but when I offered to go shopping with Lesley tonight she said she'd rather I work on the Bronco. OK, twist my arm! Tonight was making the cap for the front of the tube, welding it on and grinding down the welds on surfaces that need to be flat. So not a lot of progress to show, but still some good progress. I was pretty beat by the end of that but happy that I had got as much done as I did (and happy that I was at a good stopping point!). I didn't take any pictures of the ground-down welds, but if you just imagine flat steel you'll get the picture! But here's a picture of the cap welded on the front of the tube. And this weld I'm proud of! The setup was pretty perfect as I could turn the tube so I was always welding on top, it was all new, clean metal (I've come to realize that metal prep is about as important in welding as it is in painting), and I keep being happy with the welder I bought. But if I could make all my welds look like this I'd post more pictures of them! (Of course this also gives a close-up of one of the welds I did last time, which isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as pretty as tonight's work.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary Lewis Posted June 4, 2021 Share Posted June 4, 2021 I'm still moving kind of gingerly, but when I offered to go shopping with Lesley tonight she said she'd rather I work on the Bronco. OK, twist my arm! Tonight was making the cap for the front of the tube, welding it on and grinding down the welds on surfaces that need to be flat. So not a lot of progress to show, but still some good progress. I was pretty beat by the end of that but happy that I had got as much done as I did (and happy that I was at a good stopping point!). I didn't take any pictures of the ground-down welds, but if you just imagine flat steel you'll get the picture! But here's a picture of the cap welded on the front of the tube. And this weld I'm proud of! The setup was pretty perfect as I could turn the tube so I was always welding on top, it was all new, clean metal (I've come to realize that metal prep is about as important in welding as it is in painting), and I keep being happy with the welder I bought. But if I could make all my welds look like this I'd post more pictures of them! (Of course this also gives a close-up of one of the welds I did last time, which isn't bad, but it's nowhere near as pretty as tonight's work.) I know why you posted the pic of the welds before grinding. Those are great! Excellent looking welds. And yes, I can picture flat steel. But seeing the welds themselves is much better. Well done! (I hope you heal up quickly.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nothing Special Posted June 4, 2021 Author Share Posted June 4, 2021 I know why you posted the pic of the welds before grinding. Those are great! Excellent looking welds. And yes, I can picture flat steel. But seeing the welds themselves is much better. Well done! (I hope you heal up quickly.) I'm only grinding down the welds I have to have flat. The top and inner side of the tube will be welded to the Bronco's sheetmetal, so those surfaces can't have weld beads standing proud. Otherwise I'm pretty much leaving the welds as they happen. If I get any big icicles hanging off or something I suppose I'll clean them up. But the welds for the rash bar would be really hard to grind out, and I don't want to grind these last welds! So the welds will be visible from now on, giving proof that I didn't just buy these rock rails! The healing is going OK. I still need to go back in for at least one more procedure, and I'll find out then if that'll be it or if there will be one more. So it keeps dragging out, but the end is almost in sight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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