Nothing Special's '71 Bronco

[Gary Lewis]

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.

Glad healing is going fairly well, and hope the next round finishes it.

And I understand not grinding the welds. I wouldn't either if I had some that pretty.

[grumpin]

Glad healing is going fairly well, and hope the next round finishes it.

And I understand not grinding the welds. I wouldn't either if I had some that pretty.

Great job!

[Nothing Special]

Great job!

Thanks!

As to not grinding the welds, it's not to show them off. It's a combination of two things. One is I'm a little lazy. If I don't have to spend several minutes in a 90 degree garage wearing jeans, gloves, safety glasses, a face shield and hearing protectors, bent over and holding a power tool, then I'm not going to! I always have an achy back after doing that, and the discomfort during is pretty apparent. So I leave the ones I can. Especially the filet welds around round pieces that are hard to grind!

The other is weld strength. Yes, I know welds are supposed to penetrate so there's still a lot of weld below the surface if it's done right. And I know I got good penetration on these welds. Still, the material on the surface isn't hurting either, again, especially on the filet welds.

Plus it keeps my coworker from getting upset with me. He says " You made that. You shouldn't grind it down. It's like your kid. You made that and wouldn't grind it down, would you?" (I'm not sure his logic is entirely sound, but he is amusing.)

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks!

As to not grinding the welds, it's not to show them off. It's a combination of two things. One is I'm a little lazy. If I don't have to spend several minutes in a 90 degree garage wearing jeans, gloves, safety glasses, a face shield and hearing protectors, bent over and holding a power tool, then I'm not going to! I always have an achy back after doing that, and the discomfort during is pretty apparent. So I leave the ones I can. Especially the filet welds around round pieces that are hard to grind!

The other is weld strength. Yes, I know welds are supposed to penetrate so there's still a lot of weld below the surface if it's done right. And I know I got good penetration on these welds. Still, the material on the surface isn't hurting either, again, especially on the filet welds.

Plus it keeps my coworker from getting upset with me. He says " You made that. You shouldn't grind it down. It's like your kid. You made that and wouldn't grind it down, would you?" (I'm not sure his logic is entirely sound, but he is amusing.)

I might respond to him with "No, but I would knock off the rough edges." Isn't that a parent's job?

[Nothing Special]

I might respond to him with "No, but I would knock off the rough edges." Isn't that a parent's job?

[Nothing Special]

A LOT of work today and a lot of progress, but not the kind that shows a lot.

I got the 3/4" high riser welded on the top of the 4x4, and got the end cap for the rear of the 4x4 cut and welded on. This picture shows that and also the flat steel I made you imagine last time:

I also drilled and tapped the holes to hold the bottoms of the front and rear fenders to the top of the 4x4. This picture shows the almost completed rock rail held in position to get those holes in the right places.

Then I drilled the holes to get the rear fender flare attached. The 4x4 doesn't hang down quite as far as the original rocker so I have to angle the flare forward a bit more so it doesn't reach past the bottom of the new rocker. I probably should have taken a picture of that, but I didn't.

Last but not least, I cleaned up the underside of the sheetmetal (the part that won't be accessible when the tube is in place) and hit it with weld-through primer. And then cleaned up and painted the new rock rail. No pictures of any of that either.

So tonight I'm wishing I was allowed to take ibuprofen because I really overdid it today. Hopefully I'll be up to working on it again tomorrow. I still have quite a bit to do, but I'm hoping to weld it on tomorrow!

[Gary Lewis]

A LOT of work today and a lot of progress, but not the kind that shows a lot.

I got the 3/4" high riser welded on the top of the 4x4, and got the end cap for the rear of the 4x4 cut and welded on. This picture shows that and also the flat steel I made you imagine last time:

I also drilled and tapped the holes to hold the bottoms of the front and rear fenders to the top of the 4x4. This picture shows the almost completed rock rail held in position to get those holes in the right places.

Then I drilled the holes to get the rear fender flare attached. The 4x4 doesn't hang down quite as far as the original rocker so I have to angle the flare forward a bit more so it doesn't reach past the bottom of the new rocker. I probably should have taken a picture of that, but I didn't.

Last but not least, I cleaned up the underside of the sheetmetal (the part that won't be accessible when the tube is in place) and hit it with weld-through primer. And then cleaned up and painted the new rock rail. No pictures of any of that either.

So tonight I'm wishing I was allowed to take ibuprofen because I really overdid it today. Hopefully I'll be up to working on it again tomorrow. I still have quite a bit to do, but I'm hoping to weld it on tomorrow!

That is a LOT of work! Well done!

I'll bet you are tired and sore. Too bad about the ibuprofen. That stuff sure helps me from time to time. But I hope tomorrow you feel great and get the welding done.

[grumpin]

That is a LOT of work! Well done!

I'll bet you are tired and sore. Too bad about the ibuprofen. That stuff sure helps me from time to time. But I hope tomorrow you feel great and get the welding done.

Great job!

[Nothing Special]

Great job!

Thanks!

I didn't feel great today, but good enough to do a lot more work and make a lot more progress, and this time it was progress that shows!

I started off by drilling a whole bunch of holes:

... then a whole lot of time underneath with a flap disk and/or a wire wheel getting stuff cleaned up for welding. And then this happened:

The plug welds on the sill didn't go so bad, but the ones underneath were a pain, sometimes literally as I was laying under where I was welding. Like the passenger side last year, welding new, thick metal to thin, old metal is a bit of a challenge, especially in tight quarters. It's not pretty, but it ain't goin' nowhere.

I still need to grind down the plug welds on the sill, as well as the weld bead along the edge of the sill, and then clean everything up well enough for paint. I painted the rock rail before I welded it on so I could roll it around to get everything covered, but I hacked up the paint a lot with the clamps (as I knew I would) so that needs work, as well as getting the sill painted. Then I need to reattach the fender flare and do something with the aux fuel tank straps, lines and wires. (I'm not going to put the aux tank in yet because I don't really need it and I'm planning on another project next winter which will require dropping it out again. So I'll wait to put it in until that's finished.)

It'll probably take a few weeknights to get that done, and I do have another medically-induced vacation coming this Friday (hopefully the last of this series, but possibly one more after that). The next two weekends are tied up with family plans and then comes the Grand Marais trip. So I hope I can get those weeknights of work in, but at least now it's seeming very likely I will rather than how I felt about a week ago, doubting I'd finish it.

[Gary Lewis]

Thanks!

I didn't feel great today, but good enough to do a lot more work and make a lot more progress, and this time it was progress that shows!

I started off by drilling a whole bunch of holes:

... then a whole lot of time underneath with a flap disk and/or a wire wheel getting stuff cleaned up for welding. And then this happened:

The plug welds on the sill didn't go so bad, but the ones underneath were a pain, sometimes literally as I was laying under where I was welding. Like the passenger side last year, welding new, thick metal to thin, old metal is a bit of a challenge, especially in tight quarters. It's not pretty, but it ain't goin' nowhere.

I still need to grind down the plug welds on the sill, as well as the weld bead along the edge of the sill, and then clean everything up well enough for paint. I painted the rock rail before I welded it on so I could roll it around to get everything covered, but I hacked up the paint a lot with the clamps (as I knew I would) so that needs work, as well as getting the sill painted. Then I need to reattach the fender flare and do something with the aux fuel tank straps, lines and wires. (I'm not going to put the aux tank in yet because I don't really need it and I'm planning on another project next winter which will require dropping it out again. So I'll wait to put it in until that's finished.)

It'll probably take a few weeknights to get that done, and I do have another medically-induced vacation coming this Friday (hopefully the last of this series, but possibly one more after that). The next two weekends are tied up with family plans and then comes the Grand Marais trip. So I hope I can get those weeknights of work in, but at least now it's seeming very likely I will rather than how I felt about a week ago, doubting I'd finish it.

Progress!!!! Well done!

I sure don't envy you doing that on your back. Yuk!

But it does look like you'll get it done for your trip. That is great!