Saturday, October 13, 2012

I feel like boxing......

Maybe, not like this guy.....I'm too old and it takes me too long to heal.

I needed to tidy up some leftover loose ends, one of which happens to be boxing the rear kickup areas.  I thought about building my own, but by the time I bought the materials, the cutoff wheels and the time, it wouldn't be cost effective.  So, I ordered up a set from Yogi's.  It was a Chassis Engineering set.  It was $68 for both sides.  I can't build them for that.
Camouflaged amongst the oil spots on the floor is the new boxing plate.  They are made out of 3/16" plate, which is way overkill, but that's ok.  
The plates were designed for a frame with the rear crossmember removed.  I can't see the logic in removing such a stout piece of the frame personally.  I'll use it in the future to mount the shocks to.  I had to shorten the plates about 6-8", so I clamped the plate to the outside and used a framing square to guesstimate the scribe line.
Once I found that line, I shortened the boxing plate to fit up against the rear crossmember.  The plates fit were pretty close, but the frames vary somewhat, so I had to grind the frame to fit.
I clamped it up, squaring everything up and started tacking away....
It's sort of redundant, so here are pics after the welding, grinding, priming etc.


It took way longer than I had planned, so I only got one side done. More later..........

Saturday, October 6, 2012

CUT IT OUT !!!!!!! Part Deux

 I have been putting this off for a while now, just due to the fact that it's kind of a crappy job.  For those of you who followed my travel trailer blog, you know that means it's time for Mr. Hankey.


 I started by using the piece I removed as my template.  That is about as close as you can get to the correct filler panel by using it as a template.

Once trimmed to fit, I tacked it in place with my TIG welder.
Pretty much boring stuff after that, just connect the dots and finish welding.  The polish off the tops of the welds with a flapper wheel and call it good.
Then I hit it with the DA sander and that should be good enough for some primer.

I'll box the inside section at a later date.  I had to do the same thing  on the other side, but I'll just jump to the good stuff.  No need to rehash the same exact steps.
Good as new.  I'm tired, so that's to for today.