Topic: Rexy Re-Do: SUPER SLEEPER 1ST GEN!

[emsvitil]

Extra gas tank

[Gnarly4X]

....    We will be thinking pretty serious on that statement.   

No matter what you decide to do with that space, it going to look REALLY WEIRD!! 

Gnarls.

[redneckcustoms13]

Not if it's grafted nicely. From the side you don't be able to tell. Frim the top you can obviously.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

No matter what you decide to do with that space, it going to look REALLY WEIRD!! 

Gnarls.

I don't know.  I can graft the extra piece of bed on perfectly, it's no harder than doing a bob on a bed.  I have done a lot of body work. You do understand we are not talking about a square plywood box but actually stretching the front of the bed with another piece of the exact same kind of bed, right?

It will have some sort of flat lid on top of the boxed section if we do it and I guess that will look odd.  I think we will try it and if it's not practical or it looks like a$$ we will just cut the extra bulkhead out.

I am liking the fuel tank idea too but I like to carry a lot of tools...

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Doing the math on the area I could easily fit a 30 gallon fuel tank in there.  That would be around 500 miles of additional range so total you could go well over 700 miles with tanks full.  Would weight about 182 pounds full.  More high, sloshy weight though which is bad.

[Gnarly4X]

Doing the math on the area I could easily fit a 30 gallon fuel tank in there.  That would be around 500 miles of additional range so total you could go well over 700 miles with tanks full.  Would weight about 182 pounds full.  More high, sloshy weight though which is bad.

No bueno!!

Gnarls.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Yeah I think I like the dry, lockable place to put recovery gear and a few tools.  I don't want to go all overlander   I decided I need some daylight hours to get this going and measure 15 times before I make the cut.  I hope to get it partially welded together this weekend.  Then it gets below zero for a few days Monday on blaaah.

[emsvitil]

You could design it so that it can handle various stuff.

Slide in a couple of jerry cans for fuel, containers that slide in the same spot, mix and match.......

[300k]

Be an offroad mobile gas pump and milk the v8 guys for all they got. 8 bucks a gallon for their 8 mpg engines

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Well I had a three day weekend but the temp never got much above 0 the whole time, so I didn't accomplish much.  I did manage to hack the front of the old longbed off and kind of mock things up.  The little tower piece that bolts down the front most bed mount accidently bolts up to both the short bed and the long bed graft piece with a little tweaking.  Still have to clean things up to finalize my cuts before welding the graft on. I ended up with an extra set of hooks in an awkward place.  After staring at it for a while I decided to knock off the extra hooks rather than adding more. I want it to look one off stock, the extra hooks were too much of a giveaway on the bed graft.  The final bed length with the shorbed stretched is about 6'10".

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

This morning I stayed in...

[andykrow]

Ugh that's brutal. Gotta ask what weight oil you use in your 22r's when you have to start in that kind of temp?

Today was -8 in Fort Collins, and GTX 5w-30 seemed a bit thick.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Ugh that's brutal. Gotta ask what weight oil you use in your 22r's when you have to start in that kind of temp?

Today was -8 in Fort Collins, and GTX 5w-30 seemed a bit thick.

Usually 5W30 with a block heater plugged in if it gets more than -10F.  I tried the 0W40 last winter and it was just as good as the 5W30 with the block heater.

My kids 22re will fire rigt up with 5W30 but it runs a little rough for the first couple minutes.  I let the truck warm up for 10 or 15 minutes before driving around.  The gear oil is what really gets you. You have to watch your pour points.  I wrecked a clutch with some Lucas in the trans a few years back because it gets like glue past -14.

[redneckcustoms13]

I'm digging the bed. The extra hook actually looks good to me.

[andykrow]

Usually 5W30 with a block heater plugged in if it gets more than -10F.  I tried the 0W40 last winter and it was just as good as the 5W30 with the block heater.

My kids 22re will fire rigt up with 5W30 but it runs a little rough for the first couple minutes.  I let the truck warm up for 10 or 15 minutes before driving around.  The gear oil is what really gets you. You have to watch your pour points.  I wrecked a clutch with some Lucas in the trans a few years back because it gets like glue past -14.

Right on. Yeah mine fires right up but just cranks pretty slow at those temps. Its a new motor so I wanted to run conventional for a few changes, but now it's been 8k miles or so, so I think I am going to put 0W-40 synthetic in there next weekend.

Go to know about the gear oil. I always run synthetic on that front so hopefully i'm okay. Never really gets below -10 out here anyway, and that's pretty rare. I do let the truck warm up for 10 minutes or so when its below 10 degrees, but I don't know how much that does for the trans oil.

[Slabzilla]

Really diggin' that bed, kinda stealthy if you paint match the graft. Makes my fingers numb looking at your temp gauge. Hope it gets warm enough to stab that engine in soon, great work so far. Great suspension tech.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Missed this photo yesterday.  Here is the proposed built in tool box pretty close to size.  I would make a lockable, weather proof lid.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

While fooling around on Rockauto looking at brake lines I found this grill piece for $24.  This is less than the going rate for a decent used one so I was not expecting much, but it's perfect, identical to stock and made of nice thick material.  Took the emblem off my busted a$$ original one.  I am not going full resto or anything but I want the truck to have most of it's plastic and exterior lighting pieces intact   .

[redneckcustoms13]

I am loving this bed!

[emsvitil]

Missed this photo yesterday.  Here is the proposed built in tool box pretty close to size.  I would make a lockable, weather proof lid.

Just curious,  will jerry cans slide in there?       If the width is right, maybe up to 4 across?

[kneedownnate]

I got the same grille and am mostly happy but, mine doesn’t like to allow the clips to grab very well

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Just curious,  will jerry cans slide in there?       If the width is right, maybe up to 4 across?

I don't know yet.  At this time the space in the top is about 7" wide.  I'll grab a can and try it.

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Yup, the gas can fits like it was made for it!  What a perfect accident this was.  And get this; four of these cans would fit side to side with about a half inch to spare!

[redneckcustoms13]

Did I mention that I like this bed?

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Kind of makes me want to order 4 of the OD green NATO style cans and lean toward the mil-spec look.

www.ebay.com/itm/like/272580395513

[emsvitil]

Yup, the gas can fits like it was made for it!  What a perfect accident this was.  And get this; four of these cans would fit side to side with about a half inch to spare!

Now make some toolboxes that are the same size so you can mix and match............


 

[emsvitil]

And make a custom top that's the height of the rear window 

[Rockcrawlintoy]

Now make some toolboxes that are the same size so you can mix and match............


 

they have the gas can tool boxes that would work well for that. 2 actual gas cans and 2 of the gas can tool boxes

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Now we have blowing snow but it was nearly 30 degrees this morning.  I decided to get back into mechanicals and try to get the engine in this week.  I put the nylon washer in my "mar-mount" moded motor mounts to reduce vibrations.

Also remembered I had yet to put in the fresh pilot bearing in the back of the crank.  I did the old trick of hydraulic-ing it out with grease and a head bolt.  The grease seal on the old bearing blew off so that wasn't going to work this time.  I smacked the head bolt from the side and just busted the old bearing out.

Started the new one in with a brass drift and bottomed it out with a socket the right size...

 

[H8PVMNT [OP]]

Got some front brake lines off rock auto for something like $5 each.  They are about 3/4" shorter than the old, strretched out ones but should be fine with the relocated brackets.  All fittings were correct and the clips fit which was nice.