Now because I got shafted by the bloke that was supposed to be making my front tube winchbar and rock sliders the last 2 weeks over the xmas holidays.....
Ive had to look for an alternative solution....I didnt want to go back to an ARB bar or somtething similar as it would defat the purpose of getting rid of it in the first place.
So Ive found out and have a few people on speed dial to let me know as soon as one of the following bars comes out.......should be 3 weeks away and really its the only option I have as I cant leave my truck anywhere since I need it for work.
Pics below are development pics on another hilux...the bar is missing the top hoop and is to be powdercoated black -
It will be air bag compliant which will help with insurance purposes should I smash it.....rock sliders I have 3 alternatives I can go for...im waiting for replies to them.
Also in March there are some new extra wide side mount flares being released for the hilux which Ill be trying to get a set for.....similar in style to the Bushwacker cutout flares...
heres a pic on a Triton for reference -
Then it's the crawler box to go in....hopefully somewhere along the way I can afford for ARB to fix the seals in my front "leaky" locker and then Ill be ready for a new set of tyres after tax time and to be finally able to go crawling the way the hilux will be setup to do.
Because of my original plans of getting a fabricator to custom make my front tube bar and sliders didn't eventuate, I was forced to look for an alternative.....I didnt want to go another ARB bar or Ironman Bar as the style of the bars although they do look good hang too far forward (kept getting hung up on them) and weigh to much......so I ordered a set of rock sliders from Millweld and got the 2nd made Xrox Bar c/o Matty from Monster Rides.....highly reccomend both of them, customer service was first class...something that I have trouble finding lately.
Anyway, here are the pics -
I havent fitted the Xrox bashplate they have provided because it clashes abit with my own bashplate design but Im confident I can get them to work well together with a bit of work.
will need to do something with the rear quarters and departure angle to match the increase approach angle the bar has given me.
So I decided that now I have better approach angle with the new front bar, I needed to do something with the a$$ end to match it and improve departure angle....so I've decided to do a rear 1/4 panel chop.
Ive got one week of work left before I go on long service leave (and the fact that my 3rd child is due in 2 weeks) so thought over that time Id hopefully find enough of it to complete this chop.
Heres what I have in mind from a Tacoma in the US -
After I cut it, I will paint the exposed metal with rust proof paint and then seal it with some rubber pinchweld sealer to go over it.
I will fab some new side brackets for the tow bar and raise it higher to suit but will leave it low enough below the tailgate for room for some tube when I eventually get round to making a tube rear bar to go along with the towbar.
I will also fabricate some mudflaps and brackets to use in the meantime to keep the law off my tail. The brackets will be removable so when offroad I can take the mudflaps off.
The following tacoma is my inspriation....( Yes Faux by 4, love your truck...Wyatt your is nice too but bit too Blingy...LOL)
He has a removable mudflap that he take off for offroading.....I plan to do the same thing.
Below is a diagram of what he did....basically its two tube steel pieces, he used circle tube, Ill try and use square tube, but one slide inside the other. The shorter "inner" tube gets welded into place off the side of the chassis rail, the longer tube that has the rubber mudflap tech screwed into it slides over the smaller one and is held on with a bolt going through both. Simple. Then get some chain to hold the mudflap back abit off the tyre.
In the pic below you can see the mudflap bracket stub sticking out of the side of the chassis rail -
Here is a "Paint" photo edit of what the back end of the hilux I hope to look like?
The new lowest point of the tub will be much higher than the rock sliders, so realistically almost everything the rock sliders get over I shouldnt hit the tub.....in most cases :roll:
Here is some close ups of what I plan to do....Im going to try and follow the "lines" of the hilux's tub, that is the shape of the moulds in the panel work so it wont be exactly a horizontal cut, but angle slightly towards the front -
Like I said, later on Ill make a rear bar for it, but in the meantime Ill have the clearance Im wanting/looking for and with the mudflaps fitted it'll still be legal and not attract too much attention....I hope :oops:
Its not for everyone I know but its what I want to do to achieve a departure angle with my current ride height to match the increase approach angle I now have with the front Xrox bar.....then along with the improved ramp over angle I will achieve by "clocking the crawler box" that Ill be installing I should have the clearance that a much higher hilux has without the mods.
AppendicesHere's a couple pics of Tacoma's that have had the rear quarter chop done fitted with custom bars. Not sure which way Im going to go yet...have time for that.
Plate Type Rear Bar
Tube Type rear Bar
Ok, got a friend to make up for me the mud flap brackets that Ill use once the chop is done.....the design is slightly different to that planned above....
I ended up with an outer sleeve that gets welded onto the chassis rail....35mmx35mmx2mm thicksquare tube....500mm long and the inner tube is 30x30x2mm and 370mm long.
The inner tube slides into the shorter welded on outer tube nice and tight (the way I like it
) and Ill drill a hole through both and put a bolt through to hold it in.
Rubber sheet (Mudflap) will tech screw into the longer inner tube. Hope all that makes sense? Pic below.
So I got some time to do some more preparation work on the rear quarter chop....I removed the rear flares off the tub....strewth, couldnt beleive there was that much mud in the bottom of each side of the flares...no
, would have been a good 2kg of mud all up...all different coloured layers...would have been a geologists dream to work out were each layer came from......
Without Flares
Tyres Hanging out heaps with no flares
Well, heres the view for those that havent jumped under their tubs yet of the brackets supporting the sides of the tub -
As you can see I removed the mudflaps, then was the fun part to remove the plastic clips with the inbuilt thread for the mudflap screws....great fun....NOT
Removed the two 12mm bolts and drilled out the 3 spot welds on the right hand side....
Once the spot welds are drilled out, wiggle the panel around abit to break the seal the spot welds have left....
In the pic below, Im holding the stub of the mud flap bracket where it will be welded on roughly....and Ive drawn a texter line of approximately where the cut will be going on the inner side.
The bracket on the left you see hanging is removed by a couple of bolt at the top of it.....I left it on there for now as I put the mudflaps back on to keep driving it this week. After the week is up, I wont be driving the hilux hardly anything for a while so this save sme time later on when it comes to the actual chop.
Heres a pic of the line Ill be taking...the top of the tape is where the cut will be....Im not going perfectly horizontal for two reasons....
1st is it'll be too high above the side of the chassis rail and make mounting the mudflap bracket more difficult, and secondly, it follows the indentation in the side of the tub....so it'll look better.
Thats it for now...hopefully next weekend Ill get some time to pull the light and wiring out, tape it up properly and begin cutting.
So thats where Im up to now.....hopefully this weekend Ill get a chance to cmplete the rear quarter chop.
Then in bout a months time, Wyatt Scott from Demello and RST and Mr Marlin Czajkowski himself are coming down under to help me install the very first Marlin Crawler Box to a current generation Hilux....so I will finally be able to crawl...something that bigger than standard tyres and an auto gearbox stop me from being able to do......
