life and death of a clean $200 toy...................

[Snowrunner]

I would never imagined I would mess this thing up so bad so fast and after looking at my album of pictures and seeing what this truck used to look like and then how much better my other truck looked I am going to redo this entire thing pretty much and cannot wait to.  everything on it was done half ass because I never had enough time because I always had to be able to drive it the next day but finally I am on the verge of getting a tow rig and cannot be happier. 

Here is a list of breakage for the last 10 months:
3 Hubs
2 sets of hub studs
1 rear chevy spring
1 front shock hoop
1 bent marlin crossmember
a couple starters
many blown fuses
1 full door
2 half doors
2 front fenders
1 hood
2 beds
1 rear 5:29 ring and pinion
1 sterio head unit
1 windshield
4 speakers
6 rocklights
4 headlights
4 taillights
1 radiator
1 battery
1 rear shock mount
4 rims
1 bent rear axle
Pretty good HuH?  most of that was since april

then here is the list of parts replaced because didnt work out well or I changed my mind:

1 22r oilburner and everything attached
5 different exhaust systems
6 carburators
1 rear axle
1 pair front springs
2 sets of tires
3 batterys

.....and a partarige in a pear tree lol

[Ramrod]

and 2 turntables and a microphone

[tom w.]

where it's at...

[olivedrab85]

Are you running small blocks with your rears? I had to to get enough lift, I want to link mine also the wrap is bad and my spings are still pretty fresh.

[Ramrod]

yeah 2.5" ones and with those and 6.5" shackles I only got 4" of lift before they were ever driven on

[Ramrod]

finally got my damn half doors off and the full ones back on.  Tools needed for removal included: 60" highlift, hacksaw, bfh, large prybar, lots of sweat and quite a bit of blood and the truck looks pretty stupid with perfectly straight doors and fucked up everything else

[Hyena]

finally got my damn half doors off and the full ones back on.  Tools needed for removal included: 60" highlift, hacksaw, bfh, large prybar, lots of sweat and quite a bit of blood and the truck looks pretty stupid with perfectly straight doors and fucked up everything else

Hell ya, i remember when i had to go through that.  never more!

[Ramrod]

so its time for the begining of stage4 of the ramrod trucks life and it should start sometime next week.  Here are the pics of what i'm gonna do for starters to the front end:
dont laugh I just drew that up by hand and its pretty self explanitory.  Its gonna be narrowed in the front to frame rail width.  all the tube will be 1.75 hrew.  Battery will be bolted to bed floor.  Its gonna get a new hood from an 04 tacoma and I want to find some fenders pieces straighter than mine to put in front of the doors to cover the hinges and wiring and what not.  For headlights it will have a pair of these:
at the stock height and mounted to a bar between the horizontal bars in front of the radiator to the stinger.  I might even sneak in a piece of a first gen grill I have lying around.  I'm gonna get a piece of 2.5" tubing bent up at the muffler shop to reposition my afm next to the intake. I also already ordered new front shackles and shackle hangers to mount the 51" third gen rears I have up front and under the frame at the same time. 

Any questions or comments?  I would like any input

[Shamb]

where did you get those lights?

do they make them in any other shapes, sizes?

look pretty cool

[Ramrod]

type in iron cross headlight on ebay

[gotrocks]

i really like it, I think it'll look really cool.  To bad your body you have didnt' last long.  I really liked how your truck looked.  Clean and simple.  But now its gonna look awesome. I can see where you coming from with your rough sketch, I think it'll look reallly cool when your done.  Just make sure and take your time building it right the first time.  I think all of us get excited sometimes and half ass build our rigs just so that we can go wheeling.  Are you going to buy a bender to do all the tube work?  if so which one.  I am trying to contimplate what I'm going to do for a bender as well.  I need a cage really bad in my runner.

[6.72:1]

BRING THE CARNAGE! DO IT!

[Ramrod]

my friend has a pro tools 105hd and since I hook him up with work he lets me have it any time because he has no money for tube to use it.  it works great from what ive seen.  The first carnage so far is almost cutting my finger off getting excited and opening my first package today and getting crazy with a serated knife.

I agree with the rushing and halfassing of rigs to go wheeling and pretty much is how this entire truck was built but now i'm gonna go over everything and do it how it should have been from the start

[6.72:1]

my friend has a pro tools 105hd and since I hook him up with work he lets me have it any time because he has no money for tube to use it.  it works great from what ive seen.  The first carnage so far is almost cutting my finger off getting excited and opening my first package today and getting crazy with a serated knife.

I agree with the rushing and halfassing of rigs to go wheeling and pretty much is how this entire truck was built but now i'm gonna go over everything and do it how it should have been from the start

Hey now, I wasn't talking about that kind of carnage!

[Ramrod]

put on the new shackles today and they work great I got quite a bit more flex I think and my death wobble has gone away again.  I also cut off my rock sliders and tailpipe because the sliders were bent and need to be put back on straight before I do the rest of the work to the truck and i'm gonna redo my tailpipe so i comes out the side and doesnt hit my tow hook.  I also got for free on wednesday a grill, hood,  and  fenders which arent perfect but will work good for mockup when I tube out the front.  I needed them because my fenders and hood arent near the stock shape in any what right now.  I also ordered the headlights and hood pins today

[6.72:1]

Sweet! I have quite a large order to put in when Monday rolls around....

[Ramrod]

just went and picked up the bender and will set it up tomorrow.  I'm stoked this thing project is almost under way

[6.72:1]

Ah, a bender....



The world of possibilities....

[Matty]

definitely looking forward to seeing the end result.

[rocktoy83]

Sweet

[toybuilt]

Waiting to see how stage 4 comes out, seems like it well be quite cool

[Yota4life]

Your doing a tube bed later right?

[Ramrod]

last night we got the bender setup in my friends shop that I must say is pretty badass and today i'm after work i'm going over to sac to get 2 new crossmembers(1 for me 1 for my friend) and while i'm doing that he is picking up 100 ft of tube.  So i'm gonna just put the crossmember in at stock height for now and drive it up hunting for the weekend but I took monday off so expect to see the front of this thing hacked off monday night

[olivedrab85]

and done in time for the roundup?

[Ramrod]

hell yeah done by the roundup.  if not its going anyways.  this first project should only take a couple days

[Ramrod]

just finished putting in a takeoff of a frontrange offroad style crossmember and all I can say is im happy to be able to finally go past 1/4 throttle again.  My thoughts on this thing is that it is heavy duty and rigid as hell it seems like the whole truck is now way more solid.  Pics to come after I pull it out again and paint it someday when I decide on a color

[AlphaRedRooster]

Hey Ramrod, love the truck and can't wait to see some updated pics.  What material did you use to make the x-member out of and how did you cut it?

[Ramrod]

bought the crossmember already cut and everything out of 1/2" or 3/8" plate for less than half of fror.

Update:  today I went and bought 60' of tube, my headlights came, shop is wired and I got the front taken apart and ready for cutting but the socalled badass battery powered sawzall didnt last long enough.  pictures tomorrow and much more updates hopefully

[Ramrod]

worked on it all day yesterday after work and got barely anything done because its turning into more of a hangout garage but did get the front completely cut off along with all the old body mounts and bumper mounts and cut out plates for the tube to attach to the firewall .  I also have the cut lines mocked up in the hood so once I cut that and put it back on it will be tube bending time.  I cant wait, too bad im gone for another 3 days. 

Oh yeah did I mention the front will be 24.25" wide?

[Ramrod]

ok got alot done last night and it looks totally sick.  I also took a bunch of pics but dont have time for them right now.