Longtravel: Banner/HulkSmash Build- PapaSmurf & Sunnier Build a First Gen

SO purty!!! But I detect some holding back on your finished chapters, just so you can keep your readers holding their breath at the final outcome, then BAM, post up a huge pic dump from T2S that we are all anticipating anxiously!!!

I expect videos galore also, and I will be sure to subscribe to your channel and like your channel!

 

Thank you, it's been fun and I'm learning a LOT!

 

Sweet !!!!!!

 

Looks mean like Hulk. The jeans are ripping off.

 

I saw one of @papasmurf homies lurking around Venice...

 

Bahahahahaha!
Yeah, I need 100 subscribers.


Actually, I've just been too damned busy leading up to T2S. My drop-dead final deadline for the build would have been April 1st, owing to so many other events on calendar. But the joke this year was on me. The only thing I didn't have scheduled in April was taxes; did those early this year.

In the week and a half before T2S, I organized and celebrated 2 household birthdays; saw CATS with out of town family, planned and paid months ago (overnight visit); Disneyland this last Monday (also planned and promised months ago)... and was sick. Still sick but waaaay better and not dead yet, so....

Anyway, I swear, I'm not holding out on you guys, just slammed. Had last minute truck repair (not Bruce-- had to juggle between 2 shops); prep for the truck (bed seems tiny compared to my 3rd gen; plus, minus 40% for 2 spares ). And now we're here, what cell signal there is, is slooow. The one I posted Thursday morning took and hour and 10 minutes. So... I'll hit this thread hard when I get back home.

Preview: the truck is AWESOME and I'm having a GREAT TIME. My kid is enjoying shotgun status and curating Spotify, so I'm focused on driving and learning-- grinning all the time! #blessedandhappy

 

Chapter IX: Friends Don't Let Friends Skip Leg Day

After @papasmurf got the front suspension in, we had a bit of down time owing to outside events (two weekends in a row of rain; visiting relatives; military reserve duties). During this phase, Bruce worked on the truck whenever he could find time, usually without me present.

He did preliminary adjustments for alignment, replaced all the stuff under the hood we'd removed to accomplish installation of the front suspension, reconnected the battery, added and tested wiring harnesses for BAJA DESIGNS squadron sports I'd bought for the 3rd gen then waited to install on the Hulk (then removed them, pending installation of a front bumper). Lots of little bits that needed doing.

He also spent some time on his truck: new Dirty Deeds exhaust and headers. I did my best to help and broke my little finger. It hurt.


Bruce also installed some new headlights on the Hulk (note: the output is terrible; if you have recommendations for bright headlights for a 1st gen-- that I don't have to retrofit-- please let me know!


After texting that he needed to get buddies over to remove the bed, Bruce sent me a happy message that he'd figured out how to remove it himself. Always with the American Ingenuity

Every now and then during this period, he'd scare the hell out of me -- er, I mean, send me photos of his progress.
When I got this one, I rushed right over. 'Gotta be supportive when loved ones undergo major surgery:
Yep, there used to be a cross-member.

 

Easy to appreciate how flexy our frames are without the tow hitch and spare carrier in place.

Note to self: when ditching the tow hitch for a tube bumper, remember to add a brace.

 

Katanas LED for about $50 a pair on Big Gurl are pretty sweet bulbs. I have the clear light assy housings and yours look tinted?

Headlight Revolution makes a PerfectFit Fog bulb for about $129 if you plan on reinstalling the OEM Fog assys.

Stoked on your truck!

 

no stock fog lights, has a new tube bumper on it.. but for headlights we just need to throw in some Amazon HID kit or something for 40$ and it will be good. I ran HID's off amazon for like 2 years w no issues.

 

Haha! I'm STOKED TOO!!

Thanks for the info! I did choose the tinted-- probably not my best idea. They look great fromthe outside, but I need more light output for on pavement driving.

We mounted the BD Squadron Sports to the top of the prerunner bumper and connected them as fogs. They work great but they're too bright for in-town use.

I'll check out those bulbs you recommend. I need to read back over the 1st gen thread to know if they'll work with the reflective housing of these headlights. Be great if I can just upgrade bulbs and keep the current housings.

 

This then!

 

The Katanas work great in my reflector Headlight housings. Way brighter than halogens. The OEM PerfectFit Fogs really fill in the light best. I couldn’t live without my fogs as they are my favorite light source.

 

Vleds also came out with a new LED (micro evolution) bulb that will fit in your housing. 3500 lumens per bulb 7K total which is higher than your BD's you have mounted on your bumper. They are $125 per set but it's a quality product, IMHO worth the price. I use a lot of Vleds stuff and they have sales going on all the time. Just an option that might work well with your smoked lens.

 

Chapter X: Make Your Own Bed

Another TIP to assist anyone that follows: if you're planning to bed-line your truck during a makeover like this, do it before you remove the bed to install the rear suspension. I had plenty of time I could have lined the bed during the weeks we waited for parts while the truck was at my house, or while Bruce installed the front suspension at his house, but had it in my head that it'd be easiest to do while the bed was off the truck. I was wrong.

Bruce moved the bed off the frame by himself, onto 2 lightweight saw horses he set up close behind the truck. This was convenient because it didn't require a bunch of people to take it off (like his truck bed did; although his is heavier), or to put it back on when the time came. What I did not anticipate was, it was a PITA reaching up and over the bedsides and down to the center of the bed while standing outside, to prep the bed for lining, while not being able to lean on it so as not to topple the saw horses.

gossip: This really wasn't that big a deal, but I want to get the point across: prep and line your bed while it's on the truck-- and if you're gonna rebuild your truck with a hard completion deadline like we did for T2S, do it before you do anything else. )

The real reasons I'm writing about bed-liner are 1. it was waaaaay less expensive doing it myself than paying for Line-X like I did for my 3rd gen, and easier than I anticipated; and 2. it's one of the only parts of this build I did myself-- so it gets its own chapter.

3. Also, the next chapter after this one will detail the Hulk's sexy rear end... pretty much the crescendo of this novel..., so I think building a little anticipation by postponing that for a Friday release is in order. So here's a guide on...

How to Paint On Herculiner Bed Liner:

Here's the OEM bedliner that was in the truck when I bought it. We still have it and it's in good shape so, if anyone in SoCal wants it, give me a shout before I hall it off to the dump. That bit of dirt near the cab is just dirt; no stains, holes, or tears.
I kept the plastic on the tailgate (so thats not up for grabs).

I read about Herculiner on the 'What Have You Done To Your First Gen Today' thread. @Casper421 did his and posted pics. It looked great and was $77 on Amazon for a kit that included a gallon of Herculiner; a small plastic abrader (I used sandpaper instead); a small paint brush; and a couple of stipple rollers. The kit came in a tidy box and looked like this:



Anyway, after the OEM plastic bedliner was out, I discovered a large quantity of compost in the bed . Seriously, a bunch of rich, fertile soil...

When I cleared that out (whoo-hoo, California!, almost no rust!!

I used sand paper on an electric sander, augmented by sandpaper I held in my hand for the corners. I looked all over online and never saw a guide on *how much* to scuff, so I did this much. I used an electric grinder to remove the very small areas of surface rust, took that to clean metal.

Here it is, scuffed and ready for Herculiner (except for a patch I couldn't reach working over the bedsides ).


I vacuumed up the dust, then washed out the bed with a power washer. I let the bed dry then rubbed the entire surface with acetone.

I used zip ties I cut into segments to temporarily plug the linear drainage holes on the floor at the front of the bed, so as not to seal off these with the liner.


I'd removed the plastic covers in the front wall and floor near the front (see the light showing through in the photo above) and painted the edges of those openings, as well as the bits I ground down to metal, with this satin black Rustoleum. I did this because it's a good primer and to avoid having the heavy texture of the Herculiner prevent me from putting the plastic hole covers back in place. I also taped off and painted the back edges of the bed, where the tailgate meets when closed, because when I had the other truck Line-X'd, he thickness on this surface prevented the tailgate from closing and had to be sanded down.

Bruce and I moved the bed back onto the rebuilt rear (next Chapter I then painted the Herculiner onto the bed surface while I sat in the bed under a dilapidated Eazy-up to minimize sunburn, keep the metal bed from getting hot enough to burn me (note: it rained when we needed sunshine, then burned when we needed cloud cover ), and attempted to slow the drying process.

First I painted the front wall, then the interior of each side wall, front to back, then the floor, front to back. I used brushes, not the stipple rollers, for the entire first coat, and applied brush strokes essentially front/back, parallel with the ridges in the floor of the bed.

By the time I finished the first coat, it looked horrible and I was very disappointed. Bruce looked in at my work and tried to be encouraging but was sad too. It was a bummer that I'd made a mess of our otherwise excellent truck project.

And... that coat didn't dry in the time the instructions said it would. We both had places to be so I gave up and called it a day.

The second coat must be applied within 24 hours of the first. When I returned the next day, the first coat was no longer tacky and little bits of wildflower fluff had become enmeshed in it as it dried. I was not encouraged but started in. This time I used a brush to dab the corners then did everything else with the stipple rollers. I rolled side to side (supposed to do one coat on way, then do the second coat cross-ways to the first). This required I be very patient in the narrow spaces between ridges on the bed floor. Again I did the back wall first, then the side walls, front to back, than the floor, front to back. Again I searched but could not find any directions for how to paint the second coat without sitting on the first. I'd already ruined the clothes I was wearing (I'm a messy painter, so I wore stuff I could discard when I completed this project.) but did not want to further ruin the bedliner already down. I set down cardboard to sit on and worked my way front to back.

Anyway, it surprised the heck out of both of us-- because the first coat looked really bad but, after the 2nd coat was done, the bed looked great! Whew!

(Doh! Apparently I forgot to take pictures of it. I'll get one soon and add it in here....)

 

Thanks for the intel! I'll check these out.

 

This thread feels like when a stripper takes forever to get her bra off. DUMP EM OUT!

 

Teasing you guys is part of the processs....right Sunny?

 

Got to tease before you please

 

You another take the bra off already kinda guy?

You know there was that T2S that Sunny went to, and i think she's working too and taking care of her familia while being on this forum. Shes a busy lady!

 

I didnt know!

 

LETS SEE THEM HOGS!!!

 

Pretty funny from a guy who had a bitchin' mid-travel set-up for 5 minutes, drove it once then dumped it... and trashed his entire build thread rather than leave it for others to follow and learn. Whatever, Dude.

Turn the page....

 

Chapter XI: What You Got On Underneath?

While I worked on the bedliner, Bruce assembled the rear suspension. One of us was really hung over so we didn't talk a lot about each step.

Here are a lot of photos with a bit of info (a million photos says more than a million words ); hit us up if you want more detail. This involved mounting Deaver C37-HD leaf springs, an MCM cantilever set-up where Bruce had removed that center cross-member from the frame under the bed, and King shocks.

Here's the cantilever in place, the shocks set in place but not yet secured.

Look at that arch!


Here they are dismantled. First Bruce used just the longest leaf to work out the limits of range before welding / installing everything.














Bruce cycled everything and, when all seemed right, he welded it up and we moved the bed back on. The locations where the links were welded to the axle initially (shown) were placed atop a rounded area of the axle (because that's where the rounded attachment pieces naturally fit, and to avoid the locations of existing tabs for brake lines). Everything worked but it seemed obvious the angle of the links would cause stress over time.

After looking into it further and getting feedback from a reputable suspension and alignment shop (SoCal Suspension in El Cajon), Bruce relocated the links toward the center of the axle so the angle of the links would be straight, perpendicular to the axles. This involved grinding one side of each of those curved metal attachments at the bottoms of the links, and relocating tabs for brake lines. This shows the goal. I realized I don't yet have a picture of it done, but I'll add one later.

The other thing I can describe but not show (I'll add it later) is, the shocks were secured to the cantilever so we could drive the truck for alignment but later, pads were added between the shocks and cantilever (one each at the attachment points) to prevent vibration from breaking the straps and shaking the shocks loose, which I understand is fairly common if the inexpensive but necessary pads aren't added.

Here's a video showing how the MCM cantilever works, allowing full range of the King shocks without cutting the truck bed to install a cage. This was important to me because I wanted to keep room for overlanding gear; Bruce spec'd the cantilever to accomplish this.
https://youtu.be/E8hjqsTnJh8

Alright, guys and gals, that's most of the sex in this story. Next up we'll see Bruce fab up a front bumper. After that, we got Sedona. Almost up to date.

 

Nice, Thanks for sharing. Sunnier your doing a hell of a lot better than me. I've been promising a build page for a year now and I'm still struggling finding the time to put it all together. I think I need to hire a ghost writer to put it together for me.

 

I'll write it for you. Send me pics

 

Haha- Thanks, Greg! Apparently, I'm more ghost than writer, so if Alex doesn't suit your timeline , let me know.

 

Fixed. improved.

This thread is like when I binge through a Netflix series, as long as they don't cancel or hire new writers I'm good. Nice work Sunnier and Papa. That cantilever looks like a nice option, glad to see something different.