Re: BBQ2003, question for Jon, other mechanically inclined

From: jon@dakota-truck.net
Date: Wed Jun 25 2003 - 10:25:50 EDT


andy levy <andylevy@yahoo.com> wrote:
: BARRY OLIVER wrote:
: > You have a welder and a plasma cutter, right? Do you also have a
: torch or bending equipment?

: Jon has plenty of toys. He has a MIG welder and a plasma cutter.
: Pretty sure he has a torch too.

    Yep - how could you forget that one Andy? As I recall, the
crossmember of your '99 was the recipient of the torch and a big
hammer. :-)

:> I would like to see about installing my Mopar tow hook kit and adapting my brushguard to work with them. As best as I can tell, they bolt onto the same bracket, but the lower mount point adapters conflict with the bracket that comes with the tow-hooks. The brushguard has a pair of long offset brackets that extend up to the bottom of the frame horns, I imagine I would have to fix/remake those brackets to connect to the towhook bracket to get this to work...does this make any sense/or sound like it's fe
asable to do either Thursday or Friday?
[...]

: Really, I think we need to be sitting/standing around the parts & truck
: to really eyeball what's going on and formulate a plan. If this was
: hard to follow, it won't be in a month when we have the parts in front
: of us and I can demonstrate.

    Yep, that's the gist of it. I do remember (somewhat) how the tow
hooks attached, but I haven't seen the brush guard in much detail.
Basically, it would take us standing around, maybe having a couple of
people holding the brush guard in place, taking some measurements, and
kicking around ideas.

   I agree with Andy that the integrity of the tow hooks should not
be compromised if at all possible. As far as the brush guard goes,
is it pretty much for looks, or do you actually plan to push over
oak trees with it? :-) Without looking at the parts, its hard to say
but I don't think it would be a stretch to say that the brush guard
will *probably* not be as strong as if it was mounted the way it is
intended. But should still work fine for its intended purpose (something
we would plan for when doing the design...)

  Its probably doable, but like Andy said, without having all the parts
laying there its hard to visualise. If you are interested in seeing what
can be done, I would certainly be willing to help with it.

   One thing that this does bring to mind though, is the amount of
time we will have for these sorts of things. Thursday would definitely
be a better day to do this than Friday since Friday is an "official" (if
there is such a thing at the DML BBQ) wheeling day. It could certainly
be done at the end of the day on Friday, but even so we'll probably all
be tired, the truck will be muddy, etc.

   I would guess we'll take 2-3 hours for trail surveying and clearing
on thursday. There is also the usual greetings, standing around looking
at trucks, general euphoria at being at another BBQ, etc. :-) I'm not
sure how long the tow hook/brush guard fabrication would take, but those
sorts of projects usually involve at least one run to the hardware store. :-)

   Is there anyone else who was hoping to do any work on their vehicles
down here prior to the BBQ? Andy, I think you were considering swapping
out your shocks? We should probably figure out how much work we're
looking at to try to work out some sort of schedule to get everything
we need to do, done.
   

-- 

-Jon-

.---- Jon Steiger ------ jon@dakota-truck.net or jon@jonsteiger.com ------. | I'm the: AOPA, DoD, EAA, NMA, NRA, SPA, USUA. Rec & UL Pilot - SEL | | 70 Cuda, 90 Dak 'vert, 92 Ram 4x4, 96 Dak, 96 Intruder 1400, 96 FireFly | `------------------------------------------ http://www.jonsteiger.com ----'



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