IRONMAN's RACK

[Yukon Joe]

What a pain...
Bring those extra bolts to the Snoball500, they might go for $163!

Yukon Joe

 

[Big Blue]

I've been trying to get mine out for a couple weeks now. I'm on my 4th T50. I've been spraying PB on the bolts every other day trying to get them loose. And yeah the breaker bar with a cheater only speeds up breaking bits.

See Ironmans solution below....HEAT em up!

I did what Hockster suggested on my last 2 that wouldn't come out and heated it for 30 seconds and BOOB came right out.
Used a plumbing torch with Matt gas to get them hot. Hockster is the man!
On my broken one I removed all the bolts and 3 screws from inside the gas cap and a clamp around the gas pipe in the wheel well,
then tipped up the bed far enough to slide out the nutsert and put in a new one.
Middle ones clip into truck frame no other way around it. Bed is back on and back on track.
These bolts aren't cheep, bought 3 and paid $63 now I have 2 sitting on my bench cause I was able to get them out.
Live and learn.

Good work Ironman! Glad the project is back on track and look forward to updated pics.

---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:21 AM ----------

What a pain...
Bring those extra bolts to the Snoball500, they might go for $163!

Yukon Joe

LOL, and blow torch rental....$100 for 15 minutes.

 

[KaiserM715]

...and heated it for 30 seconds and BOOB came right out.

LOL, and blow torch rental....$100 for 15 minutes.

I think he ought to charge more than that, because his torch makes BOOBs come out!!

 

[IRONMAN]

I think he ought to charge more than that, because his torch makes BOOBs come out!!

Hahahahaa It was so early that I didn't even realize I wrote that. Guess everyone knows what I was dreaming about last night.

---------- Post added at 09:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:19 AM ----------

What a pain...
Bring those extra bolts to the Snoball500, they might go for $163!

Yukon Joe

I'll definitely bring them along to the install party at Kanakry's.

 

[pat'sRAPTOR]

job well done ironman haha i read that last night and thought to myself maybe i should check to see if mine are stuck cause im gonna be building my bed rack here real soon lol im sure mine haven't been out EVER and its a 2010 but to my surprise they came out really easy almost too easy like they worked themselves loose... so after taking them out i made sure to spray some break cleaner on the threads to clean them all up and put them back on nice and tight hopefully i didnt just F%#@ myself by doing that haha. looking at your rack here and icecobras rack ive got a really good idea of how im building mine now... cant wait to see the finished product!! good luck!

 

[Yukon Joe]

Is there any benefit to putting some antiseise on them?

Yukon Joe

 

[IRONMAN]

Is there any benefit to putting some antiseise on them?

Yukon Joe

I guess they put loc-tite on them but mine were rusted to shit so that might be a good idea.
Almost three years old.

 

[Hockster]

Is there any benefit to putting some antiseise on them?

Yukon Joe

Yep you sure can. They are a nose tip designed to self start not self thread so about 3/8 or so of the tip is shaped so they will start and not cross thread. (ya right) The lock-tite is because of the location and the bouncing around they do. They do the same thing on the body bolts. Talk to any tech that has tried to remove the body of a diesel and they'll tell what a ****** up design it is...

 

[Big Blue]

I guess they put loc-tite on them but mine were rusted to shit so that might be a good idea.
Almost three years old.

Yes, they do. I noticed all of my bolts had some form of loc-tite (white in color) from the factory and I re-loc-tited them when I reinstalled.

I have my shovel holder on and my Fire extingisher installed, now just waiting on backordered Method and she is done!

I will post final pics shortly. I am very happy with my Rack. Making it yourself is very gratifying.

 

[IRONMAN]

Step #2

Started building the main Rack.
Tried using the pipe bender but with little success so I went old school with the 45 degree corners.





Bottom section.




Top section



Finally had some sucess with the pipe bender so I built the jack holder and welded to the bottom section.




Packed the pipe full of silica sand, worked very well and also adjusting the roller points helped as well. First time I had them spread out too far.



All the pipes were notched out, bought a notcher from Harbor Freight and it work very well.






Time to attach both Top and Bottom sections.





Checked everything to see how it fit.




---------- Post added at 09:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:22 PM ----------


STEP #3
Building the Jack tray and Skid plate.

Started off with a plain peice of Aluminum.
DAMN this shit's expensive.lol



Rounded the corners and did a little polishing design on it.



Next a smaller piece for making the tabs to secure the Jack.











Then I took the tabs and bottom plate to a company that did Tig welding and they welded the Aluminum tabs to the bottom plate and bent the ends to roughly 45 degrees.
My welder will not weld Aluminum other wise I would have done it.





Next I built the Tray for the Jack to slide into. It will be bolted onto the Rack.





More to come....

Step #4
Tire mount