trimster

Did a further paint test on the window wells. Wiped them down with alcohol then put on a good coat of binding primer. The primer fish-eyed in places meaning even it could not overcome the plastic. Then hit it with Rustolium black paint. It fish-eyed in places. So, put a self etching primer over the binding primer. Then paint. Better result. The best result was Flexi-seal. I had a partial can to play with. It flowed on nicely over the binding primer. I think spray on bed liner would do the same and maybe dry harder. I'll try that tomorrow.

No. Did research, asked around. Weighed the info. Think I'll stick with frame-on-frame. My luck, it will squeak.

I also think I have a solution for the stress on the fender brackets... I'm going to attach strapping stock from the underside of the bed to the end bolts on the fender arms. That should take most all the leveraged load off the welds. Might do what is done with muffler brackets and add a bit of rubber in the mount in case the tires/axels articulate enough to rub the fenders. This would allow them to flex a bit. And if you notice in the earlier photos of the window wells, there's pre-drilled holes on the ends. I'm going to tie the two between the tires together with flat stock. It could be connected with material from an old mud flap. Hmmmm. The flange at the rear will get a bit of angle iron to bolt on the mud flap. If I can get the matching holes for the brackets drilled through the new frame rails, I can test the whole configuration today. Thank goodness for carbide drill bits and a spot of cutting oil.

Well, 50% of that is partially true.....

Well, it warmed up and the metal wasn't frozen. So out came some new tools, the MIG thing and more progress. Fabricating brackets and getting the rail caps all plumb and square, took a bit. All this is new, so learning curve. The gap between the 2x6 C rails is 21-1/4". The ramps are 19", add the box material (1/8" flat stock) and a bit of room so it will slide in nicely. Maybe room for some long things like a broom or ???? Once the frame rails were mounted and the ramp openings set, I could recheck the placement of the wheel wells. So minor cuts and trimming, all seems good. Now to punch 1/2" holes for the mounting bolts (Grade 8). Had to lower (reduce) the 'aired-down' tire clearance to clear the ramp box. It was just a 'titch'. (that's a technical term. Very specific measurement). The black spots on the fender is a paint test. Upper one is DipIT rubber paint. The lower one is Rustolium bed liner. Had a bit left over from a previous project. Neither sticks well. It won't rub off but the fingernail takes both off. The Rustolium seems to stick better. I want to try some bumper paint for plastic. That's supposed to eat into the surface. So the fender supports are 1x2 thick wall tubing 100% welded to the beefy brackets. The arms are 30" long which spans all but the outside inch of the fenders. 3/8" carriage bolts will go though a piece of 11.5"x 1/8" flat stock that runs on the inside of the fender as a stiffener/backing plate. The fenders (window wells) have molded in flat surfaces on the back side so the stiffener can act like an oversized washer and stress distributor. Until next time... If the weather holds.... I'll be outside with the truck.

Agree totally. We were planning on a touch-n-go at the house, but other things are keeping us 'chillin' for a few months. And I started the truck bed build. Which, for me, is way fun.

When purchasing a Smart..any year/model to stay away from? Electric is out for us due to the limited range. Found a 2005 with 35k miles. That's a gen I.

That's what I assumed. With that, my bed build continues. I'm getting ready to order the steel for the cross members. Welding on, dude!

With the Smart car Gen II (2009 - ??) Being longer, across the bed of our truck than technically legal without wide load permit, anyone getting pulled over/cited? Or is it like "don't worry about it...except in Calif where everything causes cancer. "

Got a diagnostic reply from Hayes. Here's the email... " Below is what the engineer tech forwarded to me: When connected to a power source the LED indicated that the unit was energized/ an output voltage was present. Typically this fault could be caused by a defective hall effect sensor, power mosfet, or microprocessor. Replacing the microprocessor corrected the fault. The exact cause of the processor failure could not be determined. We have logged the fault and will monitor this particular component in production going forward, to be sure there is not a recurring problem we need to address. Please keep us updated on the performance of your replacement unit. If there are any issues we will do everything we can to correct them. Thank you and have great week!" The replacement unit (rev. C) is working fine. It's different in design than the 'B' version that failed. The truck is parked for the winter... so more road trips in the spring... and more testing of the new controller.

Thanks folks...I'm going to keep it simple. As it should be apparently. Guess you don't need to keep the fridge running when it's....22* outside. Doh. Burrrr Bob

Cut the 10' bed rail today. That Harbor Freight bandsaw, with a good blade, cut the 6" C channels like butter. Positioned for the ramp storage gaps, looks like the ramps will fit between the tires and over the steps in front of the tires. This will allow for 2 ramps stored below the bed. I'm good with that. Shown here 1.5"x1.5" angle (it will be 2x2 when built) the ramps will slide in on this angle iron, bottom and top corners. The ramps are 6' folded in half, so the remainder of the space across the bed will be enclosed storage for the winch arm, etc. Weather will be... wait for it... 47 and sunny tomorrow. Maybe 60 on Thurs thru the weekend. The heat from welding is welcomed.

I weighed the fenders... 17.5# each The brackets are 10# ea. So total leveraged weight on the brackets is 17.5#. + the weight of the bracket support arm where the arm joins with the fender to the outside edge of the fender. The brackets will be welded to the bed frame rail (shown clamped in place in previous photos). When done, if there's more 'end movement' than I'd like when running those fine roads in New Mexico, I can add a vertical strap from the bottom of the bed to the end of the support arm. Might just do that anyway. Easy add as the build progresses.

Many of the commercial mounts are spring loaded. A bit past my fab ability. The gussets idea is possible. I did get some 1.5 x 1.5 angle to possibly make a doubler. I'll noodle on this. Harbor freight just tempted me with a sale on their 5x5 hand held band saw. That will help with this build and making these brackets.

Ya, we'll see 66 about March. Thanks 😊

Thanks all. I was over thinking.

Other than plugging in the block heater and 4amp trickle charger for the batteries, what else should I do for the truck that's setting the winter in the driveway? Fuel tanks are 3/4 full. On my international, I added some anti-gel stuff to the fuel... plugged in the block heater and let it set for the winter. I'd start it every week or so and let it idle. Right now it's 19 degrees with a 8-20 mph wind. Chill factor is... friggen' cold. Bob who is cold

I'm going to test some stuff on this plastic. My hunch, based on the surface, it might be difficult finding something that will stick. Unless I spend a bit of time roughing up the surface. And there's a lot of surface there.

Making some headway. Fab'd some arms and brackets last night, tack welded them together. The brackets are beefy angle stock. The tubing is 1x2 thick wall. Roughly clamped to the bed riser rail (also just clamped roughly in place) it looks like this... Air'd down, the clearance is the thickness of a 2x4. Aired up... it's 4.5" roughly. Without being welded in place, everything sags just a bit. The arms will be thru-bolted with carriage bolts (round tops towards the tires). There's a 2"x 1/8" strap steel running on the tire side to create a long washer/support, sandwiching the arm and the wheel well. Thoughts...suggestions welcomed. Ya...and it turned cold and snowed. Ugh.

Cool. Thanks. Very helpful.

So got some steel to start the bones of the bed build. I marked where possible ramp storage could be for 2 of the 3 ramps. The frame rail cap is 2.5"x 6" C channel. The third ramp might just live on the deck.

I was thinking DIY because they will be under the bed eventually. Until then, exposed. Might be worth the extra $$$ to get the LineX done.

So the I-beam laid in it's side? Maybe 7" cord for the tires to run into?

Not an issue. No offense taken. I was concerned about the durability of these until they arrived. They will be under the bed, once that is built. So on reality, they will be wheel well liners. For me, this is really a budget decision. And I like to build stuff. Hopefully I'm going to get this project done before the snow flies here in Salt Lake. We're expecting a high temp of 42 on Monday. I don't have access to a shop big enough for the truck. (Sad face)

No problem. I didn't specify what was going on the ramps. My Goldwing has the same problem .