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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on May 28, 2011 21:52:19 GMT -5
Ended up having some time waiting around for a Craigslist sale. Been tinkering with this for a little bit. Finally dove into it a little more today while waiting. This is what I started with on the rear cage cooler rack: Goal is to get this to fit.....also the big Pelican case Elizabeth gave me for Christmas ( you can see it in the background of the picture). Instead of just hacking the whole thing apart, I decided to flip the small cage over by unbolting it. I then cut a square hole big enough for the square tubing to fit, and turned it upside down. Today, I started building a larger basket to fit on top of the smaller basket. Figureing I can just unbolt it if I want to use the small basket. I'm now thinking this is flawed and maybe I'll just add some additional bracing to the one I'm building now and leave the other basket off to save weight. Anyway, here is where I left off. You can see the smaller basket inside the structure of the new frame: I should have taken pictures of the big pelican, but I forgot. It fits as designed. The square tubing on that comes off the cage clamp is stronger than you would think. I was going to try and bend it for another idea I had, but I could not bend it with my entire weight. I even used a cheater pipe. It should be strong enough for this set up....if my welds hold.....lol ;D. Hopefully I don't do wheelies all the way down the trail from too much rear ballast.... ;D. Might need to fabricate wheelie bars next . BTW, I'll still add some additional bracing for side to side stability.
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Post by DarylJ on May 28, 2011 22:25:20 GMT -5
Looks good Matt, it will be nice to have that rack on there when you have Wallace in the back.
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on May 28, 2011 22:32:39 GMT -5
Looks good Matt, it will be nice to have that rack on there when you have Wallace in the back. Yep, maybe even just for easy access to gear or may morph into a tool box. Might even be able to fit a backpack on it.....
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Post by DarylJ on May 29, 2011 8:22:06 GMT -5
Looks good Matt, it will be nice to have that rack on there when you have Wallace in the back. Yep, maybe even just for easy access to gear or may morph into a tool box. Might even be able to fit a backpack on it..... speaking of backpack. Did you see Shugs new video with the storm in it on HF?
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on May 29, 2011 10:13:07 GMT -5
Just watched it. Crazy lightening! Hope we don't see any of that in WV. Yep, maybe even just for easy access to gear or may morph into a tool box. Might even be able to fit a backpack on it..... speaking of backpack. Did you see Shugs new video with the storm in it on HF?
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 1, 2011 11:12:35 GMT -5
This is where I ran out of Unimix......I was like "Dang, my welds are getting crappy (well crappier than normal)". Looked at the tank and all zero's. I should have just bought a hitch hauler and modified it.....lol ;D .... oh well. Too late now.
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 3, 2011 21:44:01 GMT -5
Was able to knock out most of the rest of this rack this afternoon. Finished the round bar for bungee's. Bolted it up to the brace that will connect it to the cage. Did some finish welding and grinding. Spent most of the time today swapping new flap disks and grinding disks on the grinders. Putting new wire in the welder, changing out the tip and orifice, etc, etc. Seems my welding gear has been neglected.....well, just not pm'ed....caused a little extra time, but still a fun project. Still need a little extra bracing and a couple coats of paint. Hope to finish tomorrow. Need to adjust the angle: Small case fits well. Also room to open the lid. When doing the roundbar for the bungees.....whoops, I forgot to measure to make it low enough for the buckles. Might just bend the bar down a little to allow clearance. Not sure. Might be carrying the big pelican anyway and it clears the bar. How the pelican clears: The problem with the Pelican right now is that it hits the roll bar in the normal flat position. It will only fit light this right now: I should be able to reverse the clamp on the roll bar to face rearward and have room for the Pelican to fit then. Hope it works out well when I'm done and holds up to the beating on the trail.
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Post by Randy_R on Jun 3, 2011 22:02:24 GMT -5
Looking Good. Might wanna go ahead and add some side braces. The center support will take a beating on the trails. Probably fine for 10lbs but I would bet the large Pelican will be 20+ lbs loaded...
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 4, 2011 6:20:04 GMT -5
Looking Good. Might wanna go ahead and add some side braces. The center support will take a beating on the trails. Probably fine for 10lbs but I would bet the large Pelican will be 20+ lbs loaded... Yeah, that is on the slate of things to do today. That big Pelican is heavy....well, it's got a lot of my hunting gear in it right now...but it's still heavy. Figure the side to side action might kill it.
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Post by DarylJ on Jun 4, 2011 6:25:17 GMT -5
Matt, I would add some braces like this
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 4, 2011 6:36:17 GMT -5
Matt, I would add some braces like this That is EXACTLY how I was planning on doing them......lol. I'm not going to weld them to the OEM square tubing though. I'm going to fabricate a square to slip around it, then weld the braces to that. That way, if there is a temper to that (arm) steel, I don't change that. In other words, I would use a short piece of a larger square tubing if I had it to slip over ther other square tubing....I don't so I'll fab a short piece. Then the braces will just bolt to the back side of the tray. Also, it will be able to be bolted back to the stock tray if need be.
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Post by Drew RZR 800 on Jun 4, 2011 6:54:03 GMT -5
Or take a strap up to the loops on the roll bar , would be simple and no more welding and take some of the stress off of that one joint . You probably have a old strap of some kind for a donnor . If you took it to the outside it would take some of the bounce out with weight added and still give you that triangle effect , I even see a slot in the front that would work for attachment .
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 4, 2011 7:10:38 GMT -5
Or take a strap up to the loops on the roll bar , would be simple and no more welding and take some of the stress off of that one joint . You probably have a old strap of some kind for a donnor . If you took it to the outside it would take some of the bounce out with weight added and still give you that triangle effect , I even see a slot in the front that would work for attachment . Yeah, the steel is kind of odd. I had fabricated it for another project but then decided against it.....basically scrap steel....but no steel is scrap to me. There is always a potential welding project to come out of scrap steel. Strap isn't a bad idea at all. I'll still weld my brace, but that might be an adder for the front side of the rack to the roll bar. You are correct, would actually act like a shock absorber. Good idea. Might be a back up plan. Good ideas guys!
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 4, 2011 22:32:59 GMT -5
Ok, pretty much wrapped it up today. Needs another coat of paint, but it seems to do what it needs to do. Rear bracing: Close up of my slip fit collar brace: Rear bracing took up a little room out of the cargo area so I had to make room for the Pelican to fit. Had to get out the heat wrench and the BFH.....IE., got the torch and heated one of the steel braces and wailed on it with a dead blow hammer. Fits fine now. First coat of paint:
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Post by Matt H (aka Tiger Rag) on Jun 12, 2011 19:13:25 GMT -5
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