[TWX]

Mostly finished the tire-side swing arm today. Remining to do, weld on caps over the open-ends of the tubes, confirm all welds are complete and not just tacks, run a fillerless TIG pass over the welds to clean them up, grind off the millscale, drill the hole for the future jerry can swing arm pivot, weld the nut on for the jerry can swing arm pivot, clearance the body of the truck at the rear bed for the driver's side swingout, and then have these parts powdercoated.

The arm clears the tailgate. This was before I attached the latch hardware.

It looks like its too far to the right but the photo was taken when I was much closer to the truck than any vehicle rightly would be.

The tire mounted and tightened down just clears the side of the bed, the tire rubber barely brushes the light on the raised white letters as it is rotated.

Tailgate face clears the arm when opened by around an inch and change.

Tire is above the original departure angle.

Just under an inch clearance from the tailgate to the arm, and around 3/4 inch between the tire and the arm.

Tire protrudes rearward around 5" more than the tailgate does when lowered. This was one of the goals, to avoid the swung tire sticking out like crazy.

And the tabs that the swing arms will latch into.

Just after this I screwed up. I installed a plate on the swing arm to align with the tab, but I didn't realize the arm wasn't swung-in all of the way. I attached and surround-welded the plate on in the wrong spot. I spent over an hour fixing this, I knocked out the tab (just tacked) to cut it shorter, then broke my tap when I was tapping the threads for the hook, then had to make another tab altogether, cleaning up the old steel and welding it in once I'd gotten the alignment right.

...to be continued...

 

[TWX]

...continued...

Latch mechanism visible.

Unlatached mechanism.

Latched.

From passenger's side view.

From driver's side view.

The last two were on return from road-testing, I took it on the freeway (it's a half-mile from the house) and down a couple miles, then back home on surface-streets and through the neighborhood over the speed humps. No rattles or other weirdness. The old bumper was actually in the bed during the road test (doh!) so I don't know how it'll ride for-height yet unloaded. It seemed to drive just fine with it.

So like I said, I have a bunch of stuff to do before taking ot for powder-coat. I'm thinking white.

Oh, I do need to install some kind of spring-loaded pin so that when the thing is open it stays that way.

 

[Grampy Matt]

looking forward to seeing it complete

 

[California Gator]

Man, that's tight. You may want to protect your tail gate by putting some rubber or something so that if the arm does swing in you avoid metal to metal contact.

Also, will you be putting a gusset to give a little more strength to the vertical member that holds the tire? (i.e to take some of the stress off that right-angle weld). Looks like there's some space between the right angle and the bow of the tailgate.

 

[TWX]

Man, that's tight. You may want to protect your tail gate by putting some rubber or something so that if the arm does swing in you avoid metal to metal contact.

Also, will you be putting a gusset to give a little more strength to the vertical member that holds the tire? (i.e to take some of the stress off that right-angle weld). Looks like there's some space between the right angle and the bow of the tailgate.

I have some triangular plates that I'm considering welding-in. I wanted to see how much movement before I did that, given that the wall thickness is much, much more than the spare tire carrier that bolts on to my travel trailer. Thinnest material is .083" wall, and everything's 3x3 or 3x2 tubing.

It would take an awful lot of movement for it to actually hit the tailgate though. Like, I'd have to be rear-ended by a truck or van sitting up high enough to actually hit where it would matter.

When I build the jerry can holder I may add a provision to hold the high-lift jack. I thought about doing that on the tire carrier arm but it wasn't in the cards, at least not yet anyway.

And now I'm also mulling what I could do with a backup camera. Since the hole to lower the under-body spare is offset, I'm wondering if I could somehow put a camera up between the license plate and the tailgate, set into that bottom-of-bed area. Or just get one of those backup cameras that goes on the license plate mount.

 

[California Gator]

It would take an awful lot of movement for it to actually hit the tailgate though. Like, I'd have to be rear-ended by a truck or van sitting up high enough to actually hit where it would matter.

No, not a hit from the back. I meant when it's open. If the wind blew it closed or you're on a slant.

Yeah, I wondered if you had a rear camera. Those are all good solutions. I can't imagine not having one any more. Years and years without one. 100's of times backing down on a trailer hitch solo and having to adjust a couple times. Now...there ain't no way I'd ever go without. Can't wait to see what you do.

 

[TWX]

No, not a hit from the back. I meant when it's open. If the wind blew it closed or you're on a slant.

Yeah, I wondered if you had a rear camera. Those are all good solutions. I can't imagine not having one any more. Years and years without one. 100's of times backing down on a trailer hitch solo and having to adjust a couple times. Now...there ain't no way I'd ever go without. Can't wait to see what you do.

For holding it open I'm looking at a pin solution like one of these:

Biggest problem with reviews on this particular one, the plastic T likes to break off.

So I might end up with something that looks more like one of those L-cane things that holds a gate, but modded with a spring so that it auto-engages when it hits a predrilled hole.

We'll see.

 

[bajasam]

A regular old 7 1/4 circular saw with carbide tipped blade from HD will cut steel just fine, no need to buy any fancy stuff for just cutting 1"-2" tube.

 

[TWX]

Worked on the replacement hitch.

Started out with a remnant 6x2x1/4 rectangle tube:

Cut some endplates:

This is the crosstube I'm using. It was from a Ford Expedition or the like, it's significantly wider than the Nissan factory receiver, I've already cut-off the factory mounting plates:

Cut holes in the endplates for the crosstube and test-fit:

Unfortunately I cut the horizontal part of the hole a bit bigger than I needed to, too much horizontal play. Not so bad as to make it ruined, but I'll have to be a lot more careful when I weld it up or have it welded.

Test-fit the unwelded hitch, the plates cut at an angle so that the passenger's side will clear the exhaust:

In this new setup, the crosstube is around 3/4" higher, 1/2" closer in to the back of the truck.

I'll end up needing to determine exactly where I want to center the hitch, relative to the frame, or relative to the box, or some combination thereof. The box isn't sitting perfectly centered on the frame but that's not a total surprise on a truck.

The old hitch stickout:

The new hitch stickout:

The receiver tube is more than an inch shorter than the original, and being that the crosstube is tucked-in tighter than the factory hitch it's really tight.

And an animated gif comparing them:

I'm debating what I want to do with the ends. Due to the tighter tube it interferes with the factory bolts at the rearmost point on each side. I can either go with shorter bolts (there's plenty of threads) or I can cut off the ends of the tubes. The tube ends also interfere with the bolts that I'm using for the hinges on the spare tire carrier swingout.

I'd like to retain the ends if I can, and to actually attach more, to add some rocker protection to the quarter panels behind the wheel opening, but that may not be practical. We'll see. Unfortunately the ends are slightly too small to slot drawbars or other hitch accessories into. I'd have to weld extensions out further if I take that approach.

 

[California Gator]

With the long bed, I'm considering if I ever decide to put on a diferent bumper or make my own, that I would tuck it up higher. Maybe move the license plate off to the side and put it right where the licesne plate is. No center step. Just the receiver.

 

[TWX]

With the long bed, I'm considering if I ever decide to put on a diferent bumper or make my own, that I would tuck it up higher. Maybe move the license plate off to the side and put it right where the licesne plate is. No center step. Just the receiver.

I saw enough videos of people dragging their receivers that I decided to do something about that. the major problem, the factory rear bumper occupies the space I needed, that black metal step that can accept a tow ball goes where I wanted to move my receiver to.

I chose to use an existing hitch as a starting point because I'm an amateur welder with more equipment than experience. I can cut holes in the endplates easily enough, and welding those around the perimeter won't be all that difficult either, but I'm not an expert on putting together the flush-mounted crosstube with the receiver tube in it and trusting that I'd get it welded together strongly enough. This approach allows me to use the factory welds of that hitch, presumably done by a professional, and where if my weld-on endplates aren't as good, they'll still be good enough.

There's enough clearance between the spare tire (255/75/17, a 32.1" tire) and the new hitch that I can get my fingers into the gap. So probably 1/2" or thereabouts. I could probably hang a 33" spare or a tire with a problem like a partly delaminated tread if I had to.

 

[California Gator]

... I'm an amateur welder with more equipment than experience.

I might make this a tagline in my signature.

On that note, it's time for bed. With that line, I'll be going to bed smirking. Better log off before I find something that pisses me off or makes me sad.

 

[bajasam]

Since the hole to lower the under-body spare is offset, I'm wondering if I could somehow put a camera up between the license plate and the tailgate, set into that bottom-of-bed area. Or just get one of those backup cameras that goes on the license plate mount.

Not trying to be critical, but your not welding outdoors in a breeze are you, it looks like your shielding gas is being blown away or your not using enough heat to get better penetration, some of those welds have no penetration at all on that tire carrier.

 

[TWX]

Not trying to be critical, but your not welding outdoors in a breeze are you, it looks like your shielding gas is being blown away or your not using enough heat to get better penetration, some of those welds have no penetration at all on that tire carrier.

I'm okay with critical, I wouldn't post if I wasn't open to it.

Some of the welds suffered during capping passes. My argon cylinder ran empty and I did not realize it during the process of cleaning up my welds, I had intended to use that pass to help reflow the joints to ensure that I wasn't just seeing bridging across the top, but the lack of gas just messed with . I didn't take pictures of all of the work in all cases, I did a lot of grinding-down to remove the bad capping passes.

Since I hadn't removed all the mill scale during my original roots I did a lot of general grinding after the parts were welded, which removed much of the evidence of the heat-affected zone, even on the back side.

I have since swapped to a new argon bottle. I do intend to review the welds and to fix any that look inadequate, but I was able to use the MIG welder with a higher voltage but a lower wire-feed speed to help do that capping pass, melting the puddle without adding a whole lot of unnecessary filler wire. One option for a powdercoater is a friend in a local car club that had a powdercoating business, along with being a fabricator too, so he could potentially be enlisted to fix any welds if they're inadequate. We'll see.

 

[bajasam]

Sounds like your on top of it. Do you prefer 100% argon or do you use the mix with 2.5% CO2.

 

[TWX]

Sounds like your on top of it. Do you prefer 100% argon or do you use the mix with 2.5% CO2.

So far I've been sticking with the defaults for each process. 100% Argon for TIG, 75/25 Argon/CO2 for MIG.

Since I had bought the TIG machine to do aluminum I've mulled buying some Helium and using a manifold to allow me to do a slight Helium blend, but so far haven't done it.

 

[TWX]

Finished the fabrication work on the hitch.

Dry-fit it first with the swingout in place, to check clearances and see if I would have to cut the protruding ends off or not:

Checking clearance:

We're good to go, surprisingly it clears with plenty of room to spare. I won't have to pull the hitch in order to install/remove the swingarm assemblies.

Checking existing under-bed spare tire clearance:

Good to go there too.

Welded up, had to modify my license plate bracket, but got that all done and lit up:

It doesn't stick out much at all:

Realized I had the bracket for the hitch's original trailer wiring harness. I modified with some holes to install the harness that I previously put together for the truck:

At this point the hitch is ready for powder coat or paint. I haven't 100% decided if I'm going to keep it black, or go with white like the swingarm carrier.

I'm probably going to have the exhaust modified, bring it up closer under the box and then turn to a slight angle down sideways, to not hang down as much, and make it clear better if I put any additional underbody protection on. We'll see.

Still waiting on the last parts I need for the existing swingarm, and I need to build the fuel can swingarm too.

 

[RockMechanic]

Just a thought, not sure if you'd want to do this, but to protect those swing arms while backing up (offroading, or if ever rear ended) having a cover plate (basically a "decorative" skid plate that the liscense can attach but also something that can flip down when you want to swing out those arms, then you can flip it back up and lock into place and then nothing can easily swing out on the go! I'd recommend it be bolted to be able to remove it if ever badly damaged.

Edit: Oh and more importantly, it looks great!

 

[TWX]

Just a thought, not sure if you'd want to do this, but to protect those swing arms while backing up (offroading, or if ever rear ended) having a cover plate (basically a "decorative" skid plate that the liscense can attach but also something that can flip down when you want to swing out those arms, then you can flip it back up and lock into place and then nothing can easily swing out on the go! I'd recommend it be bolted to be able to remove it if ever badly damaged.

Edit: Oh and more importantly, it looks great!

I suspect that if I were rear-ended, the truck frame would deform as soon as any of the stuff I've built would. This isn't to say that I've intentionally overbuilt the thing to ensure that, quite the opposite, but knowing the weights that I'm looking to support I've had to use reasonably thick material. Thickest is 1/4", with some .120"/11 gauge, and perhaps a little bit of .083"/14 gauge.

If anything to protect the truck itself in a wreck, I'd rather this stuff and even the tailgate take the hit rather than the pickup bed and/or frame. Given the many model years they built this basic design it's not like it's impossible to find new parts, but if I had to deal with a post-accident repair, rebuilding the thing I've built wouldn't be especially hard, and I could even make improvements on a hypothetical 2nd revision.

After a discussion with my wife I'm going to take the hitch black. Haven't decided if I'm going to rattle-can it or powder-coat, but the latter I don't have to wait until I do the swingarm and carrier parts, since it won't be the same color anyway.

I'm also thinking about putting a high-lift jack mount on the tire carrier, based on how much the tire weighs compared to what I'm interested in doing for the fuel cans. I think I can sneak it in on the vertical tube outboard of it, with some kind of tabs coming off that tube to pins that would face towards the front of the truck. Those pins would hold the jack, with the foot of the jack slipping where the swingarm goes into the carrier channel. We'll see. I'd probably have to swing the tire in order to get to the jack, but I don't really expect to be putting myself into the kinds of risky places where I wouldn't be able to get at it.

 

[TWX]

My parts finally arrived so I could work on the latch-open mechanism.

I ordered a pack of these:

Originally I intended to replace the pull-ring with a t-handle and weld it in vertically on the swingarm right at the hinge, drilling a hole in the bottom plate at the hinge point where the bolt could fall-in to latch open.

Once I received them (they were three weeks delayed, annoyingly) and pried the pull-ring off of one I realized that this was going to be tougher than I thought. So I started experimenting and realized that if I welded one on horizontally onto the swingarm onto the face that faces out when closed, I could make it latch onto the side of the 1/4" frame.

As it swngs, the bolt's face presses against the 1/4" edge:

as the arm continues to swing the bolt compresses the spring:

At full swing the bolt is sprung back into place past the 1/4" steel to hold the arm open:

Heat affected zone:

I know, not the greatest quality welds, but I got good enough penetration, it's not going to fall off or break off.

I'm basically ready for powder-coat. Only thing I haven't decided is if I'm going to cut-back the crossing C-section further. Right now it's 4" across. I can probably reduce that and have it still be strong enough, but I haven't decided if it's worthwhile or not. I'd have to re-tap my holes for the license plate mount if I do, but that's not that big of a deal.

in the meantime I've prepped these two parts to go to surface-prep and powder-coat. I've installed sacrificial fasteners into all of the holes with considerable amounts of masking-tape to try to keep the heads usable to remove them after powder-coat. We'll see.

I've been thinking about my hitch a bit as well. I'm debating if I want to add some tubing to it to make it more like a proper bumper, similar to that ARB bumper hitch, with some quarter panel protection as well. I worked up a few concept drawings:

I'm leaning towards bottom-left. Top-left would attach to the frame closer to the tire but that might be hard to achieve without interfering with the suspension. Top right avoids attaching to the frame in a second place but my wife doesn't think it would be strong enough if I came down off a rock to actually help, just bend the tubing into the body. middle-left is simplest but doesn't offer actual quarter protection except at the rear corners. middle-right shortens the arm length on the inside but I'm not sure how it would align well to the L-plates the hold the crosstube. Bottom right requires a lot more bends.

I think I could implement bottom-left with having someone with a bender make only two bends, and I don't think it would be impossible to install onto the truck.

It would go along with some rock sliders that I've been thinking about:

I need to figure out how far the sliders should protrude from the furthest point on the body. I'd gone along the truck frame to figure out where I could attach them and there are a combination of threaded and unthreaded holes that I can leverage at these points, for the threaded I'll need to buy some suitable fasteners, for the unthreaded I'll need to install rivet-nuts into those holes.