The Dirt Squirrel v. 2.0 -- Even Dirtier

[the_white_shadow]

Spent some time last night getting the belt bar in place. After a few iterations I got one bent that I liked. It's as close to the back of the cab as I could get it. Trying to maximize all the interior room as I could. Hope to start on some of the supporting interior bars today.

 

[Dwill817]

Looks awesome! This is exactly how I wanna do my cage..

 

[the_white_shadow]

Looks awesome! This is exactly how I wanna do my cage..

Thanks man. I'm trying to get as much headroom as possible with this one.


Tacked in a couple more tubes this evening. The roof bar is almost touching the cab.


I'll try to get some diagonal bars in tomorrow before I leave for the a&m vs UT game. AGGIES gonna whip that ass.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Since i had the week off, i took the time to get some work done on the Squirrel.

First off i knocked out the rest of the tube work for the rear of the cage.


Roof bars are in.


Rear end is hung and rear frame rails built. its set up for 8" of uptravel for a 16" coilover. As you can see i had to notch the passenger side frame rail to accommodate for the truss. (i didnt realize the truss took into account the pinion offset of the 14bolt and i assumed it was symmetrical on both side. And of course i did the drivers side first and it is lower :homer I would rather have them lower anyways.


Mocked up the front sheetmetal. Took about 18" out of the front and went with the headlight delete. It came out better than i thought. its not going to be chrome but i had one from a parts truck laying aorund and wanted to see how it turned out before using a better one. Also will either trim these fenders or swap on some 4wd ones.




Couldnt resist bolting up the tires to see how she looked



Like a dumbass i wasnt paying attention when i was bending up my front shock hoops and forgot to pull a pin and broke the bender. JD2 is sending me replacements. im an idiot.


So i continued with more interior work. Windshield bars and down bars are in. Started to mock up the seats.



Seats mounted




artec ram mount tacked on.


its starting to come together really well. Leg room isnt as bad as i thought it was going to be and headroom is an easy 3" more than what i had on my previous cage. Im undecided on door bars. I know they are probably a good idea but not sure. Once i get my new arms for my bender ill continue on with the front tube work. I ordered up some new Fox coilovers from Ryan with Accutune. Those should be in later this week as well. After discussing things with him, i will add some swaybars front and rear to the list.

 

[Dwill817]

Absolutely awesome..

 

[mcutler]

Re:

Great progress

Matt

 

[D-LUX]

Your not the first to forget about those pins in the bender I can assure you. Really like the build bud.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[the_white_shadow]

Thanks guys. Im learning a lot as it progresses.

 

[JToyota2]

This thing is going to be awesome. I recently tore my toyota apart and built a buggy around a samurai tub but these 2 truck builds going on right now have got me wishing i would've done things different. Keep up the good work.

 

[the_white_shadow]

My Fox coilovers came in from Ryan at Accutune so i fixed my bender and whipped up some shock hoops for the front. Nothing fancy.



Both shocks are mounted and also added a few supporting tubes up front.

 

[the_white_shadow]

The works continues on 2.0. Started the tube work on the back half. With the way the belt line is, i should end up with about a 6" dove per side.
I cut the back of the cab out for easy access to the B-Pillars


Bent up some simple shock hoops and mounted the rear 16" coilovers.


Played around with some blue tape to see where I wanted the tube.


Settled on a simple one


Started on the tube. So far everything is tied into the belt line tube.





Added a removable front crossbar for when i take out the engine.


Going to keep chipping away on it one tube at a time. If yall see anything out of sorts, let me know. Kinda just winging it.

 

[the_white_shadow]

More tube. Knocked out 5 more of the supporting tubes. Going to work on the X between the frame rails and possible add some tube from the X at the B pillar back to the shock hoops. Not sure on how I want to accomplish that though.





Its close to coming off the table.

 

[the_white_shadow]

From the paint skills of sleepsontoilet.

Kinda the idea for additional bracing to the X at the B-Pillar. Red or Green? Keep in mind the red cross bar is already tacked in. Gas tank will go against the back of the cab, so keep that in mind. Im leaning towards the green lines. If you look at the blue tape, i was thinking about putting another cross bar there to help support the longer span of the belt line tube before the shock hoop. Not sure if thats overkill. Want to go with simplicity here.

 

[Rokcrler]

I vote for this from the bend to shock hoops

 

[Rokcrler]

This is how whitey was done at first and I cut tube out for a clean truck look

I didn't put the X at the back of the can like I should have tho

 

[the_white_shadow]

More work. Added a few tubes to the rear frame portion. Im going to add some to the forward portion of the frame but am holding off until i get my TK1 sway bar in. I called and talked with Tony who was very knowledgeable and recommended the KOH Ultra 4 sway bar kit due to my estimated finished weight (4-4500lbs). I can always turn it down some if its too stiff. A swaybar was also recommended from Ryan at Accutune. The valving in the coilovers is soft. He could have tuned them to not have swaybars, but he mentioned that the ride quality would suffer. Im hoping to only run one in the rear.

Pics:
Rear tube work. I have a couple more tube gussets to install then the rear half is pretty much done.


Couldnt resist throwing a tire on the rear to see how shes going to sit. Going to be looowww. Cant wait to get it off the table.



Mocked up the rear bump on the drivers side. After a few iterations, this is where it ended up. I had it centered over the axle originally but the bolt on the bump can made contact with the spring. Its going to get more tube supports and pad will be some plate gussets.


Not quite full flex. Had about 2" more to droop out but the table caught the lower link.



Rear departure angle. The tire is about 2" or so past the frame. Once the bed/tailgate/rear bumper is installed, it should be just about even.

 

[easleycrawler]

That is one bad bitch. Awesome build.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Thanks man. It's starting to take shape.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Trying to finish up so Ron wont be sad anymore.

Didnt get as much accomplished as i would have like to this weekend, but its still a step in the right direction.

Almost finished with the subframe. I have two more pieces to add to the rear, then it will be done.



Finished the rear bump mounts. I need to add some supports to the pad on the axles.


I have a few more tubes to add up front, then I can take the body off to final weld the roof and most of the other remaining tubes.

 

[the_white_shadow]

Started to tackle the bedsides yesterday after welding in the final 2 subframe tubes.

I think some minor trimming and a small bed bob is in order. I will be taking about 29" out of the side.


With the slight dove, the bed side doesnt touch the tire as it sits at full bump. Ill trim the wheel well out to accommodate for when the tire is flexed at full stuff.