SOcalTrail's 2011 Trail Edition Beast Build Thread

[HedgehogOutdoors]

With those covers, would these be considered orange lights if you got the flasher for them, so you could use them for snow plowing and such? I'd like some Rigid Duallys, but I don't want any hassle for having white lights, the cops around here don't like it, even though literally everyone has them.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

With those covers, would these be considered orange lights if you got the flasher for them, so you could use them for snow plowing and such? I'd like some Rigid Duallys, but I don't want any hassle for having white lights, the cops around here don't like it, even though literally everyone has them.

Rigid sells solid black covers for em too if the cops give you a hard time. They are great lights for sure! I wouldn't know about the snow plow thing seeing as how San Diego hardly even sees any rain these days, but I would imagine they would work for that purpose with a flasher like you said.
:thumb3:

 

[snow&surf]

The inside of your front fender well is sex!

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Gracias

 

[brockeverly]

Got some new shoes for my rig!!!!

Finally got me some 285's!!! I got a pretty good deal on the same tires as I had before (Hankook Dynapro MT's) so I grabbed them and gave the 265's to my dad for his Tacoma. Absolutely love these tires.

Looks great! I was back and forth between those and the Duratracs.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Couple small updates....

I decided a while back that I wanted to copy what Harper7 did and wrap my hood in matte vinyl for a couple reasons. The first being, I want to try and reduce the glare off the hood scoop when I am driving towards a low angled sun. Second, the reduce the minimal glare off the hood from my roof rack lights. Of course I decided to do the job myself so I started to look into the different types of vinyl available and landed on 3M's 1080 Vinyl in Matte Dark Grey color. It was a shot in the dark going with that color, the color swatch online showed it as being pretty closed to Toyota's Mag. Grey. I ordered a 5'x6' piece of it off Ebay and received it Tuesday and have to say, it looks pretty darned close to being a "matte" version of the mag grey that my truck is painted in.

On a side note, I'm gonna do my best to put in some evening work on Friday and a full day Saturday getting my bumper done. I should have some new pics up Saturday night.

Here are some pics of the vinyl for those interested.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Updates on the bumper?

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Couple small updates....


On a side note, I'm gonna do my best to put in some evening work on Friday and a full day Saturday getting my bumper done. I should have some new pics up Saturday night.

I'm heading up to the Sierra's for a 5 day cross country hike up the eastern side of Mt. Whitney, ending with a summit of Mt. Whitney next Friday so most of my time lately has been devoted to preparing for that. Soo excited!!! Highest peak in the lower 48!!! I'll post some pics of that when I get back as well!

Cheers All!

 

[Okki]

I'm heading up to the Sierra's for a 5 day cross country hike up the eastern side of Mt. Whitney, ending with a summit of Mt. Whitney next Friday so most of my time lately has been devoted to preparing for that. Soo excited!!! Highest peak in the lower 48!!! I'll post some pics of that when I get back as well!

Cheers All!

Sounds AWESOME.. have a safe climb!

Okki

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Well...

I got a lot done on the bumper this afternoon, hopefully have it 90% finished by tomorrow. I have quite a few updated pics but lame ass photobucket gives me an error when I try and upload em.... I'll get em up soon, one way or another.

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Well...

I got a lot done on the bumper this afternoon, hopefully have it 90% finished by tomorrow. I have quite a few updated pics but lame ass photobucket gives me an error when I try and upload em.... I'll get em up soon, one way or another.

Waiting waiting waiting. LOLZ

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

~~~Urban Curb Crawling~~~

 

[limamike]

~~~Urban Curb Crawling~~~

Sorry, SOcal... this looks like the opposite of "a lot done"! :naughty: Show us the good stuff!

 

[FactoryRide]

That picture is absolutely awesome!!

and still waiting on these pictures you were speaking of..

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

That picture is absolutely awesome!!

and still waiting on these pictures you were speaking of..

Waiting for the waterjet to finish cutting a couple gussets and trim pieces as I type this. Bumper is lookin good so far, very very happy. I will have some new pics up this eve after I get outta here. Its hot today. Welding in 100+ degree heat sucks!!!!

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

~~~Bumper Progress~~~

So after welding for the majority of the day in 102 degree heat, I have my bumper 90% done. I still have a flange to weld on the bottom and two supports to weld to the frame to the rear of the wheel wells. Overall, it is plain awesome. Built to withstand some serious abuse. Its bolted to the frame in 24 different places!!!! The design is kind of unique as you will see, the tow points themselves are welded directly inline with the frame rails, beefy 3/4" steel attachment points. These protrude through slots in the rear bumper which will be trimmed off with nice, water jet cut trim rings to clean up the nasty slots I cut out with the plasma cutter. I welded a 4-bolt backing plate that is triangulated off these tow points which bolts up the the bumper to reinforce the outboard portions of it. Next up is fitting up the spindle that my tire carrier will rotate around on. I have a nice little spot for it to fit into and some 1/4" and 3/8" plate to beef it up and build it into the bumper. I did a very rough trim on the OEM rear bumper covering and it fits nicely. It will be trimmed to fit and I'm gonna make an aluminum flange to clean up the gap between the bumper and the covering and still allow for plenty of flex. After that, I have a nice sheet of 5/16" T6 alum. plate that was donated to me for the project that I will make the rear skid out of. This will bolt up to the flanges I have on the rear and sides of the bumper, and also serve as the base for the aux. fuel tank. Last thing is the fuel tank. It will be nicely tucked up out of the way between the two frame rails with a flush mount aircraft filler cap on the top of the driver's side of the bumper.

So so much work.... so far I estimate 6 hours of design and layout and close to 40 hours of fab work.... It takes me longer to do this stuff since it is all "one off" production. Lots of changes here and there. It will be worth it in the end.

Enjoy the pics

 

[mikey's2010SR5]

Very BFLAN esque. Well done. Looking forward to more.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Very BFLAN esque. Well done. Looking forward to more.

Thanks man!

Ya, I took little bits and pieces from a few existing designs, and a few existing FJ rear bumper builds and some JK builds and combined em. Kind of a "mixing pot" bumper... haha. Its gonna look great after I grind off the welds and get the trim cover cut and fit up. Hopefully I have a full day to invest on it next weekend after I get back.

 

[Antman]

Somebody send these pics to Phillyd2 so he can finally understand the word "beefy".

Looks awesome! Lots of work, but we all know you are having just as much fun building it as you will have using it.:cheers:

 

[FactoryRide]

It's looking great so far. I'm really liking how you welded the recovery points to the frame instead of the bumper.

Do you have any plans for the sides, like what's on Gadgets truck?