Truck rack modify

I needed to modify the rack on my truck so that our cabover camper would fit. This was a load of work and fabrication so I thought I’d throw some pictures on the website.

Here is the 1969 Travel Queen sitting in the east mountains where Ana and I found her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There wasn’t any camper jacks so my dad and the A-frame was called in for help loading.

So here it sits on the truck. Besides the rack horns sticking up the camper fits perfect. It was the only one I had found that fit my bed with the side boxes and rack height.

But there was no way I was going to try and use the camper sitting up that high on the truck.  So some modifying was needed.

 

Here’s a picture of it in the carport were Ana and I have some restoration work to do on it.

First in order to get the camper in the welder had to come out. It weighs over 500lbs with fuel. So I needed to use a hoist of some kind. I opted for my “Man Boom” as I call it, a hoist I made from an old International axle hub and heavy steal pipe. It was maxed out I’d say lifting the welder.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next was making the headache rack “horns” removeable so the camper sits lower to the cab.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I did this by first cutting everything off. Then because they are the main trussing for the cabover rack that supports long heavy loads the truck hauls for work, they needed to be bolted on in a strong and secure way. But drilling and tapping the square tubing for allen head bolts and welding a flange mount to the rear horn mount with 3/4″ bolts did the trick.

Now Ana and I are working on the camper, getting it ready for the summer. I’ll include pictures when I get the camper back on the modified bed of  my  truck. When stairs and a railing will need to be built. Till then happy camping!

 

Toyota Front Bumper

I’m going back in time with this post.  I built this bumper back in 2008.  Above is the stock bumper with the turn signal lights already out.

 

The start of the bumper with it all tacked up and fitted.  The tubing is 1/8″ thick 2×2″ square, the plate is 1/8″ thick as well, and the supporting brackets are 3/16″.  The two shackle mounts are 3/8″ and are tied directly to the frame.

 

A shot of the backside showing the mounting points to the frame, about twice as many as the stock bumper.  I also had to build it slightly racked to fit the body, according to how it sat on the frame (which is never straight).

 

The finished product, painted with flat black and with fog lights installed.  The original turn signals were reused, now remounted vertically.  The client then cleaned up the area around the fender by trimming the body.

 

The finished result.  The weight came in at about 65 lbs.

 

Built by Jason O’Connor.

Designed with client.

Built on Oct-30-2008.