It's been a few months now that we've been living in camo while cruising around in our government surplus 1-ton Chevy. As we mentioned in the past two issues, we purchased our truck from the Government Liquidation Web site (www.govliquida tion.com), and then started transforming it into a daily-driven weekend warrior. For this final episode, we really only installed two things on the truck--a set of rock sliders and the new Warn 9.5 XP winch. But with these we can more easily get in the truck, get over obstacles, and get out of trouble.
At first we didn't think we needed rock sliders, but after installing the Craftsman toolboxes in the bed, we found that having a step up would help in getting to them. Some folks would settle for sideboards, but we really hate them, plus they give poor protection from rocks and other trail obstacles for the rocker panels. We found Ken Hanna of Hanna Quality Motorsports. Hanna does most of his fabrication for Toyota Land Cruisers, but was happy to take on our custom request. The final product is really cool, and goes great with our mean military machine.
With our less-than-fire-breathing 6.2 diesel we are just waiting to get ourselves in a predicament where all forward motion stops, especially if mud is involved. To prepare for this ahead of time, we decided that a winch was in order, and Warn recently introduced its 9.5 XP, its fastest winch to date. With a 6hp parallel-series-wound winch motor and three-stage planetary gearing, the XP has a claimed 7.6 feet-per-minute line speed under 9,500 pounds of load, which is more than a foot quicker than the next fastest winch Warn offers.
Boyce Equipment
If you are looking for parts for a military truck or an entire truck itself like our Camo Chevy, Boyce Equipment is another great option. Boyce has everything from running 1-, 1 1/4-, 2 1/2-, and 5-ton trucks to refurbished Dana 60 and Corporate 14-bolt axles. Boyce has been in the military truck and parts business for nearly 40 years and with that time comes both experience and a serious collection of whatever you need for your olive-drab 4x4 including engines, transfer cases, and electrical components. We've been to Boyce's shop in Ogden, Utah, and believe us when we say it's drool-worthy. Whether you are looking for Dana 44 axles for a lightweight machine, or 2 1/2-ton Rockwell axles for a monster truck, give Boyce a call and they will help you put the power to the ground.
The weight of our Army truck is just about on the limit of the 9.5 XP since it's hovering around 7,000 pounds (we recommend getting a winch that is rated at 1 1/2 times the vehicle weight), so we will always have a snatch block handy. And even though a snatch block cuts your forward speed in half, the XP's velocity should still make for a quick recovery.
With these final two installs, we feel we are ready for some weekend exploring and aggressive off-roading, and can still force our line in front of the many BMW-driving crazies on the Los Angeles freeways.
The plan for the rock sliders...
The plan for the rock sliders was simple--we wanted to protect the body and have a step that allowed us to get from the cab to the bed of the truck while cruising down the highway. Actually we wanted to be able to get to our bed-mounted toolboxes. Ken Hanna started by setting up a piece of 2x3-inch, 0.188-wall tubing to the desired height. This would become the lowest part of the slider and should easily support the truck.
When it comes to fabrication,...
When it comes to fabrication, it's always cheaper and easier to make templates out of cardboard than steel. Taking your time in this stage will assure a tight fit of the final pieces, and the smaller the gap you need to fill, the stronger the welds will be. With the template cut out, Hanna prepared to cut it out of a piece of 2x3-inch 0.188 rectangular tubing with a plasma cutter.
Hanna decided that the attachment...
Hanna decided that the attachment points for the sliders would be stronger if they tied into the body mount and rear spring perch, but they still needed to allow the spring-eye bolts to be removed. Remember to only tack-weld everything into place until you have all the parts assembled. That way any mistakes can be dealt with easily, or the sliders can be removed and given a good final weld on the bench.