Project Yukon HD (1996 Yukon c1500)

[dcp1992]

And here is some more comparisons of the support brackets I made and the ones that came with the bumper.

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And that's it for now. I still have some details on how to do some things, like how mount the T-handle and how to do up the latch. The latch should be pretty straight forward, the T-handle though I think I might have to extend it down so I need to pick up some pipe. I'm also still waiting on the tire mounting plate to come in. I also have to work tomorrow (wednesday) and Thursday, closing for that matter, so I might be able to work on it a little tomorrow afternoon before I have to go in but I don't know yet. If I do it'll only be a couple hours. I just want to get this done now that I'm on a roll. I've had this bumper for months and I really want to get it on now.

'Til next time.

 

[Big D]

hows that steering stabilizer working out?

may have to try that out.

 

[Torchred]

I wanna know the same thing, my steering is a bit unstable feeling even with all new parts.

 

[dcp1992]

hows that steering stabilizer working out?

may have to try that out.

I wanna know the same thing, my steering is a bit unstable feeling even with all new parts.

That's a good question and I wish I knew the whole correct answer. My steering is tighter but I also changed the idler arm/mount and pitman arm at the same time, so I don't know how much was from that or the steering stablizer.

I will say the steering stabilizer is pretty tight out of the box, takes a bit of force to get it to move where you want it to. So I'm pretty sure it did help, like I said, the steering is tighter than before.


After I get this bumper built I plan to get my wheels rebalanced and get a new alignment. After that I'll drive with the stabilizer on for a little while and then take it off and see the difference it makes.

 

[Big D]

i got a little while before I pull the trigger on it, Ill make sure i ask you again later down the road.

Tahoes looking good, I enjoy the 2wd builds.

 

[dcp1992]

Alright, well I got a little bit more done today... not as much as I'd like though. More on that later in the post.

First off, it's hard to believe how much has changed over the last year. Last year today I was installing my cab lights.

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Next I beveled the edges of the tube and started to line them up to weld. In a thunderstorm no less... Thank goodness I can still barely fit in the garage.

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Then this is the bad part. The ground fault tripped for the outlets in the garage... No problem, it's happened before. Go into the master bath and reset it, get back out and continue welding.... Trips again. Okay... Try and reset it and it won't stay on. Well crap. Then I thought I'd just use the utility room outlets. The welder didn't like that too much, wasn't getting full power... which makes since since and fridge and freezer are in there. But I knew that the garage doors were each on their own breaker so I got the latter and plugged the welder into one of them. It was like night and day, the welder works way better than it used to and was burning in the 1/4" steel like it was nothing.

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You can see the heat waves in the steel from how it was burning through. So I pretty much decided I'd be welding the whole thing at my house since I'm more confident that the welder can do an adequate job welding the thing together. Plus beveling the edges helps a ton.

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Well, dealing with the outlets not working wasted about an hour trying to see if it was something I was using or not. Then after I got the arm all welded up my dad got home with a new 20A ground fault outlet along with some 20A outlets to replace the ones in the garage and also some water resistant ones for outside since the garage, master bath, and the 2 outlets outside in the backyard and the 2 on the front porch are all on the same circuit. So we changed the ones in the garage and the ground fault and it was still tripping... So we decided to go ahead and look at the ones in the backyard and sure enough, the first one we took out had water behind the outlet and was grounding out on the metal outlet box... not to mention corroded. After that the ground fault stayed on. But that took about another hour and a half or so, plus we ate. So after that it was 11PM so I didn't get much else done.

I did go ahead and trim the arm down and welded an extension to the bottom for a catch and also the latch.

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I also went and got a truck bed post ring, got the rubber off of it, and it will be what I'm using on the catch for the arm to rest against while it's latched.

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https://flic.kr/p/HHhBci
And that was it today... I probably would of been able to get the latch mounted today if not for the electrical problems but hopefully on Monday (work tomorrow and Sunday) I can get that done and start on the uprights since I think my tire mounting plate will be here tomorrow.

'Til next time!

 

[dcp1992]

Got a little bit more fabrication done on the bumper today.

Yesterday I bought some solid 1/2" round stock and some 3/4" tube to use to extend the T-handle pin down enough to be able to be useful as a stopper and failsafe.

First I cut the 3/4" tube down to a manageable size (will be cut down again when mounted) and welded it to the bottom of the original T-handle "Bung".

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Then I extended the reach of the pin by chamfering the ends of the 1/2" rod and end of the pin and welded them together.

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The pin back in place and then both separated.

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Then I put a plate over the end of the swing to enclose the square tube and extension tube.

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Then I started on the ledge the swing will rest on, drilled out the rubber pads and bolted them down.

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The ledge cut to size and welded to the bumper. (and my mom's '14 Turrain in the background... still don't know why she wants to pull in the garage like that while I'm welding, grinding, and cutting.)

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The latch and latch hook welded onto the swingarm/bumper

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And that's all I got today. I don't know if I'll work on it any tomorow or not, I have a regular doctor appointment tomorrow at 3 so I may fiddle with it a little tomorrow night but I don't know yet. If not I'm off work Wednesday so I should be able to work on it then.

Either way it's getting there, I just hope my tire plate gets here soon. I ordered it May the 27th and got a tracking number the 31st but all that's happened is that the label was created on the 31st, nothing after that so it hasn't even shipped yet. Which I thought was surprising since I got both my latch and hinge from the same people and it shipped fast. I know it was a holiday weekend and Monday was Memorial Day but I still thought it would of shipped later last week... and the last expected day of arrival it tomorrow the 7th. I messaged the seller and I might just go to their website and email them and see what's up. I hope to get something back from them though or at least see it shipped, because It's kinda getting to the point where I need the mount to finish up the swingarm and if i don't have it, it will be belaying the build.


'Till next time!

 

[dcp1992]

Alright got an update on the tire carrier.

Got the extra piece on the hinge end of the swing.

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I also cut down the T pin and drilled out some tabs.

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Also, finally got my tire plate in. Two weeks later. It shipped out the day after I messaged them, no response though.

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Then I welded the tabs on the swing.

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Then I took some 1/4" plate and welded it on the bottom of the hinge to use as a catch for the t-pin. (will be trimmed down.)

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Then I trimmed the t-pin down some more.

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Then I drilled the holes for the catch. Closed, 90°, and as far 180° as I could get. Probably around 170°.

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Here is the gap from the top of the hinge pin and the t-pin to the tailgate. Roughly a 1/4" or less.

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[dcp1992]

Here is the swing open and locked in the 90° and ~170° positions.

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Then I started to mock up and tack the upright and upright supports in place. The upright is slightly cocked to the side so I might try and cut the tacks and see if I can straighten it up without too much trouble.

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Gap between the driver side support and the tailgate.

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Both upright supports and the upright tacked into place... You can see it slightly leaning to the driver side.

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Side profile.

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Didn't work out well but I tried to get a picture of the rearview mirror so you'd get an idea how far over to the driver side it is. Didn't get it as far over as I would've liked but it is what it is with the room I had.

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And that's all for now. Now that I got everything and I'm actually on the upright I think I might be able to get it done next week... Hopefully. In the space I have left I'll probably make some Jerry can mounts or a High-Lift mount... or preferably both if I have room. Or add those later on down the road and repaint the area I weld them in.

'Til next time.

 

[dcp1992]

Well I got the upright and upright supports burned in today. But that's about it... Took a lot longer than I was thinking it would to burn those in. It also didn't help that I had some welder problems also.

I started today around 4pm by cutting all the tack welds that held the upright and upright supports. Took them off and ground down/wire wheeled all the rust off them also did the top and sides of the swing. Then I straightened up the upright and made sure it was 90° or within 1° of 90° with that angle finder app I used to mount the hinge plate to the bumper. Then I started to weld everything in place, was going pretty good, but then I noticed the wire was kinda dragging and not coming out so smoothly. Spent a little time fiddling with that and welding until it just stopped coming out at one point and birdnested at the feeder. Took the tip apart and found out the spring that is held in the tip must of gotten too hot and it seized itself to the wire. Well since that spring was already kinda bent and stretched I cut about 1" off the tip to where it was cleanly wound up. Welded great after that... until I ran the spool down and needed to change it. Changed the spool and turned up the wire speed to max like I always do to feed the wire through and it got to the torch end and then stop and birdnest. Pulled that wire out and tried to feed it again at the normal wire speed I use and it got to the torch and stopped, I moved the torch lead around to see if it would move but it just eventually birdnested again.... So I took the torch apart.

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Well, come to find out that spring in the end of the torch is just short enough now that when a fresh wire is fed through it, it moves the spring forward to it's stopping point and then jams. So I just fed the wire out, put the spring on it and fed it through the gas block and screwed the wire feed line back in the block and then attached the gas line again and reassembled everything and it works great now. So it looks like I either need a new torch head, torch with lead, maybe just the spring if I can get it, or just have to take the head apart whenever a new spool needs to be added.

As a matter fact I just did a little looking on the web and I can get the torch neck liner separate (the spring I was talking about) and just ordered it. Here's a picture of it.

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All back together and working.

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All welded up.

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Then I took it off and smoothed out the welds and that was as far as I was able to get today.

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Hopefully Wednesday I can tack the tire plate into place, gusset the hinge mount on the bumper, and finish up anything else I want to do right now and then all I will need to do it finish welding the hinge mount and tire plate with my buddy's welder. I still plan to at least add a High-Lift and possibly some Jerry cans later on.

Oh, and I need to weld some CB antenna tabs to the bumper also, will be adding a second antenna on the passenger side later down the road. I forgot to add a antenna tab on my Jeep bumper and painted it and mounted it only to remember I needed a mount so I had to grind some paint away and made a quick tab and welded it on and repainted that area. Hopefully I avoid that this time.


'Til next time.