hillbilly's LOW RANGE inspired cab swapped bronco

[hillbillyrc]

Well I pulled the trigger on something today for the back of this truck. It comes with a few extra parts I will be able to use as well.

[hillbillyrc]

Little teaser pic of what will be coming soon.

[the_law_man01]

That should look real good. What cage did you find that will fit the size of this bad boy?

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[hillbillyrc]

It doesn't fit lol.

Like everything else it will be modified. It's a BOM rear cage. Already have a few plans on making it narrower,shorting it up and getting rid of any crazy over hang. Plus comes with a fuel cell, sliders and a front bumper.

[hillbillyrc]

Since the cage will be on back and other goodies. I bought a mojave cab back to modify to fill the space from cutting the bed off the Blackfoot cab.

Also thinking about using parts of the bed with the rear cage if I can.

[hillbillyrc]

This is bigger than I thought.

[hillbillyrc]

Since the bed cage showed I had to check fitment out.

It actually isn't to bad maybe 15-20 mm to wide all depending on where I want to fit the cage in relation to chassis rails. It over hangs a bit tho but I can trim it down and make it like it was made that way.

Shock hoops I think I can keep them as well by flipping them left to right like it did in front to gain room for the trans.

The extra goodies these bom cage comes with are nice.
Sliders, front bumper, fuel cell.

The flue cell might be to big to rest near the back of the chassis. Behide the cab might be a better spot for it.
Sliders fit nicely need a trim down but will work out.
Only pic I got.


Front bumper is to wide for the cab but can be cut down to fit. I won't be using it on this build tho. Probably use it on the cheap f150 trail truck. Once its trimmed to fit the cab.

[hillbillyrc]

I actually semi put the rear cage together and its a little wider then the cab and a tad taller. I can almost use the flip up function after I swapped in the scx10 rear bumper mount I had previously modified for the barrage chassis. The spare tire mount I'm going to remove to clean things up since I want the fuel cell in that area. I have a few other shock mounts I need to try to get the shock where they will function properly.

I took couple pics but way to dark to see anything clearly.

[hillbillyrc]

Got some better pics this morning

Side shot


Cab back through the cage


Over the top to see width of cage beside cab.


Angled shot to see height and width difference


It isn't bad just need to chop a little here and there to get it to fit good.

[the_law_man01]

That's gonna look excellent!
Perfect idea.

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[hillbillyrc]

Thanks law man.

I think after its narrowed and shortened I could even get some bed sides on there. I do have some sheets of aluminum that I can make sides out of. plus make something close to my inspiration type of bed sides but with the rear cage. That was my idea is going this route. Just need to get the first step done to move on to the next.

Also finish the drivetrain layout change.

[hillbillyrc]

My first day back to work (much needed vacation) and my cab back was sitting waiting for me. Another thing to be chopped up and fit in to place. Should be a little more straight forward than the cage.

Think I should tackle this first in order to get where I need the cage to mount to the cab and also square things out.

[hillbillyrc]

Over the weekend I worked on this truck.

First, beef patties didn't do what I wanted them to do. I'm still having interference with tire and tie rod. A wider hex is my next plan. I'll use the beef patties in the rear for the scaleness and tiny bit of weight.

Second, my plan to change the layout didn't go well either since the motor to mounting hole location is lower with the motor on the passenger side the chassis rails interfere and would have to shave them even more which I don't feel like doing that. Instead I mounted it back where I had it. And mounted up the trans to t case driveshaft.

Next I moved the servo to the passenger side and shortened my drag link hope it works out like this.
My plan to move the bumper back is going to be modified. Still plan to tuck it, but it will involve cutting in to bumper winch plate and some of the back mounting holes to be able to tuck the bumper.

Also pondering how to mount and secure the cab back on to the cab after I cut to make it fit. I have thought to cut the cab and cab back to fit each other versus making one fit the other. I need it to be strong enough to work with the bom cage hinge function. So I just need to figure a mounting plate for the front of the cab instead of the cab and cage.

Everything is connected now


Checked balance out. I'm a bit surprised myself.

[hillbillyrc]

Since my other lay out plan didn't work. I made the best at what I had. So have mounting the trans back where I had it. Used couple of the barrage braces bad mounted the servo. Also made a new drag link. It is nice and tucked now out of harms way. Next was to tuck the front bumper. trimmed the mounts down to work with the space available. Only thing about that space was the servo shared it too. So I notched out that shared space to tuck the bumper back as far as I could.



Next was sorting out the bom sliders. Nice thing about the cage was the extra parts that came with it. Since the stock bom cab is bigger than the Blackfoot. I started trimming the front of the slider. Trimmed to the trim of the front fender. The rear of the slider I still debating on keeping like it is. Since it flows with the cage front. See the the last pic.


Working out cage width and placement. I like the placement and like before the sliders work well with where I have the cage at now. Still undecided on height might keep where it is and blend it in with a light bar on the back of the cab.

[hillbillyrc]

Fitting sliders and cab with the cage. I realized my side skids/boat sides need to be remade. Seems like I take a step forward and two back. But In the end it will be worth it.

[hillbillyrc]

Working things out in my head I came up with an idea which might be the best of both worlds for the rear of this truck.

So I really like the flatbed its super simple.
The rear cage looks nice but does need modified to fit the cab.

Now my idea combine both together for a tube flatbed/utility bed thing. The rear cage regardless if I use it for this build I need to cut and chop and drill and tap to make it work. The flatbed is great its already fit to the truck wheel well is a tad off. But if I combine both it will fix both minor problems with both.

So what do you think? Should I? Or shouldn't I?

[lonleycreeper]

I like the bed cage personally. Looks unique and really gives the truck the trail ready look.

[hillbillyrc]

Originally Posted by lonleycreeper

I like the bed cage personally. Looks unique and really gives the truck the trail ready look.

Thanks for the input.

The idea I have floating around in my head is to trim the flatbed just wide enough to cover up the frame rails if looking down from the top and up by the cab match the profile of the cage and width of the cab. Trim the bottom of the cage to be tall enough for the cab height mounted on the flatbed. Then secure the cage to what would be left of the flatbed.

I have it pictured in my head lol. So it will still be cage profile from the side just with a flatbed floor instead of seeing the frame rails and axle and links.

[lonleycreeper]

Gotcha!

[hillbillyrc]

Yeah, I tinkered with it last night and that idea is a no go. I have shock hoop holes cut in to the flatbed and those interfere with the the cage width plus. The flat bed isn't wide enough. To make this idea work I would have to make a new flatbed.

So sticking with the rear cage and already cut my first cage brace.to the size needed.