I've been wanting to build an old school styled 6x6 Clodbuster for a long time now. I ordered up a Bullhead kit and robbed an axle off my Clod to get me started. This rig will eventually have a snow plow mounted to it so I wanted a heavy chassis so I'll be building it from 16 gauge steel. To start the layout for the chassis I measured the stock one with a caliper at various points for all the key suspension mounting points.
New Bullhead kit
I built the Bullhead and laid out the rear tires to get an idea for the wheelbase I wanted.
Using my mad MS Paint skills for a rough rendering :lol:
I took my measurements and laid them out on 1/8 fibre board and made a mock up chassis. I used a jigsaw to cut it out and and some wood for the cross members. I just wanted to be sure of fitment before building the metal chassis.
Once I was happy with the setup I transferred it over to 16 gauge steel that I cut out with a grinder with a thin cut off disc and finished with some hand file work
Pieces all tacked together using a mig welder
In the above pics you can see the mill scale is still on metal, I did grind it away at the seems for the tack welds. I wanted to remove all the mill scale so I submerged the chassis in vinegar for a few a hours and this dissolves the mill scale and you can simply brush it off with your finger or bristle brush which is amazing considering how tuff the stuff is to remove short of using a grinder which marks up the surface.
You can see the light grey area with the mill scale removed showing the bare steel
I also made a stand from 2x4, helps for working on the truck and will also be for display to keep the tires from flat spotting on the shelf.
More to come...