fbekholden.com

Heres my truckster


When I bought it,the tray area was rooted,and the original tubs were pretty untidy.


This is how I remade the tubs.



First,I made a timber buck out 2 pieces of 16mm plywood glued together.

I used a 7 inch sander to put a nice radius along the edge.Id have preferred to use a nice big router bit,but I didnt have one.



Next up,I cut the sheetmetal for the sides.

I used the buck as a template,and used a texta taped to a small block of wood,using the wood to space the texta away from the buck to allow for the extra material required to come

around the radius,and traced around the outside of the buck.(hope that makes sense,cos I dont have a photo.)

Be as accurate as you can now and its easier later.

Then I clamped the sidepanel to the buck using another lump of ply and lots of clamps,and dressed it around with a big orange deadblow hammer.




The edge is not quite flat and level,so to mark it out level I made this simple little scratch gauge


And clamped the sidepanel down and traced around the edge.


I used a 3mm cutting wheel to sand it down nice and flat.
To do this nice,you have to hold the grinder in this position.DO NOT USED THE CUTTING EDGE.Use the flat face of the wheel to sand it flat.


Imagine using the spinning wheel as a sanding block and see how you go.

Next up,I made the wrap around section.
I measured how long it would be,and added a bit(you'll see why later)
It needed a return on the back edge,so I folded it up about a bit in the pan brake then rolled the ends up.
I rolled it a bit tight,but it came back ok.

This lot should explain themselves.








Before I fully welded and sanded this side,I needed to knock all the returns up by hand.

Not the most ideal of methods,but it worked pretty well.




I knocked this edge over gently with a panel hammer.

To knock up the radius,I made this dolly from a lump of flatbar I found lying about.(actually made it years ago for something else,but it worked spotton)







I started with the copper hammer and finished it up with the flat panel hammer.
The magnet is only there to hold the dolly for the photo.

The returns on the bottom were knocked around the same way.







And thats where they are at.
Theres still a bit to do to finish fitting them up nice,I might get motivated soon and post some pics of it finished.

Gotta be smarter than filling the tray with gravel every time I take it out for a squirt..

they look awesome in there , nice shape and fit.

Bloody nice work, thanks for taking the time to post it up.

Cheers
Sam

Well Posted and great write up. Looks the goods aswell.
Regards John

Excellent write up.

love the new look of the truck too with the wood floor and neat tubs.

Cheers

Ed

Thanks,gents.
I hope the pics help someone sometime.

great pics and explanation - many thanks.

Love the truckster.

Stewart

Extremely cool!

I didn't realise that you were WOT179 Craig!!

How come these tubs weren't in for the DOTD???

Would of stopped us getting sprayed with water when we were crusing in the back on the Sat night!
Good stuff.

Greg

Im full of secrets,mate.

Geeze,I didnt realise you blokes were getting wet in the back..................oh,hang on.....yes I did.

Im not real inclined to ever fit them after that.