Finally my truck will be back on the road this weekend for the first time in over a year! Im just working out some very minor details now but one was a place to mount my plate. I made my winch bumper with the winch right in the center vs my last one which was recessed back and the plate could flip up then the cable was pulled through. This one is all business so I hacked into my tailgate and came up with this...







It took some very specific and tight side pieces to make work. The tighter fit made it WAY easier to weld along with heavy gauge sheet metall as well. Any gaps over 1/8th and it will make a mess so it had to be perfect. I had about 3 hours into building this





The more and more I look at it I really like it! simple but works. Next on the list will be a good paintjob within a month or two.

 

In CA, it has to be illuminated in order to be considered truly legal. Will the local constables be okay with that one??

 

im putting a bulb in there somewhere dont ya worry. Its on the list

 

Same here in Texas.

That's a unique solution to your problem. You did a nice job notching the tailgate. Can't wait to see how you illuminate it, though.

 

looks cool, i got to say ive been a pretty big fan of your build and have checked it out on pirate a few times. have you had much time to offroad and wheel it? bumpers look good, im using some bumpers off a 57 military duece and have been lookin for a better solution to mounting the plate. looks cool.

 

That looks pretty trick.

 

Havnt wheeled it since it was last on the road like the pics in my build thread. It wheels awesome though! It's gonna be even better with the 5:13s and rear traction bar. It's not insured yet this is just a plate I had kicking around. I've only just tested the rear axle/ driveline by laying down some big hard burnouts in my back driveway. I then took it to the street and smoked them on dry concrete. I wanna see if it will break but no luck... Lol
It use to pop out of gear in reverse sometimes under good torque but with the traction bar it eliminated that and it spins the tires very smooth with all power straight to the ground!
Its a long weekend up here after this week and I'm taking her on it's first adventure on a camping/wheeling trip. I'll be the only truck with lockers so should be a chance to test my winch's again. Speaking of Winch's,Saturday I did drive to my neighbors house and pulled a stump. It looked difficult so I went straight for the ****** block for a double line pull/ 24,000 lb pull and it was a beast. Dragged my truck forward with just rear line lok on so I had my neighbor sit in cab holding brakes while I wireless remote winch from outside. It pushed the very limits of what it could do but she came out with a good 3 foot diameter root base. Kicking myself I didn't have my iPhone 4 in my pocket could of made a video.
Everything held up sweet on the new bumper setup and 160amp alternator kept her powered up nice. Ran it on just the optima, didn't need to flip the switch to duals.
As you can tell I'm pretty stoked to have her where it's at today.

 

Awesome!

I like the stump story too! I don't have a winch, but I pulled some old clothesline poles out of my back yard this last fall using the "4 Low Punch it" method...

 

Nice! Lol
Should we start a stump pulling/chev pulling/recovery thread?

 

YES!!!

I actually recovered a John Deere Tractor at the river one day!

 

Nice job .... You could use luminated acorn bolts ... i have them on my custom built licence plate on my bike... they are LED ,but not the brightest.... shud keep the po-po at bay ....

 

I guess I'll contribute to the hijacking. Small pine tree removal.

 

I think a couple small LED's would be good at the upper part on the sides. One on each side should be more than enough.

 

I was thinking I was gonna side mount a 1" light from a stock bumper kinda thing.
Keep the pulling pics going im ok with it..

 

That would look good and original to the truck.

I still like the one on each side at the top thing though.