Thread: Project Dezert Taxi

Been putting this off for a little while. Started this truck back on May 3rd, 2004.

Picked her up at Drew Ford for $17,000, its a 2001 SuperCrew XLT with a 4.6L Triton V8 it had a little more then 46,000 miles on the odometer.

Went to Iraq for 7 months and dropped it off at ORC motorsports for the front Long Travel kit. So after a full year of owning the truck it turned into this. Full custom upper, lower, spindle, 2.5 10" Kings and Fiberwerx 6" front fiberglass.


Then came the fun part. After a few trips on the truck the engine cage failed. Due to the fact that ORC built the engine cage out of Mild thin wall when DOM was suppose to be used.
These pictures are after the failure and in order to get it up to be replaced by Kenny at Alliance Fab it was hack welded to get the cross bar back in that had ripped off.

And this is what was found when Kenny removed the prior engine cage!


So kenny replaced that cage with a Chromoly Cage the truck has now. He also added 2.5 King Bumps. Very happy with what Alliance has done for me.


So I have Kenny build me a bolt in bed cage, with 2.5 Kings, Deaver Racepack, 6" Fiberwerx bedsides, and a two piece driveshaft by East County Driveshaft.


So after close to a year Jason at Fiberwerx asked me to use the truck to Prototype a new front one piece clip on the truck.

After that the rearend blew on me so I called on Alliance once again to supply me with a new axle. He answered with a Currie 9" with Strange 3rd member, 4.56 gears, 40 spline axles, and a full spool. I took the time to add Fox Bypasses to the rear and dual stand ups.

That brings us to now. I have been playing with motor issues for the last year or so. With getting out of the Marines and moving the truck has sat the whole time. I finally got a house to work on the toy. So over the last two months Nick (allupinsideya) and I have done some work to the truck. So far the start to a new Bed Cage its still got alot of cross bracing to go. Not to mention the fenders getting mounted and things jack, on board air tank, dual spares, dust lights, limit straps, and bump stops.





I will be adding more as this project continues.

why did you lay the shocks out so far?

yay!!! about time you showed off that sexy work we have throw into the truck so far.

Originally Posted by matt_helton

why did you lay the shocks out so far?

x2, i dont know a whole lot but that confuses me, so you don't have to build new mounts if you link it??

Originally Posted by matt_helton

why did you lay the shocks out so far?

i was wondering the same thing....

truck is looking great!

Originally Posted by matt_helton

why did you lay the shocks out so far?

Originally Posted by SchertzAutoRacing

so you don't have to build new mounts if you link it??

Bingo! Should only be with leafs for a few more months. Thats why we are building a new bed cage now to prep for the links that are getting built soon.

Its a little backwards. But I am going to be needing to move the truck around to get the Reg up to date and it needs something back there. While I get the smog and all that crap going.

ah cool, well good luck man, looks good!

indeed... once i get my gas bottle for my tig welder, we will be building the links for my truck as well as his screw (supercrew) and our project ranger.

Here is a side shot. Shows that the shock mounts now are where the coilovers will be with the link.



And again this is no where near done yet.

looks like a great start

its lookin beautiful! It's awesome that youre able to make it work with the leafs for now and wont have to redesign that cage a little down the road. When is this thing getting a cab cage?

once we finish up the build on the bedcage, we are building my links that i designed for my truck, then im building some equal length beams for our lil project ranger we are planning on building for 1450, then his cab cage hopefully then links on his....

we designed his bedcage around knowing we will be cutting his frame off and back halfing and linking... so i designed it strong enough to hold up on the frame while its still on leafs, then when we hack it out, its minimal change to the rear cage design to backhalf and slap the links under it.... will be amazing when its done... ill be tig welding all 3 sets of the links, the equal lengths, and his cab cage (hopefully).

nice. i wouldnt mind having a tig welder for all my goodies. that will all turn out beautiful!

we are hoping.

I don't get why you changed the bed cage if you are just going to link it why not leave it until then?

because we dont exactly have the funds right now to link all 3 of the trucks... and he wants his truck up to be able to take it out at leastonce this season... so this will get him putting around in the desert without worries of all the problems he had last time with his weak ass little 5100's.

Originally Posted by Edgeracer

Been putting this off for a little while. Started this truck back on May 3rd, 2004.

Picked her up at Drew Ford for $17,000, its a 2001 SuperCrew XLT with a 4.6L Triton V8 it had a little more then 46,000 miles on the odometer.

Went to Iraq for 7 months and dropped it off at ORC motorsports for the front Long Travel kit. So after a full year of owning the truck it turned into this. Full custom upper, lower, spindle, 2.5 10" Kings and Fiberwerx 6" front fiberglass.


Then came the fun part. After a few trips on the truck the engine cage failed. Due to the fact that ORC built the engine cage out of Mild thin wall when DOM was suppose to be used.
These pictures are after the failure and in order to get it up to be replaced by Kenny at Alliance Fab it was hack welded to get the cross bar back in that had ripped off.

And this is what was found when Kenny removed the prior engine cage!


So kenny replaced that cage with a Chromoly Cage the truck has now. He also added 2.5 King Bumps. Very happy with what Alliance has done for me.


So I have Kenny build me a bolt in bed cage, with 2.5 Kings, Deaver Racepack, 6" Fiberwerx bedsides, and a two piece driveshaft by East County Driveshaft.


So after close to a year Jason at Fiberwerx asked me to use the truck to Prototype a new front one piece clip on the truck.

After that the rearend blew on me so I called on Alliance once again to supply me with a new axle. He answered with a Currie 9" with Strange 3rd member, 4.56 gears, 40 spline axles, and a full spool. I took the time to add Fox Bypasses to the rear and dual stand ups.

That brings us to now. I have been playing with motor issues for the last year or so. With getting out of the Marines and moving the truck has sat the whole time. I finally got a house to work on the toy. So over the last two months Nick (allupinsideya) and I have done some work to the truck. So far the start to a new Bed Cage its still got alot of cross bracing to go. Not to mention the fenders getting mounted and things jack, on board air tank, dual spares, dust lights, limit straps, and bump stops.





I will be adding more as this project continues.

wuts up with those dead tubes???

what dead tubes?

Originally Posted by allupinsydeyou

what dead tubes?

the 2 vertical ones! an the ones that catch the outside of the shock mount!!!

Originally Posted by Chase550

I don't get why you changed the bed cage if you are just going to link it why not leave it until then?

Well what was happening is the frame was flexing really bad with no support in there between the spring hangers. So I pulled the bed in order to box the frame in. When I did that, had all the supports I wanted in, I saw that the bed would have a big hole in it for nothing. So instead of just throwing it back on and it looking like ass I decided that I was going to build a new bedcage. So with linking it in mind we started to build a bedcage that when the time comes can be redesigned useing most of what is already there for the link shock mounts. Its smarter then just cutting and wasteing all that tube. Cause I still need to cage the truck so the bedcage is going to be moved around to better suit that also.

Like any truck there are stages this is stage 4 of 20. You can see that the only support in there between the hangers was a single 1"3/4 tube that did nothing at all that I cut out.

Always liked this truck, and the name

Originally Posted by LT2000GMC

wuts up with those dead tubes???

Seriously dude, why did you have to quote the million pictures?

Originally Posted by 04yfzkid

Always liked this truck, and the name

Thanks Buddy.

For the people that don't understand why we designed it this way. I have used paint with bright colors to show you what the final design might look like when its backhalfed, linked and caged. The green will go into the cab, connect the cab and bed cages.

But again this is stage 4 of 20.

Originally Posted by Edgeracer

Well what was happening is the frame was flexing really bad with no support in there between the spring hangers. So I pulled the bed in order to box the frame in. When I did that, had all the supports I wanted in, I saw that the bed would have a big hole in it for nothing. So instead of just throwing it back on and it looking like ass I decided that I was going to build a new bedcage. So with linking it in mind we started to build a bedcage that when the time comes can be redesigned useing most of what is already there for the link shock mounts. Its smarter then just cutting and wasteing all that tube. Cause I still need to cage the truck so the bedcage is going to be moved around to better suit that also.

Like any truck there are stages this is stage 4 of 20. You can see that the only support in there between the hangers was a single 1"3/4 tube that did nothing at all that I cut out.

I'm with you...by the way I did all the tube work for your bed cage at Kenny's

thank you for explaining that chris... there are no dead tubes there. they are in place for a reason.... links

Originally Posted by Chase550

I'm with you...by the way I did all the tube work for your bed cage at Kenny's

Thank you then, I really liked the way it turned out. You want to come down and help out with the cab cage? LOL

Its hard to post up work that you know, you are building for the final stage. Then having to explain it to every person that doesn't read the post and just looks at the pictures. But its more of a record of the build for me and the comments that are construtive will help me out.

Ha ha I know what you mean that why I don't have a thread for my build...I wish I had time to I would but I can barely work on mine these days

Originally Posted by Chase550

Ha ha I know what you mean that why I don't have a thread for my build...I wish I had time to I would but I can barely work on mine these days

Understandable. It seems like the days keep getting shorter and the money keeps getting tighter.

and thats why i never post my builds on here anymore... internet fabbers just like opening their mouths about shit most of them dont even understand.. or tell me im doin it all wrong... when i designed it and know the purpose behind the shit i design. like when i designed this bedcage.. me and chris agreed that we are going to build it around the fact the truck will be linked and it would be a waste to have to start all over... same reason i did my bedcage the way i did... knowing i didnt have the money to link it right away but it is in the trucks future.

cool truck, i like what you've done with it. good luck with linking it!

why would u link a supercrew,pointless and you wont get any travel or have any fun with it? why four doors,weld the back 2 shut so they wont come open in the rough,lolha truck is looking good keep it up.

Originally Posted by alloutmotorsports

why would u link a supercrew,pointless and you wont get any travel or have any fun with it? why four doors,weld the back 2 shut so they wont come open in the rough,lolha truck is looking good keep it up.

hahahaha all right butthead!! calm yourself!

but in all seriousness i think i can speak for chris as well when i say thank you all for the compliments and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism. means alot to myself personally to see that some of the fabbers that i look at their work and im like fuuuuuck thats amazing, are now complimenting mine.

Keep it up fellas. Working on it is way better then having sit and it be a yard dog.

Originally Posted by alloutmotorsports

why would u link a supercrew,pointless and you wont get any travel or have any fun with it? why four doors,weld the back 2 shut so they wont come open in the rough,lolha truck is looking good keep it up.

Lol. I always thought four doors ment more bitches. Wait im married I guess it means more kids. Damn it!

Thanks love your truck by the way.

Originally Posted by baja619

Keep it up fellas. Working on it is way better then having sit and it be a yard dog.

Thanks buddy, I will have to hit you up so you can put some pictures of it back on the site.

hahaha full day on the screw this saturday... this is gunna be tedious

Originally Posted by allupinsydeyou

hahaha full day on the screw this saturday... this is gunna be tedious

As long as you figure out how to fit those tubes in there and make it look good.

nigga... im tryin.. sheesh.

[QUOTE=Edgeracer;1430513]Lol. I always thought four doors ment more bitches. Wait im married I guess it means more kids. Damn it!

Thanks love your truck by the way.

haha true true,thanks

Looks good Chris.

Originally Posted by LinkdChevy

Looks good Chris.

Thanks man. Hows that chevy of yours coming along? Get everything sorted out from the expo?

I have some updates, that Nick is going to post the pictures to show everyone.