Anybody install wheel tubs in B2? Pictures or tips?

[bailey]

I've gone through several increments of trimming the rear wheel wells of the B2 but never have been able to eliminate rubbage, especially as the springs settled. Yesterday, I finally decided to cut out the flaired portion of the quarter panel and the factory tub. I ordered 40" steel "hot-rod" tubs that I will have to cut/modify/reinforce, and I imagine the process will be time-consuming to get it to look OK. Anybody done this? Tips? Pictures?

Here is the can of worms I opened in the cutting:

[Nobody]

I saw someone that used a 55 gallon drum to make new wheel wells. It was pretty ghetto, but it worked. I think you'll be happy with what you are doing.

Make sure you post up some pics of once you're done. I'll probably have to do the same thing on my next BII.

[bailey]

Will do. I spent my 1 year truck allowance on a new digital camera, so I like to use it to make myself feel better.

I cut a little more out of the floor than I probably should have (a reinforced/structural section) and will have to do some additions to insure rigidity. Also, the tubs I order from Summit are 24 guage steel, pretty thin, so I might have to add metal there too. Kicking myself for having applied seventy-million coats of bed liner in the tub, cause I'm thinking I'm gonna want to weld the seams in most places vs. riveting.

Figure this might be a good down time to do a little body work (mostly just for practice, cause yeah it's kinda pointless to worry about dents in the PNW trails) and use the 12+ rattle cans of OD green I bought like 3 years ago to complete the uglification of the poor old thing.

[no v8? why drive?]

This guy made some nice ones out of sheet aluminum. Check out the bottom few pics.

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/478067/6

Heres some more not on his page. hes running 33s with a 3" body lift.

[bailey]

Those look nice. Hope I can do something fairly clean like that.

[Nobody]

yep...that's a pretty nice job.

[Tech Tim]

That looks nice, what tire size are you running?

[DBrown]

that was a clean job...probably a cheep mod too, if you have access to a brake

[bailey]

That looks nice, what tire size are you running?

37" MTRs on 15 x 8" wheels. The measure a little less than 36" mounted and on the truck. Haven't been able to break anything with the old 2.9L (297X d44 shafts/31 spl 9").

that was a clean job...probably a cheep mod too, if you have access to a brake

I agree - I think the flat panels he used look better than the arched tubs I ordered. I have a small Harbor Freight Brake but I dont think it would do much good for this size of a job.

[DBrown]

I think you are right about welding them in too...it just looks better and holds up better. a little seam sealer and some paint and those would look realy good....

[Nobody]

I agree - I think the flat panels he used look better than the arched tubs I ordered. I have a small Harbor Freight Brake but I dont think it would do much good for this size of a job.

I like the flat panels too. I was thinking you could build a frame out of something, then skin it with diamond plate or something.

Also you might consider running some tube along the inside of the wheel well so you can rub trees.

EBSTEVE made some external tube flares that I like even better.

[EBSTEVE]

EBSTEVE made some external tube flares that I like even better.

Don't blame me! lol

You can make a simple break using angle iron, not the best but if you take your time you could easily make the fenders with a sheet of material and some scrap steel.

[DBrown]

I was thinking of making my own break out of some angle...it doesn't seem that hard, it might not be perfact but it would get the job done...

[bailey]

Got a little bit of a start. Tubs came in on Friday. As I expected, they were arched-type wheel tubs, with significant assembly required. These are 40” 24-guage steel. Pretty thin, but I will reinforce them. Worked a little Saturday afternoon and some today. It more of a pain than I had hoped, as is the usual case.



So I decided just how far back I was going to cut into the cab floor. I need to cut farther towards the middle of the “bed”, as my tires were rubbing the backside of the stock wheel tubs (the vertical part of the inner wheel well). I used a thin piece of aluminum strip, bent to fit the stepped B2 tub, as a straightedge by first clamping then temporally riveting. I am bad at cutting straight with the sawzall, so I need all the help I can get.



Then, using mild steel, I built a frame/lip around the entire cut-out section of the floor. The lip is to A) help reinforce the cut floor, B) provide a straight edge to affix the wheel tub metal to cleanly with mounting points, and C) reduce the amount of welding to sheet-metal or existing tub floor (i.e. allow riveting of the assembly to the floor). I did some experimentation with thin sheetmetal Saturday night with my POS 4-setting MIG welder, and was having a hard time, often burning through even with 0.023” wire. I am by no means a decent welder, especially with the real thin stuff. But then I ran out of CO2/argon mix, so I had to switch to 0.035” flux core, which was even worse. So I decided to weld together a frame, then rivet to the frame. I will still plug weld to the outer wall to eliminate rivets through the quarter panel. (when I get to that).

As the B2 tub has numerous small ridges and valleys, so building the frame was a mild PITA. The steel lip protrudes about 1/8” beyond the cut floor, so I could weld mounting tabs for the inner wheel tub wall. The key is keeping this lip straight. I checked often with a long piece of angle as a straightedge.



I then welded mounting tabs to the lip. Where the floor was flimsy due to cutting existing floor structure, I welded a small long strip of steel perpendicular to the lip (making “angle-iron”, basically). This stiffened everything up nicely.




I very carefully (again, running flux core today) tacked the back wall of the tub, cut to fit my frame, to the frame then riveted the it the various mounting tabs I made.




That’s where I left it today. Next time I might think a little bit more before I start cutting away all ad-hoc like. I am confident, given enough man-hours, I will eventually have them looking OK, but this kind of work isn’t my bag.

[Nobody]

You should try to square it off, looks like there is plenty of material there to work with.