Making a Swag Offroad 50" finger brake our own

[Brucker]

Time to get started on the mid plate. This piece will be crucial to making the press function correctly as well as making it easy to setup and operate. The mid plate will tie the bottom of the bottle jacks all together and keep them aligned. It will also act as a mount for the different press attachments, with the finger brake being the main attachment used. The assembly will be made up of a series of stacked plates in the center with sections of tubing on the outer edges. It will also feature a pair of removable guides that will straddle the vertical legs of the press frame, keeping the assembly aligned within the frame and parallel to the horizontal beams.

Start by cutting and cleaning up the pieces needed for the main assembly:

And since the brake press works, and are excited to try it out, the guides will be first to be made. Start with two pieces of 3/8" x 2" flat bar cut to the identical length:

Then bend them using the new brake:

Drilled some holes in the bottom of them:

Prepped the bent pieces and a set of 1/2" thick plates to be welded together. Clamped them to the fab table and welded them solid including filling the drilled holes by plug welding them for extra strength. Then cleaned them up:

 

[Brucker]

The main body will be made up of stacked plates with tubing run along the edges. Cut a couple plates, one 1/2" thick and the other 1/4" thick, then drilled a couple holes in the 1/4" thick piece to use for plug welds, and welded them together:

Capped and sanded the ends of the tubing:

Clamped the pieces together and to the table using another piece of 1/4" thick material to help keep things aligned. Then welded the assembly together:

Then sanded the ends smooth and clamped the assembly back to the table in order to weld on the end pieces:

Finished sanding the assembly smooth then drilled a hole in each end and drilled and tapped the guides to match:

 

[Brucker]

Placed the mid plate assembly into the press frame using some scrap tubing to keep it off the bottom beam:

Nice tight, but not too tight, fit:

Moved the assembly closer to the bottle jacks to begin layout of their mounting and the layout of the through holes needed for the different attachment mounts:

Machined a few hold down clamps to keep the bottle jack in position:

Positioned the clamps near the spring mounts since that area will see the most force:

Then used transfer punches to mark the centers. Also laid out the locations of the through holes. Then removed the assembly and drilled the holes:

 

[Brucker]

Assembled everything back together:

Tested it and the mid plate worked well all round. The jacks do not release fully and start to recede until each knob is turned. And the jacks now work together as one can not move without the others. Happy with the results. Now just need to make the mount for the brake, fab a handle for the frame to help ease of moving, assemble the gooseneck and hemming dies, and then come up with a storage solution for the die sets.

 

[Brucker]

Came to my attention that I forgot to show how I secured the top of the jacks to the top of the frame. The top mounts were drilled in the center and then countersunk.

Then the top of the jack was drilled and tapped in the center:

And the two were married:

Made an intermediate mount for the brake. Started with a piece of 3/8" thick flat bar, then drilled and tapped a series of holes in it to match the mid plate. Also included a couple holes to attach to the brake.

Then laid out the mounting holes on the top of the brake and drilled and tapped them:

And then assembled everything together:

 

[PhatFJ]

Wow, nice work!!!

 

[Brucker]

Wow, nice work!!!

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Brucker]

Been slacking on the updates, though do have some. But to hold ya'll over, here is a short video of the brake press in action:

[video=youtube;nvwribBi5d4]

 

[Corbet]

That thing is

 

[Brucker]

That thing is

Thank you for the kind words.

 

[L43dean]

I learned that TOYOTA may start up making parts for Fj40's again. I expect they will contact you.

 

[Brucker]

Hard to believe this was finished up over a year ago. It has been such a HUGE addition to the shop. Couldn't recommend doing something like this enough!

 

[Hulk]

@Brucker I enjoy reading your posts so much. You do amazing stuff.

FYI: the first posts in this thread are filled with broken images. They all seems to have been hosted at www.colorado4x4.org. Your newer posts have all the images hosted at www.frontrange4x4.com. Just a heads up -- if you upload your photos here, the images will always be a part of your post, and you don't have to depend on other websites to maintain their structure.

 

[Brucker]

@Brucker I enjoy reading your posts so much. You do amazing stuff.

FYI: the first posts in this thread are filled with broken images. They all seems to have been hosted at www.colorado4x4.org. Your newer posts have all the images hosted at www.frontrange4x4.com. Just a heads up -- if you upload your photos here, the images will always be a part of your post, and you don't have to depend on other websites to maintain their structure.

Thank you for the kind words.

I do know that the CO4x4 photos aren't loading anymore. That happened shortly after posting the original threads as CO4x4 changed their stance on hosting images for paying vendors. I changed over to hosting the photos at FrontRange4x4 as it is easy. I do not upload to more than there and my website as upload speeds SUCK at my place. And yes, living in the boonies doesn't offer a better internet service atm. Heck, I have pretty much stopped updating my site too just due to time.

So I apologize that the old photos aren't showing up anymore. Someday I hope to find time to rectify that.