Back Halfing the Colorado

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]WHAT'S UP, GUYS? WELCOME BACK TO THE CHANNEL, MAN. SO, today we are going to be picking up on a vehicle you guys haven't seen in video in a while. Uh, the old Colorado. The goal today is to back half this truck. And to be honest with you, Brady and I have never backed a vehicle before in our lives. So, we're going to figure it out one way or another. the wheel that he wants to run.

[00:00:21]He's either going to have to have the wheel sticking way out like this, which would just look goofy, or uh he's going to have to raise the truck enough to where the wheel will fit under the the current position of the frame. And it would basically be a monster truck at that point. The way around that obviously is to build your own frame rails and bring it in so that you're capable of bringing the wheel in.

[00:00:45]There's a lot more that goes with it than just trying to get a ride height out of it, but as far as setting up the suspension for the truck to hook and make traction and be able to handle more power, having a shorter rear axle, things of that nature, all all that stuff also plays a hand in it. So either way, back halfing a truck is not nothing new. I don't know all the science behind it, but that's what we're doing today, man. All right. So, today we are going to be using strips of plywood to basically make our template. We've already been out here kind of messing with it and we are trying cardboard at first and cardboard it it just doesn't work as well. So, we are going to start off with trying to make a template out of the plywood so that we get an idea of the angles that we need to cut in our square tubing.

[00:01:36]All right. So, what is more than likely the most important bar on this entire thing, we have placed. We have it positioned. It was already there. Braven came out and kind of started on this, I want to say a month ago, but after looking at it, it needed to be moved ever so slightly.

[00:01:54]>> Brother, I eyeballed that, Johnny.

[00:01:58]>> Yeah, it it definitely needed to be moved. So, uh, the problem was is that these bars that are coming up at an angle like this, they they needed to be cut at an angle down there. We was going to have to match the angle of where that bar is at to where that horizontal bar is at in the frame. Uh, but now we have it positioned to where these bars can just be a straight cut on the back and butt up nice and flush with that. And we got it measured to where from the bottom corner of that bar all the way back to the end of the frame right here is exactly 71 and 316 from that corner to that corner to both sides from the top corner back top corner back. We just simply measured it in a bunch of different areas to make sure that it was the same all the way around. So, there's a lot of stuff with this that we're going to be kind of figuring out and not really recording it because like I said, this is our first time doing it and never have done this before. So, really, we don't want to try to teach you how to do this. This is just >> No.

[00:03:04]>> Anyhow, now we get to make our next pieces. So, uh we're going to try to basically at this point make this all out of our wood to make a template so that we can get like a visual idea. We have we have exactly enough material. We don't we don't have enough material for mistakes.

[00:03:36]Should be set 16.

[00:03:41]There it is, buddy. Melt her in there.

[00:04:06]Yes, ma'am. There it is. All right. So, we needed to get that thing out of our way. it was going across here and also to give ourselves a support for the new frame to come back. So, I know it looks like we haven't done much, but we've got a lot of measuring done. Like I mentioned, that front bar is exactly where it needs to be. And I got the center marked, which is huge. And then this is going to be the outside of the uh new frame rails, which is exactly 6 and 1/2 in in on each side. And then we got this support sat up here. This is where the new frame rail is going to sit on top. I have the center marked. And then I also measured it out and marked basically uh the exact same measurements we have down there. So this 6 and 1/2 in mark is in the exact same place as that one. So we have a nice straight line to follow. Now, back here where the frame is going to dip back down and come to where it is basically the same height as the factory frame, we have this sitting here so that we can set it right on top.

[00:05:13]And this is flush to the bottom of the frame. So, we know that we set our new frame rails on top here and here. They are in line with one another with the rest of the frame. That bar was going to be in the way. So, we cut it out and we got this one welded in just to make sure that this doesn't move before you whenever we cut it out. You know, we didn't want anything to go and tweak or whatever. But making progress, man. So, now I need to I need to mark the center and I got to mark the relation of the frame. I had to do all the same marks I did on that bar. Now, we got to put on this bar.

[00:05:52]All right. So, give you guys an update.

[00:06:19]We've been messing with this now for a couple of more hours. I I guess it's one of those, you know, measure twice, cut once type of scenarios. We're just trying to make sure that we really like dial this in. So, I'm going to be kind of vague uh in in explaining what it is, where we're at right now, kind of. So, originally, we were going to bring the frame up and then run it straight and then bring it back down and then run it straight. But now we are kind of leaning towards just bringing the frame up and just running it straight all the way back. And the reason for that is uh Braven has the truck sitting right now at the ride height that he is trying to acquire. So he wants the truck to sit this low. In order to do that, if you see where the leaf springs originally mounted, that's the stock leaf spring location for the front. And then here is the stock location for the back. Now, there is an 8 in difference. If you were to measure from the ground up to that hole and the ground up to that hole, it is an 8 in difference where the factory location is at. So, where the frame rail is going to be right here, we have his bracket just kind of clamped on there.

[00:07:36]It relatively where it's going to be. If you measure the top hole from the top hole to the ground right now is 11 in.

[00:07:44]So we are wanting to mimic the factory as far as the mounting points being staggered. So from the ground to the top being 11 in, we want the top hole in the back to be 8 in higher than the front.

[00:08:03]So basically, if we measure that up, it brings his rear bracket basically right about there. So for us to drop this down like that, where we would be mounting the leaf spring in the rear would actually have the truck sitting like if we were to put the leaf spring in right now, the leaf spring would be touching the ground versus this being his ride height. So, we're going to have to have the frame come straight rather than drop back down like that. That's where we're at right now. So, uh yeah, all the wood was kind of just to give us a good point to measure from and to give us like a visual idea. Um but now we're going to go ahead and move all this stuff and we're going to start making cuts. Dude, we need to basically get this pipe going from here to here. We need to get that piece cut and then we need to figure out our angle of our cut for this piece to go straight back. We're going to do one side and then basically make those same pieces twice because for this to be exactly the same from left to right, I want to make sure that that piece and this piece are exactly the same. So, we're going to make them together so that whenever we bring this over here, if it doesn't line up the same way it does on that side, that means we're off somewhere. though. I feel pretty confident that it's going to be like dead on cuz we've spent a lot of hours measuring. Anyhow, let's get to cutting our first piece.

[00:09:43]THE WRONG CLAMP OFF.

[00:09:45]>> All right, get the measuring tape.

[00:09:50]Braven made us a tool so I can line that up to the mark and flip it over and have the same mark on this side.

[00:10:05]Hopefully hopefully it's straight.

[00:10:15]Heat. Heat.

[00:10:51]Uh yeah, I leave about 2 in.

[00:11:16]Well, ladies and gentlemen, we have got ourselves a frame rail. Finally, something to show for an entire day's worth of work. Man, look at that. Would you just look at that? Oh, actually, that's that's the hard part is doing one side. Now we just literally take those two pieces off and then make two exactly the same pieces. Um, and then we can put it all back on here and tack it and stuff. So, uh, we ended up figuring out the, uh, this was a lot of work just figuring out how high it needs to sit back here. Uh, because obviously you can't just put a level on it, you know, and there's really not a whole lot to measure off of. So, but we got it figured out. I'm not going to explain to you exactly how we got it figured out, but we did. But yeah, now we got to take both these pieces off. Like I said, we got to make one exactly the same as that. Exactly the same as that. And then place it on the other side. Uh, another thing that we need to do is figure out the exact uh spacing in between them.

[00:12:17]We're going to have to cut some pieces to go in between. One all the way back here on the end to kind of square this up. And then uh probably one up there somewhere to kind of also tack it in.

[00:12:27]The idea is whenever we go to weld this, not only do we want it to be tacked to the truck, but all the areas where this is sitting, like we're going to end up tacking it to this, uh we'll probably tack it here. We got to tack it to the truck. Weld it to the truck so whenever we go to burn all this stuff in, things don't start like moving and twisting and everything. So that's the idea, man. We don't have a fancy welding table or anything like that. So, we're just doing with what it is we got. Man, we are back halfing a truck with with the cut off wheel. A cut off wheel, Sharpies, tape measure, >> straight edge, >> couple straight edge squares, >> you know, some plywood.

[00:13:07]>> Plywood.

[00:13:08]>> Hell yeah.

[00:13:08]>> And an eagle eye.

[00:13:09]>> And an eagle eye. There you go. Shout out to Putin's Fab Shop. All right, get to mimicking.

[00:13:38]Heat up here.

[00:13:54]All right, man. Figured screw it. We may as well wipe them down and sand them right now before we start, you know, tacking all the stuff in so it's all clean. And now I'm not. But, uh, whenever we're ready for paint, I'm most certainly going to appreciate the fact that we sanded these things all the way around. But yes, sir. Looking pretty good, man. Now we just got to start tacking stuff in. Toby, get out of here.

[00:14:20]Always trying to die, man. Toby, you always trying to die, man. Always trying to die, man.

[00:14:29]Toby, get out of there, man.

[00:14:32]Get out of there, man.

[00:14:40]Rock and roll, baby. Rock and roll.

[00:14:48]Perfect.

[00:14:51]Perfection.

[00:14:54]Yes, sir.

[00:14:58]Grab our clamps back.

[00:15:14]All right. So, I I think on this one Yeah. tap this tube to this tube, which is right in the center there.

[00:15:27]There.

[00:15:28]And then here, and here.

[00:15:53]trying to do it.

[00:16:06]All right. So, what we're doing on this one, so we don't have to worry about it moving around, went over and double triple checked every damn measurement on this thing to make sure it's dead on where it needs to be. And we are tack welding the pipe to the supports that we have here so that we know it's not going to move. And now he's going to go ahead and tack these two together. So, there'll be two tacks on each side so it can't move at all. And then we'll leave the clamps on there until those tacks cool down. And then we'll pull the clamps and we got to set up that side and do the same thing. So, so we know nothing's going to move. Everything will be tacked in.

[00:17:06]We haven't checked that one time, bro.

[00:17:08]And it's dead on.

[00:17:12]Oh my god.

[00:17:27]All right, I think we made pretty huge freaking progress today. We got the got the frame rails in. You know, we want to get all of this melted in there and keep it basically exactly the way it is so that nothing moves. And then once this is all welded in, we can kind of move some stuff out of our way. We got to start on uh figuring out exactly where all the leaf spring mounts are going to go. And let me just put it out there. We don't have it yet, but we got to go and pick up like some quarter in steel plate. There's a bug on my screen. Look at this thing, bro.

[00:18:02]Thing is massive.

[00:18:04]Get out of here, man. Get off my camera.

[00:18:06]And yeah, we got to go pick up like some quarterin steel plate and we're going to be making some like some gangster ass massive gussets. Everywhere we can put a gusset on here is gonna get a gusset.

[00:18:19]So, uh, we're going to make sure this thing is good and strong. No freaking worries. Anyhow, we're going to pick back up on this in the morning. We're going to clean up our mess tonight. Uh, pick back up on this in the morning.

[00:18:29]I'll see you then. All right, guys. It is the next day. Moving on. We need to get uh an idea. We're We're trying to figure out an idea here on how to get these guys mounted on the front. This is going to be the leaf spring hanger. So, this is the front portion. Uh, we have a back portion also, which I mean this will all make sense later down the down the road whenever you guys see it finished. This is all for adjustability.

[00:18:57]So, the leaf springs are going to be adjustable front and back. This is a Funkhouser kit that Braven ordered uh some time ago. Couple of months ago, >> October, >> a year ago, no.

[00:19:10]>> Seven, eight months ago.

[00:19:12]>> Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Right now, we're just trying to figure out exactly how we're going to get this mounted in there, cuz this needs to be centered on the frame rails, but our frame rails are 2 in. And as you can see that there's a there's a gap in between there. So, we're uh we're figuring that out right now.

[00:19:38]Heat. Heat.

[00:19:55]Heat. Heat.

[00:20:13]I want to heat myself.

[00:20:32]I've been searching for I hope it's worth it.

[00:20:58]I don't know.

[00:21:23]I know they're talking. I just got to get through.

[00:21:34]>> Baby showing up with all the love.

[00:21:38]>> Is that KFC? And >> I didn't know what you wanted, so I got both.

[00:21:43]What's the other one?

[00:21:45]>> Buffalo Wild Wings.

[00:21:46]>> Churches.

[00:21:47]>> Oh, Churches.

[00:21:48]>> Churches and KFC.

[00:21:49]>> Yeah, you didn't answer, so I had to get both.

[00:21:53]>> All right, both. It is.

[00:21:55]>> We're balling.

[00:21:55]>> All right. I Dude, I don't know how long this video is so far. We're not done yet, but man, we've been going on this all weekend.

[00:22:05]It's been one hell of a project, but I personally think it's coming out pretty good, dude.

[00:22:08]>> I think it came out great.

[00:22:09]>> I think it's coming out pretty sick. So, we're we're putting a originally we planned on putting a support right here, but it was going to be up here just going straight. So, we had kind of a last minute decision. Said, you know what? If we put it right here at an angle, then we could weld it in and it connects to both bars, which will just obviously strengthen that. We're still going to build a gusset for out here. And now, I'm also been kind of working on the the boxes for the the front leaf spring hangers.

[00:22:40]This has been a mission. So, had to basically get them into position and find the angle that the frame is at.

[00:22:50]Now, we're going to be welding a plate.

[00:22:52]Let's show you guys really quick. These plates right here is actually going to weld on. Wait, get back over here. Is actually going to weld right there, making this a box. And then there's also a plate that's going to weld, I think, on this side, but we'll have to do that later. But once that plate is welded on there, then this guy will weld in. Obviously, we got to, you know, do a bunch bunch of measuring and all that, but this is going to weld in right here. And then that's going to give them all the adjustment.

[00:23:25]Crazy amount of adjustment.

[00:23:28]Yeah. Once that is welded in, and another thing, we went and got ourselves a damn laser. Raven went and grabbed one from Harbor Freight.

[00:23:37]>> Yeah. which is going to make this huge for obviously lining these up cuz we got to get these directly in line with that bolt hole right there where the leaf spring originally used to mount.

[00:23:50]So yeah, that's going to make it a lot easier using the laser, especially when as it's starting to get dark. We're already using it earlier and with how bright it is with the sun up and with these lights, it's freaking really hard to see that laser. But yeah, anyhow, we're just continuing on and uh obviously we're going to go and eat dinner really quick cuz it's already getting late and I think I Yep.

[00:24:16]got my camera lens with the damn grinder again.

[00:24:31]Heat.

[00:24:51]Heat.

[00:24:56]Heat.

[00:25:23]Heat. Heat.

[00:25:46]Heat.

[00:25:50]Ready?

[00:25:55]Yeah.

[00:26:13]Heat.

[00:26:36]Heat.

[00:26:41]jump.

[00:27:32]Very nice.

[00:27:34]Oh, they're very nice.

[00:28:11]Yes, sir. Those are ready to be welded out.

[00:28:20]>> If you want to do it tonight or tomorrow, whichever you want to do, I don't know. You're all set up right now.

[00:28:26]May as well.

[00:28:27]>> All right.

[00:28:27]>> You just got >> blow one side one side.

[00:28:30]>> Yeah.

[00:28:30]>> Let it cool for a few minutes while the other part go like that. Like that.

[00:28:35]>> This isn't flex.

[00:28:38]Get those solid.

[00:29:06]You're right, stupid.

[00:29:33]All right, guys. Braymond is going to finish welding these things out. Uh, I think I've already mentioned that these are the adjustable pockets for the front of the leaf springs. Uh, we're not going to get to mounting those tonight. We're going to have to pick up on this in another video. Man, I'm going to go ahead and end it here. I think this is pretty good progress, man. We got the frame rails all done. So, from here, we need to get the leaf spring per purchase, the leaf spring hangers mounted in the front and in the back.

[00:30:00]We've also got to go and pick up some like quarterin steel plate that we're going to be making gussets for everywhere. We got to gusset the absolute hell out of this. We're going to be picking back up on this some point this week cuz IT'S GAME TIME NOW, BUDDY.

[00:30:13]WE GOT TO GET this damn Colorado done.

[00:30:14]It's time to get the engine in. Braven has his transmission. He has literally everything. Everything except for I think like the drive shaft and which the only reason we don't have that yet cuz we need a drive shaft measurement. You know what I'm saying? So, this is going to be a pretty quick process getting this truck done. As soon as we get the back half all complete, if you guys aren't follow like if if you guys don't understand what's going on here, once we get this all complete, this section right here gets cut off. We're literally just going to hack it off right there and then cap it off and then that is going to be the new frame in the back of the truck. Anyhow guys, I hope you enjoyed the video. If you did, please do smash the like button and uh we'll see you guys on the next one. Later there, Rughead.

[00:30:59]>> Later there guys.

[00:31:08]Heat.

[00:31:26]Heat.