Onyx

Posted by Kevin Whipps on www.kevinwhipps.com

The job of bagging Bryce’s fullsize has taken on some monumental proportions.

It started with a simple PM through one of the online boards. A question about bagging his truck and if I was available. Sure. Why not. I mean no one ever follows through on these things. I’ll get you a parts list. I’ll get you some info. No biggie.

4 months later, and the truck is in my garage.

This process could’ve been a lot simpler.

Like, we could’ve had all the parts before he dropped it off.

Instead, we’ve got some of the parts now, and 1 week into the install, we’re still waiting on parts.

No sweat.

The problem here has been what I thought we could do, versus what Bryce wanted done. Fact is, I made some assumptions based on my own experiences, and it turns out I was wrong on some parts.

For example.

When I buy tires, I don’t **** with sizes. I buy the smallest profile tire I can find and put it on the ride. Period.

I am apparently in the minority on that one.

Bryce’s truck runs a staggered offset setup, with 20X10’s in the back with mammoth tires, and 20X8.5’s up front with itsy bitsys. This was not something I thought of when I told him we could bridge his truck and keep it under the bed.

With most fullsize Chevy’s, you can do a simple notch right above the frame, and lay it out on a 245/40 20. In fact I’ve seen this done many times.

In Bryce’s case, his tires stand a whopping 29 or so inches tall - the exact height of one of my 22’s. I even placed the two next to each other to see the comparison, and his rear wheels are even a bit bigger.

Now ultimately, everything is up to the customer. He is right. Period.

So Bryce wanted three things;

a. To lay frame. b. To keep his rear tire size c. No cutting into the bed floor.

It became obvious almost right off the bat that he could have 2 out of 3, but not all of them. Not possible.

We could do a baby bridge with his tires, but he wouldn’t lay frame.

He could lay frame with his tires, but he would have to do something with the bed.

He could cut a hole in his bed and lay frame, but those rear tires might be an issue with the width.

Chad and I both brought this up on several occasions to Bryce, and he was adamant about wanting his requests filled. He was right after all, I thought we could make it all happen. It’s just that the more and more I looked at it, the stuff wasn’t going to happen.

He decided that we should do a baby notch, and he just wouldn’t lay. No biggie.

Well now that just won’t do.

Who would want to go through all the work to bag their truck, just to not lay? It wasn’t like there was a cost difference in the install, everything would be the same. All we’d have to do was cut a hole in the bed and call it good. We’d even make a cover for it. No way, no go. No hole. Period.

So.

What to do.

More phone calls, more problems. Can’t do it. Won’t do it. Fine with 20’s. No reason to do a big notch. I’ll deal with not laying.

What bothered me the most was that I saw what he was doing, and I knew right away that he would regret the decision. He’d bag his truck, and think everything was great for like a week. Then he’d have someone talk **** about him not laying, and he’d want to re-bridge the truck.

Which is not a fun process.

Plus this is my first side job in a long time, and I’d like it to turn out great. Not sub par. It needed to lay hard, and look bitchin and be super clean. No compromises.

Then last night, I woke up several times, thinking about the situation. Would the 2X2 we were welding to the top of the frame be strong enough? Would it clear the bed floor with the 2 1/16 of room we had? Would Bryce be happy?

Turns out Chad had the same thoughts when he woke up.

As we setup, I looked at the tubing we had bought the day before. ****. It was too small. They sold us 1.5 X 1.5 instead. ****!

There it was in the corner. The 8 piece notch Bryce had dropped off with the rest of his parts. We could use that…

And then he’d really not lay. Like 2″ from laying. Buy some new expensive tires, not laying.

Let’s bolt up one of his front tires and see what’s up.

Wait, are these showing belt? ****. Now we’re really fucked.

No other option. Another call.

Now I’m pleading, begging, saying we can just bodydrop the bed, or cut a notch, just something. Let us do this right!

Nope.

I called in the big guns.

Kirsten.

As Kirsten, Chad, and then Scott came into the conversation, we all realized that the right way was the only way. Bryce needed to really understand what needed to happen. And we needed to throw in a bonus.

“Look dude, I’m trying to stop you from having a whole lot of hassle in the future. Here’s the deal; I’ll either cut out a hole for your notch, bend up a cover and weld it in, or bodydrop your bed. For free.”

“Well if you bodydropped it, wouldn’t the bodylines not match up and ****?”

“No. We space it up. Only the bed floor is raised then, and you’ll never notice a difference.”

“No ****? Ok, yeah. Let’s bodydrop the bed then.”

It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

Awesome.

Today we got the entire back half bolted up, sans panhard bar, plus we installed the tranny x-member. Now we have to get some steel to use to mount the compressors, plus situate everything in the back end. We’re going to wait to weld in the bridge and lift the tank until next weekend, that way we have a full day to yank the tank and weld our hearts out. Safety first and all that.

In the meantime, we’re still waiting on fittings, so the front bags can’t go in yet. Once we get them, we’ll put them in, mount and plumb the valves, and get a lot of the basic plumbing worked out with the exception of running the line. That we’ll save for later.

This isn’t going to be some quicky job. We should have the truck bagged and good to go this next weekend, but the bed won’t be done until the following weekend. Both Chad and I work full time jobs, and this is a part time deal. Fortunately, our customer understands. 2 more weeks and Bryce will be dragging full frame down the streets of Tucson.

Thank god for that.

Pics soon.

 

Sweet! Can't wait to see some pics.