When we first came up with the idea for our Project 4x4Link the idea was simple, take one perfectly good truck, cut it in half, and completely re-engineer it. And this is exactly what we accomplished. Over the course of the last year we have taken a perfectly good, well performing, desert truck and turned it into a monster of sorts. When the plan was first laid out it was done in such a way that this truck was to remain a daily driver, that vision was lost when reality set in about half-way through the project. We had also planned on having the entire project completed in less than a month's time. That didn't happen either as you can see that we are now wrapping this up a year after it began. So what happened you ask? This project became a monster, consuming all of our free time, our energy, our spare cash, our friends' time and our patience. The monster didn't stop until it had devoured everything we had to give it, and then some. And when we finally were able to release this monster back to the wild, it tore up everything insight there, too!
The point of this project was not to showcase some new wild and crazy part or megabucks Trophy Truck, but instead to show what could be done by an Average Joe, in his (or her) backyard with some basic knowledge and basic tools, and we feel we accomplished that quite well. The monster we created may have consumed everything we had, but in the end it was all worth it. The pride of know that you built it and that it works well is a great feeling. We have people checking it out all the time commenting on how good it looks and asking where it was built, it's awesome to be able to say "I built it." And the satisfaction of knowing that it handles very well off-road and knowing that we built a capable machine make dealing with this monster for a year well worth it.
We couldn't have come this far without learning a thing or two and really it wouldn't be fair if we didn't pass our new found knowledge onto you guys. The first lesson we learned was not to set deadlines. If you look back at the beginning of this project we had set a very unrealistic time frame to have it completed, and were stressed when it didn't happen. If you are going to do something this big, have enough time to complete it or a spare truck, it will save you a lot of grief. Secondly we learned not to rely on anybody but yourself. This isn't anything bad, just the truth. Friends get too busy to help, shops get backed up and don't get parts out on time, tools break, and ideas flop. The only thing you should count on to get the job done is yourself and your work ethic. Lastly we learned to be patient, good things come to those who wait (and work hard for). We wanted the truck done quickly and doing so lead to some simple and stupid errors being made (like cutting through a brake line or forgetting to tighten a jam nut for example). For the second half of the build we took our time and made sure everything was done to our liking and it really paid off. In the end this monster taught us a lot more than we ever thought it would.
When we last left off we had just finished buttoning up a lot of the loose ends that were left from building it in a rush and had just begun gutting the cab and building the roll cage. We can admit freely that we built the truck backwards, the cage should have been first, but the unrealistic expectation of building a daily driver along with the crazy time frame dictated that it be done in this fashion. If we could do it again, we would have built the cab cage first. Anyway with the cab gutted we were able to start bending up some tube.
With the cab gutted we were ready to start adding tube, but before we wasted pricy metal we mocked up the cage layout with painters tape. This is an inexpensive way to make revisions to the design without rebuilding a part. It also helps to estimate the number of feet of tube required to prevent over or under buying. Plus it looks pretty cool too! |  | 
Roll cage construction began with the C-pillar or "rear hoop" as it is commonly referred to. This piece is the main structure that the rest of the roll cage is built off of. |