Reworking a 'new' homebuilt TD!

[Tophog]

Bought this cheap in March. Owner used it once! It needed a little help.

One good point was it already had 15" rims and tires that are the same pattern and size as my Wrangler.

The Warden named it 'Rosebud'.

I call it Pa's Pad When Ma's Mad!

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First day home, (The black storage box was not included.)





PO had painted spar varnish over bare plywood, THEN applied the stain! And skinned the top with interior padded vinyl wall paneling, (also stained later), and wondered why the roof suddenly had 'cancer' and the color came off after a rain!

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Here's the outside after some sanding



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The outer roof ply had highs and lows, so I ran strips along the profile and used a metal straight edge to find the right curves, build up areas, etc.

The PO didn't make both sides even, didn't make a template or cut both sheets at the same time. The farther I got, I don't think he owned a ruler! Nothing was square or even.



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Holes for a fan and front polycarbonate window.





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Ripped the old skin off and reskinned it with some 1/8" 'utility' ply/door skin from Home Depot! (Yeah, I'm cheap, and marine ply/mdo is non existent where I live.)

Stained it red mahogany, then applied Spar Urethane.





Added some trim for appearance and painted the frame, fenders and rims black. The radius 'trim' is vinyl corner moulding from HD, and faux 'wood grained'. Same method I use for custom painting on Harleys, etc.





(When I'm finally done working out the bugs and learning how to ''Tailgate the Teardrop Way', I may add some more faux graphics, like these airbrushed 'lights' I did on a 'Jeep' sand rail. Yep, just a little paint!



I'm not a wood guy, but I can paint stuff!

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Reconfigured the galley a little. Added a folding rear panel/shelf.





Diamond plate for rock guard and shelf was donated. (It formerly occupied wall space in a Vegas casino kitchen!)

The truck tailgate cables I had in the junk pile.



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Did some more minor mods and personal alterations, and now hopefully have a decent starter offroad TD, with the same basic interior framework. This foray into TDs didn't originally include woodworking, since I can cut a board 3 times and it's still too short! But necessity took over.

I built a complete new galley hatch w/ hurricane hinge.



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[friz]

Nice rescue!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[Carl01234]

Are you sure that is the same tear? Great job.

[Sparksalot]

That dark color does wonders. Very cool. I'm starting to want a skylight too.

[Tophog]

Went for a a 'shake down cruise' last weekend.

[Mr. Lahey]

So you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all!

Very nice save. Looks great.
I'm sure you will have most of us beat on amount of fun you have,for the time and bucks invested.

[Tophog]

:applause:

So you can make a silk purse out of a sow's ear after all!

Very nice save. Looks great.
I'm sure you will have most of us beat on amount of fun you have,for the time and bucks invested.

Thanks! I'm into it a total of about $1850 so far.

Purchase price, $1k.
New tires, $368.
Door skins and wood trim, about $150.
Title and 3 year tags, $106.

2 months of head scratching and amateur woodworking, priceless!

Most of the other materials I had on hand. I owned a sign shop, so paint, brushes, MDO, Lexan, hardware, etc. were already on hand and paid for.

[tony.latham]

Quite the resurrection.

Do you have enough gap between the fender and the tire?

Sweet job.

Tony

[Tophog]

Quite the resurrection.

Do you have enough gap between the fender and the tire?

Sweet job.

Tony

Thanks.

Regarding the fenders, I'll find out. Currently running three of the five leafs of 1250# springs. I can always add the others back. And I have plenty of scrap metal to make different fender mounts. They're just bolted on.

I got it for ease of camping instead of pitching a tent (too old for that anymore), not for rock crawling or overland adventures. Mostly just mild trails that my GMC Sierra 4x4 is too fat for.

It's almost too high for my needs, but I can fix that later. I need to make a few trips to figure out the best set up.

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Before last year, I wasn't aware that tears were even still popular! Saw one at the dunes and figured I'd give one a try.

Bob

[tony.latham]

Saw one at the dunes and figured I'd give one a try.

Tony