Looks good.
Now that you're an expert on molding and goo removal, you can come do mine if you'd like :D

Wooo pig sooie!!

Welcome Britt.  Spent 5 years in AR back int he 90's.  Love that place.  Where abouts you at?  I lived north of Cantrell and Mississippi in Little Rock but spent time all over the state.

First time I saw a lady call the hogs I thought I was losing my mind.  We were in a nice restaurant after a game and darned if she didn't climb up on top of the table in a nice business suit and start calling the hogs.  The entire restaurant was calling with her.  It was a sight I'll never forget...

Are you an FOB?

Near Morgan/Maumelle area. Only about 20 minutes from where you were. I'm not particularly enamored with the Razorbacks, but do watch occasionally. There are some "serious" fans of college football here though as I'm sure there are in TX as well.
if FOB = Friend Of Bill, then, no.

Thanks again for the kind welcome(s)

Welcome Britt- love the truck!  Bunny hungers won't like your method of washing the dirt of it though- poor EPA!  Lol-

It's on an approved trail water crossing in the Ozark National Forest. It's all good. :D

Thanks for the welcome gents (and ladies).

Front receiver socket is attached to subframe, not skin, so it stays with the subframe (along with the winch) when the outer shell is removed. It's also raised as much as reasonable for better approach angle



Found some more bumper pics that are out of order (sorry)

showing C channel, upper plates mount to factory location, lower legs welded to C and held in lower frame horns with factory bolts.



Mud play day with my helper (can't believe it's been 3 years or so)



New Treadwright retread tires. 315/75/16 (35's) w/BF Goodrich casings (I specified) and Treadwright Guard Dog tread.
They were cheap ($650/4 shipped) and had great reviews, so I went ahead and tried them out. They were awful. One failed within a month, two others didn't last 10k miles before premature seperation/treadwear.





Removed fender flares, pic shows (barely) solar panel mount on roof rack (unfinished project)



Can't see it in the pics but this was about the time my wife borrowed my truck to take to work and drove it under the parking deck. Hitting 4 concrete underhangs before exiting. Top tube on rack was waved badly and all for corners of bed were caved in .5" or so.
Once I got it back from the body shop, I fixed the rack and ringed the bed with 2x3x.25" angle and frenched the corner mounts into that framework, so now any weight on top of the rack is supported by the entire top of the bed.

Initial work on raised bed box. It's 1" square tube w/.75" plywood on top. This is pre-drawers/lids. Shown loaded out for working with my churches disaster relief chainsaw crew.



bunch of pics missing due to stolen computer. Will try to add more old pics as I find them.
Current pics from this year:

Joined up to do the Ozark Overland Challenge this last spring. Covered 187miles off road in the Ozark National Forest in 2.5 days
It was a lot of fun and very interesting. Only gave waypoints and each team had to figure out what trails to use to end up with the least amount of distance overall at the end.
So, I needed to armor up a little.

built rock rails from 5x5x.25" plates bolted to frame, 1.5" DOM round tube for support legs and rub/step rail, and 2x4x.25" rectangle tube (at angle/boatsided) for main rock rail. MUCH better than the Westin step bars.  I can lift each side of the truck off the ground with these and they stay stiff due in part to triangulating the support tubes that go to the rock rails.











bent/welded/painted rub rails. Added grip tape to top (painted later). Truck is now old enough it's got some dings/dents in it and I'm using it offroad frequently, but also DD'ing it.



TBC

Initial fitment of bumper skin. Main goals: mount winch, mount tow points, front receiver mount, grill/headlight protection, open up wheel wells for larger tires (factory bumper was only 1" from 33" tires)



Cheap black paint, filled in top, added roller fairlead.
Also added color matched ATC camper shell.



Lots more tire room now.


Got a set of Hutchinson beadlocks w/36" Super Swamper TSL's on them (awful tire in my experience). With the main reasoning of being able to repair/replace tire damage in the field/survival situation.
I wrastled with the beadlocks on/off for over a month, and this set was VERY difficult to work with when using shop tools much less out on the trail. Sure, they looked cool, but didn't do what I wanted, so they went away.



With one of my 33" Sport Kings mounted



Loved the way they looked. Hated taking them apart. Pic shows bumper after adding 1.5" DOM round tubing for grill/headlight guard, and cutouts for Hella 550's. Also added .75" ring to back side of bumper skin to make it look thick as well as set the lights back offering a little protection for them.





Shot above also shows Kargo Master roof rack that I got from Craigslist. It was for a high roof camper shell, and I cut the tubes, lowering it 3" and slugged/narrowed it 2". Added some 1" sq.tube reinforcement and put heavy gauge expanded metal over the campershell as protection and work platform.

To be continued

Hey Britt I am a total newbie here as well but nice to meet ya!

Yessir. Have about $70 in scrap steel in it, not counting the shackles/winch/lights.
I'm building the back now after comp cutting the rear.

12 July 2015, Ozark National Forest, 2005 Chevrolet 2500hd