THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

A number of folks have asked me about the rack that Andre Swanson (Fat Fabrications, Beaumont, CA) fabricated for me so here are some photos.

There's a long and mostly funny story behind our coming up with a design that suited both us, the shipping of the rack from California to Texas and then the installation of this unit which was more involved than I expected but only because I didn't know what I was doing...but I do now! So I have this process wired for the next time!!!

Andre's work is top notch. The design calls for storage of the door tops and even an umbrella mast if I evr get inspired to buy one, the rack is robust enough for a bunch of people to stand on it and a vast amount of gear can be stowed on it as well. About the most heavy use it has seen thus far is hauling my 11 year old's little league baseball team to practices (reminds me that I need to talke a photo of that for y'all).

Feel free to PM me if you have questions or require more detailed
photos.

Looks Awsome!

How much does it weigh, I mean it took a crane to put on.

So you want to hear the story? Well, here goes....

When Andre and I first spoke, we talked about racks he had built in the past and I gave him my thoughts on what I thought I wanted. Some back and forth and we came up with a design that we were both happy with.
I'm very happy with what he built and how he built it but if I do it agan for the next Pinz, there are somethngs I'd have him build differently as this thing turned out to be a real monster and is perhaps a little bigger and beefier that it needs to be.

The rack weighs at or about 200 lbs and runs nearly the length of the truck. The way it was crated and shipped, it weighed nearly 400 lbs. The first problem was getting it home. Once I saw how big it was, I had to go find a pick up truck and a buddy to go back and retreive it. I have an enclosed parking area at work where there's a huge amount of head room which was of course necessary to install this thing so that's where the installation was done.

I was first thinking about pulleys, shackles and climbing ropes to lift it but the more I looked at it, the more it became apparent that I needed another solution. The route I took was with a chain hoist and equal length towing straps and that was an easy, relatively cheap and very safe way to lift 200 lbs high enough so that I could drive in under the rack to place it accurately on the truck. The chain hoist was the real ticket and I'm not sure how I would have gone about this without it. What a great device! If you don't have one, you don't know what you're missing

Interesting, I gave my buddies here in Houston a heads up that I was now the proud owner of a 1000 lb capacity chain hoist if anyone ever wanted to borrow it and most of them didn't even know what a chain hoist was!

I guess my macho outdoorsy mechanically inclinded friends...aren't!

Nice. How does it attach to the truck? Did you put holes in your canvas? The holder for the door tops is a great idea.

Andy

I love the rack--I'd love to have something very similar done for my 712M. Here's some pictures of another rack that I think is VERY cool--I almost bought this 710M from a gentleman in California, but I went w/ the 712M instead. I wish I could have bought both of them... I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes by putting these pictures up--if so, let me know and I'll take them down. -Jon





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Andy - i'll take and then post some photos of the mounting points and the details that hold the door tops.

Jon - i'm sure someone on the forum will provide the answer but that extensive exo-cage could have very well been done by Andre Swanson as well.

David

10-4, whenever you get the chance, it's not like I'm gonna run out and get one built tomorrow.

Andy

BTW, I have had Andre build a bunch of custom fabbed stuff such as bumpers and an entire roll cage, and his work is bulletproof. Highly recommended.

[quote="pinzwheeling"]BTW, I have had Andre build a bunch of custom fabbed stuff such as bumpers and an entire roll cage, and his work is bulletproof. Highly recommended.[/quote]

I would love to see some pics of his work and the cage if you care to share.

KINSPINZ wrote: I would love to see some pics of his work and the cage if you care to share.

Here's a thread with the cage: http://real4x4forums.com/PinzgauerBBS/v ... y+duckling

Here's a thread on the bumper.
http://real4x4forums.com/PinzgauerBBS/v ... ght=bumper

If you would like different angles, etc, let me know.[/url]

The rack Andre did for our truck, now two years old. He also did the winch bumper on my 712W (not the one in the avitar) and is working on the exoskeleton for it.

Jim M.

I'm starting to get the feeling that Andre comes highly recommended The exoskeleton/roof rack/front bumper combo that I had posted pictures of earlier in this thread is supposed to be easily removable (combination of welded and bolt on parts). This becomes important for me b/c I live in Maryland and I'm guessing Andre is on the west coast. I'm hoping that he might be able to make a similar exoskeleton/roof rack/front bumper for my 712M and then ship it to Maryland. Anyone have Andre's contact information or happen to know if he would be willing to do such a thing? Also, if someone doesn't mind sending me a PM with some ideas on what these things are going for $$$ wise, I'd appreciate it. Thanks. -Jon

Shipping the rack was an ordeal to say the least.

Andre and I talked about having it added to a load of household items being moved cross country but, unless you know the family in question, it was going to be pricy. The next option was commercial shipping companies like Dominion but they too were expensive. Then I got the bright idea to call FedEx and that was the charm however...the only reason it was so cheap to ship was because the woman I spoke with for a quote did it wrong.

Here's how it was crated by Andre.



Jon, you are smart to think in terms on modular design from both a shipping and an installation perspective. As noted previously, I used a 1,000 lb chain hoist to install this and it proved to be a great solution but if you could install a rack piece by piece with a buddy and some basic tools, you'll be miles ahead.

Here is some more of Andre's handy work -

This is the fuel can rack he made for me after he finished up Dave's roof rack -

Closed -



Open -

The two lower cans are only accessible with the rack open providing some protection from someone nicking your fuel.



Here is the fuel tank guard Andre made last year -



It has lockable storage under the Jerry can for chains or whatever -



Here is a picture from the rear showing the fuel can rack and tank guard -



On the left side Andre made a box guard -



And finally, I had made some modifications on the battery tray to mount the Optima batteries on their sides allowing for the addition of 2 45Ah 6 volt gel cells for separate 12v power. These will provide power for my interior lights, ham radio equipment, and computer. It will also provide backup power for the EFI computer in case I loose my voltage converter while on the trail. Andre made the hold down bracket and J-hook to hold the gel cells in place.