Not sure I shared this or not so I’ll throw it out there because it’s pretty neat.
My close friend comes across this little truck cooler at a store in Lake Geneva and inquired about it. What he told me was they said, the truck is hand made from oil and fuel drums left over from Vietnam. They make little fire trucks and beach van with surf boards on top. The proceeds from the sale go to the veterans. This thing was marked $729.00!!!!! He said he thought it was cool but a little too expensive. The guy at the store said, make me an offer. Don told him because of the story and it’s for the vets, he’d give him $500 for it. The store owner hesitated and said he’s not sure if he could do that. So Don told him he’s gonna be in town for a few days and he would check back. Well, long story already getting long, he brought it home, to my garage.
Now let me tell you, Don is my closest friend and I’d do anything for him. We’ve been inseparable for a little over 20 years now. He got remarried last year and the person he hired to marry him backed out 2 months before the wedding. I stepped up and went and got ordained as a minister to marry them. Yes, another hat I wear is I’m an ordained minister. I can marry ya and bury ya legally.
So I tell you this because he came to me with this cooler 2 days before the 4th of July last year and his only complaint was, it doesn’t turn. It only rolls straight and he wants it to turn so he can drag it to the fireworks. So yeah, I dropped whatever I was doing and made it happen for him.
Here’s how the axles were attached to the bottom.
I didn’t want to modify the truck body so I removed the axles and utilized the existing mounting holes and cut some frame rails from 3/4” square tube I had.
Then I took 1” flat stock that is 1/8” thick and rolled it around a harmonic balancer to get an arch to represent springs.
Next I made the rear axle out of some 3/4” round tube and welded 5/8” nuts to the ends. Then put a center support tube between the frame rails and welded on some 5/16” round stock which helped locate the axle from moving and represented a suspension link setup.
By this time it was the day of the fireworks and I had to get a few supplies to finish off the steering system so I didn’t have much time for photo op but you can see how I made it work.
For the spindles.
I ended up welding a 5/8” bolt to the spindle to mount the wheel and then welded tabs to attach tie rods. I made the tie rods adjustable and set toe when I was done.
The square tube you see running forward is where I attached a removable handle so you can pull it like a wagon and the bolt in the middle of that square tube is the pivot point. The paint wasn’t completely dry when the cooler got loaded into the back of my truck but I got it done for him. And it was a huge hit at the park. Everyone was coming up to it and asking questions.
Even stopped at harbor freight and picked up some 10” wheels. The 8” wasn’t doing it for me.
A little fender messaging and trimming was needed.
Next upgrade is working lights, under glow lights and a radio built in.
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