My Zero-Dollar Tailchop

[Javamoose]

So, the first of many mods to my Duc.  Decided to do the tail chop! 

Stock (and dirty):


Beer coaster:


Oh, look at that, my tail light mounts were broken?!


About to make the cut...


Chopped! No turning back now...


Six inches cut off...


What will become the tail light bracket...


I love having my own mill...


Almost there...


Finished Tail light and turn signal bracket assembly - painted all parts semi-gloss black:


Finished!!


So much better, lines up perfect - should have been like this from the factory:


License plate bracket is 1/8" bent aluminium sheet, stupid HI has such big Reg/Safety stickers:


Next Saturday?  Painting the rear-sets, headlight bracket, belt covers and sprocket cover...

So, what do y'all think?

[mattyvas]

That's pretty neat, how did you mount your indicators?

[Javamoose]

That's pretty neat, how did you mount your indicators?

Thanks! I fabbed up two little tabs/ears off of the tail light bracket.  

Some time during the week I'm going to fire up the lathe and make some custom billet frame plugs.

Oh, for those wondering or thinking of doing it - I used tube/pipe cutters to cut the frame. Works great, takes about 10 minutes.

[Raux]

what did you do to protect the frame at the chop points against rust?

[Javamoose]

what did you do to protect the frame at the chop points against rust?

The pipe cutter didn't damage the paint on the frame, only the edges are bare metal.  Hit the edges with some paint and I'm going to machine some frame plugs later in the week.  The last picture doesn't show the paint, had to pull the assembly back off and paint it because I forgot to do that before I bolted everything back up...  

EDIT:  Playing around with Photoshop and decided to make an "Artsy" wallpaper.  

Large Version

[djrashonal]

The pipe cutter didn't damage the paint on the frame, only the edges are bare metal.  Hit the edges with some paint and I'm going to machine some frame plugs later in the week.  The last picture doesn't show the paint, had to pull the assembly back off and paint it because I forgot to do that before I bolted everything back up...  

EDIT:  Playing around with Photoshop and decided to make an "Artsy" wallpaper.  

Large Version

If you wanna machine a second set i'll paypal you some money ;-)

[lazylightnin717]

Nice lookin' Monster! I like that you slotted the bracket. That was something that I neglected to do and ended up having to drill numerous extra holes to get it to fit right. Good job  

[hunduc]

what i love about the 0-dollar tailchop is "so let's take my $$$$ mill" ...

it looks very neat, though. 

[Javamoose]

Nice lookin' Monster! I like that you slotted the bracket. That was something that I neglected to do and ended up having to drill numerous extra holes to get it to fit right. Good job  

Thanks.  Yeah, slotting the holes is def the way to go.  That little bit of wiggle room makes it so much easier to get everything lined up flush.

what i love about the 0-dollar tailchop is "so let's take my $$$$ mill" ...

it looks very neat, though. 

Ha!  Well, even without the mill and having all the materials laying around, a tail chop really shouldn't be more than $25.

[lwszabo]

you should sell these if you can get enough orders....

[scott_araujo]

what i love about the 0-dollar tailchop is "so let's take my $$$$ mill" ...

Kinda like when Norm on This Old House whips out some amazing 'DIY' project in half an hour in his million dollar shop.  But it does look nice

Scott