DIY Quick Release Fire Extinguisher Mounts

[broncosbybart]

With all the talk of safety concerns in dealing with fires, I thought I'd post this here. Thanks again Franko for the contributor status.

To do this, you'll need a drill or preferrably drill press, angle grinder, whiz wheel (cutoff disc) welder, a bench vice, 1" flat stock, quick release pins, 1/4" bolts, hose clamps, paint, and some time.

Our rules state that we must have 2 extingushers per race vehicle, one on each side of it.

So, I made 2 brackets. I cut off 10 pieces of 3/16x1" flat stock. Each piece I cut to 5" long. After making these, I concluded that 1/8" thick material would be sufficient. Anyhow, here are the beginnings.

Each bracket will need 5 pieces. There are 2 base pieces. I rounded all 4 of the edges slightly so there were no sharp points. There are 3 'middle' pieces. On those, I only rounded 2 of the edges along one of the long sides. The other long edge will be welded to the base. Those corners I left sharp.

I used an angle grinder and a die grinder to make the fillets and smooth it all out.

 

[broncosbybart]

Next, I took the middle pieces and set them all in a bench top vice. I needed to notch them for the hose clamps that will be attaching them to the vehicle. I measured the hose clamps that I'd be using. They were 5/8" wide, so I made the slots 3/4" wide for some extra room. I started each groove 1/2" from each end.

Oh, and unlike what I did, you want to notch the middle pieces on the long side that has the sharp corners, not the rounded corners. In my haste, I forgot to think...

 

[broncosbybart]

The reason for that is that the rounded corners will be up in the air, not laying flat against our base metal. The corners don't need to be rounded, but I figured that it would be best to minimize any sharp edges on something that would be grabbed hastily...

Next, I drilled 2 1/4" holes in the plates. One hole is closer to the edge than the other side. The one that is closer to the edge will have a welded pin in it. I drilled 4 plates at once (the ones for the base) and then I drilled the remaining 2 that would have the fire extinguisher attached to it. The holes were located not directly in the middle of the 1" flat, but at about 5/8" away from the mounting area. This adds some height to the overall stack of metal and gives some added clearance. Can't really describe it, but follow the pics. The holes were about 4-1/8" center to center, with the hole with the removable pin being centered 1/2" off the edge of the plates.

 

[broncosbybart]

The quick release pins came from Speedway Motors. They are part #910-32841. They were about $5 each and have little detent balls that keep them in place. They will only release when the button in the middle of the pin is pushed and the pin slid out at the same time. They measured exactly 0.250", so I drilled all the holes with a 1/4" bit.

I could have used 2 pins per mounting bracket, but was cheap, so only used one and the other will have a groove cut in the middle plate. Follow along...

 

[broncosbybart]

I cut the middle plate, making a groove for the one end. I cut down a long 1/4" bolt and used the shank portion of it to make a pin on that end. Each pin was about 0.60" long. Ultimately, this is what it did.

 

[broncosbybart]

Next, came welding the assemblies to the bases. The middle plate needs a little room between the 2 outside plates. If it is all welded tight, the middle plate (which will have the extinguisher on it) will be difficult to remove. The grooves that were cut for the hose clamps will need to be facing toward the metal base that we are about to weld.

The pins cut from the 1/4 bolts were plug welded to the flat plates, so that they don't fall out.

 

[broncosbybart]

Now, just time to prime, paint, and slap them on.

The brackets are attached to the cage and to the extinguisher with hose clamps. I used a #48 size clamp on the extinguisher. Just about any common size clamp can be used on the cage. These are 2.5 lb extinguishers, FYI. It only takes about a second to remove them from the vehicle now. I have about $15 in material for these things. I hope that my explanation of how I made them is somewhat comprehendable...

BTW, I haven't updated my build for the new race rig. The last pic is kind of a teaser. It is about done, but I can't show too much of it without updating the build thread... Feel free to post up if you are unclear of anything or need further info. I did end up re-drilling the quick release pin holes with a 17/64 bit just to enlarge the holes slightly. Now there is no resistance when pulling the quick release pin out (with the button pushed in, of course).

When I woke up this morning, I thought that it would be a good idea to make some kind of safety rope going from one of the hose clamps to the quick release pin ring, so that the pins can't get lost in the heat of the moment. If anyone has an idea for that, post up!

 

[BicksBronc]

Looks good. In the AF we used a small cable attached to our detent pins by a piece of lead with two holes in it. feed the cable through one hole make a loop and back through the other hole. smash the lead together around the cable.

from the looks of your detent pin it has a ring on it similar to a key chain, feed the cable through. you do the some thing for the other side where you secure the cable.

It works great

 

[71broncman]

If you want to use cable for a tough keeper and a look that fits the style of the mounts, I've seen small diameter cable and ferrules (1/16") at Home Depot and Ace Hardware. That should look pretty clean and work great. For a less expensive solution you could use a piece of masons line and knot it on each end.
Mark.

 

[broncosbybart]

I was pondering the idea of using a shift cable from a bicycle for the cable, but don't know a good solution to pinching the cable back to itself for the loops on each end. Is this what you are referring to as the ferrule? I'm almost picturing a metal butt connector that could be crimped, which could very possibly work.

 

[76MaBronco]

That's a slick idea. Good job!

 

[71broncman]

The ferrules for these are aluminum. To install slide the ferrule over the cable, form loop, slide cable end back through ferrule, and crimp. Same as a butt connector, which is lots cheaper. I didn't even think about bicycle shifter cable, If you have some laying around that would be free. I don't know how long they need to be, but I was just arranging some of my spare Ford parts in the shop and found something else that may work. The glove box door limiting straps off an EB ar any "F" truck of the era.
By the way, nice job on the brackets.
Mark.

 

[.94 OR]

Do they rattle? At least if they do, they are in stereo.

 

[broncosbybart]

Nah, they don't rattle. I haven't gotten this one out of the garage yet ;D

I'm sure they will rattle. One thing that can be done to avoid that is to dip the middle piece in some of that rubber coating like they coat the handle of pliers with. I have seen that for sale at the home improvement warehouses.. I'll have to look into some ferrules tomorrow for the cables. I've got plenty of shifter cables around here. They are stainless and are pretty thin.

 

[Rustytruck]

Go to your local bait shop and get a heavy duty wire leader.