Tow and Haul RV transporter build

[tonkadoctor]

Thank you Freightrain.


Whasamater Scott...... Sceered to let me near your Petercar with a grinder and a box of cutoff wheels now.


Making progress. Got the last 2 crossmembers bolted in, installed and greased the new driveshaft and installed the new rear shocks. All hardware is grade 8 with real locknuts (not that nylock stuff) or locktite

Driveshaft was a bit of a pain as I had to modify 2 of the carrier bearing hangers because one shaft I needed was a longer than the longest tube they could get for a driveshaft and they had to make up the difference in the shafts at each end of the longest shaft. Not really a big deal as I knew this before they made the driveshaft but it was very time consuming.

Frame stretch is just about done. Still have to extend the brake lines, bleed the brakes, weld in the frame splice reinforcements, weld up the drop frame and run wiring and lights to the back and it's drivable.



Shaft held in place for measuring carrier bearing hanger modifications

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Look Ma... New invention.... flexible vibration dampening carrier bearing hangers

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Midship hanger... Modified with a 7" section of left over frame rail.

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Front Hanger.....Modified using a section of a leftover crossmember and some 1/4" flat bar for gussets.

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Shocks in

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Gotta watch clearances. This was the brake line before I moved it. It now has 1/2" of clearance from the shock.

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[towcat]

hey tonka-
am I seeing one of those goofy Brendix hydro brake systems hanging off the rear? If it is, you are in for a painful experience if you ever need parts.
I just finished getting killed on one.

 

[tonkadoctor]

I beleive it is a Lucas Girling brake system. Pretty common on the F600,700 & 800 and the truck salvage yard near me has a whole row of these trucks

Has a hydraulic parking brake chamber similar to the air brake chambers on big trucks.

It has a caging bolt with a nut pinned to it for backing off the parking brakes and the 1/2" hydraulic lines running to it from the second power steering pump and a valve with an electric motor that controls the flow.

Pretty much if the truck loses a belt to the hydroboost power steering pump or loses electric power, it's coming to a stop as the parking brake will engage.

 

[towcat]

I beleive it is a Lucas Girling brake system. Pretty common on the F600,700 & 800 and the truck salvage yard near me has a whole row of these trucks

Has a hydraulic parking brake chamber similar to the air brake chambers on big trucks.

It has a caging bolt with a nut pinned to it for backing off the parking brakes and the 1/2" hydraulic lines running to it from the second power steering pump and a valve with an electric motor that controls the flow.

Pretty much if the truck loses a belt to the hydroboost power steering pump or loses electric power, it's coming to a stop as the parking brake will engage.

yup.
that's what I just worked on. the multi-valve on the firewall just went south on the one I'm working on and the darn thing was $150. the fun part was the bazillion hydraulic fittings that also needed to be changed out

 

[suv7734]

Shaft held in place for measuring carrier bearing hanger modifications

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Do you have to pay any extra registration or taxes since it looks like the front of that d'shaft is in another county?

Beautiful work on the project so far, I can't wait to see it finished. Makes me wish I still had time for that kind of stuff. Any plans for some d'shaft loops?

 

[tonkadoctor]

yup.
that's what I just worked on. the multi-valve on the firewall just went south on the one I'm working on and the darn thing was $150. the fun part was the bazillion hydraulic fittings that also needed to be changed out

Yep, and I have a leak up there on that valve I need to find. Good news is it looks like it brand new like it was just replaced and they didn't get one of the fittings tight........ I hope and pray that's all it is

 

[tonkadoctor]

Do you have to pay any extra registration or taxes since it looks like the front of that d'shaft is in another county?

Beautiful work on the project so far, I can't wait to see it finished. Makes me wish I still had time for that kind of stuff. Any plans for some d'shaft loops?

Thank you.

And you are only seeing a little over half of the shaft in this pic. Can't even see the front shaft in this picture.... or the other half of the rear shaft...... It's 20'2-3/8" end to end in 4 sections.

No hoops, no extra taxes..... need a couple more miles of shaft to make it to the county line.

 

[Freightrain]

Interesting parking brake on these. I drove a Ryder truck years back that had a "parking brake" but wasn't an air truck so I wondered what it actually did. So basically it works just like a Maxi, but with fluid instead of air. I wonder how long it takes to bleed off if motor stalls or belt comes off?

 

[tonkadoctor]

Parking brake probably sets within a few seconds.


Started on the frame reinforcements for the splice. Manage to get one outside "L" bracket made and welded on. Ford recommends 2" x 1/2" slots spaced 6" apart in this type of reinforcement for extra weld surface but seeing how my frame and reinforcement plate looked like swiss cheese I decided to plug weld all the holes instead still accomplishing the same goal of extra surface to weld for extra strength.


Plate made and fitted to frame

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Need room for welds to stay below the radius of the flange. Ford Minimum is 1" from top of flange. Mine is 1-1/4"

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Swiss Cheese

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Stay 1" from corners when welding to eliminate possible stress risers and weld cracking

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Stay off flange radius when welding. NOTE: Reinforcement plate must be flush to frame and flanges, no gaps except at the radius where a gap is required.

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Finished reinforcement plate. No more Swiss cheese, Nice and smooth. It is stitch welded every 2" and all excess holes were plug welded. Do not weld these solid. Big mistake is people make a frame too stiff which leads to cracking, it has to be able to flex.

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[tonkadoctor]

Did more running for parts and steel than work today.


Started insulating the sleeper for the Arctic temps up in the Great White North which is my preffered area to roam. Will help with the blistering heat in the deep south as well as deaden outside sound and vibration of the aluminum panels of the sleeper too.

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For those that havn't bought mild low carbon steel in a long time.... You're in for sticker shock. This is all $244.66 will get you these days

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22' of 3"x1/4" hot roll flat bar - A36 grade - for making new frame flanges on the beavertail cuts

2' of 4"x4"x1/4" square tubing - A500 grade - for the stinger hitch receiver

5' of 4" 5.4lb "C" channel - A572 grade - for mounting the stinger receiver

6' of 4"x3"x1/4" reqtangular tubing - A500 grade - for rear bumpers, tail light mounts, ramp mounts, and start of the beavertail


That's only 182 lbs of steel...... Roughly $1.34 lb and the local shop here doesn't charge for cutting to length either for customers like me who only need small quantities. They have a weld and machine shop so they use up small drops themselves and are pretty good at doing just that.

I asked them why they didn't have it gold plated for me before I picked it up.

 

[suv7734]

Where's my daily update???

 

[tonkadoctor]

Where's my daily update???

Don't get pushy or I'll force you into withdrawls

Slow progress today after I caught my welding stinger lead on fire and had to fix that. Found a loose connection with a few frayed wires and it didn't like drawing 115 amps through it, all better now. My heart sunk when I flipped up my hood and found smoke coming from the welder, thought I fried it. Was working on the frame reinforcement for the drivers side today will finish it up tomorrow...Looks exactly like this one.

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You'll get some good stuff over the next week as I get into the rear bumpers and 3-1/2" receiver for the stinger

 

[subway]

nice work! i also thought the reason to stitch weld was that if the weld cracks it can just follow it allong the length of the weld. if it is stitched it can only move through a stitch at a time.

 

[tonkadoctor]

nice work! i also thought the reason to stitch weld was that if the weld cracks it can just follow it allong the length of the weld. if it is stitched it can only move through a stitch at a time.

Makes sense too.

If my frame cracks here I have waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much weight on the truck and need to pause and review my operating procedures.

With the frame, the "L" reinforcement on the outside and the diamond shape fishplate on the inside there is 3/4" of steel at that butt splice.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Finally got the frame splice done. Both sides reinforced inside and out

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Started to weld the new flanges on the angle cut for the drop frame section. New steel is 1/4" x 3" A36 hot roll steel.

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Cut down edge of front corner to match frame radius...... Also tried my hand at a wide "shipyard weave" to lay in some metal for the transition....... Little bit rusty there.

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Shape roughed in with grinder

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Smoooooooooooooth like it was meant to be.... I like doing metal sculpture

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