New Haul and Tow RV transporter build

[tonkadoctor]

She's now officially a 272" wheelbase single axle straight truck.

Pulled her out of the shop and got the drop frame put into place, then backed her back into the shop and put the truck on blocks to level the frame and then leveled and aligned the drop frame section. The alignment of the 2 frames was done with a couple pieces of string..... Hey, it works, a tight string doesn't lie.

I knew I would have to cut and remove a crossmember because of the 3/8" difference in outside frame width but I was surprised at how much twist and pure misalignment the new section of truck frame had when I cut the crossmember.

Got a couple welds on the new section to keep eveything lined up until I finish welding and bolting it in.

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[The Warden]

Forgive me if this has been addressed in an earlier post, but where'd the frame extension come from? Is that from the wrecked Ford, or is it part of the same frame that was cut up when you extended the Ford, or what?

Thanks! things look good so far!!

 

[tonkadoctor]

Forgive me if this has been addressed in an earlier post, but where'd the frame extension come from? Is that from the wrecked Ford, or is it part of the same frame that was cut up when you extended the Ford, or what?

Thanks! things look good so far!!

Thanks Warden

It's another 12' section I bought about a month ago off of a wrecked F600. It came from the same salvage yard I bought the 19' section I used on the old Ford last year.

I sold the wrecked F800 to a friend of mine from Michigan who turned around and sold it to somebody else in Oregon who wants to put it back together and hire a driver.

 

[kawajockie]

Happy Memorial Day and thank you for your service!

Trucks looking good, no tail swing there.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Happy Memorial Day and thank you for your service!

Trucks looking good, no tail swing there.

Right back at ya. Whacha doing up so early. Getting stuff done before CJ gets up and ummmm "helps"

 

[tonkadoctor]

Been slow going last few days. Spent all day yesterday at the DMV taking care of business. Snails move faster than these people do. Fastest thing I seen them do all day was run out the door for lunch.


Finally finished welding up the drop frame and putting a few bolts in it this morning before we got a downpour that flooded my shop 1/2" deep in water in a matter of 10 minutes, had about 6" of water just outside the shop. I have never seen my yard and shop flood like that in the rain before, It came down so hard that I had to put my ear plugs in inside that metal building and the ditches filled within a couple minutes. An hour later everything was dry again. Ten 5/8" grade 8 bolts washers and lock nuts ought to do the trick....... Especially when you consider that the shear strength is approximatly 22,000 lbs and clamping force is roughly 25,000 lbs......... EACH!!! The only reason I'm bolting through is because I don't have enough area to weld to give me that warm and fuzzy feeling.

I also added a crossmember up front to stiffen up the area where the crossmember gussets are attached to prevent this area from bowing down under load. This crossmember is the most important part of the bed as it carries almost the entire weight of the trailer when the truck is loaded right here.

The rear of the drop frame is bobbed at 12'-3" from the center of the rear axle. This gives me almost 10-1/2" left for bumper, ramp mounts, stinger and hitch. We are limited to 4 meters of tail swing in British Columbia which is 13'-1.48" and they do measure us. They usually just measure to the back of the bumper and let us slide on the hitch but I'm gonna give a little wiggle room for some rookie trying to make a name for themselves.

Tomorrow I hope to make some headway and get the deck crossmembers and stinger in. We'll just have to see how well mother nature cooperates as it's calling for scattered thunderstorms for the next 2 days.

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[tonkadoctor]

Got the 4 degree taper cut on the drop frame, the rough holes cut for the tail lights, stinger, marker lamps and 7 pin plug and have the rear bumper tacked into place. With any luck tomorrow I'll get the bed crossmembers and stinger receiver in and get this section welded up.

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[tonkadoctor]

Starting to look like something now. Today I got the deck crossmembers pierced through the drop frame and fabricated the 3-1/2" extendable stinger receiver. Everything is just tacked in place right now. Will weld it up solid in the morning.

I have about 2 days worth of metal fabrication left and then it's time for paint and final assembly.

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[tonkadoctor]

Just finished welding for almost 9 hrs straight, doing the final welding and aligning of the crossmembers and bumper to the drop frame, installing the new flange on the tapered portion of the drop frame and adding a couple eyes to hold the lanyards for the stinger pins and installing a couple loops for the safety chains. There's a lot of out of position welding when working with channel iron. Channel is a pain to work with but it's strong and light.

The water cooler for the TIG torch holds over 10 gallons, has been running all day and the water tank was too hot to touch when I closed up shop. I had to add 3 gallons of water a few hours ago when the TIG torch was getting too hot to hold, that's how much evaporated today.

Was hoping to finish up the fabrication today but there was simply more welding than I thought there was to do today.

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[Freightrain]

Wow...another great build. Missed out on all the previous "wreck" story.

I lost my pickup last Oct to a woman in a minivan..... (45mph through a redlight)

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I HAD to post the sign just to let the neighbors know it wasn't my fault.

Then a month ago: another woman in a minivan does this to my replacment truck:

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Just don't understand

 

[tonkadoctor]

So how many women have you pissed off around town that are trying to run you down Freight

All structural fabrication and welding is done. Last section of the center channel is in. Currently working on the ramp pockets and deck plate. Hopefully I can finish all of the remaining fabrication today and get it painted.

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[Russ]

Looks like you've done this before. Nice work Mike!

 

[tonkadoctor]

Looks like you've done this before. Nice work Mike!

I might have done something like this once before

Both ramp pockets are done exept for the rear latch I am fabricating to secure all 3 ramps with one handle and one lock.

I used the stinger off the old Ford and just had to make a few modifications to make it work here. That piece of 3-1/2" square tube, chain and 2" receiver is over $200 of steel and parts to make again from scratch, dang skippy I kept it when I left the wrecked truck at the body shop in Oregon. Fabricated the center channel ramp today too.

Also put in a couple more loops for the stingers safety chains, another part salvaged from the Ford. Cut these off of a custom gooseneck adaptor I had made for that truck that isn't going on this one.

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[tonkadoctor]

No way to sugar coat this so here goes.

Ahem........ After sleeping in until NOON today, OOPS, and finally wandering into the shop this afternoon only to retreat shortly thereafter due to a nasty thunderstorm until it subsided about 2 hrs ago..........

I finally managed to finish up the latch assembly for the ramps. All I have to do is take off one lock and push the handle down and all 3 ramps are ready to slide out. Only metal fabrication left is the rub rails, deck plate, a few marker light brackets, cut a hole for the reverse light and add a mount for the Hula skirt and then it's ready for paint and final assembly.

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[tonkadoctor]

One problem with living in the boonies like I do is a quick trip to town blows 3 - 4 hrs, half the day shot running to get an 8' piece of angle iron and an 8' section of square tube.

Used the angle for the Hula Skirt mount and had the machine shop chop up the square tube into 3" chunks for stake pockets. Worth every penny of the $30 shop labor especially considering my chop saw motor is just about shot.

Hula Skirt mount is welded on and one side of the rub rail is almost done and one of the marker light brackets is welded on.

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