Tow and Haul RV transporter build

[tonkadoctor]

Busy day today. Cleaned up the shop a bit and had a customer over that bought some stuff from me on Evilbay, then he bought even more stuff that he saw and liked.... Hate when that happens.


Finished welding up the left bumper.

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Squared it up and welded it to the frame.

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Had to see what the lights looked like in it.

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Here's a good look at the channel for the pin on ramps.

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Got the right side tacked up. Will finish it up tomorrow after I get back from Northern Tool to pick up 10 more lbs of welding rod.

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[towcat]

tonka-
you might want to look into LED's. I've had problems with vibration in the taillight boxes in the past that would literally cut the lifespan of the bulbs to 1/4 of their rating. they do have plug-in LEDs now without needing special plugs. the whole thing looks good tho

 

[tonkadoctor]

Thanks TC

I will be getting LED as soon as cash is flowing again. Budget is tight right now and the LED's I like are about $35 each..... You know the ones that have about 60 LEDs in them and blind you when they hit the brakes.

Don't have $400 to spend on lighting it up like a Christmas tree right now. Just easier to get the bumpers and wiring set up the way I want now than try to punch holes and hack wiring later so for the first month or 2 it rolls with $50 worth of incandesent.

 

[cat3176]

Good Lookin project you got going tonkadoctor. Should look real good when finished.

 

[Freightrain]

I always like those sequential >>> LED lights,,,,,,,,,,so I bought a pair for the front bumper of my Mack. NOT cheap, but cool anyway.

I put 4- 4" 7 LED lights out back and they are BRIGHT!!!! Like to convert the rear of my Haulmark trailer to LED too, but have to make a filler panel to take the place of the typical BIG trailer light assy. Have to come up with some stainless so I can polish it and make it a touch "blingy" (on a faded trailer !!)

 

[tonkadoctor]

Thanks CAT

Ya Freight, I love those sequential LED turn signals. I need to dig into the kick panel on the drivers side. I know on air brake equipped F800's there is a connector in there to hook up the pigtail for 7 pin semi trailer connection that separates the brake and turn signals unlike the RV 7 pin connection.

If I can figure out how to easily separate the signals, without hacking the wiring all up, I'd like to ditch the center red light and put amber turn signal there instead as well as use the center side marker light for a turn signal too. Just havn't sat down and really gave it some thought yet or asked for help from somebody that knows these a lot better than I do..... Like Towcat.



Had to make a pit stop at Northern Tool and get 10 more lbs of welding rod today.... Took Mama with me and she talked me into finally spending a little on a new welding hood. They had these automatic darkening hoods with shift on the fly 9-13 shade lenses on sale for $45. WOW what a difference it makes in productivity and being able to see what you are doing. Now the old hood is permanently designated a full face grinding shield...... Could have done without the cheesy flame graphis though.

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Got the right side tail light / bumper assembly welded up.

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Ground down.

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And welded on.

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Started work on the stinger receiver. Drilled 7/8" hole for the grade 8 7/8" pin.

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Cut the 4" channel to length

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Made the holes for the 7 way RV plug

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[69dieselfreak]

be careful of those cheesey auto darkening hoods sometimes the shade wile your welding goes away and lets just say its like what the hell
just rember you get what you pay for
for my miller hood was like $325

 

[tonkadoctor]

Man I'd never spend $300+ on a hood, even if I did this full time. I only need it to last 30 days and if it craps out I'm taking it back.

 

[towcat]

be careful of those cheesey auto darkening hoods sometimes the shade wile your welding goes away and lets just say its like what the hell
just rember you get what you pay for
for my miller hood was like $325

I've spent the same on some fancy swiss mfg'd hood. it crapped out a couple of years later and I was told it needed to have the batteries replaced. ok...go do it. then they told me that the only way to do it was to replace the unit. nonono...
Now I have a $135 unit that works just as well and if it takes a ****, no biggie....I'll just go get another.

 

[69dieselfreak]

I've spent the same on some fancy swiss mfg'd hood. it crapped out a couple of years later and I was told it needed to have the batteries replaced. ok...go do it. then they told me that the only way to do it was to replace the unit. nonono...
Now I have a $135 unit that works just as well and if it takes a ****, no biggie....I'll just go get another.

really that sucks ive had mine for a year and a half and it a champ if that happens i couldnt afford the 325 to fork out now if it took a crap but id just go the rout you took

 

[tonkadoctor]

The only single difference between a $45 hood and a $100 hood was the size of the lens. That's it. Small lens if fine for me.

 

[geonc]

I'm fussy about my lids {helmets}....Those cheap lids are OK for stick and mig....but throw in the higher freq given off from TIG and they just don't cut it.

The other factor ---and what will cause the lens to shutter back and forth is the placement and amount of sensors.

most of those cheapies have only 2 and they are mostly about center of the lens----move the stinger or mig gun just right and you will get flashed ....

The better lids from Miller, Speedglass and Jackson Next Gen have 4 sensors at the outer corners


on edit...the better lids also will self power and charge the batteries from the UV given off by the arc.....

 

[towcat]

Here's the one I just got.
I don't do much welding to be quite honest, I have plenty of accomplices who do and I like to watch them work So far, plasma, arc, mig and tig.....it does fine. It's got the four sensors like what Geo likes and has the big window.
The specs look pretty good too.
One last thing. it weighs half as much as my fancy swiss helmet did.
You're prolly wondering why I spent do much on the first one even though I don't weld much. I had a really close call with a eye injury years ago so I am paranoid about my remaining eyesight.

 

[tonkadoctor]

Geez Calvin, ya even use that thing yet .

I can't blame you about your eyes. That's why I wear a welding helmet when grinding now instead of those flimsey plastic face shields. I had a spark get past a shield, through a vent hole in some goggles and past my glasses and lodge in my eye scratching my cornea 20 some years ago, made for a fun trip driving to the emergency room with only one eye and hurt like a sumnabeach for days. Still gun shy with a grinder and any thing else throwing chips.



Got the 3-1/2" stinger receiver welded up.

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Made the bracket for the safety chains.

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Welded the stinger receiver into place and started to put the new flanges on the beavertail portion of the frame.

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[tonkadoctor]

We'll start these two posts with a smile.

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Making lanyards with 1/16" coated cable and using 1/4-20 stainless nuts for swedges. These lanyard will help save me a from Murphy's law and my own poor memory. For these lanyards, using nuts is fine and I inherited a bunch of these SS 1/4" nuts so I gotta use them for something. I won't do something like this on winch cable. The welded on loops are a piece of chain link.

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Fabricated the mount for the ICC identification marker lamps, these lights are required on trucks and trailers ofer 80" wide.

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Also fabricated the mount for the center channel ramp.

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To be continued.........