Classy Shak

[Dreamweaver]

Howdy..

Got a much awaited package in the mail today...

My rear suspension.


Now I got most of what I need to get it to a rolling chassis this weekend, rolling on it's final frame rails that is..

I got the rear suspension put together to make sure I got all the required parts. The only thing plastic on this is the spring saddle, everything else is metal.










So this weekend I get to cut and drill the frame and start putting it together again.

Just need a few more parts, some of which I believe are on the way.

Some need to be ordered still..

I got some other parts in the mail the other day from the one and only Tamiya Cowboy. I got the dash and steering wheel, windows, fifth-wheel, and carrier bearings.

Thank you very much Paul!!

So she is getting close.

To do list:

1. Cut and drill the frame.
2. reassemble everything
3. Make the fuel tanks and rear steps.
4. Make the back part of the running board.
5. Have a rear bumper made.
6. Get the rear fenders, and install them.
7. Make the sleeper wings, and install them.
8. Make the rear shocks and brakes.
9. Make a fifth-wheel platform.
10. Make drive lines.
11. make the interior of the cab.
12. Do the body work.
13. Paint.
14. Install Steve's Awesome Wheels and Air Cleaners
15. Install Visor
16. Electronics, including all 300+ LED's
17. Then last but not least....have fun playing with the thing.

~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

Well Hello All..

I got my frames done today and I am really pleased with the way they look.

The frame rails I got from FGD and the cross are from RCDampner

The new and the stock.






















I am hearing this song in my mind going over and over again..... "Give me fourty acres and I'll turn this rig around, it's the easiest way I have found. Some guy's can turn em on a dime or turn um right down town. But I need fourty acres to turn this rig around"


~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

I am seriously contemplating moving the axles forward to where the center of the suspension is where the cross member in front of it is now.

Now that I have a set of axles on it, it looks a little odd to me being that long. I look at it and it looks like it is sagging in the middle.


~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

Hi Guy's

Well I got my tires today. I also moved the drives forward to shorten the wheel base. I think this looks more realistic. It still is not set in stone yet. I have to get the fenders first and build the steps, in order to place the axle. That way I don't crowd the steps with the cab wings, which I also need to build.

With the frame and drives as they are now.



And with the drives moved forward.







~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

Howdy Friends

Well I got a much anticipated package in the mail today.

John (Stylin-n-Profilin) sent me a set of his full fenders.

Now when these come they are a bit rough and need some sanding. I showed them to my wife and told her that there was a lot of sanding and by hand it would take all day, and that I wish I had that Ryobi belt sander that HD has for $119. Well she told me to bad, and proceeded to go to town to go shopping, I thought, she returned about 45 min later with the sander.



Well any way, I was in to big of a hurry to play with my new toys to snap a picture of the fenders as they came. So here they are after i got done sanding.








Ok now with the help of my home made .35 cent spacers (7 nickles taped under the fenders) I go them to a suitable ride height.

Now the first pictures here are with the axles at the original position.










Now these are with the axles moved up to the new wheel base.














Here you can see how much I moved them forward.





I would really like to thank John for making these for me, they are AWESOME... I love them.

~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

Howdy All!!

Well I got another box in the mail from our ace machinist Tc1cat (Lynn)

First I messed up in the measuring of my front bumper so when Lynn sent me my bumper it was perfectly made to my spec. However when my specs are crap, I had to send the bumper back to Lynn who did what had to be done to save the day... Now I got the bumper back and the hood opens perfectly... Thanks a bunch Lynn.


Now if you remember I built a working steering box, and had Lynn make me the Drag Link and Steering Arm. Both of which turned out perfect. Next I needed some u-joints. again Lynn to the rescue.

Lynn built me two u-joints for the steering column, one for the stering box to the column and the other to connect the two parts of the steering column together, so now if I wanted I could even have a working tilt/telescopic steering wheel... Don't think I will go quite that far, you guys would have me commented..


Any way I am waiting on one more necessary part before I can mount any of this, so in the mean time here are some pictures of the joints.

Again big thanks to Lynn..

Here is the u-joint on the steering gear box, along with the Pittman arm Lynn made me.










~Mike~

[Dreamweaver]

Well this has been a eventful day to say the least.

First I got my custom made visor from Brian (Brian in PA) today. He did a perfect job. It turned out exactly like I wanted.





It came in the mail and like a flash I was all over installing it. I had already taken the truck apart AGAIN...(Boy if I had a buck for every time I took this thing apart and put it back together, I'd just about be able to pay for it...


Well that's when the crap started...

I made a king size DUMB *** mistake today. I went to move the axles forward and cut the frame as discussed earlier. Well I did not mark my reference point for where to move the axles up to BEFORE I took the truck apart. I did mark it, just after I had it was stripped. Well long story SHORT I marked the wrong place. Did not even notice it till I was almost done putting it back together, when I noticed that the axles were quite close to the rear sleeper Mounts... Well to say the least I think I got just about every cuss word known to man out at least twice.






Well I thought about leaving it like this, after all it is REAL 1:1 accurate now. But I just could not deal with it. I have a specific look I want for this truck and have already shortened it once, I was not going to try to live with it.

So I ordered another set of frame rails from Freddy.

Well I got a big box of much needed stuff from Tower today. In it I have a crap load or tubing for the shocks, I have some big tube that I use in the making of my stacks, I got the styrene I am going to use for my diamond tuck interior, I got some long .080" styrene so that I can complete the running boards in one piece, I got some much needed taps, and last but not least I got most of the stuff I need to build my drive lines. What I mean by most is some of the parts were to small so I have to send them back and get more of the other ones...(another lesson learned)

I also got the brass I needed to make my fender mounts for the fenders that I got from John (Stylin-N-Profilin). Then I got my visor from Brian of course, and I also got a small package from Bob at Scale Hardware... Yup, I went against what I first had planned and ALL BECAUSE OF BRIAN I had to get some rivets. I got the 1mm heads though my personal opinion is they are closer to stock size, and of course they are smaller which equals harder to handle..

Oh well not like I haven't drilled a million holes on this thing already what is a few extra. Ya know the bad part is with my OCD. No matter how much I tell myself not to, I can pretty much guarantee that come Monday at work I will be going over to one of the Pete's in the trucking company's yard next door and be counting the rivets on the hood....

Ok on to the fender mounts.

I used 1/8" square brass tube for these. along with a little angle and some 1/2" flat.

I built these almost exactly like the real 1:1 hangers are built.





Now the good thing about the frame screw up is I am just that much ahead on my next truck... It looks like it will have a 329 wheel base... Anyway I figured that the truck that gets these frames will have these fenders on them as well so I went ahead and partially mounted them.



My initial intent was to NOT have the bolts go all the way through. I took some 1/4 x .080 styrene strips and epoxied them on the inside of the fender knowing that the CA glue would not stick to the material they are made out of... Well neither does the epoxy.. So in interest of having a good strong connection I had to go through the fender. This is actually done on the real ones, they usually have a SS strip kinda like a top weight for mud flaps and then some SS carriage bolts.










Then I made a home made fifth wheel mount, These large sleeper truck's usually have fixed fifth wheels because they have more than enough weight on the steers and there is no need to add more.



I know that the stock set up for these have a bolt that goes all the way through from one side to the other on the 5th wheel. I did not want that so I used two separate bolts. Now if you just bolt the platform to the 5th wheel then you either get a tight 5th wheel or you get loose bolts. I took a piece of copper tube and cut it long enough to go through the mounting holes on the 5ht wheel and the platform that I made. This allows me to tighten the bolts while keeping completely free movement of the 5th wheel..



Well that's all the fun for today, so here is some pictures of the truck put back together in it's short version that WILL NOT be staying.





















~Mike~