Peterbilt 6x6 Medium Hauler

[jack van]

hi there your build looks realy great i was hopeing you might have some pics of how you set up your locking diff cables i am haveing problems makeing mine work

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by jack van

hi there your build looks realy great i was hopeing you might have some pics of how you set up your locking diff cables i am haveing problems makeing mine work

Hi and thanks very much! No locking diffs on this truck, however. I just used a VERY heavy oil in the diffs to nearly lock them, but allow them to slip.

[Tommy R]

Okay, folks, I need some suggestions! All throughout this build I've had the plan to paint the chassis the same blue as I used on the truck. I've toured a Kenworth and Peterbilt plant and on some chassis they would paint the entire chassis/suspension the color of the body. The entire rolling chassis would be assembled and then rolled through the paint booth so EVERYTHING would get painted. I love that look and it gives the truck a very "high end" appearance.

I'm 90% sure I'm going to do it (and soon!), but want some thoughts on it before I commit. Most trucks will have a plain gloss black chassis/suspension, but I want this truck to have a "well cared for" look to it and think a painted chassis would suit it, but I'd like to hear y'all's thoughts.

Here's a few trucks that I found inspirational. They look like work trucks that are taken very good care of, but they're not all out "show trucks". This is the look I've envisioned, for the most part....








Now take note of this one... The hubs were also painted the same color as the chassis/body. I'd like thoughts on this, as well. I'm leaning toward leaving mine black, though. Suggestions?


For what it's worth, the fuel tanks will remain chrome, but the straps will be painted blue. And here's a pic of the truck making a cameo appearance at the drift track in Houston last night:


In the background....

[NRS91]

Any updates on this truck?
Im building a 6x6 King Hauler Day Cab and I was wondering if you ever did get any more steering lock out of those TLT-1 axles?

[Tommy R]

This project is back after a way-loo-long hiatus. Currently working on paint. Decided it's getting a Cat.


Chassis is getting fresh paint, as well.

[9W Monighan]

Originally Posted by Tommy R

This project is back after a way-loo-long hiatus. Currently working on paint. Decided it's getting a Cat.


Chassis is getting fresh paint, as well.

Changing the subject some, What's the yellow Wrangler?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by egronvold

Looking good! Will be interesting to hear your experience with the new setup.

Thanks! Well, the output shaft of the 3:1 GRU is too small for the press-fit pinion that the Lesu trans requires (pics coming soon) so I'll have to figure something else out there. I was thinking 3:1 may not be low enough anyway so maybe I'll just get a 4:1 now. Given the tiny pinion of the Lesu unit, though, I'm concerned how easily it'll strip.

Originally Posted by 9W Monighan

Changing the subject some, What's the yellow Wrangler?

That's my '01 TJ. This is what it looked like when it was still on the road:


However, it's currently under the knife as I do some major surgery. I'm adding 15" to the overall length (converting it to an LJ), adding one ton axles, and building all new suspension. This pic is a bit outdated. Frame is now lengthened and welded back together, but still have a long way to go!

[9W Monighan]

WOW you are really into that TJ I see lots of travel in your suspension.

Here's my sons rig. 98TJ He drives it every day in the summer. Luckily he is 2mi from his work because he put 4:88 gears in it. Dana44 air locker rear,high pinion 35 in the front. Rubicon long arm suspension. We have a beater Cherokee too
Now is see why you just had to make that PETERBILT into a 6X6

[jerry56]

LOL you should be all primed for a fresh start....

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by jerry56

LOL you should be all primed for a fresh start....

Ha! I see what you did there!


So for the most part the paint work is now.....finally.....complete. The chassis got some gloss clear, but not as much as the body did. That just seemed to make more sense to me that the frame isn't quite as pretty. Anyway, here's some pics...






An overhead shot of the Axial t-case.


I need to get the 5th wheel's orientation corrected. It's leaning the wrong way again!


Interior floors going back in. You can see where I hacked it to clear for the raised transmission.....which was required to make room for the front driveshaft.


I'll need to build a center console to cover this up when I finish out the interior. I don't plan on having side windows so the interior will need to be fully detailed to look realistic.


Looking like a truck again. The front needs to come down about 1/4", but I've got a few options on how to address that.




Here you can see how far the front tires stick out from the fenders. I'd prefer a narrower track, but I'm okay with this.


But to keep the front and rear track widths proportional I think I'm going to make some 1 or 2 mm spacers for the rear. It'll be subtle, but it'll also provide some space between the tires, which I think will be a good thing, appearance-wise.


Oh, one other thing I did tonight. The hub bore on the Lesu wheels is super tight and with just paint on the hubs, they would get scratched up when installing them. I couldn't have that so I bored the wheels' center bore ever so slightly. This angle makes it look worse than it is. It actually looks good and nicely centered in person. At least now the wheels can be installed/removed without scratching up the hubs.

[frizzen]

Glad to see you're back at it. That's looking really sharp!

It's a shame the trans eats that much interior room, but it should be able to handle a lot more terrain now

For the front track width on that TLT, why not just get some narrower wheel hexes?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by frizzen

Glad to see you're back at it. That's looking really sharp!

It's a shame the trans eats that much interior room, but it should be able to handle a lot more terrain now

For the front track width on that TLT, why not just get some narrower wheel hexes?

Thanks! Yeah, it's a bummer about the interior, but I'll fab up some interior bits to make it all look nice. Just gonna take more time.

I think I'm down to a 4mm thick hex already. And to fit that I had to "machine" the depth of the hex on the front wheels. I'm not sure how much farther in I could go, but thanks to my RC drifting, I do have some crazy thin hexes that I may be able to try. Hmm.....

[Tommy R]

Good news. Turns out the dash fits over the transmission without modification. I'll still need to build a center console over it, but that's okay. I knew I'd have to do that.




Then as I was sifting through bins of parts I came across some stock HiLift springs. Wow, these are easy to bend! So I did a little eyeball de-arching and test fit them under the truck.


It's still got a smidge of negative rake, but it's hardly noticeable. I may leave it like this, but I'll have to paint those springs, of course.

[Tommy R]

So the truck is now the closest it's ever been to finally being a runner! So OF COURSE I end up doing this:


Yeah, I'm a glutton for punishement. I decided to change two rather important things about the truck. First, I decided to change the drivetrain. A Lesu 3 speed trans will be here tomorrow and it's already set up for AWD. Second, I decided the stock frame rails made the truck look a little too stubby for my liking. So I picked up some Grand Hauler rails.

Here's the truck with the new (unpainted) rails installed. Ideally I may prefer it about one inch shorter overall, but I'm going to try it like this first. Maybe one day I'll shorten the wheelbase, but I think the longer setup fits the style of truck I'm wanting to emulate.




The Lesu gearbox has an even taller gearset than the stock Tamiya. That sucks! So to compensate I picked up a HH 80t motor and it's feeding a 3:1 gear reduction unit. I hope this new drivetrain holds up okay. I've heard bad things about some of the Lesu stuff.

[egronvold]

Looking good! Will be interesting to hear your experience with the new setup.

[Tommy R]

Nice rig your boy has there! That's the exact axle and locker combo I ran for years. With 35s it was great, but with the 37s I'd have preferred 5.13s. After wheeling the Jeep since '07 I decided to finally put some big axles in it so I no longer have to worry about breaking them. New combo will be Ford Dana 60 and Sterling axles with air lockers and 5.38s. Stepping up to 40" tires, too. I plan on keeping the good road manners as I drive this thing all the time and love taking it on road trips.


And if you're interested, I'm documenting the Jeep build on my YT channel:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQg...uSHByWUvBjNK8w

[Tommy R]

The Lesu 3 speed AWD trans showed up. It's aluminum and pretty heavy! Comes with two sets of mounts (one higher and one lower), but the holes don't line up with the width of the Tamiya rails. *sigh*


And look at the size of this teensy tiny press-fit pinion gear! I'm going to be feeding it with an 80t motor and a GRU so it's going to be subjected to a lot of torque. I'm concerned about it's longevity.


Here's the "highly detailed instructions" that come with it.


The rod at the top is if you want to shift the trans from the front, instead of the rear. I may have to look into this further. I opened up the trans and tried to swap them, but it wasn't look like it was going to be worth the effort so I may just shift it from the rear. And judging by the short length of the shifter linkage, they must assume your servo is right next to the trans!


Mocking up the trans with the motor. Adding the GRU will require it to sit rearward just a bit more to clear the servo. The GRU will add about 3/4" overall.

[frizzen]

Truck looks great, but i'm guessing you'll take it back apart for paint later. Very nice looking trans

Cool TJ stretch project! Are you just going up to LJ length, or going even longer?

[Tommy R]

Originally Posted by frizzen

Truck looks great, but i'm guessing you'll take it back apart for paint later. Very nice looking trans

Cool TJ stretch project! Are you just going up to LJ length, or going even longer?

Thanks! Yeah, I'll be tearing it apart again for what I hope will be its final paint job, but I'm waiting to have a better idea if I'm done with any fab work beforehand. Case in point, the front axle was sitting too far to the rear of the fender opening so I've been working on getting that aligned better. I'll get some more pics/updates posted hopefully later today.

Regarding the Jeep, the body will be LJ length so I can use an LJ top and cage. However, I backhalved the Jeep 5 years ago and got about 6" of wheelbase added to the rear, putting me at just over 99". With the extra 15" length of the LJ conversion added in, I'm hoping to have a similar wheelbase as a 4 door Jeep, which is about 116". I'll also be stretching the front a bit.

[Trucker47]

Awesome thread! You've shown me all the steps I need to take to build my project haha.

I've picked up a grandhauler and want to build in into an tridrive 8x8. Based on the oil field trucks I've seen up here in Canada.