Cat 777D Mining Truck

[SmallHaul]

Very nice work Tom!

[modelman]

Thanks guys-TnTlou-the motors are rated 65RPM@12V and they only give stall torque which doesn't mean anything but it is 270 oz. in.. I think 7.2V may work but I don't know yet. grumpygrady-the bank has been good about this. SmallHaul-thanks-I am slow but it is coming along. Also-lou isn't it nice to have machinist on here to tell us what we are doing wrong!

[dirtpusher9]

Nice machine work, Tom. Do you think your going to have enough room for everything?

[Stuff]

they look very good! if i ever make such a truck ill hit ya up for some tires

[modelman]

Thanks a lot DP9&stuff-joe-I think it will work. Probably the biggest challenge will be the dump mechanism. It will have to be some type of screw drive. Even if I could afford hyds. there is no place to put it. I'm not much of a designer I just start building and when a problem comes up I try to solve it. It is the only way I know. I have some ideas on the dump but I have a lot of work to do before I have to jump on that.

[JAMMER]

Very nice work those tires look great and so do the rims keep it up. Ed

[modelman]

Thanks jammer-while I am waiting on more parts & pieces for the chassis I was able to get the rear wheels finished. Here is a picture of the back side I had problems loading the last time-

Here is the outside finished-

This is a mini tapping fixture a friend made for me. It holds everything nice and straight when tapping holes-

The chassis is next and we will see what kind of challenges that brings up

[pumptech]

Hey modelman : The tires you made are perfect,great work.
That's a neat tapping rig,I like that, bet it works great.
Looking forward to seeing the chassis.Keep the pics coming.

[Lil Giants]

1st class craftsmanship with another fine build Tom.

[dirtpusher9]

Tom, they look factory made. Can't wait to see this a little futher along.

[Iron Art]

Like those Tires and Wheels! I need one of those Tapping fixtures, seems like evertime I get out a 0-80 tap I need 2 of them to get the job done, gets expensive. Fred

[tc1cat]

Tapping fixture can be gotten from Micro-mark. Get the arbor press and the drilling/tapping add-on. Have been using one for years. Much faster than trying to hold in your hands.

Lynn

[modelman]

Thanks a lot everyone-I hope to make some progress on the chassis now. The front steering blocks are going to be tough for me to make but hopefully in a couple of weeks I can have a rolling chassis. Iron Art-the tapping fixture works great for me. I have always had trouble trying to start a tap straight by hand but this takes care of that. I am still struggling with the 0-80 screws but have managed to get a few tapped. These are really small for my tired old eyes.

[modelman]

I have the chassis almost done. This truck is way overbuilt for a model this size but I scaled from a 1/50th scale norscot truck and this is how it came out. I have more to do but I thought I would share a few pictures. This is how I started-

Start of the front axle-

Bolted together to check fit-

Motor carriers-

[modelman]

Next I made the hardware to hold the carriers and installed all this-

I then finished the front axle and all the front end pcs.

Put all this together and the chassis is built-

I have more milling to do but I may get the cab started so I can work on several pcs. at once. Next I added the wheels-

[modelman]

When the truck is finished and I know how much it weighs I will try to find some springs to put in the rear cylinders to give it a little bounce. The holes are only .180" and I may not be able to find any springs heavy enough but then I will just braze the shafts solid-

The steering arms will need to be cut off but that won't happen until the radio is installed-

That's all for now-back to work.

[sparkycuda]

Wow, the frame and axle setups are great! Ingenious method of mounting and suspending the drive motors - and really nice work on the steering pieces. I hope you can find suitable springs - the axle movement under load would look good and let the truck keep tires on ground over uneven road. Hard to imagine the smaller size of all that machinery you have in there. How 'bout a soda can or something in a future picture, for size comparison? Lookin' nice!

Ken

[Dreamweaver]

Very impressive Tom, and the most impressive part is that you made everything but the motors. Those wheels look great.

-Mike

[Jared]

My first reaction was "it's way to short!" but when the box and cab/hood is on it'll be just right I imagine. I like the suspension setup. I don't know about your part of the country, but around here Ace Hardware has a pretty extensive spring selection.

[modelman]

Sparkycuda-thanks,that's the only way I could figure out how to mount the motors and keep the wheelbase correct. Dreamweaver- thanks a lot- I do enjoy making all my own parts. That way I've got nobody else to blame if something goes wrong! Jared- yeah it is a short little "bugger" but it is correct according to scale. I think it will look different with the cab and dump bed on.