Well time to start a thread to do***ent the tranformation of our "shop" project, making this into a car hauler. I've been collecting parts for getting the cab and ch***is ready for a ramp bed, and unfortunate to the truck's heritage, the tandem axles don't work well with a ramp bed (nor do the 8.50:1 gear ratios) So here are some other goodies collected, plans for air ride front and rear, air brakes all around....should stop on a dime! Recently though, I had been having trouble with the old girl running rough, just falling on it's face. Kinda takes the wind out of your sails as far as project enthusiasm goes. I was leaning toward a fuel pump issue, and when I pulled the inlet line to the fuel pump, the slight trickle was a good indicator of some sediment in the tank behind the seat. As the factory tank size limited your range anyhow, time to upgrade. We (the VP of ATHS and myself) went on a road trip today to RLJackson truck salvage in Port Tobacco MD, and picked up a nice 33 gallon saddle tank version. That should about double the effective capacity/range. The truck's past history as a fire truck in the mountains of Oregon was evident as some reminders of the old body still remains on the frame, so first order of business is to clean those off ..... Test fitting.... Hope to get it bolted on tomorrow and hooked up for a test run.
If the slush fund permits, likely a Hodges bed or similar. I've had a few people tell me to put a roll back on it, but I think it would be more period correct looking with the ramp bed. I was looking at the crazy prices on polished aluminum wheels (had a weak moment) but I think some color matched wheels, pinstriped with stainless trim rings will better fit the bill..
I did wind up moving the tank up a bit more, the top of the brackets are 3" above the frame. The frame on this is three thicknesses from the front cab mount back, and as the outer one was installed circa 1953 when the fire truck conversion was done, they aren't tempered. Even though the 18v Milwaukee was going through 3/4" or so, it was rather easy drilling. Drained the old tank and thought I'd use some paint strainers to keep from having the fuel flow issues with this tank. I think we may have found the problem... Got the old tank drained and removed, it will be a good time to vacuum out all the crevices back there behind the seat to keep the lower cab corners rust free.... Here it is after the test run (and fuel fill up) One item crossed off the list, next will be to get started on the rear(s) swap.
Thanks Dan. Well, it doesn't look like much progress, but I got the air hose stretched outside to release the air brakes, and moved the rear clip inside. John Deere with a front loader comes in handy. Started loosening bolts this evening, and taking parts off. I think the pieces of frame rail will make a good template, clamp to the trucks frame and drill some holes.. More to come...
Spent some time today on the shop truck. Finished loosening all the brackets from the bus frame rails, they will be clamped and used as a template on the F7 frame. My nephew Chris came over to help, and I was surprised when my other hired help showed up today, polished fingernails and all... Who was I to stop her...... Then the rear was coaxed outside to make room for the truck... Now most of the bolts holding the rears have been there since the early 50's. They were all fine thread bolts, most were double nutted, and most were in the top flange where it was inaccessible with an impact. Needless to say, we've had a workout today. Chris left early, something about going out for New Years, go figure. Good help is hard to find. So I had to enlist Scott's help, he owns the motorcycle shop down the road that I do painting for every now and then... Here's the JD rear removal tool in use: Looking bare... We got the new rear pushed up in place..
Awesome truck. I really like big ones like that. Too bad You can't use that tandem axle, it looks great. What is the engine in it? Will it stay or be replaced?
Thanks for the comments guys.... Loaded up the old axles today. The boss lady doesn't mind the projects too much, but no sense in pushing the envelope with any tandem Rockwell yard art. Two tires had to be removed to fit the rears on the trailer. Even then, had to use the removeable fender option on the driver's side. No turning back now....
Those should bring enough extra cash to make a bit of truck progress. Keep us posted on how it's going.
My next big hurdle is going to be getting the rear located and bolted up so all the air tanks and plumbing can be installed. The target location is for a 10' C-A dimension, although I do have some flexibility. At this point, I think I'm going to get the new driveshaft built first, and locate the rear around that. The White auxilliary trans has a bolt on yoke and incorporated the parking brake drum on its output. As the parking brake feature will not be needed with the modern air brakes, the drum will be removed and the yoke bolted up direct. All of the old u-joints were ****er 1610 series with the bolt on caps... As the aux trans is fixed and its yoke has no provision for suspension travel, the old driveshaft had a slip yoke at the front, which we'll need for the new one as well... The rear is out of a 2007 Peterbilt school bus ch***is, and uses a ****er SPL90 series u-joint, so the new driveshaft will need a mix of u-joints to get all these parts working together. Some of my online Universal joint research online has led me to Action Machine in South Bend, IN. Has anyone used their driveshaft services that can provide any feedback? Thanks in advance.... Robert
Got a delivery today, surprised it showed up so fast.... the new one compared to the old.......... I just ordered this last Wednesday around noon. It was fabricated, balanced, and shipped, showing up today. Everything made exactly as I wanted. Couldn't ask for better...
It's 71" c-c on the u-joints, they did say it's longer than they usually make for a bigger truck, but they used a larger diameter and thicker wall pipe to make up for it. He said if they used a smaller diameter/thinner wall with that length, the tube may tend to "noodle" or deflect.
Moving a little farther along, time to remove some un-needed rotating m***. We won't need the parking brake drum on the driveshaft, so the yoke was unbolted to get it out of the way... ...as my luck usually runs, it isn't that simple. Now to remove the flange from the output shaft. Largest socket I have was about 2", just shy of what I needed. Called up my buddy who owns all the buses, and struck gold, picked up the right socket and got it removed.. Parts is parts.... Re-installed, and using some new grade 8 hardware..... Still waiting on the strap kit for the rear U-joint, so here's a temporary.... Adjusted the position of the rear, this looks like a good spot for it..... Marked some holes and then pulled a reference to mark the other side, using the leaf spring mount up front. The truck has triple frames, two added during the fire truck conversion, so I wanted to use something attached to the original frame for a reference... Bolted up, and trimmed the doubler plate that fits on the back side.. The original crossmember that spans between the two sides used to sit in a 11" high frame rail, where it will now reside is about 7" high and double framed. So the lower ears of the crossmember are cut off, trimmed, flipped over to the other side and rewelded. Previous holes were filled to accomodate a new location.. Eveything is attached to the frame using 3/4" bolts, so a bit larger set of transfer punches came in handy...
i know it's too late, but Tim (one of the owners) of action machine is a good friend of mine. he does all my drive shafts and general machining. his shop does great work.
The holes you put the grade 8 bolts in on the companion flange are set up for shouldered bolts,with the shoulder going through most of both holes, this was thought to be a better fit than just a regular bolt so that the flanges didn't start to work back and forth on the slop in the holes, the shoulder fits tightly in the holes as just a regular bolt does not. In the grand scheme of things in that application I don't think it will really matter much, that 312 isn't a 220 ***mins. You can change the companion flange to a yoke on the ****** side If your still able to get the long eared yoke anymore, ****er may still have some, but it looks like there is no seal in the back of that trans, just kind of a snug fit between yoke and housing, that would be an early set up called a line back, as to where the yoke has reverse lines cut into it to spin the oil back into the case, you may know all this already but I thought I would run it by you.
The Jalopy Journal
