Finally bobbed and running again

[JJensen]

With the help of a few others, I finished my truck Saturday. I bought the truck in February, and on the trip home threw a rod. The truck sat until the end of April. At the end of April we started bobbing it while looking for a replacement engine. During the bobbing process a friend and I replaced the engine. jwright came out one evening and helped with a clutch issue that I thought I had, and helped me bleed the brakes. The wheels were delivered Friday, and I mounted tires on Friday afternoon. Finished up some wiring and paint late Friday early Saturday, and spent most of Saturday driving it around.

So far I have put about 75 miles on it, and about 3 hours of total run time. I had completely cleaned, degreased and repainted the engine prior to putting it in the truck. It still looks great. It has zero oil leaks as of right now, and only 1 small fuel leak on one of the injector lines right at the IP. The engine starts instantly, sounds great, has over 30 PSI at idle and 50 while driving down the highway. At 2000 RPM it runs 51 MPH.

I still have lots of things that I am going to do to the truck, but I finally got to enjoy driving it this weekend.

The only real issue that I have right now is with 1 of my new wheels. You can see it wobbling while driving down the road. I measured it, and the center plate has a little over an 1/8th inch of run out. I don't know what is acceptable tolerance on the wheels when they build them, but I wouldn't think that this would be close. 2 of the wheels have the centers almost perfectly welded true/ "square". The last wheel has less than 1/16th of an inch, and has hardly any noticeable wobble. The wheel in question looks like the tire moves over a half inch side to side while driving.

Overall everything turned out great.

 

[dzmedia]

AWESOME!! Great work. Next time im in KC for a bike shoot i might have to stop by and check it out.

 

[vinnies10]

nice looking truck

 

[texasjake]

Nice job on a great looking truck!

 

[mightymanx]

That's a sharp looking truck !!!!

I would call the wheel maker ASAP. That is going to at the minimum kill tires quick.

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Nice job. What paint did you use.

 

[MWMULES]

jwright shows up whenever anybody in the KC area needs help or has a problem. Hope you can make it down to the Liberty Memorial this coming weekend so I can drool on those tires. Wish I had the $ to put some on my M818. I would get a hold of whoever made you wheels, wheel wobble only leads to bearing death!

 

[JJensen]

Thank you guys.

I am going to call the wheel manufacturer on Monday, but I am not looking forward to the call. What is an acceptable tolerance? My fabrication friend said .001 would be to him. Well none of them are that close. I really wish that I would have just purchased converted HEMMT's. The tires were a PIA to put on the rims. I called many large truck tire shops and was finally referred to a small tire shop in BFE that primarily does tractor tires. I helped him and it took us almost 2 hours of hardcore work to get them all mounted. Now I will have to dismount, and re-mount at least 1 tire. Not a big deal, but the HEMMT's would have made all of this much easier.

I didn't paint the entire truck. I actually only painted the engine, rear part of the frame/suspension, modified sections of the bed, and the wheels. I don't know how long it will last, but I just used Rustoleum.

I am planning on coming to Liberty Memorial. I have 1 conflict though. The friend that did a large part of the work on this truck with me has to move his entire shop this coming weekend. So I will be helping him all day Saturday through Monday.

If I come for only a portion of 1 day, will I be able to park my truck with everyone else, or will I have to park some where else? I haven't ever attended the event, so I don't know how it is laid out.

jwright, is a good guy for sure. Very willing to help.

 

[Ridgerunner]

.030 of run out on a wheel is an acceptable tolerance, for something that's driven on the road at speeds.

 

[JJensen]

I talked to CJ today at Long's Wheels. They reminded me that the wheels are for off-road use only, but they would go ahead and send me a replacement wheel for the one that has over an 1/8th inch of run out. I'll have to live with the one that has about 1/16th. They have been a good company to deal with, but I guess I should have asked about how precise they were in building the wheels. I come from a background where .001 matters.

 

[ApopkaFL]

I have another person that builds wheels in California...

 

[MWMULES]

We will be set up on the east side of the main drive just inside the gates, should be easy to stop. Last year we had over 40 Mv's.

 

[JJensen]

ApopkaFL, I should be good to go when I get my new wheel. I appreciate the info though.

MWMULES, so if I show up mid afternoon on Sunday or even Monday, will I be able to drive right in and park with the other MV's? Sorry for the questions.

 

[OPCOM]

I'll only run wheels that are made for on-road use.

 

[JJensen]

Thanks again for the compliments guys. I think that I am going to add a large tool/storage box on the driver side to match the look of the fuel tank on the other side. I still need to do mount the rear mud flaps. Not sure about the front ones.

If there is anyone in the Midwest looking for someone to bob their truck, or do ANY fabrication work, I highly recommend Jake's Performance Fabrication in Lee's Summit. His phone number is 816-686-5133. I do not make anything from this. He can get it done at a competitive price, quickly, and it is done very well. He primarily builds high end race cars, so everything he did on the truck was done with the same attention to detail.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Not sure how I missed this thread yesterday, glad to hear she is back on the road. The work on them is sometimes a pain, but very worth it in the end. Head on out to Haspin in a couple weeks and see how she does on the trails.

 

[MWMULES]

ApopkaFL, I should be good to go when I get my new wheel. I appreciate the info though.

MWMULES, so if I show up mid afternoon on Sunday or even Monday, will I be able to drive right in and park with the other MV's? Sorry for the questions.

Yep not a problem at all on Sunday till around 5, I think they close the gates then to set the fireworks for the nights show. Even then you can pop the curb to the east of the gates. Monday unless you come real early you will have to pop the curb as the set the driveway up for all the ceremony that goes till about 10:30