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I guess it's possible, but I wouldn't want to do that. The wheels/tires will just stick out WAY too far. Might make the truck even more stable, but at what cost? Would put a lot of extra leverage on the wheel-bearings, and would make the truck wider than I'd want to have to deal with. I'm...

tm america, what is it with you? Almost every recent post of yours that I've read is contradicting something that someone else has written. Sounds to me like timberline has some real-world experience with these rigs, and I appreciate that he took the time to post. But you're basically telling...

What type of material are you guys using as insulation? The aircraft insulation sounds interesting, and I saw that one guy is planning on using surplus sleeping pads. I'd be looking for something that's going to be a good thermal barrier, but sound-deadening is also something that I imagine...

You mean is makes the rear axles the same width as the front, right? My truck is sitting on stock wheels/tires (singled with flipped hubs) right now, and I haven't driven it yet, but it's pretty narrrrrrrrrow. Stability might now be a problem, but you've got to to agree that it must be less...

Yeah, I actually just talked to someone at Accuride about those wheels last week. They're 22.5 x 7.5" and have 6.25" offset. 22.5's would be cool, especially if I was building this rig to travel outside the US. But I really like the idea of sticking with 20" wheels just because surplus tires are...

I'm wrestling with this right now too. I've got an M109 that I singled-out and I bought a bunch of 11.00 Firestone T831 radials, but I'm having a **** of a time finding wheels that will work with these narrower tires (compared to 14.5's, 395's, etc.). I might end up flipping the hubs back and...

I wasn't thinking about printable templates, as much as I thought it might be helpful to have a set of simple 2D blueprints that people could take dimensions from. We're just talking about basic geometry, no fancy freeform shapes or anything, right? Maybe it would help to see what your templates...

Yeah, I bought an axle from Steve a long time ago. Smart dude. Builds nice stuff.

Sure, that sounds more than fair. I don't know how complicated those patterns are, but I'd be willing to make some CAD files (and could generate something more universal like PDF's) that we could share more easily.

How much of the cab does the arctic kit insulate? Just the hardtop, or the cab too?

Funny that you mentioned a uhaul box. I made an enclosed trailer to tow behind my M109 by putting a 14ft uhaul box on top of an M353 trailer, and I actually did reuse the loading-ramp! It's awesome. I'm building this motorhome to live/travel in full-time. I'll be hauling a trailer full of dirt...

Yes.

Yeah, I'm aware of the trade-offs. I was just saying that it wasn't exactly a stupid question.

Yeah, I was only thinking about dropping the middle axle and keeping the frame/box full-length. 395's would easily handle the load and that would be one way to drop a ton of weight. Plus it would make a bunch more room for water/fuel tanks, etc. It's something that I might reconsider somewhere...

Well, except that post #44 was made by the OP, and it sounds like a perfectly reasonable (and related) question to me. I was asking all the same questions when I was researching my project, and I don't see any reason why you couldn't drop the mid-axle to make a LWB bobbed deuce. Would actually...

Wha-wha-what?

I'd really like to know how well an M109 pulls 395's. I've got an M109 that I'm turning into a motorhome, and I'll be towing an enclosed trailer. Total combined weight when loaded will probably be somewhere between 22,000-23,000 lbs. I was really tempted to go with 395's, but I was afraid that I...

After sand-blasting/before painting Mah Deuce I'm planning on taking it to the local truck stop, where they'll steam-clean the engine compartment and the whole undercarriage for $60.

Those flanges are what's carrying the majority of the load the framerails will carry. So you don't want to weaken/stress those flanges. The vertical part of the framerails is a lot less critical, so you can drill through them without too much concern.

That's kind of a neat idea! I guess it would accomplish the same thing as locking hubs, but would allow the driver to engage/disengage without having to get out of the truck. Only downsides I can see would be that you'd have to shorten the driveshaft (in between the two back axles) and you would...