12 volt towing box

[armytruck63]

Nice work!

 

[clinto]

I bought the connectors from "Mouser Electronics" . They are a bit spendy but it gives the unit a true military look.

Do you have any of the part #s you used? Mouser's site shows that they have about 625,000 military connectors, encompassing 26,000+ pages. I'm not sure how to filter down to the the common styles like you used.

 

[dmetalmiki]

The trucks we had (as I remember it) Had a transistorized converter box, and every wire duplicated Thus 24 volt wires went in, and every duplicated wire came out 12 volts.
(So) there was a 'box' on the back frame with two sockets, One 24 volts. One 12 volts.

My wrecker is like that, (in that) I simply duplicated the rear trailer socket through a 24volt to 12volt inverter. And have (like rusty) Two sockets on the back. For 24 or 12 volt towing.

 

[rustystud]

Do you have any of the part #s you used? Mouser's site shows that they have about 625,000 military connectors, encompassing 26,000+ pages. I'm not sure how to filter down to the the common styles like you used.

I went with the military design. The "MS3106F16-10S" is just one I used. This connector is the standard 3 wire connector used to plug into the MRE heater box or into the deuces turn signal relay. You can look up the shell design you want in their catalog. The MS means military. If you want the same connectors I used then I guess I can look up the numbers for you.
I should add that Mouser has started to use the prefix "654" to denote the screw-on military design, so for example the 3 wire connector would be "654-MS3106F16-10S" .

 

[Buffalobwana]

Rusty, I love it! It’s design, execution, location, function. Man, you nailed it. It looks great, and, of course, I’m going to assume it works great too.

Well done Rusty, well done indeed!

I have come up with a plan on how to accompany you on the Alaska Trip, but I need another truck from Dallas, or Texas area, (Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, anywhere “close”, to pull it off.) I’ll post details somewhere appropriate. Maybe I’ll get with you via PM and we can start a thread in the right area to plan this?

Anyway, kudos again on your box, you have done a fantastic job!

 

[SP5]

Very nice,,quality work, with military looks.
The "solder and crimp" method is intresting,, coming from Delco. In many years of doing marine wiring, for an inspected vessel, the Coast Guard does not like to see a combination crimp-solder,, they want a crimp only, and absolutly will not allow a soldered connection on the main starter cable.
However, there is a caveat,, all crimps must be done with a crimp tool that will not release until a certain amount of "crush" is obtained, and the tools are calibrated at regular intervals,, and they're expensive tools.
The heat-shrink is always a good idea.

 

[aleigh]

Ah the solder v. crimp debate. Never heard this one before...

A common theme with these arguments seem to be separating what is possible with what is practical. It's possible to get high quality solder joints. NASA certainly does, as well as a lot of aerospace manufacturers. They also have rigorous six sigma quality control programs, extensive worker training, and can spend any money on equipment like ultrasonic testers and random destructive testing programs. Whether you are a coastie or just some practical person responsible for safety, it's easy to eyeball a crimp for quality, but hard to inspect a weld or solder joint for penetration, adhesion, and correct solder/flux composition.

Welding is obviously structurally safe but only if done properly. Once you get joe bob's highschool cousin's dog out welding or soldering, anything can go wrong, and I imagine that's true for boats as well as trucks. In a lot of off-road events I've been involved with, tech will bounce you if you have welded on recovery points. Gotta be "manufacturer" produced and then bolted onto the truck. Why? So some volunteer inspection guy can tell the difference. Anyone can read the grade on a bolt and look at a size with minimal training but inspecting a weld is impractical.

If OP did the soldering right, and I am sure he did, and he knows he did it right, there should be no problem at all with this application.

 

[rustystud]

Rusty, I love it! It’s design, execution, location, function. Man, you nailed it. It looks great, and, of course, I’m going to assume it works great too.

Well done Rusty, well done indeed!

I have come up with a plan on how to accompany you on the Alaska Trip, but I need another truck from Dallas, or Texas area, (Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas, anywhere “close”, to pull it off.) I’ll post details somewhere appropriate. Maybe I’ll get with you via PM and we can start a thread in the right area to plan this?

Anyway, kudos again on your box, you have done a fantastic job!

Is your present truck out of commission ? Anyway thanks for the compliment. As far as the trip goes, we should start some sort of plan. It seems their is a number of people who want to go. I'm still trying to finish my steering project. Parts are still at the machine shop, and I'm unable to work on the truck at present. In a week or so things should calm down here for me to get back at it. We still have a land clearing company here for a few more days, then the house renovation will start. I still need to finish removing all my old trucks and equipment. I have 3 trucks and 4 dozers left. At present I'm only able to work about 5 hours before the pain gets unbearable. So it is taking some time to do all this. Maybe if a set date is established it will light a fire under my butt !

 

[Buffalobwana]

Is your present truck out of commission ?

No, I have 3 trucks, a couple M923A2’s one is ready to leave in a weeks time, the other one is fine, I just don’t have as many miles behind the wheel to “know” it as well, and a 931A2 that I just got that I wouldn’t take far from home just yet! Still learning this truck, but it seems to be a very nice rig!

Ok, so, Vacations are expensive. Bucket list items are usually more expensive and require more extensive planning. This is not for the guy trying to do this “on the cheap” if you live in TX and want to drive the AK highway, you already know it’s going to be expensive.

My plan, since I live in Texas was to

A. see if another Texan wants to go. We split the cost of hauling two trucks on one semi to the border. Fly up there and start the drive fresh and ready to go. (Portland or some other drop off zone).

B. (Not sure about this idea) Drive or split a semi to LA or some port, put the truck on a boat and ship it (more expensive?) to Portland and start from there. Then on the drive back, we could drive all the way down the PCH.

C. Is Houston a possibility for shipping a truck or would shipping be outrageous?

With two trucks on one semi, it reduces the overall cost shipping from TX. Rough numbers say splitting a semi (r/t) is about the same cost as driving round trip TX to the border.

This plan is not for the guy wanting to try to do it “on the cheap”. It’s for the guy wanting to do it and being blessed with living in Texas on top of it. Just an unfortunate geographical mistake.

Maybe if a set date is established it will light a fire under my butt !

Umm, well, that’s between you and your own ass. But, I have found that I usually achieve my goal earlier when I set a date and a goal.

 

[rustystud]

I see I never posted my wiring diagrams. They are a bit rough, but still readable I think. Maybe someone who is much better at making diagrams can "remake" mine. It would probably really help anyone who wants to recreate my design.

View attachment Scan0264.pdfView attachment Scan0265.pdfView attachment Scan0266.pdfView attachment Scan0267.pdf
View attachment Scan0268.pdf

 

[rustystud]

No takers on redoing my electrical diagrams ? To bad. I was hoping someone with good drawing skills would undertake it and make it all nice and pretty and more importantly readable !
I've always admired the skill of a good "draftsman" . It takes a good eye and hand to take something illegible and make it into something everyone can use.

 

[Floridianson]

Looks beautiful. Nicely done.
Personally I never soldier wires on vehicles as the solder makes them more likely to crack, the reason OEM’s do not solder connections. However the use of heat shrink will help support the wires and reduce this.

I stand with Greg on this one. I hate crimp connectors as they can allow corrosion to get in or they let you down at the worst moment. I solder every connector and if you want real protection on you wiring get marine wiring as the whole wire is tinned.
Nice job on your converter box Greg aka Ruststud.

 

[rustystud]

I stand with Greg on this one. I hate crimp connectors as they can allow corrosion to get in or they let you down at the worst moment. I solder every connector and if you want real protection on you wiring get marine wiring as the whole wire is tinned.
Nice job on your converter box Greg aka Ruststud.

Thank you very much.

 

[clinto]

Per this thread: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...ware-for-drawing-wiring-schematics&highlight=

I was referred to Digikey. Of all the sites recommended, I found it the easiest to grasp.

It took me a few hours, but once I had an idea of how it worked, my schematic went pretty well.

 

[rustystud]

Per this thread: https://www.steelsoldiers.com/showt...ware-for-drawing-wiring-schematics&highlight=

I was referred to Digikey. Of all the sites recommended, I found it the easiest to grasp.

It took me a few hours, but once I had an idea of how it worked, my schematic went pretty well.

View attachment 729105

I've been playing with it. I guess it will take awhile to become proficient enough at it to make my diagram. Is there a way to download the program ? Or do you have to buy it to do that ?

 

[clinto]

I've been playing with it. I guess it will take awhile to become proficient enough at it to make my diagram. Is there a way to download the program ? Or do you have to buy it to do that ?

You can't download the program, but you can download your diagram. I'm using it as the free version, I don't do a lot of schematics, so I don't wanna' pay if I don't have to. Maybe the paid version allows you to download the software, but I doubt it. It's probably just more capability in the paid version.

Create a log-in / username on their site, then go here: https://www.digikey.com/schemeit/project/

You can work on your file, save it then go back a week later. I can't remember what I did to create the file, if I printed it or what.

It took me several hours of screwing around with it (I'm not CAD proficient) but once I grasped it, I created it pretty quickly.

I'm going to print the finished schematic out, laminate it and put it inside my box I'm building.

 

[rustystud]

You can't download the program, but you can download your diagram. I'm using it as the free version, I don't do a lot of schematics, so I don't wanna' pay if I don't have to. Maybe the paid version allows you to download the software, but I doubt it. It's probably just more capability in the paid version.

Create a log-in / username on their site, then go here: https://www.digikey.com/schemeit/project/

You can work on your file, save it then go back a week later. I can't remember what I did to create the file, if I printed it or what.

It took me several hours of screwing around with it (I'm not CAD proficient) but once I grasped it, I created it pretty quickly.

I'm going to print the finished schematic out, laminate it and put it inside my box I'm building.

View attachment 729309View attachment 729308View attachment 729310View attachment 729311View attachment 729312

Looking real good !