52” Michelins

[CliffW]

The brother did a few mod’s to his $400 deuce 52” Michelins tires and hydraulic steering from a forklift. works sweet.

BTW he is 6'6"

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

SWEET! How much did he move the rear axles? Looks to be a foot, at least.

 

[gimpyrobb]

Got any better pics of the front axle and the ram's mounting points?

 

[jeli]

Was that truck on Ebay a while back? The bed looks familiar.

 

[doghead]

Re: RE: 52” Michelins

Was that truck on Ebay a while back? The bed looks familiar.

 

[sermis]

RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

I would like to see more on the steering mod's also.

 

[CliffW]

RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

Yes it was on ebay a guy bought it and then sold it to my brother for $400. He wanted to lift one and the price was right so he lifted it. He took a forklift steering shaft a hydraulic orbital valve and a chevy power steering pump and a hydraulic ram and made it up. He lifted the it 8” and spread the rear wheels 9”. I will go by on the way home and get some more pic’s. I would have took more but camera went dead yesterday.

 

[bigmike]

RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

Looks like he is putting on a fresh coat of black paint.

I'd like to see more regarding the steering mods. That looks like a nice steering mod. set-up.

 

[CliffW]

RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

He was painting he just wanted to put some color on it for today new years day about 300-500 trucks hit a mud and have fun. You can steer it with one finger it steers sweet. I will get some good pics and post them.

 

[M1075]

RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

There are a lot of 4x4 vehicles with hydraulically steered 2.5 ton axles. I have such a setup on my rockcrawler Jeep CJ. It works great for turning the huge tires offroad, but not too good for road use. Streering response can be an issue, not to mention the safety challenges you might encounter when you don't have a manual steering linkage in case something fails.

 

[Big Mike's Motor Pool]

Re: RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

There are a lot of 4x4 vehicles with hydraulically steered 2.5 ton axles. I have such a setup on my rockcrawler Jeep CJ. It works great for turning the huge tires offroad, but not too good for road use. Streering response can be an issue, not to mention the safety challenges you might encounter when you don't have a manual steering linkage in case something fails.

my big truck is like that. you can crank the wheel all the way and spin donuts in the mud with no hands. full hydraulic usually has no return to center valve made into it. it makes steering almost effortless though, i like it

 

[therbert]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

Couldn't you use an assist that still has the linkage. Aslo how did you move the rears father appart. Do they make longer links?

 

[hot rod deuce]

RE: Re: RE: Re: RE: 52” Michelins

Nice work, now we have two of us one here!

thebert, Im guessing he made longer links like I had to do.

Do you have any pic's up close? I kinda wana see how he did it. Maybe we think alike.....

Do you drive it on the high way?

 

[therbert]

I was thinking of modding the suspension to a 4 link by adding the missing passenger side link. Then removing the springs and adding air bags. Wouldn't cost much and would improve the ride 10 fold.

Take a look at the pic I uploaded and then go look at your truck. They are very simular and could be upgraded easily. The top two bars are connected to raplace the diagonal link that would normally be used to keep the axle centered.

Then I saw his truck with the 52's and said I need that. The question is how to safely extend the bottom bars. I could machine them easily if people were intrested. This way they would be contigious.

Here is a link to the company that makes these suspensions ( There is a cool video)
http://www.hendrickson-intl.com/products/product_detail/htb.asp

What are you thoughts?

 

[hot rod deuce]

I made all new arms and pressed out the rubber bushings and pushed them in the new ones. its was not that hard.

Keep in mind I am not this guy in the post, I put the 52's on my 2 1/2 ton about 3 years ago.

When you make it 4 link triangulate the top links so you dont need the pan hard bar.
Where you run into problems is the tube under the drive shaft between the two rear axles, right now when one axle goes up one goes down, so the shaft does not move in the middle, rather it pivots over the tube. When you ditich the walking beam both axles can go down. So that tube needs to go

 

[therbert]

Is this something you thought about doing also?

 

[FreightTrain]

Well,that truck is not Road legal anymore.If he got pulled over by a cop and they knew anything he would be walking.Straight Hydro Steering is illegal for on the road use.Dangerous cause if a line blows you have NO steering.Hydro assist you still have Super Armstrong steering for last ditch steering.

 

[hot rod deuce]

yes, I have been thinking ALOT about suspension we could talk for hours but we better not hi-jack this thread, you could start a new one.

Freight Train, He may also have a mechanical link I cant see in the pic's but yes, in Minnesota any way it would not be street legal.

 

[FreightTrain]

But,For it to be illegal,you gotta get caught!

 

[ucfjeeper]

I'd like to find some 52" tires as well. Anyone know where I can find some with rims for a decent price?