Mraps on the front

[ALFA2]

Those are great looking wheels on that Deuce !
ALFA2

 

[bones1]

Thanks, was a bit of work but worth it.

 

[mdmorgan]

No power steering, the wife says power steering is for sissys, anyone who has met my wife knows she has no problems handleing a deuce off road. As far as air pressures, I think we ended up at 35 in the fronts and 25 in the rears. It is touchy going down the road, will address that when we start bobbing it. Didn't mean to hi-jack your thread.

 

[m-35tom]

when you say camber you must mean caster. camber is not abjustable. caster CAN be changed, i had to simply reverse the upper spring mounts on mine to get enough caster so the steeering would return to straight after a turn when i added PS. usually with manual steering you want less caster so it will steer easier. TOE is what causes wander, if you have it too close to 0 or toed out a little it will go all over the place. with that big of a tire you probably want at least 3/8" toe in measured at the tread, i run my 14.5R20's at 1/4". my PS kit will clear 395s on HEMMT wheels, better with bolt on but ok with weld in. what is the difference in offset?

tom

 

[bones1]

I did mean caster Tom. What is the commonly used procedure for measuring toe in on a deuce?

 

[m-35tom]

since i do this by myself, i put a screw in the tread of each tire at the axle level. you can then hook a tape measure on one screw and measure to the other. then roll the truck so screws are at axle level on other side of axle and measure again. instant results.

 

[bones1]

Thanks, that' simple.

 

[peashooter]

since i do this by myself, i put a screw in the tread of each tire at the axle level. you can then hook a tape measure on one screw and measure to the other. then roll the truck so screws are at axle level on other side of axle and measure again. instant results.

I did the same thing but rather than screws I just stapled into the centerpoint of the tire, it gave enough of an edge for the tape measure to catch on and pulled out easy when I was done.

 

[bones1]

Thanks, that' simple.What kind of staple, t50 from a gun, electrical staple?.Or was that just a stupid question on my part?.

 

[peashooter]

Thanks, that' simple.What kind of staple, t50 from a gun, electrical staple?.Or was that just a stupid question on my part?.

Yes, just a t-50 staple gun is what I used. You just want to put the staple in about 23" up from the ground on each tire which should be your axle centerline with these 46" tires, measure across to the other wheel's staple and record it, then roll it forward/backward until the staples are again 23" off the ground and measure across again.Take the measurements and subtract the front one from the back one and thats what you are at. .... at this point I guess its up for debate what the best toe in would be for these wheels. I measured mine this summer on the NDT and it was about 1/8"

 

[bones1]

Excellent. As usual, you are a great help to the folks on here. By the way, your wheel adapters are working perfectly, good job engineering them.Did you have to do the caster mod to stop the swaying, I will start on that this morning.
Good day sir.

 

[bones1]

Finished the caster modification this morning, took about 3.5 hours and I believe I have a different truck!.Immediate results are
1. 80% better driveability, the swaying is down to a minimum but still does it on a country crowned road. I can steer with one hand, could not do that yesterday.
2. The steering wheel returns nicely as it should
3. Turning these big tires seems to take less effort?.
I measured the toe later as per Peashooters method and arrived at 1/2 in of toe in.Is that too much for MRAPS on a Deuce?.
Perhaps some tire pressure changes, presently at 55 front and 45 rears, and if the toe needs to be set less than 1/2 in, I can dial it in some more.

 

[peashooter]

Excellent. As usual, you are a great help to the folks on here. By the way, your wheel adapters are working perfectly, good job engineering them.Did you have to do the caster mod to stop the swaying, I will start on that this morning.
Good day sir.

Hi Bones, thanks for the kind words. I actually am a bit behind you. I honestly havent even driven the truck with the wheels yet. Originally had sold my own adapter plates so it took a while before I had some for me again. Other than that I was slowly collecting tools & parts (big torque wrench, 3" axle socket, bearing packer, inner & outer hub seals) for hub flip that I finally just got that done last week. Glad I did it too since I found I had 3 bad seals and 2 brake drums that were covered in grease inside, and one other one that was wet with oil. I never thought the brakes felt good before and this would probably explain why they didnt. I think I used more brake cleaner on this one project that I have in my entire life.... easily 10 cans. A couple cans into the project I decided to stop wasting brake cleaner and use gasoline to pre-clean the drums & hubs. I bought one of those torque multipliers to get the stock wheels off, what a great tool!
I havent done the caster mod yet. I've been following all the threads I can find on it however. Did you end up going with gringeltaube's recommendation of taking 5/32" off the spot shown on his drawing? Or did you do more/less? Did you just end up grinding it off or machining? Thanks for doing all the hard work here so I/we can learn from your labor
I'll try to look up some threads on what people have found for toe in recomendations.

 

[bones1]

My brakes were covered in grease and oil as well last year when I replaced them. The insides of the wheel cylinders were full of rust pudding so I replaced all the wheel cylinders, shoes, seals and rubber hoses front and rear as well. Added a remote reservoir while at it. The most difficult part of the brake job was adjusting the shoes and they still need to be a little tighter. On the spring perches I removed all the front metal flush with the center locating notch with an angle grinder and finished up with a bench grinder and file for flatness. Removed about 0.1875 or less from each perch. Since the axle is dimensionally rough from one side to the other, the caster will be a little different on each side. If someone had access to machining equipment, hint, hint, a nice set of cnc machined spring perches, not using the old ones but new material,properly angled and ready to bolt on would go well with your adapters.
Good day sir.

 

[dstang97]

If someone had access to machining equipment, hint, hint, a nice set of cnc machined spring perches, not using the old ones but new material,properly angled and ready to bolt on would go well with your adapters.
Good day sir.[/QUOTE]


lol

 

[peashooter]

On the spring perches I removed all the front metal flush with the center locating notch with an angle grinder and finished up with a bench grinder and file for flatness. Removed about 0.1875 or less from each perch. Since the axle is dimensionally rough from one side to the other, the caster will be a little different on each side. If someone had access to machining equipment, hint, hint, a nice set of cnc machined spring perches, not using the old ones but new material,properly angled and ready to bolt on would go well with your adapters.
Good day sir.

Bones, I gave this some thought after your message but just couldnt think of any good way to make new correctly angled (or adjustable) perches for a price reasonable enough to entice folks to buy verses just getting the grinder out or buy the shim kits. But you did motivate me to add this as an option for people: http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?98220-MRAP-ADAPTER-PLATES-to-fit-395-85r20-10-Lug-MRAP-Wheels-to-Deuce-2-Styles-Prices&p=1266176&viewfull=1#post1266176

 

[m-35tom]

i think you may find that each truck has it's own issues. the way the old springs has settled has something to do with the change is caster over a new truck. i had to simply swap the perches side to side which reversed them. (with new holes for the locating pin i think) it took that much change to get the steering to return to center.

 

[bigbird1]

My brakes were covered in grease and oil as well last year when I replaced them. The insides of the wheel cylinders were full of rust pudding so I replaced all the wheel cylinders, shoes, seals and rubber hoses front and rear as well. Added a remote reservoir while at it. The most difficult part of the brake job was adjusting the shoes and they still need to be a little tighter. On the spring perches I removed all the front metal flush with the center locating notch with an angle grinder and finished up with a bench grinder and file for flatness. Removed about 0.1875 or less from each perch. Since the axle is dimensionally rough from one side to the other, the caster will be a little different on each side. If someone had access to machining equipment, hint, hint, a nice set of cnc machined spring perches, not using the old ones but new material,properly angled and ready to bolt on would go well with your adapters.
Good day sir.

did you take .187 from the high side? I found about .140 takes you back to level on my set. It drives great now, still a slight bit of play in the wheel, but its a truck not a BMW.

 

[bones1]

Yes sir, from the high side. A little play in the wheel as well but this is a 1940's steering design.

 

[peashooter]

Two for the front and one for the center rear axle I understand to stop the skipping and hopping when turning

Hey Bones,
How do you put a lockout on the center axle? Have you found any threads on this? I never questioned it until I actually flipped my hubs and pulled the rear axles. After seeing them I dont know how a lockout would mount, I assume you must need a new axle shaft right? Just curious