Patracy's "SEMTT"

[patracy]

Winter is coming. Weather good enough to work outside!

Yup, that's another direction Soni and I differ in. Summer time is not the time in Georgia to be wrenching outside LOL. I typically will get started with a sweater, but after an hour or so I'm down to a t-shirt when it's "cold" here.

 

[Danger Ranger]

Slow and steady Patracy, it'll come along eventually.

Everything looks great so far. Almost kinda nice to see I haven't missed too much in a thread for once! lol.

 

[patracy]

Well, not really an update. But I suspect more progress will start being made now. Today was bittersweet all around. My Son's bowl game ended up being a loss, so their season is over. I'll now have my weekends free again as well as three afternoons a week. But it really stinks because if they'd have won this one they could have rode out the rest of the bowl games and ended with a winning season.

Tomorrow I plan on addressing the fenders. Perhaps I'll get the air cleaner mounted and plumbed in as well.

 

[patracy]

I guess I planned a bit more than I accomplished. But I did get the fenders fabbed and mounted. I was going to use the steel intake pipe I have, but honestly I think I'm going to use PVC drain pipe instead. I can be a lot more flexible with the intake design that way. And then when I turbo the truck, I can easily build a new intake cheaply. I managed to snap my last 1/4" drill bit today as well, so I have a few more holes to drill. I'm also going to re-purpose the 939 series fenders to finish up the tail of the fenders.

 

[m16ty]

After watching your and Soni's threads, it amazes me how much frame space you gain by going with a cab forward design.

 

[papabear]

I guess I planned a bit more than I accomplished. But I did get the fenders fabbed and mounted. I was going to use the steel intake pipe I have, but honestly I think I'm going to use PVC drain pipe instead. I can be a lot more flexible with the intake design that way. And then when I turbo the truck, I can easily build a new intake cheaply. I managed to snap my last 1/4" drill bit today as well, so I have a few more holes to drill. I'm also going to re-purpose the 939 series fenders to finish up the tail of the fenders.

Dammitman!!! That thing just looks outstanding!! Can I have it?

 

[patracy]

Again, less progress than I hoped. I did get the exhaust tended to. The factory pipe wouldn't work like I needed it to. So I ended up using some flex pipe and band clamps to make the transition I needed. I also got the air cleaner housing mounted up top and the "mushroom" on it. I ran out of daylight this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll try to wander next door to the plumber and see about making an intake tube. I started hacking up the stock 931 fenders I had laying around, but they're just not going to lay out like I want. I'll just fab some out of sheetmetal instead.

 

[73m819]

Again, less progress than I hoped. I did get the exhaust tended to. The factory pipe wouldn't work like I needed it to. So I ended up using some flex pipe and band clamps to make the transition I needed. I also got the air cleaner housing mounted up top and the "mushroom" on it. I ran out of daylight this afternoon. Tomorrow I'll try to wander next door to the plumber and see about making an intake tube. I started hacking up the stock 931 fenders I had laying around, but they're just not going to lay out like I want. I'll just fab some out of sheetmetal instead.

That IS always the way projects go, it is a pleasant surprise when things go as planned and even a better surprise if things go better then planned.

 

[M920]

Looks great 'patracy'! I'm glad to see that you are back on the project....I know it can get frustrating somtimes when undertaking a huge project, and things don't progress quite as fast as we would like them to, but I also know that you are going to be very happy with the truck when you get it all done.

Soni

 

[patracy]

Only a little accomplished today in 4hrs. I found an old section of pipe and cleaned it up (inside with soap and water) Cut it to fit and cleaned up the inside of the other elbows. Got the air filter plumbed in now. Just need to plumb in the filter minder and plug off the starting fluid port. I also got the rest of the fenders fabbed and mounted. Got half of the battery box mounted as well. Need to fab a bracket for the other half. Once that's done, I can wire the batts back in. Then it's off to mounting and plumbing the hyd. Then finish securing the frame. Then it'll be pretty much punch list of cleaning things up and prepping for paint.

 

[M920]

Looking good....like it was made for that location....

Soni

 

[marchplumber]

Another step forward! How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! Keep up the amazing work!
God bless,
Tony

 

[patracy]

Work is starting to crank up for a Dec 1 go live. So I've only been able to pick at it a little here and there. But I'm happy to say, I'm ready for fluids. The hyds are plumbed for the crane. I'll get the batts wired back in this weekend and get everything ready for a restart and fluid top off. I've also drained the water earlier this week from the block. (Was just testing the radiator with water to start with) I'll get that topped back off as well. I've still got to address the fuel tank valve. I haven't exactly decided the approach I want to take on it. I was thinking about designing a secondary heated fuel system for alternative fuels. But honestly, this truck has always been on diesel fuel. So I might just make a transfer pump setup like my M543A2 has.

 

[patracy]

Well here's some crappy night time cell phone pics. Hydraulics kicked my butt today. The pump I have was a left hand rotation vane pump. The output of the PTO spins right hand (clockwise going into the pump). Since I had nothing to loose, I took the pump back off the truck. I tore it down and reversed the center plate. That allowed the pump to flow correctly then. I buttoned it all back up and reinstalled it. The hydraulics worked correctly then. So now the crane is secured to the deck. Tomorrow if weather allows in the AM, I'll get a pic of the crane extended. I've gotta locate a deuce bed now as I want some sort of bed module to install on it for "bobtailing". I'm getting closer now to having things ready to start prepping for paint and detailing here and there.

 

[M920]

Wow! It is really coming together nicely, sorry to hear about your pump. Good thing you know how to fix the problem!
I can't wait to see some good daytime pics with the crane in action.
Just curious though, do you have enough room in your front fenders to clear the tires, even when one is fully articulated up?
It just looks like they are really close....
Anyway, GREAT WORK!!... and keep the pics coming.....

 

[patracy]

Front fender clearance might be an issue at full stuff. But there's only supports on the front and rear of the fender, not at all in the path. The sides of the fenders are 90* with a 2" overhang. There's about 5" of clearance in there as it sits. I'm 2" to the bumpstops as it sits. I'm also considering buying another couple of front leaf packs and adding a couple of leafs depending on how it rides.

 

[patracy]

Went ahead and bought the speedo tonight as well. I can put the dash back together once and for all with that. It doesn't exactly match all the other gauges. But at least it's a speedo that works and works on 24v.

http://andytach.com/shop2/index.php/gps-speedometer/atach-gps-speedometer-35.html

 

[73m819]

NICE, how much for the GPS speedo

 

[patracy]

NICE, how much for the GPS speedo

$190 shipped. Wish I coulda found a speedo cable long enough to use the stock speedo though.

 

[patracy]

My cell phone is still taking some crappy pics. Anyhow, here's a day time photo with the crane extended sorta. (I could angle it up more and there's a manual extension if I wanted) Unfortunately since I had to put a 5" spacer on the frame, the outriggers no longer touch the ground on my setup. I've got some heavy wall tubing I could possibly extend them with. But I'm thinking about just getting some large oak blocks cut and use them to fine tune as needed. I put the davit crane back on it too. Since I'm just going to strap the spare to the mast, it can also help in the event the there's a crane failure. I started dorking with the grinder and wire brush on the crane. I think I'm just going to have it sand blasted.