Just need some gear oil and brake fluid
Now I'll get the front done in about 6yrs or so. Lol
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So much cooler than anything I've done recently.
I've had my rear end out of my jeep twice this year and the transfer case once. All done on the ground. Not fun... not fun...Be a lot cooler in a garage with a 4 post lift
I've had my rear end out of my jeep twice this year and the transfer case once. All done on the ground. Not fun... not fun...
Sitting 4" higher now, the 17's look funnyView attachment 227425
Not at all, still need to rip the front out
Time for 35's
Were the I-beams on yours coil or leaf sprung?
We loaded up my 35's off the dulley tonight, 9 years old . New shoes going on tomorrow, back to a respectable 255/85r16 rather than 35x12.5s on 6" wheels.
Coils up front, the chassis i bought came with 20s and they're going on (just stock size, them 35s are too pricey), once the front axle gets swapped in.
Need to order some more parts though, no sense in not slapping in a redhead while i have easy access to the pump.
Coils up front, the chassis i bought came with 20s and they're going on (just stock size, them 35s are too pricey), once the front axle gets swapped in.
Need to order some more parts though, no sense in not slapping in a redhead while i have easy access to the pump.
Gotcha. I've thought about swapping mine out as well. My steering is horrible but I think the 35-38psi pressures upfront are more to blame than anything. We'll see tomorrow I reckon. Looking forward to MUCH better fuel mileage though. Need to decide if I want to keep the spacers in the rear, don't think I'll HAVE to with the 255s but not sure I want to give up the wider track.
Lots of wrenching ahead this weekend, swap tires, rotate another two sets, 2x oil changes, front and rear brake job on on the 'hoe. I've gotten behind it seems.
My garage project this weekend was wrapping up trailer hitch installations on a new (to me) farm truck.
A couple of months ago I purchased a Class 7 tractor to use for my farm. It's an '06 Sterling with a Detroit Series 60 12.7 liter engine (455 hp / 1440 ft. lbs of torque) and was bought new by Conway Transportation.
My long term plan is to build a steel flat bed for it with several tool boxes, but before I get to that point I need to be able to use it for towing various farm trailers.
Recently I fabricated and installed a gooseneck hitch for it, and also a Reese type receiver hitch on the back.
Knowing that it was not a good idea to weld directly to a modern truck frame, the gooseneck hitch was designed to be a bolt in. I started with a generic kit from B&W Turnover Ball hitches, and went from there. The B&W kit consisted of a 1/2" steel top plate with a ball socket welded into it. The bottom side of the plate had four 1/2" gussets welded to it.
My plan was to weld this 1/2" plate to a 1" x 8" steel plate that I had laying around in the scrap pile. The 1" plate had been a support plate on a large forklift mast, and had a bend in it on each side. First thing was to cut the plate to length and remove the bends, drill each end of the plate for 5/8" mounting bolts and torch a hole in the middle for the ball socket.
We also had to remove the 1/2" gussets from the ball socket, and replaced them with some angle iron gussets - effectively doubling the support. Here is the plate after drilling mounting holes and oxy-propane cutting the hole for the ball socket. Also shown is the B&W plate/socket with the gussets removed.
View attachment 226324
Next up was to weld the 1/2" plate to the 1" plate and install the new angle iron gussets. All of the welding processes utilized Lincoln Ultracore 71c dual shield wire in .045 with pure CO2 gas.
Clamped for tacking
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First pass
View attachment 226326
Second and third passes.
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Next up was to install the new gussets to the receiver socket and 1" plate.
View attachment 226328
My design is based upon bolting 1/2" thick x 6" angle iron to the frame rails, and then the 1" plate with the gooseneck receiver bolts to the angle. I removed three of the factory bolts that hold the 5th wheel and shock mounts to the frame, and replaced them with grade 8 bolts and steel locknuts. I had to drill an additional mounting hole through the frame for the angle irons so that I would have four bolts holding it on each side. Note - the bolts in the photo were for mock up. Final bolts were longer and had lock nuts installed.
View attachment 226329
Here is the finished product.
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And the truck with one of the farm trailers attached.
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As part of the process I had to relocate the control valve for the air suspension. The new position required a significantly shorter connecting rod, so rather than make it fixed I opted to machine a turnbuckle so that I could adjust the suspension height.
View attachment 226332
Drilling the frame for the relocated suspension control valve bracket, and additional hole for the hitch bracket was not exactly a fun thing to do, but went faster than I expected.
View attachment 226333
Once the truck was back in service I removed the rear cross member and fabricated a Reese style insert hitch for it, also using the 1/2" x 6" angle for mounting brackets.
The trailer pulls well, and I am not worried about the hitch coming apart. Next up in terms of major projects is to have the clutch replaced in the truck and an engine problem diagnosed. It goes in to Piedmont Truck Center in Greensboro tomorrow night for troubleshooting and repair. Once I get it back I'll start moving forward with the flat bed project.
It's expense for one time use, but the Slugger by Jancy/Fein makes putting holes in frames almost pleasant. FTL/Sterling/Western Star frames are probably the most inconsistent metal in existence. One hole, five minutes and two bits, next hole 4" away 20 seconds, done hundreds maybe thousands.
I like that leveling valve link, no worrying of the normal rubber ends slipping and having bags pop off pedestals.
Changed oil and filter in the ZT mower, and then put some new rear shocks on the Optima. I had dropped my car off for service (oil & filter, tire rotation). They called and said I had a busted shock in the rear, as it was leaking the oil out and running down the shock. Asked them how much to replace since they had it already.......$754.00. Holy jeebus, no thanks. Bought two new Monroe OE replacements for $125.00, and did it in an hour. Saved mucho denero.
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Lol, I'd been lucky to get a reach around.I assume that included lube
I really have done nothing to this truck (other than routine maintenance and semi- bullet proofing) since I bought it in 2009. Its just been a rock solid reliable truck.
Oh, and we know all to well to skip the 6.4. Lol
Mine has been fine since I stopped treating it like a top fuel dragster. Race tunes wound up costing me ALOT more than that $75 email attachment. I love the truck, the first few years were just VERY expensive.
Anyway, new shoes on. Rides and handles 100% better, steering is night/day difference, and I can tell there's a lot less load on the engine. Going to try some of my old tunes soon with the new tires, hopefully I can get my EGTs down a bit, cruising at 60-65 I've been staying around 850* running Looney. You still running a Powermax?
No kidding, yet the 6.0 still gets the bad rep thats known by all.
Blue top makes nice boxes for sure. Cheaper than a redhead and nicer i think.
Garage is work for me, today I almost wrapped up a “disaster” kit on a 6.7 powerstroke. (Cp4 failure) kit includes new cp4, injectors, all metal hard lines, Fuel rails, fuel cooler, both filters. Also added a s&s cp4 bypass to save this fella some $$ next time the cp4 pump fails
Somebody took out a mortgage for that
Wow, learned something new today, always walk away a little smarter after visiting CFF.Right at 9k...nothing cheap about diesels.