Making a faster fossil, or how I ruined my winter.

That diff reminds me of something.

Back when I worked at Eglin in the heavy equipment shop we had a scraper come in.  Apparently the operator was driving down into one of the sand pits on a grade with a load of sand and he downshifted to slow down.  Things went boom and he grenaded the entire differential, the case, the housing, the axles, ring gear, everything was broken.  The third member was roughly the size of a 4.3L V6

One of these bad boys https://www.cat.com/en_US/products/new/equipment/wheel-tractor-scrapers/coal-bowl-scrapers/17745920.html

In reply to Mr_Asa :

I started my career doing heavy duty and I quickly realized that fixing cars involved much smaller components, and less lying on your back in the mud so I switched.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

That was the good thing about Eglin, we never left the shop so I never laid in mud.  I did remove about 100-200lbs of hydraulic fluid soaked sand from a D7H dozer once, operators never opened the belly plates when they cleaned it.

And I always liked the larger components.  Never ever had to worry about a bolt snapping.

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

Ah sharkbite "style" got it :)

Took advantage of a sunny Saturday to load out what was left of the Freightliner. $417.00 in scrap. Not bad!

That’s a heck of a view from the shop sir.   

11GTCS said:

That’s a heck of a view from the shop sir.   

Second that in a heart beat!!!   Looking at this, is there any concern with the front axle being  able to handle the new bullet weight wise? 

Well thank you! But the better view is out the front window.

In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Partidario) :

I have about 700 pounds of room on the steer axle so I am hoping to get close. One advantage to moving the engine back is that the transmission weight will transfer toward the back. But the first trip across the scale will tell me...

In reply to bearmtnmartin :

I want to retire as your neighbor 

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

I am six minutes from town but I don't actually have any neighbors. Just fields.

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael (Forum Supporter) :

The West cost sucks. Don't move here.

It rains 13 months of the year.

In reply to ShawnG :

We are actually considering a move to Creston in two years. In many ways (busyness mostly) the Fraser Valley is no longer the best place in BC to live.

Creston is nice, I've been through a few times.

Langley is getting to be a zoo. It's really changed in the 10 years we've been here.

The wife unit and I really like Princeton but the golden handcuffs are keeping me right here for the forseeable future.

In reply to ShawnG :

Looked at Princeton too. Still haven't ruled it out but nothing much comes up there as the pool of private homes and property is pretty small.

Tell me about your Quonset Condom. Is that external insulation? Water proofing? Both?

In reply to buzzboy :

I have partially insulated it. I put a layer of heavy greenhouse poly under the cover for an air gap, and I have been adding insulation to the inside as I come across it cheaply. Some is Styrofoam and some is Fiberglas.  It was always supposed to be a temporary shelter until I had the money for a proper stick frame shop but it is so darn good that I kind of put off the proper one permanently. It is extremely air tight and I have a big forced air propane furnace hanging from the roof that heats it up in about five minutes.  

Been busy figuring out the front frame and engine mount. I had planned to slide the new section of frame into the old one, but I realized that would leave the front engine mount (bracket under the crank balancer) too high. So I hung it underneath instead which will get me quite close to where I want to be. 

I reused a lot of the 5/8 bolts and jam nuts I saved from the Freightliner and also two brackets that worked very nicely. I mounted the frame to two large Bluebird brackets at the front that were used to attach the hydraulic leveling jacks and also the webbing of the front air suspension.

The Bluebird frame is slightly wider than the Freightliner was, which is a bonus because it will give me room to build some plates to move the rear engine mounts lower. In the Freightliner the engine saT well above the frame for simplicity but I have dropped it 8 inches for better handling on tight tracks like Monaco.

I will have to fill this front gap with some plate as well.

In other news I found a cable shifter from a K100 cabover Kenworth which will take care of my shifting problem. Nice tidy little shifter to go up on the dash somewhere.

That is looking fantastic 

Quoting bearmtnmartin -

... but I have dropped it 8 inches for better handling on tight tracks like Monaco.

You sir win the internet today with this comment.

I love this thread.

It's like big-rig Lego!

I watched a friend convert a 60’s International dump truck from a 549 CI gas V8 with a 5 speed main / 4 speed aux transmission to a DT 466 / 13 speed back in the 80’s from a donor truck, I can appreciate the work involved.    You’re doing it Grassroots on steroids!  Love it. 

In reply to 11GTCS :

It is a lot of work, but I am quite enjoying it. 187 hours to date. 

watch your fingers....stay warm.....be safe....and  what are your thoughts  on engine shroud material/execution????

In reply to 759NRNG (Forum Partidario) :

You mean the engine cover? Or doghouse as it is called. Although that will hopefully not be accurate anymore.....Horseshouse maybe.

Anyway I will make something out of steel but to be decided. I am not sure what the dash will look like yet.