What Did You Do In The Garage Today?

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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 :eek:. 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.

My '96 F150 has a redhead. It made a difference.
 
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.
 
Got back into the garage last night. What did I do? Sweat. Jesus it was muggy last night in the 10 minutes I was out there getting guns together for today's meet up
 
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.


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.

I tried trading it on a 2005 and the guy wouldn't even give me $8k, and anything remotely newish is still $40k. So cheaper to turn some wrenches.

And the boys learn something, or im hoping they are
 
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

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Second and third passes.

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Next up was to install the new gussets to the receiver socket and 1" plate.


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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.
 
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.

Sounds like you've "been there, done that"!

I'm fortunate to have a Hougen mag drill. I used it with an annular cutter for most of the holes, but there were a few on the frame where it was too big to fit in (unless I wanted to remove all of the back wheels/tires - forget that!) The others were done with a Milwaukee 28V cordless drill, some high quality uber-sharp drill bits and a 4' long lever behind it. Went surprisingly fast.

I machined a drill bit bushing that fit into snugly into the angle iron and centered the bit. Where the bracket bolted up in the three existing holes, it worked great for centering the 4th hole up exactly with the bracket for the pilot hole.

Drill bushing.jpg
 
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.

Sent from my LM-Q710.FG using Tapatalk
 
20200626_073102.jpg 20200703_103703.jpg This has been an 8 day project.

Started last Thursday when I went to northern Pennsylvania to pick it up for a friend. Got back Friday evening, started stripping it Saturday. Little by little it came along.

Finally sprayed epoxy primer then 1 1/2 gallons of Raptor bedliner




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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.

Sent from my LM-Q710.FG using Tapatalk

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.

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?


Oh, and we know all to well to skip the 6.4. Lol

No kidding, yet the 6.0 still gets the bad rep thats known by all.
 
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.


Still running the pmax, was thinking of upgrading the wheel for better response though.

Need to buy a new monitor first though, looks like my insight egt finally died, it wont even find the pid anymore. Guess i got my money's worth out of that.

Still running the mild non-studded tunes i got years ago from innovative,
 
I went to our new property and took my Xterra down a big hill that we cleared for ATVs. Was heading down to put a game cam up by the crossing and didn't want to walk down and get raped by chiggers. The woods decided to pull the lower plastic bumper cover off of the Xterra as a toll.
iOTqPEo.jpg

I did some cleaning up of the wires, tabs, and fender flaps on the front end and got to a hold position. I guess I have to learn how to weld and bend pipe for the new bumper that it is going to get soon. I'll be cutting the flats with our 1000w CO2 laser at work. Will pick up a harbor freight cheapy pipe bender soon.
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CHRIS
 
On the kitchen table, rebuilt my Craftsman 1/4" ratchet with a kit off ebay. Could have traded it in at Sears for a ChiCom tool, no thanks.
 
Built and wired up a power point for me lawnmower- so I can maybe run an electric pole saw from a 400watt inverter. Have to do the gazintas...
Also as temp power for the new bug sprayer...



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Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
I have a pull behind sprayer that had alligator clips to hook to the battery of the mower. I drilled a hole on the back plate of my mower and installed a mini turnlok receptacle in the hole. I wired the receptacle to the battery and added a toggle switch on the dash. I cut the alligator clips off the wire and installed a mini turnlok plug. Now I hook the sprayer to the mower, plug the plug into the receptacle and use the toggle switch to turn it on and off.

I'm planning to do the same set up on my 4 wheeler so I can use the sprayer in the mountains.
 
Bought some capacitors yesterday for my cruise control module, said module is behind the glovebox. Well, it's not getting done by tomorrow night, so today I put the glove box back on, cleaned the car out fully (minus the iphone I keep for music, will still have an hour drive there and back)

My buddy Jeppo is loaning me a gopro tomorrow, might buy one too, but Im getting everything set for this Friday's track day!!
 
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
 
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
 
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