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Author Topic: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]  (Read 203581 times)

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Offline KensAuto

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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #200 on: December 04, 2014, 08:31:21 PM »
After cutting away the jounce bumper mounting cup, I wasn't happy, so those feelings of incompleteness would lead to more sawing, blown circut breakers and over-heated tools!

After experimenting with the air bag placement I decided to flip the bottom plate to keep it away from Shawn's U-bolt flop plate and all it's massiveness.

Not done with that gem either me thinks...




This was the point where the itch got to me. I kept thinking about that gaudy mount part just ah'hangin there so I decided to overheat my saw again. After just one of those pieces, it was smoking as much as the steel I was sawing through!


The pile of parts being removed is growing larger...


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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #201 on: December 04, 2014, 08:33:44 PM »
You might have noticed the air bag is rather short, that's because it is!
It was designed for on road vehicles that require additional control when hooking heavy loads.
To make all that work on a pseudo off road truck, something is going to have to move a bit more than those engineers had considered.
The air bag bolts to both mounts, something that will also have to be addressed. With the longer travel shocks I have and the reclocked shock mounts, I have about 4" of stuff and W A Y more droop-out.

So this is how I solved that...I designed a telescoping lower mount.
The air bag will indeed be bolted to one section of the lower mount, while the other part will attach to the axle. I designed it all to allow for all the droop-out I currently enjoy and with plenty of room for future growth.

Here's how it works. A simple set of 3.5" and 3" steel cylinders that fit together without actually touching except on the ends.






Here's just one of the sleeves used to support the air bag at resting height, then another view with the rear of the truck jacked up. You can see, there is another 3-4" of droop-out remaining in the design.




« Last Edit: June 08, 2015, 01:10:52 PM by Flyin6 »
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #202 on: December 04, 2014, 08:39:55 PM »
At this point the little rangers started complaining, wanting pizza, so my time was quickly drawing to a close.
I decided to paint up a couple parts then call it a night


Here's what everything looked like at quitting time:






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Offline KensAuto

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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #203 on: December 04, 2014, 08:41:06 PM »
Quote:
Originally Posted by r*********
Lookin good Don. I'm not doubting your skills but from the looks of the pipe sleeves you are going to be using they look a little on the thin side for my liking. Not saying i'm a engineer or anything...well my job title leads people to think i'm a really one but anyways. When the axle comes up to put pressure on that sleeve and you have your foot on the go go pedal i might be worried that that sleeve might have some lateral pressure against it, causing it to fold? Just me lookin and thinkin. I don't have the whole picture wrapped around my head yet of exactly what your doing also. Just me thinkin.

You make a good point that is actually valid!
Not saying anything about the worthless, side tracking scribble from that DOT on the earlier post, but I'll address this one.

First on strength: I think it is way more than enough to carry the loades which won't be all that much. Remember that the springs are still there doing their spring thing. THis bag will carry maybe 500 pounds, like one seventh of it's design load. I plan to keep it at a lower pressure, probably around 20 pounds. THat will be sufficient to carry lots of extra weight and during the times when the axle extends, as the bag lengthens, the pressure will reduce quickly so that when it is free standing it won't blow itself apart.
Back to the strength. Monoque construction aircraft carry big loads, yet are normally constructed from materials .032" - .040" in thickness. They do that by making the circunference way big.
This material is of a sufficient diameter, (3.5") for the load carrying piece to accomodate what, 10 times the forces it will carry? So, with respect, it is way strong enough.

Robust: I see thickness of the support cylinder more an issue of being somewhat impact resistient. Down there in wheel well land, sometimes things go ah' flyin'
So the material ought to be able to stand up to that, but frankly, needs little more.
Torsional resistance: That is the $64,000 question! Right now we know the rear springs are wrapping and unwinding on hard accleration. Remember the photo of that happening in the driveway?
Well several things are going to come into play here. First is the "mall rattling, tin can sound effect" that the DOT mentioned earlier, which, like him is mostly nonsense! There is enough room in there for some pretty big angular dis-combobulation! Then lets remember all that is connected to
R U B B E R!!!
Which as Mr. GoodYear designed it to do, B E N D S!!!!!!!!
But, having said all that and of course taken some liberth on that hapless DOT member, I do want to do something about all that "Anti-Traction"
(New term there...I believe I can claim it's first use)
I plan to do that with either those new Atlas springs, or a contraption bar, or a combo of both.
So rest easy young man, and DOT's, go bother someone else, I think we's be ah-ight 
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Offline KensAuto

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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #204 on: December 04, 2014, 08:43:12 PM »
Quote:
Originally Posted by stlaser
Maybe coat those cylinders with graphite paint, the stuff they use on grain hoppers. It works well for using between the leaf springs too (hint hint)......

Man we think so much alike!
That's exactly what I was going to use in there.
It's called "Slip Plate" a product sold at the John Deere store


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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #205 on: December 04, 2014, 08:46:03 PM »
OK, let's finish up this air bag install.
It took a lot longer than I anticipated, but doesn't everything on this truck?

I'm just so meticulious that a 5 minute chore turns into a half hour study then another 45 min redesign followed by a 1 hour install. So it went with this "kit"

Anyway, before I even continued on the air bag install, I wanted to do something with the brake lines. I never did like how Fabtech raised everything up to look bad and expose those lines to the elements.

So I started by removing and lowering the upper brake hose to hard line attachment block. I also carefully bent it inward. Before when I jacked up the truck, that action acuually stretched the brake lines. Option 1 was to buy longer lines, but that turned out to be too big a task for two parts guys this morning.
So I applied some Don to it and now it looks different.
Here's stock, and with the line unbolted and bent inward:




I fashioned this weld-em-up bracket to relocate the hard line transition block about where it was hanging



Next I removed all those unnecessary extension (Let's place the brake lines in harm's way) brackets.


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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #206 on: December 04, 2014, 08:48:32 PM »
Next after fitting the lower mount, I sort of liked it, in a pre-modded sort of way.
Without further adieu, I cut the ears off, drilled 4 1/2" holes in the sides of each mount to later rose weld onto the axle pad, then chucked the things onto the floor.






Then they were welded in place




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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #207 on: December 04, 2014, 08:51:45 PM »
If that weld looks like molten steel poured out of the hole, that's because, it did! I had the temp turned way up...I wanted that piece to be strong and trouble free.
Then I turned my attention to the upper brake transition block mount, welding that and painting with the good John Deere stuff.

With the brake lines back where Mr. GM intended them to be, things started to get much more tidy than Mr. Fabtech had thought about.



Next, the bases were bolted to the airbags




I bolted the bags in place then moved them about until they found "home"

THen I traced the outline of the load bearing cylinger onto the lower bracket, then removed the bags.

After some grinding to remove the coating, the inner cylinders were positioned in the middle and welded into place.

Before welding them in place, I shortened them 1/2" to be sure they would not carry any of the load.



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #208 on: December 04, 2014, 08:54:40 PM »


Skipping back and forth between the bags and the brake lines, now was the time to lock all the lines down into place


The air line fittings were installed
They pivot to any angle you need




Jacking up the truck allowed for easier installation of the air bag assembly


The right bag was permanently installed

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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #209 on: December 04, 2014, 09:25:50 PM »
That's a heater hose which is acting as a guard for the semi exposed nylon air line.

The bags will maintain divorced air valves for the moment so I can apply asymetric loading to the rear suspension for fine tuning

The schrader valves went in just above the trailer electrical connection port




Here is the finished installation





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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #210 on: December 04, 2014, 09:27:37 PM »
I started with adding 20psi of air.
That raised the rear nearly 3" !!!!!!!!!!

So I started experimenting with lower pressures


I finally settled in on 10psi in each bag for about 1.5" lift and still some pretty good flex.



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #211 on: December 04, 2014, 09:30:25 PM »
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nmeyer414 View Post
If we only had the ability to design our vehicles the way we want them from the factory? Modding them would be so much easier.

Yea, like we could go to the dealer, then ala-carte the whole thing.
Hmmm, I'll take the diesel, but with two, err, no, three turbos and I'll pass on the tree hugger stuff.
I want a Dana 70 front a dana 92 rear. What, Dana doesn't make a model 92 yet??? Well have them design it and include 2" axles made of kryptonite and be full floating, ah just make it magnetic drive coupling
I'd like 23, naw, make it 36 MPG city and 200MPG highway. I'd like a crawl ratio of 1000:1 in my seven speed manual/auto/convertible trans and a 155mph top end. Let's give me 150 gallons of natural gas, sorry, I'm passing on the actual wet stuff for now, and I'd like to store all of that inside the frame!
Speaking of frames, make mine billet aluminum and please keep the weight under 100 pounds and still meet my MGVW of 30K. Please give me options for tires or tracks and lets lift it 8"
No, sorry, no radiator in this one, figure something out with the LNG, and instead of paint, just cover the entire vehicle with photoviolic solar cells. Could you make those is a star warsey camo pattern please.
Can I pick this up in a couple hours, I'm leaving on that trip around the world in the morning you know and I'll be driving.
Oh did I mention I need it to be amphibious? No, I won't be taking a plane. It is always a pleasure doing business with you, and can we spread the payments out over say 70 years, please keep the cost under a thousand dollars, and zero percent financing...In fact, just contact the energy department to let them know I have a solar cell covered vehicle and get a grant from them for the full amount!
Thank you very much!
« Last Edit: December 05, 2014, 07:44:22 AM by Flyin6 »
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #212 on: December 05, 2014, 09:28:03 AM »
Quote:
Originally Posted by Armalite
Actually, 15 years from now, we will be looking back saying, " Remember when we could buy those diesel trucks? Remember how tough they were? I sure miss the old days when you could mod on them and do what you wanted with YOUR truck that you spend YOUR money on. Now all we have are these coke can bodies with a lawnmower motor and battery back ups..."

15 years from now we're likely to be saying, " I remember when we owned trucks! They weren't part of the collective...Back when the United States existed, before the liberals introduced socialism and the war started we lifed unafraid and free. None of these checkpoints and goverment safe areas we have today. There was no such thing as the wild country where the lawless and the patriots live. We had guns as well! Yes, we actually owned them. And they weren't instruments of war, just things we owned because we liked to...And we had houses. I don't believe there was a single refugee camp, and none of these foreign soldiers always shoving us around, nope, those were the good old days!"
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #213 on: December 05, 2014, 09:32:48 AM »
Well, here's one thing that happened to me:


That would be a 4720
66 horsepower, 60 at the PTO

I went down to look at the 3720 I was buying for the farm, It was a left over 2010 model...
A left over model which had been sitting in the sun for 2-3 years now.
Everything was faded
THey told me it was warrantied and would replace the faded parts
So I started my preflight and ended up with a full page of parts that needed to be replaced.
I offered them to buy the tractor after they replaced everything, or to discount the machine by the cost of parts and labor, or skip it all together
They opted for Door #3
Well we collectively did.
I started really accessing the work required down on the farm and no little anything is going to work down there.
I have about 10,000 cedar trees to take out. Enough actually to actually pay for the farm, at least what I paid for it!
Some of them are 24" and even bigger at the base!
They will make very pricey logs.
So all of that has to be cleared, along with about 30-40 acres of bush-hogging
THe fields now are grown over with 1-2" locust and cedars. I found a cutter, the deere MX-6 which is rated to munch up a 2" tree, so I added that in there
I added the 400X loader and put a 4-1 hydraulic bucket on it.
I'll use the tractor to pick up the tree.
I added a bunch of other stuff to it and ordered the M4 carbine mount for the roll bar.
After buying that I purchased a 9K trailer 6'10" X 18'
I sold all the tundra stuff
I cleaned out the garage, purchased 20 more yards of mulch
And
that is the problem!
They dumped the mulch too close to the garage
And
sadly
THe D-max is mired up to the frame!
I'm afraid, it's lost!
« Last Edit: December 05, 2014, 10:04:48 AM by Flyin6 »
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #214 on: December 05, 2014, 09:36:39 AM »
Quote:
Originally Posted by KensAuto
Be nice to your elders Ash! He has already installed air bags to help with the bumper he's been hauling around for a while now. That thing has to weigh more than a 9k trailer. haha


Posted by Armalite:
I had different thoughts on the air bag theory...

See, he (Don) is starting to realize what a chore it will be to lift that spare tire up and down, or even the fuel/water cans. So, he is having atlas build him a custom set of leaf springs...

Then he installs the air bags...

I bet, at best, he will be able to decompress the bags, thus sitting the rear of the truck at least a foot or two closer to the pavement, via articulating rear springs. This way, he only has to exert a minimal amount of force to lift that spare and fuel/water cans. Almost like a bagged truck, but lifted with bags.

Need to load the spare, need to put that fuel can back into the rack, then simply release the air, lower the rear a few feet, load the spare, or the little rangers into the bed. Now, supply the bags with the required amount of air, and the truck is back at normal riding heights...


Posted by KensAuto:
.....or maybe the tractor will stay on the trailer, which will stay attached to the truck, so that the bucket is right above the spare at all times....vola, instant tire hoist. That would make the airbags part of the tractor-with-tire-in-bucket lower to the ground on command.

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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #215 on: December 05, 2014, 09:37:23 AM »
Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyB
Man the DOT's are relentless this morning..


What I was thinkin...
DOTs...

Ya know, I do something like install a second D-Max engine under the bed and add mag-levitation to the truck and what do I get...???
Silence...
Make one off the subject comment (DOT-like-activity, or DLA)
and I get seventeen more useless cat herding, gay and lesbian, progressive agenda advancin, worthless comments!
...Dots!
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #216 on: December 07, 2014, 10:27:42 AM »
In reference to how many directions this build thread has taken:

Nate,
I took a stab at trying to chart the "Subject flow" here
I think I lost my ability to concentrate about the same time I ran out of ink
How'd I do?
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #217 on: December 07, 2014, 10:36:08 AM »
Pressing forward on the whole Survival Focused Vehicle, SFV, as I now call it, I added to it's capability today with the following items.
It is getting quite heavy so adding on the hi-lift jack was going to add that much weight, but the real problem is that with the system I was planning to use I would start with the 48" jack more than 3/4ths extended. Then if I was jacking the rear wheel, I wonder if it would even lift the wheel off the ground off the ground
So I opted for something unusual, an air bag jack, that could be inflated with compressed air, CO2 or exhaust gases.
Secondly since I will have to ferry fuel down to Big Red on a regular basis, I ordered a handy 5-Pack of those great NATO fuel cans. I think I'll build a fack on the front of the trailer to secure them, then bold down a tool box right in front of all that.
When not hauling tractors and such, I'll transfer those fuel cans all over. I now have 9 of the NATO cans and 1 Blitz which is red and dedicated to gasoline.



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #218 on: December 07, 2014, 10:58:07 AM »
OK, I am also in the middle of relocating things on the truck frame to make room for some coming additions and make the space more useable.
I planned on shortening up the exhaust some and creating a side exit.
I wasn't 100% sure how I would attack it, but thought I'd just mount the muffler as far forward as possible then bring a 4" pipe out the side right in front of the front leaf spring mount. There is a deeply recessed area there that provides some pretty good protection for the pipe and allows one to tuck it up nice and tight.
I am absolutely amazed at how well this turned out! The MBRP pipe has a section which almost bolts in place and literally looks like they intended it to be a side exit tail pipe.
Judge for yourself.

So we begin by getting everything out of there:





With the parts out, I cut off the no longer used muffler mounts which I welded on a year or so ago



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #219 on: December 07, 2014, 11:12:23 AM »
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The removal of the tailpipe really freed up space around back.
Underneath here is the start-build point.





Then in a flash the muffler was repositioned and placed where it would soon call home:


This pipe used to be the "Over the hump" piece that resided above the rear axle.
It is perfect for sliding into the muffler outlet with about 3" of trimming and becoming a tailpipe.
Here's about where it will go:



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #220 on: December 07, 2014, 04:00:42 PM »
To secure the muffler, I bent up a piece of 1/2" steel rod to wrap around and be welded to the muffler and slide into an existing hanger.





MBRP sets up the flared sections of pipe to capture 3.5" of inner pipe, so I marked everything to make sure I was getting full depth:



Some scotchbrite did a great job of cleaning up the mating surfaces. With the muffler clamped in place, the hanger was welded to it to carry the load:




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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #221 on: December 07, 2014, 04:03:31 PM »
With a little of the exit pipe trimmed away the thing slid in the muffler like it was designed to. I noticed it sat about an inch too far aft, so I cut away another inch and got a perfect alignment!
Man I'm liking how this is coming together!





Some more views of how I'm thinking it will fit in there:






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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #222 on: December 07, 2014, 04:06:35 PM »
That looks really close, but it isn't. I have at least an inch everywhere!

Next I considered how to hange this pipe. There was a factory hanger just above the exit! Can you believe that, so I unbolted it, reversed it and rehung it in the factory spot!



Now it started with one rubber dog-bone isolator which could hold the pipe up. I wanted to secure it fore and aft to be sure it wouldn't rattle on anything, so I simply used a second dog-bone isolator on the same mount.
The concept here is to have them opposing each other in orientation, one aft, one forward, and here's how that worked out:




Next came the hanger rods all bent up and looking like they belonged there:






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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #223 on: December 07, 2014, 04:08:51 PM »
Not very long time wise into this project and it is getting done! This was an easy and rewarding project!
I pulled the pipe off to final weld the hangars, and heat the rods and shape them onto the pipe a little better.
Look at all the space that I freed up behind the new tailpipe:





Clean up and paint time.
Everything got wire brushed, wiped with laquer thinner, then given a coat of self etching primer, then a second coat of John Deere Blitz-Black.




These pieces were discarded since they are no longer a part of the plan!
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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #224 on: December 07, 2014, 04:11:12 PM »
Here's a shot of the freshly dried pipe reinstalled






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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #225 on: December 07, 2014, 04:28:49 PM »
I finished the articulating hitch and by all reasoning I think it is a monster. But enough of you had misgivings that I thought I'd buy a Reese 10K plug-in Pintle and weld up a swiveling Lunette and try that as well.
The beauty of the reciever hitch on both the truck and the trailer allows me to use any connecting device I wish.
I had it in there for fit and interference testing.
All I'd say, is that Reese has the thing sticking too far out the back. If I keep it, I'll shove it in a few inches and redrill the hole...should make it stronger as well.




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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #226 on: December 07, 2014, 04:31:30 PM »
Well we pushed the project another couple feet down field today.
I ran into an issue with the articulating hitch...It's darned hard to get fitted into either reciever. THere is some percise formation flying required to get alignment, so I thought I'd develop the pintle concept more.

You boneheads might recall that I purchased that Reese 10,000 lb capacity pintle that slides in the reciever. Well, I liked about a third of that idea.
I liked ease of installation and the pintle thing and the fact that it is black!
I did not like:
1. that it was only rated at 10,000 lbs, same same as my trailer
2. Made in China
3. Doesn't swivel
4. Made in China

With that in mind I went off pintle shopping and came up with a whole cat's arm full of towing stuff just begging for some cuttin' weldin' and modifin'

Here's what I started with this morning:


The Reese pintle has Gator build written all over it, so that's where it is headed

The new pintle is a bolt on thing that is rated at 15 tons or 30,000 pounds or 28,996 royal pounds (Just kidding, there is no such thing, but with our current education system, I could say just about anything and few would notice!

Also cast right into the side of the thing were three of my favorite letters:
U S A, as in made in the USA. Now that made this thing a keeper right off the git-go!





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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #227 on: December 07, 2014, 04:33:04 PM »
You guys may not like the blurry pictures, but I don't care, I do. You see they sync up with my normal near vision (That is to say you could nearly call it vision!)

The pintle mount manufacturers were kind enough to supply me a flange along with a mount, but they had it all welded and forged together. My new friend, Mr. HyperTherm changed all that PDQ
With some cuttin' and generatin' of that smoke that is inside of everything, I had this, the swivel piece part:



Never mind the fly swatter, err, brass hammer, it was just there for me to wonder about.

This is about how it will all fit together:

That inner piece took nearly all of what my 30 ton press could deliver to seat that section reducer and strengthener into the 2" X .250 wall outer tube. Total thickness of the base is right at 1/2" wall!




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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #228 on: December 07, 2014, 04:38:45 PM »
The idea this time is to make the pintle a revolver. I used the same 1" diameter, 8" long grade 8 bolts to provide the swivel mechanism. The multi washers are the slip surfaces and serve to hold everything square and store motorcycle chain lube.
Once I bolted the two parts together, even with substantial guten-tight torque, it all still swiveled...Cool, because if it didn't that would be un-cool!

Then for extra measure I sank a 5/8" drill through both square tubes and about a 1/8" into the bolt itself, then plug welded it all together. No sir, that bolt will not be coming out very easily

So here's what it ended up looking like on the miller welder assembly bench




Those are 1/2" grade 8 bolts and 466 washers used to space the backside of the pintle far away enough from the bolt head. I have about one peperoni slice thickness to work with there!





Swivels up a bunch! Gave me vertigo just posting it up!

the bottom of the pintle saddle sits at 24"

Measuring the junette on the trailer, when the trailer is dead level, it also sits at 24"

Ya know, sometimes you're just livin right!!!



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Re: LML Duramax Silverado Build Thread....C-MAX [Part 2-EGR delete and more]
« Reply #229 on: December 07, 2014, 04:41:10 PM »
Next, we're off to the trailer again to get that Lunette ring welded on. It is rated for 9,000 tongue weight and a trailer weight of 42,000lbs, so it should be up to the task at hand.

Off with the old (Not so old) and on with the new:




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