Author Topic: SquareD Part 3: Body work, paint, roof rack, and farther off course ... (Read 165456 times)

Flyin6 · « **Reply #150 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:13:18 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by lutzjk913 View Post
So what kind of dog is the red dog?

Well, I wanted a GSD, so my wife found a GSD that had a litter, but father was unknown.
...Yea
So she finds this little puppy that to me looks exactly like a golden retriever, just a tad reddish, like a Chesapeake bay retriever.

But wife insists as it grows it will look more and more like a GSD and it's ears will stand up.

Other than the droopy retriever looking ears, red color and striking resemblance to a golden, the first place the dog goes when it gets out of our electric fence is straight into the neighbors pond!

I don't recall my other GSD even liking water...This red dog has gills, talks to fish. Only thing it likes more than water and chewing is mud. If it can't find it, it will make it and roll in it.

So my money says that this German Shepherd is a golden retriever

Flyin6 · « **Reply #151 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:15:17 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by BobbyB View Post
You're welcome. Thought you'd like a little cooler air. I'm sitting at a -6 without windchill atm, with not 1, but 2 windchill alerts, informing me that its going to be -35 to -55 during the later afternoon into night time until 7Jan. I could send some down your way if you'd like...

No thanks my frozen friend
Don't freeze, stay warm, or not, your choice, but don't get hurt in that wind chill!

Worst I saw was -29 static with wind. Wind from a Chinook that is. Had to fly one day at -29F. Rough, rough day...heater wouldn't do much more than knock off the edges.
But the coldest I ever was, was that time I wrote about in the book. With a zero dark early takeoff, flying gunship cover for a 100 mile long convoy of several hundred trucks going from Kandahar to Kabul. I remember the mess sergeant trying to keep me from shaking so much that I couldn't hold onto the coffee he was trying to force down my throat...Yea, I was really cold that day. I bet if we would have crashed, I would have shattered into shards of pilot pieces.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #152 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:16:11 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by flyin6 View Post
No thanks my frozen friend
Don't freeze, stay warm, or not, your choice, but don't get hurt in that wind chill!

Worst I saw was -29 static with wind. Wind from a Chinook that is. Had to fly one day at -29F. Rough, rough day...heater wouldn't do much more than knock off the edges.
But the coldest I ever was, was that time I wrote about in the book. With a zero dark early takeoff, flying gunship cover for a 100 mile long convoy of several hundred trucks going from Kandahar to Kabul. I remember the mess sergeant trying to keep me from shaking so much that I couldn't hold onto the coffee he was trying to force down my throat...Yea, I was really cold that day. I bet if we would have crashed, I would have shattered into shards of pilot pieces...

One of the coldest times I remember was Gardeyz in 2003. We were still building the FOB up at that time so our front gate had an "uparmored" Humvee as a guard post. Well wintertime in Gardeyz sucked balls since it was surrounded by openness and mountains so the wind coming off went right through everything.

So myself and my buddy both PV2s' at the time were assigned the 0000 -0200 shift. 2' of snow had fallen between my first shift and the 0000 shift, so we trudged out and assumed the guard. The SOG fell asleep in the TOC and forgot about us. Now I should mention that the Humvee was deadlined, i.e. no starting which means no heat.

I'm on the .50 in the turret with snow falling and the wind blowing and my buddy is in the truck with the radio. He is wrapped in woobie trying to keep warm and calls up to me "how you doing bro"...

Well at this point I have a mound of snow where my shoulders and head are located, my hands are stuck around the spades on the M2. My buddy sits with his back to my legs and wraps the woobie around my legs to give me some sense of warmth... At this time it is 0300, at 0400 the SOG must have woken up and grabbed the 0400 shift and they trudged out relieve, who they thought was the 0200 crew, but instead found me.

It took the SOG and the oncoming crew to pull me out of the hatch, I had no strength to hop out, my hands were stuck in the "grabbing the spades" grip and I wasn't happy. 3 hours later I was woken up by the PSG and myself and the other privates had to fish mortar rounds out of a frozen flooded FDC bunker... thus began my hatred with cold AND wet.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #153 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:16:48 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by Cudakidd53 View Post
!

Question- did the Afganies fight in crap like this or did they lay low? If you start looking like that guy, cut back on Colloidal Silver or we're gonna have to call you Papa Smurf

Mostly they laid low. Fighting starts up in the springtime after the rains and continues on until maybe june of so then it's 120F in the south, too hot to do anything. Up in the hills, fighting can go on all summer, but then snows in early stopping everything again.

But with Obamas PC rules of engagement, the enemy is growing very strong and brazen, propped up by our presidents rules. I'd expect them to be lobbing grenades over the walls this next season.

The only way to fight them is to route them out everywhere they are and kill them. One by one, every last one. Our guys now have to certify by name that no civie collateral damage will occur. Yep, you have to put your name to it. Then if something goes aerie, you're up for prosecution. I saw the Dutch do this in 06. One of their soldiers killed a Taliban. Hey, cool I thought. But someone in their musloid government filed murder charges against him, and convicted him! Yup. Thereafter the Dutch contingent at TK would not come outside of the gate to fight!

In my book, you'll see the pictures of the Hueys all shot up. That battle happened less than 2 miles from TK with thousands of Dutch infantry hanging out. Our guys got ambushed, three times. Every time they ran for it, they found themselves in another ambush. We were screaming for help. The Dutch had Apaches. None came. For hours we tried and fought back. Old Hueys with mini-guns and finally just with M4's. Many of our folks got shot. All of our vehicles were destroyed. Luckily our gunships peppered the rag heads killing a lot of them (Cool!) and after ward a lot of rag-heads start showing up with mysterious bullet holes in them at our military clinic! Yea.
Finally after the battle was over, the Dutch launched two Apaches which fired hellfire missiles into what was left of our trucks! Yep shot up our stuff so towel head couldn't get it!
That's what happens when _____ politicians get involved. These coward woman-man real man simulators lack the moral courage to fight a fight. Even to allow our warriors to fight it. Doesn't help that the prez sees our forces killing his people and doesn't like that, so he's evened up the odds. We fight and maybe we sacrifice our careers, maybe do a little time as a murderer?? Pretty stick mess when you're in the middle of crap land and you're listening to the song an AK makes.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #154 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:32:44 PM »

Parts, compressors, and quoffee...

Update time boyz and girlz.

First of all, John owner of Stazworks has shipped the HMMV wheel centers and bead locks. Yup, stuff is finally on the way.
Used to say that in tanks. Gunner or commander says "On the way," then squeezes the trigger. Back then utter violence was unleashed as that 105mm breach recoiled violently rocking the tank and blasting the living snot out of anything out front.

Oops, digressing...DOT Effect I'm guessing, or old age, or loss of memory, or possibly a combination of all the above, who cares...?

So wheel parts are finally inbound

So are the engine parts. Gillette Diesel finished making the custom injectors, and will be sending me the turbo upgrade parts, and the new S-300 turbo for my custom twin setup.

Finally, Although Duane and I worked most of the afternoon on the compressor, it has yet to make a sound. Best either of us can figure out, the wiring in the unit as shipped is wrong somehow. Duane wired it up several times and I double checked his installation. But every time we flipped the switch to start it, it popped the circuit breaker and threw sparks out of the switch.
We checked the wiring in the wall receptacle, we checked the 50 amp extension chord, we checked the wiring in the new power cable he made up, and we wired and rewired the magnetic starter hookup at least three times. Still it does not work.
Looking at the schematic, one of the wires as the thing was shipped appears to be wrong, but how could that be? The unit had a test tag attached to it, showing it ran over 3 minutes, achieving rated pressure, then denoting on and off pressures for the switch.
So my big question is if it ran at the factory and the receptacle and extension we used to plug it in to has for years powered my welder, then how could it not run now?
Dunno, but I need to call Matt over at Eaton and send him some pics to figure this thing out
__________________

Flyin6 · « **Reply #155 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:35:28 PM »

This project is in the discombobulation/confusin' phase right now.
With so many bones connected to so many other bones, I am afraid that if I want to switch mu incandescent tail light bulbs out for LED ones, I might have to first change the crankshaft main bearings!

I was werkin' on the bed

Fabbing in the fuel ports so that I could do the body work and paint it. Then I can put it back on the frame.
But before I can do that, I really need to paint the backside of the cab while I can still have access to it. But there is no real good spot to break off the paint so I really should just paint the whole thing. Well, to do that I need to pull the fenders and hood to get to the areas that need to change colors. I also need to lift the cab up some to get to the top of the frame which so far has only seen high pressure water, then paint.

When I pull the fenders it is the right time to fab up the twin turbo system for the engine and the right time to fab in the new radius arm/coil spring suspension.
And while all that is going on, we still need to figure out the tires and wheels.
At some point I just need to make decisions as to what is coming next and I am at one of those crossroads now. With John Staz owner of StazWorks off road having just delivered some really cool looking and uber-strong wheel centers it is time to build up the tire-wheel setup and get that mounted so we can see how all this is really fitting.

So that is the next project, starting today or tomorrow. Build up the new wheels. While I have the tires off, I am going to do a little modifying to them as well. The Goodyear military MTR's can easily crunch up an optima or an elantra, and still give you 50,000 miles. But they lack a little ability in the gooey stuff. Personal experience here as much as what I read.

So I'm going to cut some new tread into these tries with the tool below making the stock jap kar killin' tread shown into some kintucky hill climbin/jap kar destroyin certified DTP (Don tread pattern)

Flyin6 · « **Reply #156 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:38:03 PM »

Project next is the creation of the wheels.
Here's a look at the new centers:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #157 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:38:35 PM »

Look carefully at the end of each spoke, at what appears to be a rough cut.

It is actually several welds that have been machined to drop a certain distance into the wheel and no farther. Inside the HMMV wheel there is a lip or swell that extends backward about an inch. With these little machined nibs protruding, the centers tap neatly and solidly into place with no fuss at all.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #158 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:39:30 PM »

The other cool part about that is it exposes some of the underside of the spoke to allow for a deep, penetrating and filling weld. I'll make the primary pass on the back side, then make a cosmetic pass on the front side

I haven't measured but I'm guessing I'll be somewhere around 3.5" Back Space with the center positioned here

Flyin6 · « **Reply #159 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:40:48 PM »

Everything else is still OK, having survived the onslaught of the red dog and all it's destructiveness. The screwdrivers Duane used out of my tool box were not as fortunate. They have been reduced to a pile of what looks like wood chips

Here's the internal double bead-lock I'll be using

Flyin6 · « **Reply #160 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:42:49 PM »

Hey, let's get on this wheel conversion thing. Since I'm sitting here with a sore back and a belly full of home made spaghetti, let me tell you a story about a man named Jed, poor country boy, barely kept his family fed

Sorry, was getting into it there...Duck Dynasty is on in the background and it has me in the mood!

Anyway here is the stock assembly with nary wrench turned (Yet)

Flyin6 · « **Reply #161 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:43:23 PM »

First pull this thing out

Flyin6 · « **Reply #162 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:44:02 PM »

Then take these off

They are 1/2 X 20 (Fine thread)

Flyin6 · « **Reply #163 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:44:39 PM »

The wheel halves don't exactly fall apart. Nope you have to pry, kick, drop the thing, curse, spit, drink something to cool you off, then repeat until this happens:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #164 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:45:12 PM »

There is a big O-Ring located between the tow wheel halves. I removed it and stored for future reuse

Flyin6 · « **Reply #165 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:46:19 PM »

At this point, I sprayed a generous amount of warm soapy water into the recesses, then turned the tire around and pried the other half of the wheel out the back side using pry bars and a lot of umph!

Flyin6 · « **Reply #166 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:47:09 PM »

I made several futile attempts at removing the big rubber run flat thing. You are not strong enough to pull it out. I thought I'd just cut it into two pieces with my sawzall, but I discovered the limitations of that saw. You have to get through 6-7" of hard rubber and that just isn't happening anytime soon, so I abandoned that idea

Flyin6 · « **Reply #167 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:48:17 PM »

As the day progressed I disassembled more and more of the wheels

Flyin6 · « **Reply #168 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:49:27 PM »

The Marines say you can get proficient at changing HMMV tires, but you never get fast

I understand that now!

To cut the center of the front disc out, simply slide it back onto the wheel studs and invert it on a table

I used my Hypertherm 45 Plasma cutter

Flyin6 · « **Reply #169 on:** October 07, 2014, 02:50:39 PM »

I cut the first center out using the inner wheel as the cut guide. The torch kept hanging up making for a notchy looking cut. It will grind smooth, but there had to be a better way

Flyin6 · « **Reply #170 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:37:02 PM »

After thinking about it, I just happened to have some nozzle dip I use with my mig torch

Its like a thick paste, more paraffin wax than grease. It keeps spatter from sticking to the mig torch when welding. I was thinking it would act like a high temperature grease to allow the plasma torch to glide around the rim

Flyin6 · « **Reply #171 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:38:29 PM »

I was right! It helped a bunch. Here's how and where I used it:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #172 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:39:04 PM »

Using flame decals on your welding mask helps you remain flame proof!

That's right...Right?

Flyin6 · « **Reply #173 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:39:39 PM »

The cut quality improved:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #174 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:40:23 PM »

I ended up with a stack of centers. Can anyone say future spare tire mount rings?

Flyin6 · « **Reply #175 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:41:12 PM »

The cut discs cleaned up with soapy water and some brush action

Flyin6 · « **Reply #176 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:41:58 PM »

Next up was the wheel prep. This is when I really began to realize just how high quality these wheels actually are. After grinding for awhile I wasn't seeing any metal. These wheels are power coated or something like that. It took my sanding disc to break through.

I cleaned a 1.5" wide band on the inside of the wheel in preparation for the new center

Flyin6 · « **Reply #177 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:57:19 PM »

If you've noticed I am surrounded here by some really smart and skilled guys who "Help" in their own amusing way, but help they do.
There's Shawn. He builds the best differential covers in the business. He just suggested building a jig for the wheels, which I did.
Take Ash, he has a ton of experience with all sorts of diesels, heavy equipment, you name it
Daune, a fellow Armee pilot is more detail oriented that I am. He takes things to a level scarcly seen in construction, or car crafting, and gives me constant advice. Bobby is a warrior with a heart of gold who tries with the little that he has. Ken is a master mechanic who easily spotted when I bolted the brakes on BACKWARDS! Darren is a master electrician, Dominic knows boating and trucks, Mikie is a smart guy from Chicago who is way better versed in truck building than you'd expect from a suburban school teacher. Nick who lives very humbly and still serves in the Army is also a hot rodder and a builder like me.

We enjoy comments from several law enforcement officers, a pastor or maybe two, engineers, soldiers of all sorts, which includes our brave Marines, and the list goes on and on.

So what you have here is not Don. What is really happening is definitely my antics, but mostly a synergy of sorts with all the folks who hange out here.

But this thing probably would not exist at all, or have attracted such a diverse group of good people without the will of God himself. He made all this happen. One build thread now seen over a million times, and this one headed in that direction. Many of you have contacted me privately to discuss your beliefs about him, and we talk... If you want living proof that God works in mysterious ways, look no farther than this build thread!

Be good!

Flyin6 · « **Reply #178 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:57:57 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by TXSarge View Post
Ah yes, the special tool. A 5,000 lbs ratchet strap and a strong Soldier works just as well.

Be careful with that run flat. That sucker is in there pretty good. A giant rubber projectile can damage things.

We don't build tires anymore because Soldiers couldn't figure out how to do things without getting hurt. Those Soldiers become NCOs, the problem perpetuates itself, and so on and so on.

I hear experience talking here. One thing I learned was to always listen to those select few NCO's who know what they're talking about. I think I'm hearing caution here...

I got the idea by watching a guy pull the centers out of the tires with his truck! He chained the tire down, hooked a strap around the run-flat, then to his bumper. As he eased away the thing popped out. Not as violent as I imagined.

Talking to John Staz, Stazworks, maker of the centers, he said he cuts them out with a chainsaw or sawzall. My sawzall failed, and I'm afraid the chainsaw might nick the bead, destroying the tire.

If I winch the center out I plan to keep it well lubed with soapy water which should allow it to pop out just like that baby grand daughter we had on the 27th of December

Flyin6 · « **Reply #179 on:** October 07, 2014, 03:58:32 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by stlaser View Post
Let's not forget Tate with Randy's Ring and Pinions extensive database. I've been dealing with HD 4x4 3/4 and 1 ton drive trains for 20+ years and I'm amazed at his resources.

Absolutely, Tate and so many more...I just cut off after naming a few because I didn't want to write on and on!

It's a risk one runs whenever mentioning broad spectrum thank yous. Inevitably you fail to mention some of the most important people. Like acknowledging the receipt of an award and forgetting to mention your wife...
It's all problematic, but I still like to throw names out there.

For those of you who don't know, Tate of Randy's ring and pinion fame is the resident gear expert who became involved in the Duramax build well over a year ago, or has it been two? He smoothed out the wrinkles of the gear swap and Grizzly locker install...

Flyin6 · « **Reply #180 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:00:04 PM »

Let's get some more of these wheels built.

Shawn suggested welding some bolts to a welding table and use them to position the centers. That is a terrific idea, so I built a jig to make the process repeatable.

Over the past two days I developed the process about how to set up and weld up these wheels and keep them with industry standards for runout.

Starting with one of the centers I previously cut out, I welded 4 ea. 6.5" long 1/2" grade 8 bolts

Flyin6 · « **Reply #181 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:00:56 PM »

I selected a piece of flat 1/4" plate steel 22" X 22"
Marked the center, aligned the hub/bolt fixture and welded that together

Flyin6 · « **Reply #182 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:01:50 PM »

Then I measured where I wanted the backspacing to be with a wheel and a center and recorded those measurements. I decided to use the shortest distance. Note that just dropping these centers in place gets them pretty close

Flyin6 · « **Reply #183 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:02:46 PM »

With the caliper set to 5.760" and the outside resting on the plate, I adjusted the nylock bolts and single stainless washer to that exact height.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #184 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:03:27 PM »

That all ended up looking like this

Flyin6 · « **Reply #185 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:04:17 PM »

The technique goes something like this:

Place the cleaned up wheel over the fixture, then drop the center onto the studs, tapping it into place with a plastic mallet until it bottoms out

Flyin6 · « **Reply #186 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:04:54 PM »

Then tighten the top nuts to hold it all in place

Flyin6 · « **Reply #187 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:05:28 PM »

Then tack the center to the wheel in 4 places, remove and bolt it onto the front hub of the truck

Flyin6 · « **Reply #188 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:06:28 PM »

The gig got me to within .070 of dead flat

Using a heavy section of pipe 9" long, I would determine the high spot, then place the pipe over a stud, and give the wheel a healthy whack. Using a 3-5lb. hammer and assuming the tack welds are not too heavy, you can move the wheel a few thousands.

Just repeat this process until you get the run-out that you seek. For off road only, I'd just weld it up and be done. For highway usage, I'm sticking with the industry standard of .030"

I was able to get the first wheel to .025" and the second to .035, which was a bit over, but close. It will take you hours of this trial and error method, but you can get to where you need to be.

After straightening the wheel, I removed it and remounted it into the jig, tightening the bolts to around 75 ft. lbs. I then welded the inside of the spokes with a high heat setting, permanizing the assembly

Flyin6 · « **Reply #189 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:07:06 PM »

And here it is welded up

Flyin6 · « **Reply #190 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:08:25 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by stlaser View Post
Just for the record & not sure that it matters (but depending on how they cut centers out it may matter). I set bolt height to backspacing desired and drop wheel with inner side of rim down on to metal. My thinking is A) you won't have a cut edge throwing you off. & B) runout is measured off inside where outside of wheel can be distorted due to tightening halves together. Just some food for thought. Good job using steel instead of processed wood though!!!

Excellent point, and good technique.

Techniques are ah-plenty, we will soon see if my chosen one works.

I thought about pulling down against the back of the wheel, but with the flange that holds the studs all in the way of a decent weld access, I opted for my method. I will say I am measuring some local warpage in and around the studs in a couple of areas, so your point is valid, but when I tighten those clamp bolts, all 12 studs are touching the plate, so the thing is flat the plane axis.

The bolts wouldn't weld to the OSB...

Flyin6 · « **Reply #191 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:09:04 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by stlaser View Post
Also why balancing beads work well for this application.

I'm definitely going with internal balance media

I plan to use a bag of the trans Siberian double helix titanium matrix poly fluoride, carbonated substrate mixed with a few tablespoons of those plastic pellets I use to shoot at my boys with.

That should be enough to git it all balancin' like a Korean waiter on roller skates.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #192 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:11:17 PM »

Quote:
Originally Posted by Anthony24x View Post
Don,
Thanks for linking this over on expo (my normal hangout) I just powered through all 383 pages in like 3 days. I like the way you change fluids ( by changing the entire truck around them). The only thing I can contribute is to ask if you have considered a shackle flip for the rear axle? The you could eliminate the rear block all together and get a better ride!

Welcome aboard!

You'd call it a fluid change gone wild, or over the top tune up, or truck detailing to the infinite degree, or...

I did consider it, and I actually have a WFO customs Shackle flip kit available sitting on my work bench. Too much work and the block isn't so big, plus this truck has had 2 blocks in the back end for 22 years already, so I actually made it better.

finally when I got to playing with the inverted shackle, I was amazed at how much droop-out it allows. It's a good system, so since this is not a dedicated off roader, but a "Get out of Dodge" vehicle. (Sorry for the pun) (Well, not really)

Flyin6 · « **Reply #193 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:12:35 PM »

Well, I see everyone has been entertained in my brief absence.

I finally got all the wheels done, welded on both sides.

This is what I started with today:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #194 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:13:23 PM »

You'll notice the outsides are welded as well as the insides. Here's the more difficult to access outward facing welds:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #195 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:13:57 PM »

But the day yielded the rest of the operation of building the new centers and wheels up.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #196 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:14:18 PM »

Even with the welding fixture, that represents many hours of setup, grinding, cleaning, checking, double checking, corrections, and then final welding. Not an afternoon task. I have my jig now producing duplicatable wheels which are coming out about .040 out which is just outside industry standards.

So here's what I am going to do. I'm taking them to a machine shop, to have the mounting surface trued up in relation to the wheel itself. Might as well just go for perfect with these heavy steelies

Flyin6 · « **Reply #197 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:14:55 PM »

Today I started cutting the new tread into the MTR's. Man, that is just plain a good workout.

Flyin6 · « **Reply #198 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:15:36 PM »

I set the blade, a #5 up to cut about even with the bottim of the existing tread grooves, although that is hard to get exact.

Mere's the MTR just before I started:

Flyin6 · « **Reply #199 on:** October 07, 2014, 04:16:22 PM »

I think the best thing to do is to start with something simple and expand from there. So, initially, I'll split all the center lugs on all the tires and then maybe get in and sipe the outside lugs. I don't think I want to regroove those outside lugs just yet.

Here's the first couple cuts: