SquareD Part 6 Bumpers, Winches, wiring, lights, assembly

[Flyin6]

Looks good....so why did you raptor liner it? :pokethebigD

Just felt like covering those ugly welds instead of grindin' and using body filler I suppose

[Atkinsmatt]

Looks great.

[Flyin6]

^^^ See, someone likes it!

[TexasRedNeck]

I think that Don plans to just make this the eternal project with no chance of actually running or driving it....

[Pulley]

What's the point of bumpers for a truck that doesn't run?  ;)

[JR]

The coating looks good and just where its needed.

OK, why the chair? Gonna have a gun mount back there  8)

[Sammconn]

Looks real good there Big D!
Did I hear you mention you're going to start it!

[moto123]

I am beginning to become suspicious ... I think he DID try to fire up the engine and after multiple failed attempts he wants to string us along while he works out the issues in secret.  Gotta preserve that reputation of perfection after all.  ;)

Or maybe not and with a magic turn of the key he will ....

FIRE IT UP

[Flyin6]

I am beginning to become suspicious ... I think he DID try to fire up the engine and after multiple failed attempts he wants to string us along while he works out the issues in secret.  Gotta preserve that reputation of perfection after all.  ;)

Or maybe not and with a magic turn of the key he will ....

FIRE IT UP

Naw, no secrets
And I don't maintain a spot free reputation. More like "He finally got it right" reputation.

OK, today I went out there and said what the heck, I'm going to just start the thing up. Well I threw on the fuel pumps as I'll need to frime the entire system with diesel, and I couldn't get any fuel to the lift pumps!!!!!!!!!

Yup, I could barely hear then running but no pumping. I have a sump, but the line rises to clear the frame, then descends to the pump inlet. I guess there is not enough fuel in the tank at the moment to push it that far, so I still am in a no run situation. I added 10 gallons of fuel to the empty tank, but I'll probably have to add in another 10 gallons to get it to prime.

Linkage or no linkage, I would also like to know if it will in fact run!

[Flyin6]

So with that failure to start situation hanging in the air, I spied the HB (Hanging bumper) and thought I could better store it on the front of the truck.

Here it is after the coatings all cured with the paper and tape removed

[Flyin6]

Next I threw on the roller fairhead

[Flyin6]

And the winch controller along with a couple Clevises.

[Flyin6]

Then the bumper was maneuvered into place

[Flyin6]

I made some reference marks on the wheel well and measured before all that weight was bolted on

The left side is definitely riding about 1/2" lower then the right

[Flyin6]

Actually installing that bumper was really easy.  I just raised the bumper into alignment and slid it back until it stopped, started the six bolts then using an impact tightened them all. Total time maybe 5 minutes!

[Flyin6]

And the crane is outta there!

[Flyin6]

After cutting some of the upper rib away in the fine tuning stage, I ended up with pretty decent clearance between the bumper and the fender

[Flyin6]

The various tubes seem to clear the headlights good enough and are symmetrical, and the fit and look works with the truck's purpose and lines

Keep in mind, this is only step two in the "Hardening up" of this old war horse, step one was the roof rack/hard points thing. As I build the rest of the system in over the next 30 or so years it will turn into a pretty stout package

[Flyin6]

The winch wires directly to the preinstalled maxi-fuse, but I just realized if the winch would blow that circuit, I'd also loose all the stuff in the overhead switch panel...sooo, I'll need to wire in yet another Maxi fuse dedicated only to the winch

[Flyin6]

And that's it for another abbreviated build day, #268

[Nate]

comin together nicely. 

[akraven]

Looks really good!

[cudakidd53]

That bumper looks great!  Impressive how quick and easy it all went back in place for you!  :)

[KensAuto]

It turned out great!

[Flyin6]

Last night the welds failed and the thing broke apart!
Not so good after all!
and
Hillary Clinton would make a great president!

[cudakidd53]

Last night the welds failed and the thing broke apart!
Not so good after all!
and
Hillary Clinton would make a great president!

Hey Don-

Close the window in your study, the wind blew your calendar back to the beginning of April!

[Flyin6]

 :)

[JR]

That looks great. TO bad it didn't start, just add a little air pressure to the tank.

Hillary will occupy our house if it doesn't start,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[KensAuto]

That looks great. TO bad it didn't start, just add a little air pressure to the tank.

Hillary will occupy our house if it doesn't start,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is exactly what I was thinking.

JR, I think it was a faint, just to get you off his back! haha

[Flyin6]

I have a pesky leak in the fuel tank filler tube. Enough to dribble fuel all over the floor when I'm filling it and prevent me from being to pressurize the tank at all...

I'll call this a build day, but with the blaah of this lingering cold, it was sort of like work only slower.

So I concentrated on getting the winch out of the box and off the floor because now there is another winch sitting on the floor also!

First thing I had to do was mount this circuit breaker assembly. To do that I fashioned up a bar out of some copper flat stock I had here

[Flyin6]

Mounting the circuit breaker in line and beside the maxi-fuse off the main battery

[Flyin6]

That made the fitted positive cable too long so I cut it down and soldered in a copper lug I had handy in my hardware assortment

[Flyin6]

While installing that I routed it through a thick zip lock baggie to give it some weather protection

[Flyin6]

Next, and after securing a shortened ground cable to the motor housing, I dropped the winch into place. I used my old trick of holding those square nuts in place with some heavy grease which not only keeps things right where they need to be, but pretty much weather proofs the bolt, threads, nut, and mount. I have found that area to be a high corrosion area in winches from the past

[Flyin6]

I'm really happy with how the underside of that frontal area turned out. No real areas to hang up on like stock and anything that a rock might hit is steel and pretty thick.

Note also that the springs have turned flat on me...probably due to the magnetic field around in the iron rich (not) rocks of Kentucky! Or possibly because there is a couple of tons of weight pushing on them...???

[Flyin6]

Then the rest of the cables were connected, the cable threaded through the rollers, the hook attached and a function check performed.

Unlike the engine, this motor runs and ran the first time. Call this project in the bag...Now if I would only have installed the marker light lenses before I bolted that bumper in!

[Flyin6]

The dogs jumped up a couple times and ran out after something. Later, I found another brown box sitting in the shop with that new SuperWinch inside

[Dawg25385]

Bumper looks really nice chief. Whatcha gonna do about those springs? Will adding a leaf be enough?


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[Flyin6]

That cat is a big male, and he adores me. Doesn't care about anyone else though. Doesn't care about the dogs. Doesn't respond to anyone or anything, including the dogs, I'd swear it's mentally ill for it has no fear.

The dogs are annoyed at this fact. They jump up and rush it with all sorts of barking and gnashing of teeth, but the cat won't even acknowledge them, and even sometimes lays down while they are trying to get him up to run. I guess he is like a drunk driver...nothing natural kills them.

I was safe and secure the whole time guarded by the red dog which failed at least three times to get that cat, which I named "Scout" to run. The sled dog provided over-watch and command and control over the other critters

[Flyin6]

Bumper looks really nice chief. Whatcha gonna do about those springs? Will adding a leaf be enough?


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Going to add two leaves from the 25 year old skyjacker 6" lift springs

[Flyin6]

So that's the situation in the build garage on this very humid early summer afternoon

[Nate]

and where was ranger while all this was going on? 

let me play devils advocate or murphy's partner in crime here for a moment.  are you sure that that copper thing-a-ma-jig that you spliced into that fuse is not going to cause any problems and will hold up over time.....?  I ask that because the way that you showed almost seems like running a power strip off of another power strip because you didn't have a long enough piece of proper cable to wire it in correctly......?

[JR]

That looks great. TO bad it didn't start, just add a little air pressure to the tank.

Hillary will occupy our house if it doesn't start,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is exactly what I was thinking.

JR, I think it was a faint, just to get you off his back! haha

I think I started the get it run, but far from being alone now,,,,,,,,,,,

[Flyin6]

and where was ranger while all this was going on? 

let me play devils advocate or murphy's partner in crime here for a moment.  are you sure that that copper thing-a-ma-jig that you spliced into that fuse is not going to cause any problems and will hold up over time.....?  I ask that because the way that you showed almost seems like running a power strip off of another power strip because you didn't have a long enough piece of proper cable to wire it in correctly......?

It will be fine.
I ran that cable there just for the winch. No way to bolt the circuit breaker assembly without an "Adapter"
It's coming off the hot battery side so no load on that fuse at all.
Vibration would be my only concern, but it's soft copper made to make bus bars with in circuit breaker panels.
Besides the truck isn't seeing much in the way of vibration...it's not running and no earthquakes since 1928... ;-))

[Flyin6]

That looks great. TO bad it didn't start, just add a little air pressure to the tank.

Hillary will occupy our house if it doesn't start,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

This is exactly what I was thinking.

JR, I think it was a faint, just to get you off his back! haha

I think I started the get it run, but far from being alone now,,,,,,,,,,,

There has been a bunch of reasons why I haven't started it myself. First and foremost, I didn't rebuild that engine so I am just taking the word that the diesel mech did it all right. Secondly, the P-Pump has a hard spot in the travel from idle to wide open. Right at the point where the lever acceutates the back end portion of the Bosh injection pump, it tries to bind, then releases.

Because of that, I wanted to get it to a diesel shop and let them start it and work out the bugs, set the timing and do whatever to get me in the 1200-1400 torque range. 

All the big parts are there. The engine is fresh. I tried to do everything I touched perfectly, but I am not liking my throttle cable/pedal and the fact that I can't find a TV cable or those pesky bushings to make the shift linkage work right.

Lots of money here folks...Like probably over 10Grand just in the engine and trans. I'd like to take precautions, thus the trained mech.

Meanwhile, I'm good at the other things I have been doing so I have just been pushing the thing down the road to being done.

Believe me, I want it mostly done. To the point I can use it some and tinker with it.
Because
I want to build a rack and front end on C-Max
And
I want to build a tactical camper out of that HMMV trailer so I have the SquareD survival system more or less, done.

So, make of it what you will, but that and some laziness mixed in for good measure, and that's why the thing isn't started yet. But you folks help push me in a good way to motivate me to put down the plasma for a moment and "Fire it up"

[OldKooT]

Don despite any good nature ribbing we all give you regarding it being running, you have some valid concerns.

As for the TV cable.... why exactly is the problem? They fist gen style, and the sec gen style are available yet from Dodge. Or they were when I replaced mine this last spring. $120 and change for the first gen cable. Guess I have never swapped a P pump onto a 1st gen auto tranny, but it can't be too involved a process. People do it all the time.

If not somewhat familiar with the engine and it being fresh, it may be a grand idea to have a professional start it. Was the cam broke in before you acquired it? If not that's a concern in these. A cummins isn't a inexpensive engine by any means and they have their quirks.

Besides, if you start it too soon it ruins the suspense LoL

[Flyin6]

Don despite any good nature ribbing we all give you regarding it being running, you have some valid concerns.

As for the TV cable.... why exactly is the problem? They fist gen style, and the sec gen style are available yet from Dodge. Or they were when I replaced mine this last spring. $120 and change for the first gen cable. Guess I have never swapped a P pump onto a 1st gen auto tranny, but it can't be too involved a process. People do it all the time.

If not somewhat familiar with the engine and it being fresh, it may be a grand idea to have a professional start it. Was the cam broke in before you acquired it? If not that's a concern in these. A cummins isn't a inexpensive engine by any means and they have their quirks.

Besides, if you start it too soon it ruins the suspense LoL

Norm, I believe the cam is original to a sub 200K motor.
Story is the young man who owned the engine/truck was growing up, late teen. His uncle, the mechanic was putting together a performance engine, piece by piece. Spring here, timing there.

One day the young man tears the truck up. So he decides to pull the engine and have it rebuilt while he does a home repair on the truck. Well the uncle pulls it and finds perfect bores, as in cross-hatching. He polishes the crank and reinstalls it with new bearings. He replaces the pistons with new std size marine pistons, had the head freshened up with a performance valve job and some cutting. Installs ARP head studs, fixes the dowel pin, and goes through the Bosch P-7100. HE added 4000 RPM springs, laser cut the delivery valves, a #5 fuel plate, and a few other minor things. He said he placed the timing back at 12.5 degrees (Stock) and bolted it all back together. He had replaced the P-Pump earlier while the motor was still running in the truck.

He said it was getting pretty fast back then and he was concerned with going up too much farther with a young guy driving it...

Well, young man in question gets impatient, realizes he is in too deep and buys another truck, while uncle is pretty deep into this freshened up engine, which becomes my good fortune and resolution to the uncle's quandary.

Long story, but I believe the cam is stock, probably a good idea, although I would have liked to replace it with a better one.

TV cable: Mostly procrastination. It will need a 2nd gen. 47RH and the A518 should meet with the trans about the same, but the Bosh pump bracket is a lot farther forward than the VE motor. The stocker was way too short. Anyway, that is not done and I need to spend some time in there to figure it all out. In the end, I think it will run and run fine.

[OldKooT]

Sounds like it should run yes. I have a Hamilton cam in my wife's ramcharger...I forget at the moment which grind it is but for a VE pump the thing goes. That said i may tune it down a little for the crew cab as it's really hard on tires. I think kays on her 4th set of rear ones. But she's known for her 4000 rpm up-shifts, and 45lb's of boost passes down the driveway LoL

Just make sure when ya sling together that tv cable combo you get it adjusted properly... those dern slush boxes don't tolerate a big cummins well if that thing is maladjusted. Ask me how i know?  LoL

BTW I did something on the crew cab yesterday....I found all 4 doors.

[Flyin6]

BTW I did something on the crew cab yesterday....I found all 4 doors.

Freakin' Outstanding!

Let's see the proof and the light patina of rust on that purdy frame in your thread! June is comin' up on 1/2 way done!

Wanna wager?

I'd say I get my rear winch plumbed in and runnin' before you fire up that big cam Cummins in your stretch!

[KensAuto]

......Let's see the proof and the light patina of rust on that purdy frame in your thread! June is comin' up on 1/2 way done!

Wanna wager?

I'd say I get my rear winch plumbed in and runnin' before you fire up that big cam Cummins in your stretch!

I don't remember Norm specifying which June, ......in his defense.