Beater's Third Life

[Michael Mayben]

Here's the glider after all the oem crap was out of the way.

Note the original front spring hanger position. The second mount point 4" to the rear of the point where the 4x4 spring was mounted is the 2x4 axle/spring mount position. Neither of those points will be used with the Ford spring hangers.

 

[Michael Mayben]

This is a shot of one of the rear spring hangers that has the oem swing shackle. It has two mount points on the side of the frame rail, with a "tab" riveted to the bottom flange.

The gas axe makes short work of the rivet heads, the tails will be punched through during the final frame clean-up and prep for some rattlecan paint.

 

[Michael Mayben]

Here's a preview of the completed install. Each hanger has two bolts installed so I could roll it out of the shop and move the oem axle out of the way and onto the parking lot.

There is much detail work left to perform, drilling all the holes by hand with a dewalt bullet bit eats my lunch, a total of 26 holes have to be drilled, most all are 1/2".

 

[Michael Mayben]

And a profile.

The axle has been moved 11" to the rear of the oem axle centerline. That will put the gooseneck pin box in the bed floor right where it needs to be over the rear axle.

That also sets the rear spring hangers right in the midst of the reinforced rear frame sections that ihon Darren did for me a few months back!

Just as I started to torch off the oem overload bumpers on the frame, I ran out of o2 for the gas axe! No way to get any gas around here on Saturday afternoon!

But...the Ford front spring hangers fit perfectly over the front overload bumpers on each side, that is exactly the position I had intended to use!

The nose-down attitude is accentuated since the front wheels are sitting in a depression in the parking lot. And it's certainly not gonna stay that way! I have a couplea plans for the front axle sitch now, it's all gonna be dependent upon budget and what alternative axle I can come up with. Prolly for the short term, the Ford overload spring paks will be incorporated into the oem front springs, looks at this point like the total lift over the stocker is gonna come in right at 4". The tires on the d44 are exactly 1/2" shorter than the 16" rubbers on the Ford wheels.

The completed bed with toolboxes loaded out should come in at about 1300lbs., so that will squat the azzend about 1.5".

 

[Scoutboy74]

Lookin' gud! Beaterz gotta real purdy bee-hind now

 

[Michael Mayben]

lookin' gud! Beaterz gotta real purdy bee-hind now

And her azzend goes real straight down tha road too!

Bitch izza driver again, but many details yet to tend to. Ride ain't quite as hard as I figgrd, the truck box mounted helps, and the bed will make it just right.

Here's the deetale on the Ford front spring hangers, ya can see they laid right on top of the oem front overload bumper.

Two different size bolts were used, that way I could align the hangers using oversize holes, then go back and re-drill for the final install. This mounting point on the frame kickup is far stronger than the former location of the oem hanger.

 

[Michael Mayben]

Brakes are major! The bigazz Ford brakes, combined with the oem 3" lockheeds on the front provide major stoppage now (never had any issues before however), no way I'd ever use discs on this ride!

The only change in the brake system involved splicing in 12" of 3/16" pigtail. The Ford flex hose is the perfect length when re-routed, though I will replace it with new as soon as I can score one.

Those CPT brake hose mount tabs are just the ticket for doing stuff like this, just put 'em where ya need 'em!

All this bogus wiring schnizz will disappear real soon, the rear chassis wiring harness will be run fresh from the cab corner back to allow wire runs for clearance lights on the bed and all new trailer wiring. A pair of floods will be mounted on the headache rack to illuminate the rear for lighting for hitching, and waterproof 12vdc power connectors will be installed at strategic locations on the bed.

Once all the wiring is prepped and protected, then the entire harness will be secured to the frame.

The only thing left at this point is to fab two tabs for mounting the sway bar links. The Ford links ended up being about 2" too short since I used the 2" lift blocks.

 

[Michael Mayben]

Detail of the Ford shock mounts that were torched off the f350, really nice pieces that fit perfectly inside the frame "c" exactly like the Ford install!

These would make great fab pieces, just like those f-150 front shock towers we peddle here at ihon!

I can already tell from the test drive that the shocks mounted like this are a vast improvement in axle control over the oem IH whacko mount setup! With the bed installed and a trailer in tow, this thing is gonna handle perfectly!

 

[Michael Mayben]

Don't have time to complete the parking brake actuator tonite, but the Ford cable stop is now mounted inside the frame "c". On the f-350 it mounted on the outside of the frame rail.

So the oem "center pivot" parking brake anchor gets tossed. The cable itself will come straight back inside the frame rail like it was supposed to be that way, that gets rid of the oem cable equalizer which in turns really opens up the area for exhaust pipe routing.

All it's gonna take is about 14" of cable extension to connect to the Ford equalizer/adjuster. It's sooooo nice to have this whole deal turn out to be a bolt-on swap with really no fabrication involved! Just a buncha holes to drill.

Next up along with the wiring, is a complete fresh exhaust system. Now that the axle is mounted, I can see exactly where I want the muffler, and the tail pipes will come out in front of the rear wheels.

Looks like now the Ford drive shaft will end up working. I've got a 1350 yoke for the np 205 output shaft that will be mated to a new slip yoke to be installed on the cut-down Ford driveshaft.

 

[Monte Lauer]

Looks real good, but I still would of liked to have seen the old box with a dually axle underneath it.

 

[Michael Mayben]

looks real good, but I still would of liked to have seen the old box with a dually axle underneath it.

That was the original plan, but this extended wheelbase has done wonders for straightline handling! Drove it 50 miles today,...bitch drives like she's on autopilot, no longer needs to be herded with that wildly oversensitive steering these pos have!

And the brakes are monsters!!!

At 9:30 last nite, I did manage to fab up the top mounts for the sway bar, it's now functional.

I'm gonna have my new-found friend over at harco machine, cut 3/4" off those lift blocks, and change the face angle from the current 6* to 10*, but that doesn't need to be done right now, I need the weight of the bed loading the suspension to make the final calcs for ride height. Going with 10* on the blocks not only enhances pinion angle, but will increase shock pre-load by another 3/4", and soften up the sway bar without having to extend the links.

Should have the parking brake functional tomorrow, picked up some fab parts for that today, along with some additional trailer connector supplies, I can't stand having the electrical system on the azzend in that kinda shape, even just for a short time!

 

[Michael Mayben]

After dealing with numerous exhaust leaks, rotted mufflers, rattlin' pipes, etc., I finally got a gas extraction system that works!

My original plan to use a dynamax with built-in "x" pipe just is not in the budget right now. And this couldn't wait until my stimulus package is shit out by them hawgs up in washington.

So I been collectin' pieces of exhaust schnizz for the last year in anticipation of this moment. Grand total investment not including steel mix and wire for the mig, comes to about $165 for all the head pipe bells, bends, toob, mufflers, hangers, etc.

Then 2.5" tailpipes ain't the final, once the bed is installed for the final time, I'll work out sumthin' else.

 

[Scoutboy74]

How's she sound? Bust out the betamax I know you got hidden away and post up a clip on scru-toob!

 

[Michael Mayben]

how's she sound? Bust out the betamax I know you got hidden away and post up a clip on scru-toob!

Sounds about like the hooty-pile, only worser! Real tinny but all that will hide once the bed goes on and the outlets are moved back.

Main thing is, I can now hear the engine and all it's related janglin' without all them strange noises being hidden by exhaust leaks that kept recurring. I only put up with it this long 'cause I hate ta wear them dam ear-trumpets and since my ears and eyeballz is rapidly diminishin' in effectiveness, I thought the exhaust leaks were bein' healed by majik.

 

[Michael Mayben]

I'm under the gun to git this pile on the road again, we're down to only this one as a dd while the dodge pos goes across the highway to the pooter shop to have it's pooter fixed.

After turning the shop into a disaster area, I was able to dig out the bed and set the camper jacks up to levitate it. Then it's simple to back under and lower onto the frame rails for trial fit.

The bed needs to be temporarily installed on the chassis so I can verify all the dimensions before finishing out the bed framing and skirting.

 

[Michael Mayben]

Here's the bed just sitting on the chassis.

Once I got the rig situated back in the shop on a level floor, I used the porta-power and a pinch bar to shift it around into alignment and final location. It's currently clamped into place using the hardware that secured it to the Ford donor. But now it is drivable again.

Another trip to town will take care of additional needed hardware to finalize the mount and an additional support needs to be fabbed for the front section on either side.

At 2:30 this morning I finished installing the toolbox, lights and mudflaps...all this schnizz is a temporary workaround so that I can complete the rear section of the bed. Once the metal fab is done, then permanent lighting will be scabbed on along with permanent mudflaps.

At that point, the bed will be removed for prep and paint...right now it don't look any worse than it did, so the finish-out is not gonna be a priority.

Next up, I gotta do something about a lift/springing for the front axle. That will be temporary also until I can locate the "right" steering axle I'm looking for. I May end up using a pair of those hub/wheel gender-changer adapters so I can mount the dually front wheels as well, this current setup sure looks like shit!

 

[Monte Lauer]

You still need those dually wheels for the front? I May be able to find you a front axle from my top secret jy connection. I will be headed out to area 51 tomorrow afternoon, I could Scout around for what you need.

 

[Michael Mayben]

you still need those dually wheels for the front? I May be able to find you a front axle from my top secret jy connection. I will be headed out to area 51 tomorrow afternoon, I could Scout around for what you need.

Nope!

I'm gonna use the Ford donor wheels, I'm still parting out that rig, anyone need a decent 400/c6 that's been on propane most of it's life???

The Ford wheels are 16" and the tires are certainly useable as is for now, remember that budget thang?? Do you ever haveta think abouta budget thang???

Those dodge wheels I got from you are 16.5" nothing wrong with that, tires in many configs are readily available (and cheeep) around here. The guy who is taking that dodge axle doesn't want the wheels though, he already has nice tires/wheels to go on the axle, it's going in a '64 travelette with service fenders. That one is a "stretched" frame with a d60/big 6 lug pattern that has had a pair of those super-strong dually wheel adapters added. The dodge d70 will be an ultimate axle for this ride as it's being built into an ultimate trailer dragger. I'm doing a 727 tranny for it now to replace the borg warner that's pukin' all over the street...he's building' a fresh 392 to stick in it in place of the original 304.

The front axle I'm looking for would be any d60, dually-width/passenger drop, closed knuckle or open knuckle, either is ok. Needs to be geared 4.10, Ford used some geared 4.09 and I'd rather not have the gear mis-match since this rig can see many miles in 4high chained up on ice/snow when towing.

Next best would be same in a d44-hd. Dually-width is the key deal here though.

 

[Scoutboy74]

Hey!!! That wuz jerry's werk bench/power nappin' kuhbanna!

 

[Lyle Wiese]

Mike,

this is going to be one unique IH tool hauler. What a change!! It's amazming how nice the ferd axle, shocks, etc. Bolted right into the IH frame. Nice to get the e-brake stuff tucked up out of the way.

I was wondering what you were doing for a dd.

Lyle