Good Cheap Tow Vehicle

[DanStokes]

Those Cummins were Loud. Your never going to a drive thru without shutting it off for the speaker.

I just do that automatically now with no thought at all. The new ones are really quiet but the 6BTs and ISBs like mine DO talk to you. What's interesting is that I find it comforting when cruising down the highway, like all is right with the world. From inside the cab it isn't all that loud but you DO hear it. And I REALLY have to listen to hear the turbo whine.

Dan

[Loren]

You're all very correct. Yep my '95 gets shut off at the drive-thru, all that noise gets to echoing off walls and you can't hear nothin'. With extra firewall insulation over a gas motor, it's still noisy inside on the highway but yeah, it's kinda comforting.

Newer motors with common-rail injection can have the computer break up the injection squirt to quiet things down, but not with this ol' road-grader engine...

[Loren]

I'm tired of trying to keep aftermarket aluminum wheels looking good around my dusty muddy corner of town and wanted to use stock wheels with the polished stainless face which will be easier to clean. I picked up a set I liked, the newer style 18 x 8" rather than original-for-'95 16 x 6.5s, but get 'em home and I see the offset is quite a bit different. If I want them to fit right I'll need spacers.


Spacers are of-course available for anything, easily custom-made from aluminum. The trouble is I don't want aluminum, for my 3/4-ton truck I want steel. So I'll make some from steel.

The following is more of a photo-heavy see-how-it-was-done lesson in old-style machining, i.e. not CNC, than anything. It's certainly not a lesson in smart economics, "smart" would have been to just use wheels that fit in the first place. I don't want to add up what this all cost me in terms of time but it's done now and I'm happy.

Wheel Spacers Captions are above the photographs.

There is a local metal supply shop that besides having all the sheet and bars etc. will cut you shapes from heavy plate if you want. I asked them for a set of four donuts in hot-roll steel, mild stuff but still much tougher than aluminum. It took a few days for them to get to it, no problem. Here's one on the table getting a first look-over.



My 1980 mill, 16" rotary table, and 1996 DRO sold by the now-bought-out Rutland, made by Sargon. Dead-reliable DRO, not like the Mitutoyo I had before it. The steel blank is bolted in about in the middle and ready to cut.




Beginning to cut, using a half-inch HSS 2-flute cutter. Carbide would have it's edges shatter when it hits the hardened area the torch cutting created. With HSS, you just let it dull and sharpen once in a while.



After a bunch of time spent going round and round, I've got the 8 1/2" outside diameter I want and the inside a snug fit to the truck wheel hubs. For drilling the holes I need to first zero the DRO on the center of the part. One quick way is to lay a bar of whatever material on the top and just "kiss" it with a center point that's known to be true.




Then the next thing is to run the rotary table around 180 degrees, kiss it again and see what the difference is. Could be a bunch or could be about .008" as it is here. To fix, just move x - y table half the amount or .004" and zero the DRO.




Now the rotary table gets a Sharpie pen mark at every 1/16 of a turn, or every 22.5 degrees...eight holes for lug nuts, eight for studs.



Then with one axis at zero and the other out 3.250", we'll get the correct 6.5" bolt-hole circle.



Center drill at every mark.



Then, drill down with a 1/4" pilot, then half-inch, and then with something big enough to clear a 15/16s socket for the lug nuts, down to a set depth. Only every-other hole position gets the big one.



That's enough pictures for one post I think. Stay tuned for more.

[Loren]

OK, this is what we've got so far. A bunch of time into this already but I've got the MP3 player I got for Christmas to keep me company.



Now into the larger of the two lathes sitting here to finish the inside and outside diameters off.



The holes drilled while on the rotary table weren't made to go through all the way at first and were finished on a drill press. Then, back on the table, flipped upside-down to mill some pockets in so the studs stick out the right amount. Dimensions were determined just by putting a stud and lug nut into an actual wheel and measuring how much of the stud needed to be buried. It would be nice to mill some more weight out at this point, but for this old truck we don't need to spend to much time making things light.



Finally the stud holes get drilled out to the right size where the serrated studs will press in tight, in this case .593", and the lug nut holes get a .625 clearance hole for the 14mm/.56 studs on the truck, and...lug holes get countersunk to the same 60 degrees that the nuts happen to be.



For a test, the adapters were bolted on where they go and then given a lookin' at. Whoops, this won't fly, the edges of the lug nuts are digging into the countersunk surface indicating the clearance holes need to be bigger. It looks like .718 or maybe even a little larger would be better, so they'll get drilled out again and re-countersunk. Better to go too small the first time than too big.



The studs here were chosen partly because they were the correct 9/16-18 and partly because Rock Auto was having a clearance on this exact style, .70 ea. with normal price much higher. With 8 studs per wheel times 4, it adds up. They're the good stuff though, harder than heck and probably grade 8 at-least.



Pressed in using a brake and the end of a bolt but lots of ways would work.



And complete, with a little abrasive blast but still needing a good spray-bomb paint. The odd-looking surface is because of the hot-roll scale on the material, it could either be removed or left there all the same in this case.



On the truck, or "a" truck as I'm using my driver as a model with it's old 16 x 6.5 wheel to the left. For all that work it just looks...well...stock, like I didn't do anything. That's OK, these are the wheels I want and they'll be in the right position now.

[74NovaMan]

Impressive work!

[Russell]

Those are really nice! 16 * 4 = 64 lug nuts to tighten. The newer 17" I had on the 98 worked / no rubbing. I guess they looked ok? Not sure if they didn't need spacers or I did know they were needed. ignorance is bliss!

[Loren]

Thanks, Chris. It's a good thing I don't mind turning a machine crank handle 'cause there was a lot of it to do.

Hopefully that second set of 32 lug nuts would only have to come off for a brake job.

[Loren]

So, two-plus years ago I was doing this truck project. Look at the dates on the post, my how time goes by. Whatever happened to it? Well, for anyone interested, while my other projects have to sit a while I shall revisit the truck, going back to pick up about where I left off. Some of these pics are off my phone which tends to get things sideways so if there's any such images I'll come back later and fix them.
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The pile of parts the local "Pro" diesel shop left me for a motor I had no experience with got sorted out best-I-could. The block and crank went to a machine shop for a hone and polish respectively and to have the block surface decked .010". The head had some tiny cracks in it which frankly I don't think would have hurt anything but as it was looking like this wasn't going to be the cheap project I originally envisioned I bought a new assembled head from the shop, ready to go. Pulling it apart to do a little quick pocket-porting, I discovered the valve seats had never been finished...checking the invoice, I had indeed been charged for a valve job. Imagine if I had just bolted that on? Calling the owner up, he actually responded by arguing about it with me. (The shop on Denny Way in El Cajon would foul up on the next job I gave them too and that was the end of that.)
Moving on: Cleaned-up block, new Mahle pistons, rings and bearings, everything in spec if on the high side. I ordered a next-stage up from stock Hamilton cam from Summit, which was a hard swallow at $550 for the one part but that's what things cost. They wouldn't ship to CA so I had to route through my daughter in AZ, then when it arrived they had somehow managed to fit a cam for an inline six into a box made for one for an inline four. Or not...would that work? I love Summit but it turns out they have no way in their system to confirm if what's in a box actually matches what's on the label (like a physical check???) so after sending it back without opening plus an hour on the phone, I bought from another shop in Chicago who got it right. Head studs came from a supplier in CA which again proved to be all the wrong parts under the right label. We had to have an argument about that too, dumb-novice me against the big pros who imagine they always know what they're doing.

For my part I had the heavy head coming down onto the block and let it slip, and dinged my pricey new gasket right on the sealing ring. Order another gasket, $100, wait a week, receive the wrong part, order again. Sigh. Eventually we will get it all right.

Head coming down on block:



To run the oil pressure up on the engine stand I removed the idler gear the pump runs off of and spun the shaft up directly with a drill. While inspecting flow through the rockers, to my dismay I saw tiny amounts of oil and bubbles coming up through the top surface of the rocker stands and assumed they were cracked. After nearly ordering new ones, a closer look reveals they weren't damaged but are somehow porous and (being part of the route that oil hits the rocker shafts through) they sweat oil right up through the surface. Look at this photo below: That rocker stand was wiped off clean a minute ago and the oil you see came up through the material, not some hole or crack. Bizarre. I was unable to find any information on this strange deal.



Engine finally together. Stock should be enough, with head studs, mild cam, injectors up-rated a step, Banks intake and "kit" comprising a couple tuning-related parts.




(Break for post length, more to come)

[Loren]

I had to change the mainshaft in the NV4500 manual transmission to accommodate the 4wd transfer case (which also needed changes) and installed the usual overhaul parts at the same time.




In-we-go, with an upgraded clutch from South Bend, and a few other new parts from either Rock Auto or one of the specialist diesel shops. The exhaust is 3" at the turbo outlet then on to a 4" Banks system that came with the original 2wd truck.




Cab: After a careful laying-out and marking of lines I put a nervous hand onto the Sawzall and got to cutting. Of course there's a point where there had been two good cabs and now there were just two ruined ones, unless it would all work out later. Oh well, press ahead...




I cut the cab through the middle of the roof, would later wish I'd done it at the windshield posts, and did the floor by having material overlap an inch and using sheet metal screws with sealer. Plenty strong and good enough for my work truck, the pointed ends of the screws were all cut away later. Rocker panels and roof side rails were butted and gas welded for ductility and to be able to get into tight spaces.


Amazingly the '99 doors bolted on to the '95 cowl with minimal adjustment work. I'd like to say it was all because of my great measuring but let's not jinx this. I could have picked a straighter door set, but with me on the inside with a steel dolly and my old friend Carlos on the other side with a gas torch for metal shrinking, we got things straightened out. Tires are E-rated 65-series which on the 18" rims will still fit in the stock spare tire position while 70s would not. After all that, I went back and enlarged the spare tire area anyway, for next time I guess.




(Break for post length again...)

[Loren]

There were lots more details to work out, plus full interior installation. I got a nicer set of seats than what I had from Craigslist and was introduced to electronic-module-controlled seat-belt release, oh boy, which was wired up with help from the '99 factory service manual. I used a double-din radio/GPS jus' like in them modern cars, asked-for for my birthday (thanks everybody, sorry I lost the directions manual) and had to work the dash a bit for install. A custom rubber full floor mat was a sloppy fit (to put it mildly, it wasn't much better than just a flat piece) and got the mfr. a bad review on Summit.
OK, dog pics. At one point I wandered away for a few minutes, and came back to find this: Meet Tony and Vito ready to go for a ride. Not quite yet, guys.




Carlos owed me for building a Dana 44 for the front of his Jeep and besides doing much of the bodywork offered to do the painting in his home spray booth. I can paint, but better to have him do it. My old friend Steve who heads an aerospace supply business contributed a 3-part + thinner kit of Akzo-Nobel aircraft paint which proved to be good stuff.




After getting everything installed and aligned I went to the internet and ordered a new grille and headlight set, and scrounged around my parts pile for the best front bumper. More details, of-course, stuff takes a bit of time. I'd had cut the front coils a little to get the height where I wanted and needed to machine down the rear factory lift blocks to even things out.
And, finished except for a few details I'll get to eventually. There will be black pinstripe tape ala factory, and the camper shell for when I need it will get metallic silver. The step tube on the passenger side hinges down and lifts under power switched at the inside door pull, for when a particular passenger is having a bad-knee-day and just needs a little help.
IMG 0664



That motor, while still needing some tuning, makes good torque; at around 35 psi boost the first thing I did was have what seemed like a nitrous explosion (POW!), enough to make the hood bounce up (I jumped too), which is how I discovered that on this engine I have to tighten turbo tubing connections down a little harder than I'm used to. Hopefully I've got a good truck for a long time now, total cost including original vehicles was about 20K which leaves me a spare engine and D-80 rear, and will come down slightly as other spare parts are sold. Not done the easy way, but...you-know...

[Dan Barlow]

Number 1 my goodness , you not only put a lot of time in this truck but also in updating us . Thanks . Congrats for , with all the hurtles , getting it done . While 20k in a old truck sounds like a lot, it is far cheaper than anew 70k truck that truck cost these day . Again way to hang in there .

[DanStokes]

I love my old Dodge Diesel though I have a 24 valve engine. Tough as nails and absolutely reliable. Pulls the heck out of the car trailer even over mountains. I have the automatic and a local guy built it so it's TOUGH, too when coupled with the Banks billet converter.

Dan

[Loren]

Thanks Dan B,, about halfway through the project I was kinda running out of steam, then the inlaws bought a new Ram which I got to drive around a little in and I thought "Man I could be happy with this", lot's of power, comfort and gadgets. Then I heard about the price. That's when I decided to continue on, and that I'd just like a nice radio...

Dan S., I just hope this works as well and for as long as yours has. Old stuff, fine with me.

[DanStokes]

You mentioned radio: Crutchfield hooked me up with 2 JVC KW-V66BT's. One is in ME's HHR and the other is in Truck. It's a double DIN w/flat screen and sounds great with my factory Dodge speakers. It REALLY sucks in stations as I usually listen off the air though it supports sat radio and even will play a CD if you want that. Crutchfield tech support is excellent - they helped me sort out the wiring when it turns out that even though I don't have premium sound I still needed to connect the amp supply wire (weird). The rep just stayed on the phone with me as we tried various things 'till it worked and I'm impressed with them. To fit a 2DIN radio you'll have to cut away some of the in-dash plastic but it does fit.

I opted for the back up camera and pointed it at the hitch ball. This makes hooking up the trailer much easier.

Dan

[Loren]

I got something similar, except Jensen-branded but with no CD since I have pretty-much everything on an MP3 now. I really had to mess with the dash a bit as some of the plastic was cracked and needed support also, and it still needs a cover plate made up to fix the visual mess of that and some add-on gauges above it. Gail ain't happy that I deleted her ashtray. That amp supply, yeah hooking up a stereo isn't like it was doing it in the seventies, huh? I may someday install the back-up camera, we'll see. For sure I'm super-happy with it, plus I've always been the kind of guy who can go somewhere 20 times and make a wrong turn on the 21st (the plus side of that is, it makes every trip an adventure) so I love the GPS without having to be peering at my phone.

I had more pics and info but this site is kinda up to its' old tricks again so we'll have to leave that for another time.