Are you bending the tube with your bender? Action shots?
Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
Mutt The Race Truck
Collapse
X
-
-
Originally posted by Russell View PostAre you bending the tube with your bender? Action shots?
Last night I decided that I'll change the whole shoulder bar instead of splicing it together. I'll need to buy a new length of tube but that's not a high dollar thing. It's amazing what you can dream up in the bathtub!
Dan
- Likes 2
Comment
-
It's going to be so comfortable when you're done you will want to put tags on it.
If ME is not available, maybe just straight pipe on bender, the picture of bent pipe in bender.Last edited by Russell; June 29, 2020, 01:50 PM.
Comment
-
Originally posted by Russell View PostIt's going to be so comfortable when you're done you will want to put tags on it.
If ME is not available, maybe just straight pipe on bender, the picture of bent pipe in bender.
Dan
Comment
-
My MIG is hit and miss sometimes it looks good others not so much. Sometimes I don't trust the penetration. Hopefully in the next couple months. We are working on a storage building for me to get an air compressor (hope to wire the tig welder when I wire the air compressor lights / outlets in building), and put the lawnmower in so I can get the kids bikes out of the middle of the garage. Isn't having to much stuff grand? I have been trying to get rid of as much as I can and find good homes for what I can't.
I will mention it to Jennifer. She was back in the greenhouse this past year so she has not done much welding lately. The new welding teacher is opening a business with a partner in Raleigh. He has done mobile work before but not sure if Wilmington is in his range, might have to bring it up for them to do it.
Sounds like you have some scrap I could practice on and we can do some demo test if you can't find a real welder.Last edited by Russell; June 30, 2020, 07:23 AM.
Comment
-
One way or the other..... If one of you talks to the new welding teacher you can mention that I have the equipment and just need an operator. I'll have everything tacked in place. Of course I'd be thrilled to have Jennifer tackle it if she's up for it. There is plenty of difficult positions to weld in on a cage - but you guys are young and agile!
Dan
Comment
-
Got just a bit more done today given that I had another project to handle.
The turbo jacket (or blanket or whatever you call it) arrived in the mail today. Working it in and around my other project I did get it installed and here it is. While I was in that area I noticed that I hadn't tightened the turbo out to exhaust pipe connection so I did that, too.
More to come.......
Dan
Last edited by DanStokes; June 30, 2020, 07:14 PM.
Comment
-
Shoulder bar is tacked in. I grumpily had to put a sleeve in there even though I replaced the whole bar - there just was no other way to get the bar between the two legs of the main hoop. All in all, it fits pretty well.
Here's a couple of pics:
From the driver's side:
And from the passenger side. Here you can see the sleeve clearly. The tubes are only about 3/4" apart and the sleeve is 3 diameters so it meets SCTA requirements with the holes for rosette welds.
I still have to make a sill bar and a side bar for the driver's side.
Dan
Comment
-
And a little something for Russell. He was asking about the tube bender - this one belongs to Rack4u or David to those of you who know him. Anyhow, it works pretty well now that I'm catching on to it.
Here's a piece set up to bend. I worked out a way to hold the die fully open as I get the tube in place - pretty crude, just a piece of 2X2 wedged in to hold the jack compressed. Looks like I've already removed it before this shot.
And then, a bend in progress. I found it to be a good idea to add further sup[port to the U that supports the pipe so I clamp the U with the vise grips as shown. Then you just pump the handle and try not to overdo it. I have a HF magnetic angle gage and that comes in handy but one of those rotary protractors like you see in muffled shops (tells you the rotation of the pipe) would be handy, too.
I can take more pics if it would be helpful.
Dan
Comment
-
Sill Bar:
The bolt plates to go under the floor and up to the new LF downtube. The bolts go thru the front cab mount flange and the plates stiffen that connection and lap from the flange to the floor. Should be plenty stout.
As best as I could get a pic, an overall view of the bar in place. Notice that the floor rises at the rear of the cab so I did the double bend to get the rear weld point above the floor while keeping the front bar as close to the floor as possible.
A sort of close-up of the front connection: I welded up the part that can't be reached once the front is in place but I'll have the pro pretty it us as best as possible. I don't know how well it shows up but this bar also angles out a bit to provide more room for the seat.
And the rear attachment:
It's a decent fit but we might pull that connection together for the final weld.
DanLast edited by DanStokes; July 6, 2020, 05:29 PM.
Comment
-
And finally, the door bar. That will get a hinge that I'm about to order. The point of this was to make Mutt easier for an old fart to live with and that's what it'll take. I'm thinking about the hinge system from Rhodes - anybody have any experience with those? They look great.
The bar in place:
And the busy intersection: The curved plate covers up the open top of the diagonal brace that I had to cut apart to change the shoulder bar The shoulder bar can't be any lower or it would be too low to attach the shoulder belts properly so it now sits a bit higher. The tube notcher is a REALLY good thing but I wish my 1 5/8" hole saw was a bit deeper as I have to make the cut most of the way thru, cut out the waste, then finish the cut as the waste blocks the saw from going all of the way thru the tube. Deeper hole saws are probably out there so I'll need track that down.
I need to clean up the cut off tubes better but that's a job for tomorrow. I also need to make the new seat supports.
DanLast edited by DanStokes; July 7, 2020, 03:02 PM.
Comment
-
Some progress:
I got the simplified seat back brace made and the fit has been checked. I'll take a pic of it in place the next time I put the set in but here's pics of the brace itself.
In place on the seat. That's 1/8" wall square tubing and 3/16" bar stock.
And a close up of the tab in the middle of the brace. It's L shaped as the seat changed position when I tightened the bottom mount bolts so the tab wound up in the wrong place. Lesson of the day - tighten the bolts before you position attaching hardware. This should be plenty stout. The attachment bolt is 1/2" grade 8 so I doubt there will be any shearing going on there.
DanLast edited by DanStokes; July 12, 2020, 03:21 PM.
Comment
-
Second topic for the day. The shifter is from the Mercedes that I harvested the Getrag 4 speed from. At the driver's end there was a plastic cap and somehow with all the taking in and out of the seat that got knocked off and broken - and I didn't much like that set-up anyhow. The plastic cap did, however, retain the spring that centers the shifter so I had to come up with some kind of fix. A bit of head scratching and here's the solution:
I'm pointing to the bracket I made today that replaces the plastic cap. The bolt head that you can see is a short 5/16 (or 8mm metric equivalent) that adds a bit more pressure to the spring. I found that more than this and the spring went into coil bind and it wouldn't engage reverse so I guess this is about right.
It seems to work properly and is stronger than the plastic cap it replaces so I think this is "problem solved".
DanLast edited by DanStokes; July 18, 2020, 04:34 PM.
- Likes 2
Comment
Comment