Project STON, the scaled down 1 ton truck
- Thread starter Alltwistedup
- Start date
Alltwistedup
Observer
Thanks
Thanks for the complements.
blaz
The s10's that were in the magazines were both based in Colorado, regular cabs, 4.3l gas, 4x4 frames, all of our suspension work is similar. As for me the photos have been taken and tech sheets filled out so my part is done. It's just wait and see
haven
I though about dry sump but part of my problem was with the front of the oil pan. Stick around for phase 2 and testing to find out how I fixed it.
Thanks for the complements.
blaz
The s10's that were in the magazines were both based in Colorado, regular cabs, 4.3l gas, 4x4 frames, all of our suspension work is similar. As for me the photos have been taken and tech sheets filled out so my part is done. It's just wait and see
haven
I though about dry sump but part of my problem was with the front of the oil pan. Stick around for phase 2 and testing to find out how I fixed it.
Alltwistedup
Observer
Phase 2 going for broke, going broke and breaking.
Action expresses priorities. Mohandas Gandhi
Rolled it out and clean all the dust off. 9/21/10 :wings:
I have a goal, not to take the big truck to California and beat on it again. Time till departure approximately 120 days. I had a list of items left to do, a long list and growing every time I looked at the truck. One of the major items left was to finish the front suspension adding difficulty to this was the the frame is different on both side and the drivers side is too narrow. I had used the down time to look at a lot of suspension information on the net and made the decision to have the rear of the springs angle in some rather then cut in to the frame. In the long run I believe this stopped a lot of body roll as I have no sway-bars or even the room to run one up front. With the thought of a 1000 pounds of drive-train crashing down after putting the truck in the air. I built a bracket up and called in a drilling favor, the 3 holes were to give me some flexibility without having to cut off and re-weld the bracket on. I had to rebuild a 3rd of the transmission crossmember to get everything to fit, but it all looked good and strong. The shackle bushings were taking the majority of offset, they went to the fab new shackles with an offset later list.
I knocked out the base for the front bumper first with a cardboard mock up and the 3/16” plate. Welding new mounts to the frame also. As much as I wanted a nice set of Led light bars I could not justify the cash so off to local auto part store. After some measuring I figure out how to stuff a new set and a scavenged set of lights off the jeep in to buckets to add cool factor. 10 hours of cutting and grinding later it looked good. Paint it up mount it and wait to bent the hoop till later.
Finished up fuel line and fuel tank rework, figured out coolant hoses, checked all the hydro lines and reworked the electrical starting/running system. My attention turned to gauges befor firing up the motor. I had picked up a set of gauge pod to run up the A-pillar, but where's the cool in that. I looked at the schematics for the truck and figured out all the gauges ran thru the PCM module remember step #3 save what you tear out. So I dug the PCM and wire harness out that I had all the sensors still plugged into. I am pretty sure I could have used it and the stock gauge cluster would have worked but the clock was ticking and the simpler things are easier are to fix. I looked at some S10 sites/ forums and I couldn't find anyone that had just modified their 2nd gen gauge cluster. Well sounds like a challenge to me, but I wanted to take it one step farther cram all the gauges in to the cluster Speedo, fuel, oil, temp, tach, pyro, boost and add in some led signal lights. Like everything else it doesn’t fit, short story I put the torch inside the truck and slowly melted and reformed the heater duct work. It will fit when I am done with it.
Start with an idea
Made it fit, sorry for the bad pic.
So after painting the frame I just couldn't let the rest go. So on the last pull out of the axles for final clean up, locker drop in and brake line bending out came the sand blaster for a super clean and coat of por 15 paint. Painted the brake line and calipers just to jazz things up and stop rust. Armor up with 1/4” plate diff cover for protection and were good to go.
Clearance the wheel well openings so the tires stuff without tearing up rubber and sheet metal. Took a few try's to get it right.
After two years of sitting the moment of truth was fast approaching. It took about 2 days a clogged up fuel pump, some very small leaks that let air in and lots of text messages to a friend for help. Then with a 1 second turn of the key the motor was alive and the garage was filling with toxic fumes. Crack the garage door so I don't die then row thru the gears listening to the transfer-case as I tested the clutch everything was looking good. Then the hydro line blew apart and fluid went everywhere. For the next week over Christmas I battled hydro line problems on short test drives. I had chosen rebuild-able fittings and Stainless steel lines the idea was carry a spare fitting and a chunk of line long enough to replace the longest line in the truck if a line broke I could pull it apart and fix it were ever. What I learned was the aluminum fittings stripped apart on the Stainless lines, some times the line held together at idle but blew apart at 2000 rpm and I had a 3200 redline. In the end Steve at the semi local Parker hose store and S10 fanatic build me a set of crimped pressure lines, I also have all the rebuild-able fittings in case I get in a jam. All and all I think I lost 6 days because I went cheap on fittings add in fuel, running around and a couple gallons of power steering fluid = lesson learned.
Action expresses priorities. Mohandas Gandhi
Rolled it out and clean all the dust off. 9/21/10 :wings:
I have a goal, not to take the big truck to California and beat on it again. Time till departure approximately 120 days. I had a list of items left to do, a long list and growing every time I looked at the truck. One of the major items left was to finish the front suspension adding difficulty to this was the the frame is different on both side and the drivers side is too narrow. I had used the down time to look at a lot of suspension information on the net and made the decision to have the rear of the springs angle in some rather then cut in to the frame. In the long run I believe this stopped a lot of body roll as I have no sway-bars or even the room to run one up front. With the thought of a 1000 pounds of drive-train crashing down after putting the truck in the air. I built a bracket up and called in a drilling favor, the 3 holes were to give me some flexibility without having to cut off and re-weld the bracket on. I had to rebuild a 3rd of the transmission crossmember to get everything to fit, but it all looked good and strong. The shackle bushings were taking the majority of offset, they went to the fab new shackles with an offset later list.
I knocked out the base for the front bumper first with a cardboard mock up and the 3/16” plate. Welding new mounts to the frame also. As much as I wanted a nice set of Led light bars I could not justify the cash so off to local auto part store. After some measuring I figure out how to stuff a new set and a scavenged set of lights off the jeep in to buckets to add cool factor. 10 hours of cutting and grinding later it looked good. Paint it up mount it and wait to bent the hoop till later.
Finished up fuel line and fuel tank rework, figured out coolant hoses, checked all the hydro lines and reworked the electrical starting/running system. My attention turned to gauges befor firing up the motor. I had picked up a set of gauge pod to run up the A-pillar, but where's the cool in that. I looked at the schematics for the truck and figured out all the gauges ran thru the PCM module remember step #3 save what you tear out. So I dug the PCM and wire harness out that I had all the sensors still plugged into. I am pretty sure I could have used it and the stock gauge cluster would have worked but the clock was ticking and the simpler things are easier are to fix. I looked at some S10 sites/ forums and I couldn't find anyone that had just modified their 2nd gen gauge cluster. Well sounds like a challenge to me, but I wanted to take it one step farther cram all the gauges in to the cluster Speedo, fuel, oil, temp, tach, pyro, boost and add in some led signal lights. Like everything else it doesn’t fit, short story I put the torch inside the truck and slowly melted and reformed the heater duct work. It will fit when I am done with it.
Start with an idea
Made it fit, sorry for the bad pic.
So after painting the frame I just couldn't let the rest go. So on the last pull out of the axles for final clean up, locker drop in and brake line bending out came the sand blaster for a super clean and coat of por 15 paint. Painted the brake line and calipers just to jazz things up and stop rust. Armor up with 1/4” plate diff cover for protection and were good to go.
Clearance the wheel well openings so the tires stuff without tearing up rubber and sheet metal. Took a few try's to get it right.
After two years of sitting the moment of truth was fast approaching. It took about 2 days a clogged up fuel pump, some very small leaks that let air in and lots of text messages to a friend for help. Then with a 1 second turn of the key the motor was alive and the garage was filling with toxic fumes. Crack the garage door so I don't die then row thru the gears listening to the transfer-case as I tested the clutch everything was looking good. Then the hydro line blew apart and fluid went everywhere. For the next week over Christmas I battled hydro line problems on short test drives. I had chosen rebuild-able fittings and Stainless steel lines the idea was carry a spare fitting and a chunk of line long enough to replace the longest line in the truck if a line broke I could pull it apart and fix it were ever. What I learned was the aluminum fittings stripped apart on the Stainless lines, some times the line held together at idle but blew apart at 2000 rpm and I had a 3200 redline. In the end Steve at the semi local Parker hose store and S10 fanatic build me a set of crimped pressure lines, I also have all the rebuild-able fittings in case I get in a jam. All and all I think I lost 6 days because I went cheap on fittings add in fuel, running around and a couple gallons of power steering fluid = lesson learned.
roostercruiser
Adventurer
Nice
Sock Puppet
Adventurer
Holy ton-of-work, man! That turned out amazingly well! Looking forward to more.
awesome build!
My favorite part is that admitted you mad some mistakes and got sick of the project. Usually build threads are fairies and unicorns and no ever makes mistakes. This type of build thread will open some eyes to the amount of work it really takes and how much little mistakes(cheap lines) can really add to a project.
thanks
My favorite part is that admitted you mad some mistakes and got sick of the project. Usually build threads are fairies and unicorns and no ever makes mistakes. This type of build thread will open some eyes to the amount of work it really takes and how much little mistakes(cheap lines) can really add to a project.
thanks
Alltwistedup
Observer
Thanks
Thanks for the comments guys I will try to finish up the build portion and test drives this week and then get ready. If you like scenic pic's, destruction and finding out how far I will push it you'll love were I tested things out.
Yep, I have read build treads on several sites were they must have been sprinkling pixie dust on everything at night because it just magically fit together like it was meant to.
Thanks for the comments guys I will try to finish up the build portion and test drives this week and then get ready. If you like scenic pic's, destruction and finding out how far I will push it you'll love were I tested things out.
Yep, I have read build treads on several sites were they must have been sprinkling pixie dust on everything at night because it just magically fit together like it was meant to.
Alltwistedup
Observer
Well here you go spent yesterday typing it up.
Alltwistedup
Observer
+/-20 days and counting
+/-20 days and counting
Step #1 and 5 was in full effect brake caliper, fender extensions, spring plate changes, shocks, steel, bolts, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All and all things were good not great, short test drive then fix what's wrong and repeat add new work along the way. It looked like the dream was becoming a reality the 14 hour days were taking their toll but I was getting it done. January 4th big day leave the comfort of the 2.5 mile round trip dirt road for the street and the exhaust shop. At the exhaust shop I got to see the suspension at full droop the guy even stopped the lift as the tires were not coming off the ground and the body was a good 8” up. I looked at the guy and said go for it, trailer is 4 miles away I can walk to get it and so up it went, 13” in the rear almost 17” in the front. It looked like the truck just fell apart in a good way. As anyone can tell you in the dirt or pavement the more your tires are on the ground the more control you have. I did not like the way the front shackles looked at droop but it was going to work for now. I also noted that the rear shocks needed to change as their was more travel to be found. So after some talking and measuring a 3” 10' long pipe got installed to redirect the hot air in a manner that makes makes it invisible when walking around it. So after firing it up to check for leaks and a good sound the owner's wife walked in to the shop and said where's the big truck that just started up as my s10 was the only thing in the shop. We all got a good laugh.
So I took the long route on the way home at the first stop light I figured out I might of built something that’s going to attract attention when a guy would not move when the light turned green till I rolled by and passed him, in my mirrors I could see other people pointing stuff out on the truck to passengers. Normally the kid at Taco bell does not try to hang his upper body out of the drive thru window to check out what I am driving while he hands me my bag of food. Now attracting attention to yourself can have both a good and bad side. My motorcycle is a rare sight to some and a trip to the gas station can sometimes take 30 minutes talking to people about what it is and who makes it even thou it says in big letters KTM. On the plus side it has opened doors when I need a place to stay, help or directions as people get curious about all the stickers of places I have been. One of the ideas behind the s10 was to not attract attention when sleeping at Camp Wally World or any other parking lot.
On the way back home I realized I had two problems one being the door pocket cup holders don’t hold a large drink very well and I had some vibration engine speed based that I did not have when I left home. So after pulling back in the garage and eating a couple taco's it's time to figure out what went wrong. Either the truck gods or devil was waving at me because with in 5 min I had found the ground up head of one of the pressure plate bolt laying by the inspection hole. With 14 total miles on the truck I would find out if I had planned correctly when building it, meaning would it come apart. By the end of the night I had my answer, barely. I had just enough room to get to all the transmission bolts and marked some sheet metal for a little more hammer time. I left the transfer-case attached and tried to pull everything back at once to save time. I had to remove the stock 3rd cross-member which needed to be reworked anyway as I could only get the drive train back and down a couple inches as one unit. After separating the trans and motor a couple inches I figured out what happened the head on the pressure plate bolt popped off and left the rest of the bolt in the flywheel. I tried everything I could think of to stop from totally dropping the trans out of the truck, even a friend got a hold of a drill that only needs 1 1/2” including the bit to operate in. No luck the fragment would not back out, trans had to go to the floor and the flywheel come off. Even on the bench the fragment was not coming out. By now I lost a day and a half to a bolt and I was still pissed over all the hydro line problems, the clock was ticking till I needed to leave and things weren’t looking good. Thanks to a super neighbor Mr. Bob who I think can drill a hole in anything I hand him. The flywheel is out of the garage at 9pm and by 9am I am getting a call to come pick it up at the shop. By the end of the night with a friend helping to push and pull +400 pounds of cast iron around all I needed to do was attach shifters, clutch, down pipe and cross-member. With the trans off I was also able to confirm a big fear, the head gasket was leaking coolant and not a hose.
+/-20 days and counting
Step #1 and 5 was in full effect brake caliper, fender extensions, spring plate changes, shocks, steel, bolts, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. All and all things were good not great, short test drive then fix what's wrong and repeat add new work along the way. It looked like the dream was becoming a reality the 14 hour days were taking their toll but I was getting it done. January 4th big day leave the comfort of the 2.5 mile round trip dirt road for the street and the exhaust shop. At the exhaust shop I got to see the suspension at full droop the guy even stopped the lift as the tires were not coming off the ground and the body was a good 8” up. I looked at the guy and said go for it, trailer is 4 miles away I can walk to get it and so up it went, 13” in the rear almost 17” in the front. It looked like the truck just fell apart in a good way. As anyone can tell you in the dirt or pavement the more your tires are on the ground the more control you have. I did not like the way the front shackles looked at droop but it was going to work for now. I also noted that the rear shocks needed to change as their was more travel to be found. So after some talking and measuring a 3” 10' long pipe got installed to redirect the hot air in a manner that makes makes it invisible when walking around it. So after firing it up to check for leaks and a good sound the owner's wife walked in to the shop and said where's the big truck that just started up as my s10 was the only thing in the shop. We all got a good laugh.
So I took the long route on the way home at the first stop light I figured out I might of built something that’s going to attract attention when a guy would not move when the light turned green till I rolled by and passed him, in my mirrors I could see other people pointing stuff out on the truck to passengers. Normally the kid at Taco bell does not try to hang his upper body out of the drive thru window to check out what I am driving while he hands me my bag of food. Now attracting attention to yourself can have both a good and bad side. My motorcycle is a rare sight to some and a trip to the gas station can sometimes take 30 minutes talking to people about what it is and who makes it even thou it says in big letters KTM. On the plus side it has opened doors when I need a place to stay, help or directions as people get curious about all the stickers of places I have been. One of the ideas behind the s10 was to not attract attention when sleeping at Camp Wally World or any other parking lot.
On the way back home I realized I had two problems one being the door pocket cup holders don’t hold a large drink very well and I had some vibration engine speed based that I did not have when I left home. So after pulling back in the garage and eating a couple taco's it's time to figure out what went wrong. Either the truck gods or devil was waving at me because with in 5 min I had found the ground up head of one of the pressure plate bolt laying by the inspection hole. With 14 total miles on the truck I would find out if I had planned correctly when building it, meaning would it come apart. By the end of the night I had my answer, barely. I had just enough room to get to all the transmission bolts and marked some sheet metal for a little more hammer time. I left the transfer-case attached and tried to pull everything back at once to save time. I had to remove the stock 3rd cross-member which needed to be reworked anyway as I could only get the drive train back and down a couple inches as one unit. After separating the trans and motor a couple inches I figured out what happened the head on the pressure plate bolt popped off and left the rest of the bolt in the flywheel. I tried everything I could think of to stop from totally dropping the trans out of the truck, even a friend got a hold of a drill that only needs 1 1/2” including the bit to operate in. No luck the fragment would not back out, trans had to go to the floor and the flywheel come off. Even on the bench the fragment was not coming out. By now I lost a day and a half to a bolt and I was still pissed over all the hydro line problems, the clock was ticking till I needed to leave and things weren’t looking good. Thanks to a super neighbor Mr. Bob who I think can drill a hole in anything I hand him. The flywheel is out of the garage at 9pm and by 9am I am getting a call to come pick it up at the shop. By the end of the night with a friend helping to push and pull +400 pounds of cast iron around all I needed to do was attach shifters, clutch, down pipe and cross-member. With the trans off I was also able to confirm a big fear, the head gasket was leaking coolant and not a hose.
Alltwistedup
Observer
TiK ToK, TiK ToK, TiK ToK.
TiK ToK, TiK ToK, TiK ToK.
My garage is kind of like Viagra for trucks. Next to stock s10 2wd at the parts store.
The rest of testing was for the majority good I still had thing's pop up but I could work around them. Snapping the speedo cable resulted in 4 hours at a speedo shop and a custom adapter cable made from stiffer housing, then I drilling holes in the steering column to get it bind free. Replace this bolt with that bolt and lock washer and/or nylock so it does not come apart. Trim sheet metal, adjust steering to center wheel, make mud flaps, attach fender extensions find out there still not enough to be legal or keep mud from flying. Another neighbor gave me a name of a cousin who pained so I bought the paint to get the cap to match the truck. I stripped everything off and while he had the cap I cleaned parts and tinted all the windows. I was trying to drive the truck to get parts every couple of days so I could put miles on it and check it all out.
With the clock ticking I knew I need to finish the front bumper as it was going to make the look of the truck. I had been almost a year since talked to Jason it Sinister Fab Works about bending a hoop to match the hood lines of the s10 at the time he said yea it's tricky but doable. I had looked at some of the other stuff he was building and thought he understands how something need to function and look good at the same time. A phone call and a day later I am pulling in to the shop, it's a little intimidating to take something you built in your garage and show up to a place where their lively hood depends on what they build, within 30 seconds I was put as ease. After the questions and normal off road BS and one of his customers commenting on the magazines to which my reply was “be nice, maybe but it's built to go not to show”, the radio turned on and we got busy. Over the course of the next three hours with a lot of holding, measuring, angle finding and just tweaking here and their. What looks to be 3 bends is really 5 complex bends that anyone who has ever put tube in a die can appreciate. The tube follows the body lines to the point of almost blending in, but like the rest of the truck the closer you get the more you realize it not for show it has function. My vision was getting clearer Prius move over, rock wall I am going to leave a mark, tree your coming down. But most of all, I had a place to hang my underwear to dry out ofter washing :wings:.
The trip to Sinister let me get the truck up to 70 mph and see if it was stable and stayed straight on the highway and it was and I even ran it up a little faster (ok a lot faster:smiley_drive and it just got better. One thing I did notice was their was a ton of heat coming thru the passenger floor. I had already placed a heat pad on the firewall by the down-pipe and wrapped the first 3' of the down-pipe in heat wrap but it looked like more was one the way. In the end I also had to wrap the exhaust manifold and my extension all while in the truck not how I wanted to spend 3 hours but it looks good, solved the problem and I can get to all the bolts.
Years of wrapping road bike handle bars when I was a kid payed off.
Front drive shaft to cross-member clearance, hope it doesn't rub at full droop.
I had delayed leaving on the trip by a week and went into multi tasking overdrive, fabricating the rear bumper system out of mostly scrap, paint this, get front drive shaft, tweak on that, bang head on wall over this and that. Neighbors were helping, bending the rails for the cap roof rack supports. Another spent 4 days working on an insulating cover for the fridge so my salad would stay cold. As the crack of garage door light never seam to turn off others checked in to see how progress was going and that I was not trapped. I fabricated a sleeping platform in the bed and wired the cap for 12v switched and constant, put switches in the dash all a long the way trying to get some miles. Then I realized just throw the small parts in the truck and install them on the way, big stuff was out of luck. My longest test drive had been just under 100 miles round trip to a friends house, the one who helped me decide on buying the truck to begin with. With it's photos taken kind of like a new born leaving the hospital he got the first ride and we shot some video.
When I got home that night I installed the $50 pawn shop stereo and started loading up basically every tool that was on the bench, into a Rubbermaid or tool bag. Not just little stuff but the big stuff also saws-all, grinder, mapp torch, sandpaper, rear axle shaft, ujoints, hydro lines, fittings, nuts and bolts on and on and every fluid I had left in the cabinet I was not taking any chances. Now by no means was everything on the truck perfect but at some point you just call it.
This turbo oil return line leak kicked my butt everyday. Every night I reworked it, this was the least number of fitting I got to and it still leaked. Think it a little close to the frame.
TiK ToK, TiK ToK, TiK ToK.
My garage is kind of like Viagra for trucks. Next to stock s10 2wd at the parts store.
The rest of testing was for the majority good I still had thing's pop up but I could work around them. Snapping the speedo cable resulted in 4 hours at a speedo shop and a custom adapter cable made from stiffer housing, then I drilling holes in the steering column to get it bind free. Replace this bolt with that bolt and lock washer and/or nylock so it does not come apart. Trim sheet metal, adjust steering to center wheel, make mud flaps, attach fender extensions find out there still not enough to be legal or keep mud from flying. Another neighbor gave me a name of a cousin who pained so I bought the paint to get the cap to match the truck. I stripped everything off and while he had the cap I cleaned parts and tinted all the windows. I was trying to drive the truck to get parts every couple of days so I could put miles on it and check it all out.
With the clock ticking I knew I need to finish the front bumper as it was going to make the look of the truck. I had been almost a year since talked to Jason it Sinister Fab Works about bending a hoop to match the hood lines of the s10 at the time he said yea it's tricky but doable. I had looked at some of the other stuff he was building and thought he understands how something need to function and look good at the same time. A phone call and a day later I am pulling in to the shop, it's a little intimidating to take something you built in your garage and show up to a place where their lively hood depends on what they build, within 30 seconds I was put as ease. After the questions and normal off road BS and one of his customers commenting on the magazines to which my reply was “be nice, maybe but it's built to go not to show”, the radio turned on and we got busy. Over the course of the next three hours with a lot of holding, measuring, angle finding and just tweaking here and their. What looks to be 3 bends is really 5 complex bends that anyone who has ever put tube in a die can appreciate. The tube follows the body lines to the point of almost blending in, but like the rest of the truck the closer you get the more you realize it not for show it has function. My vision was getting clearer Prius move over, rock wall I am going to leave a mark, tree your coming down. But most of all, I had a place to hang my underwear to dry out ofter washing :wings:.
The trip to Sinister let me get the truck up to 70 mph and see if it was stable and stayed straight on the highway and it was and I even ran it up a little faster (ok a lot faster:smiley_drive
and it just got better. One thing I did notice was their was a ton of heat coming thru the passenger floor. I had already placed a heat pad on the firewall by the down-pipe and wrapped the first 3' of the down-pipe in heat wrap but it looked like more was one the way. In the end I also had to wrap the exhaust manifold and my extension all while in the truck not how I wanted to spend 3 hours but it looks good, solved the problem and I can get to all the bolts. Years of wrapping road bike handle bars when I was a kid payed off.
Front drive shaft to cross-member clearance, hope it doesn't rub at full droop.
I had delayed leaving on the trip by a week and went into multi tasking overdrive, fabricating the rear bumper system out of mostly scrap, paint this, get front drive shaft, tweak on that, bang head on wall over this and that. Neighbors were helping, bending the rails for the cap roof rack supports. Another spent 4 days working on an insulating cover for the fridge so my salad would stay cold. As the crack of garage door light never seam to turn off others checked in to see how progress was going and that I was not trapped. I fabricated a sleeping platform in the bed and wired the cap for 12v switched and constant, put switches in the dash all a long the way trying to get some miles. Then I realized just throw the small parts in the truck and install them on the way, big stuff was out of luck. My longest test drive had been just under 100 miles round trip to a friends house, the one who helped me decide on buying the truck to begin with. With it's photos taken kind of like a new born leaving the hospital he got the first ride and we shot some video.
When I got home that night I installed the $50 pawn shop stereo and started loading up basically every tool that was on the bench, into a Rubbermaid or tool bag. Not just little stuff but the big stuff also saws-all, grinder, mapp torch, sandpaper, rear axle shaft, ujoints, hydro lines, fittings, nuts and bolts on and on and every fluid I had left in the cabinet I was not taking any chances. Now by no means was everything on the truck perfect but at some point you just call it.
This turbo oil return line leak kicked my butt everyday. Every night I reworked it, this was the least number of fitting I got to and it still leaked. Think it a little close to the frame.
Alltwistedup
Observer
Roll out.
Roll out.
With 417 miles in a little over two weeks of testing, loaded full of gear, tools, fridge, water tank, food and a full tank of fuel I roll out of town.
And in to the storm of the century that was devastating every state from New Mexico to Michigan were I was going to be for the next week. Snow yep I80 got shut down while I was on it, nobody told me finally quit at the point I could not see the hood. Cold yep 2nd morning -6f start no grid or block heater and I had slept in the back. Fuel with no anti gel because it never gets that cold, yep. Left my bottle of diesel 911 with friend as he gelled up and no were in town had the stuff.
At this point in time I had repeated steps 4-10 so many times on this project Homer Simpson look like a brain surgeon. But you know what I had a big smile on my face while plowing thru the Iowa80 truck stop parking lot with 3-5' snow drifts and the trucker's cheering me on while that turbo diesel wound up. Nothing else was moving in the parking lot except for the front end loader and he moved over for me.:victory:
Up next 6200 miles of beating the snot out of it.:yikes:
Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all. Ernest Shackleton
Roll out.
With 417 miles in a little over two weeks of testing, loaded full of gear, tools, fridge, water tank, food and a full tank of fuel I roll out of town.
And in to the storm of the century that was devastating every state from New Mexico to Michigan were I was going to be for the next week. Snow yep I80 got shut down while I was on it, nobody told me finally quit at the point I could not see the hood. Cold yep 2nd morning -6f start no grid or block heater and I had slept in the back. Fuel with no anti gel because it never gets that cold, yep. Left my bottle of diesel 911 with friend as he gelled up and no were in town had the stuff.
At this point in time I had repeated steps 4-10 so many times on this project Homer Simpson look like a brain surgeon. But you know what I had a big smile on my face while plowing thru the Iowa80 truck stop parking lot with 3-5' snow drifts and the trucker's cheering me on while that turbo diesel wound up. Nothing else was moving in the parking lot except for the front end loader and he moved over for me.:victory:
Up next 6200 miles of beating the snot out of it.:yikes:
Difficulties are just things to overcome, after all. Ernest Shackleton
