Captain America rebuild

[Scott F.]

So the dash is in, cage is bolted down, I left the gauge wiring until after the drivetrain is back in. I have made some (slow) progress.

Got the front axle back in, so the truck is back sitting on the front tires atleast.

Not exactly sure how heavy a D60 front is, but it seems twice as heavy using a moving dolly and plywood to put it back in.

Then the MIG decided to break again, so that slowed me down for a few weeks...but the good news is it got replaced with a HH 210.

With the new welder I finally got around to finishing my steering arm. I had been putting this off forever because I really didn't want to stick it. The draglink heim was maxing out with the suspension travel, mainly b/c the Rockstomper arm I have is just a flat piece of 3/4". Instead of spending $$ on a new arm with a milled surface I decided to make this one work. I drilled a hole at 17 deg (the drill press was not happy me that day!) and then ran a sleeve through and then add the double shear bracket back on at the proper angle.

Then put in a piece of scrap 1/4" for good measure.

Also got some work done on the rear axle, was hoping to have it complete and back under the truck this weekend, but I guess that was a little optimistic. I spent forever ditching the drums and working on getting it converted to disks.

Check out what 3" backspaced wheels and big drums can do on rocks. Both sides had multiple chunks taken out at the lip.

 

[Scott F.]

got the old stuff cut off (I noticed that the spring perches were on at different angles) and did a lot of grinding.

Also spent some time taking care of other little things, added more bracing to the steering box and sleeved the frame for tow hooks.

Ran out of black spray paint so tan it is for the steering arm for now. got lucky on the tire clearance with the 5.5" backspacing, there is about 3/8" between the tire. I could grind some and get another 3/8" or so if I needed too.

here is the napa part numbers I am using for brakes on the rear(3/4 ton chevy front stuff) along with weld on caliper mounts.

Going to try and see if I can replace the wheel lugs with chevy stuff so that it will match the front, also to get a bigger dia. nut for the H2's.

 

[Scott F.]

Here is a shot of the finished rear brakes.

 

[Scott F.]

Finally got it back on 4 tires today, for the first time in about 6 months.

I sure hope this thing will settle when I get all the weight back in, it is sitting way too high now. I will be shooting for a ride height that is about 6" lower, or maybe more if I cut more of the firewall. Probably won't have any up travel if I go that low though.

 

[Scott F.]

Engine, trans and t-case are back in, it could almost pass as a truck now.

I put one of the old drums along with some scrap metal to good use and made stand for the bench grinder. The more space I can free up on the workbench the better, it seems to constantly collect junk so I have no area to work on it.

 

[R Q]

At least you're not dealing with a shop that is so junky that you can't get to your project!
You are doing a great job, keep up the good work. If you can work in those conditions, then no one else has an excuse!

 

[Scott F.]

Pulled the truck out of the fence today to move it. The good news is I will be towing it to my "new to me" 1500+ sq ft garage in a couple weeks. Bad news is it will be awhile before I get back to work on it.

Front didn't drop as much as I thought it would with the weight back in, looks like it will be shorter shackles both front and rear and also removing the bottom leaf on the front springs. Not going to touch that until after I know if this engine runs or not.

 

[tominator]

nice work Scott. it looks like you've been busy. I bet you will have no problem getting it done once you're in your new shop.

 

[cfd_2214]

very nice

 

[Scott F.]

height reference as it sits now. F250 is stock 4x4 with 265/75/16s.

 

[Scott F.]

Finally some progress, first time it has been driven in almost 7.5 years. Since my year-long trip to the Stan has been canceled I hope to be on the trails by summer.

Edit: hopefully the link works now

 

[Scott F.]

View attachment afarm7.static.flickr.com_6223_6296714300_89a41fefd6.jpg

So I did the toyota power steering pump mod while the engine was out. I may have gone a little to far, the pump produced a loud irregular whine during my test drive. It doesn't sound good at all but I can say that there was a noticeable improvement in the steering. It's probably a combination of the large backspacing of the H2's and the pump mods, but the steering at idle was extremely light effort lock to lock (ram is 1.75") and no slowdown of the ram during fast turns.

The whine will eventually drive me crazy though so I see pump replacement in my future.

 

[Black Bear]

upgrade to the TC pump from a jeep. you can get the bracket from trail gear, and use the slightly smaller pulley.

 

[ORV design and fab]

man, you have not lost drive to finish. you have come a long way, Good job!

 

[pirate]

Blast from the past. I think I have the video from your first trip to Tellico somewhere. Did you at least mod the radio so it stays in the dash?

 

[Scott F.]

Check one more item off the to-do list. Finished the exhaust hangers. It is all one welded piece except for the last 10 inches. I could not get it in and out between the frame crossmembers with the last section on, so it is clamped on. Added a hanger just behind the muffler prior to the clamped on turndown. Used some leftover metal and part of the old hangers, and used a gusset with go-fast holes to add an extra 5 HP......

and mounted up

Also picked up the steel for the bed. I am not a big fan of flatbeds but decided to go that route instead of bedsides. Buying fiberglass bedsides for big $$ and paying to ship them across the country just to cut them up to the new length and build a mounting frame just didn't seem worth it. I also thought about cruising the junkyards for a stock bed but decided that that would not be worth it either. After getting rid of all the rust that had built up on this truck while sitting, it seemed counter productive to by an old rusty bed from a junkyard and bob and fix it up, or cut the bedsides off and mount up for that matter. So this is what i have decided to go with:

Its going to be a mix of retangular and round tubing. Trying to keep it light so I was going to go with .095" wall on everything, but apparently that is not a common wall thickness for square tubing so I ended up getting 1" X 2" X .120" tubing and 1.75" X .095" wall round tubing for the sides.
I calculated the structural pieces needed to be right at 148 lbs, but that doesn't include the expanded metal or .060 sheet for floor and additional floor support pieces. It will probably end up at 200 lbs by the time I am done. Not sure what a stock (well 10" bobbed) bed weighs but hopefully I saved some overall.
Time to start cutting.

 

[Scott F.]

Got started working on the bed. Got the rectangular tubing cut and tacked the frame mounts in place.

 

[Scott F.]

 

[Scott F.]

Also got the battery mount done.....2,000 cranking amps and 300 min of reserve capacity!!

Going to reuse the stock gas tank skid in the rear. I added some 3/16ths x 1" in the valleys to stiffen it up some. With as high as my tank is mounted the skid plate shouldn't see too much action.

 

[Scott F.]

 

[bannerp]

Bed frame looks good!!! you have given me idea's on how to make my bed work!!!

 

[Scott F.]

More crappy cellphone pics of the bed progress

 

[Scott F.]

 

[Scott F.]

too bad I am not building a work truck....these tool boxes that I have laying around fit really nice on the sides.

Anyway, here is where I plan on mounting the CO2 tank. It will keep it out of the way and maximize cargo room.

Picked up some 16ga steel for the "tailgate" area and on the sides (load bearing areas). Also picked up some .025 alum that will get riveted on in the wheel well areas.

 

[Scott F.]

Got the rear shocks mounted. I planned to have the upper mount attach on the factory round cross member but it wasn't working out very well so I ended up just adding an extra cross brace in the bed and mounting them there. Just more bolts to undo to pull the bed in the future.

lower tabs on the axle. Mounted vertical for a 1:1 ratio for maximum dampening.

Adding end caps to tubes and other various grinding consumed most of my time. I did add the 1/8" gussets on the corners mainly to give the corner a cleaner look, but at least it also adds some support to the bedsides.

Got the bed floor cross members in place. The rear of the bed has a 2" recessed section for a spare tire up to 40". The front section of the bed floor is dropped down to the bottom 1"x2" rail height. A plastic foot locker (tools and spares/fluids) will be bolted in the front left which leaves a remaining "L" shaped section with expanded metal flooring to a cooler, and other random stuff.

Got the CO2 bottle mount, hi-lift mount and fire extinguisher mount in place. I have 50cal. ammo cans laying around so I used some otherwise wasted space under the bedside on the passenger side to add a mount to bolt it to. It should be handy to give quick access to a tow strap, shackle, and snatch block.