Amphibious HEMTT

[Firstram]

Quills are for drills, crank that knee up! Skid plate looks good

 

[WaterH]

Quills are for drills, crank that knee up! Skid plate looks good

They were very light cuts, but you are right.

 

[WaterH]

Finishing the T-case skid, I welded another rib on one side and painted.

Mounted it today. I’m real happy with it.

It’s nice because removing it is just 7 bolts and they all go into blind nuts. If I use the cordless impact, it comes off in seconds. Then it’s just another six bolts to get the front skid off.

I didn’t jack it till the tires were off, but I did get all the weight off the rear axle and it didn’t bend.

Very flat belly. I suppose a purest would countersink the bolts so they don’t hang up on rocks. If I’m have ing that problem, I’m in the wrong place.

 

[Firstram]

Looks good

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

I know we arent supposed to do this but... How much do you have into this thing?

 

[WaterH]

I know we arent supposed to do this but... How much do you have into this thing?

I didn’t keep perfect track, but should be less than $30,000. Of course, that doesn’t include labor.

My heaviest load so far.

Didn’t have any problems towing, but it was cold today. Not sure if I could keep this going 60 in the dead of summer.

 

[bdkw1]

That's really even axle wieghts.

 

[WaterH]

That's really even axle wieghts.

Yes, while it has 1200 lbs. of tongue wt. Normally, it’s a 1000# heavier on the front tires. Don’t think I will be jumping this thing.

 

[GLTHFJ60]

My heaviest load so far.

Didn’t have any problems towing, but it was cold today. Not sure if I could keep this going 60 in the dead of summer.

Have an unloaded weight slip for us?

The heat problem will prevent you from towing at highway speeds in the summer for sure.

 

[WaterH]

Have an unloaded weight slip for us?

The heat problem will prevent you from towing at highway speeds in the summer for sure.

This is without a trailer.

 

[Penetrode Offroad]

I didn’t keep perfect track, but should be less than $30,000. Of course, that doesn’t include labor.

Doesnt seem too bad.

 

[Clemson13]

Any updates? I love this thing .

 

[FelixstoweF.2]

Nice build.

 

[WaterH]

Any updates? I love this thing .

Nothing much to report. Been busy with other stuff. Been racking up miles. Almost entirely on the street. It’s only been off road a couple of times in a gravel pit and some swamp land. I actually got it stuck in 2 wheel drive in a ditch on the side of a dirt road. It came right out in 4 by 4, but I was still disappointed it got stuck. The ditch was only half the height of the tire, but it was full of water/clay.

Nice build.

Thankyou

 

[WaterH]

Update,

The truck has been doing good lately except for some minor things. (I’ll get to them) It’s pretty much my favorite thing to drive ever. I figured out why it’s so fun to drive. Let’s face it, this truck is not fast, but it feels fast because of a couple reasons.

First, it’s faster then what you expect from a large truck. When you are at a light and a garbage truck is next to you, you know you just need to barely step on the gas to pull in front of him. This truck looks like the size of a garbage truck, but is way faster. I’m not saying your shit box won’t out excellerate it, but you are going to have to floor it.

The other reason it feels fast is the combination of low end torque, high center of gravity, short wheel base and airbag suspension. Every time you step on the pedal, the rear squats and the front lifts. Also when you shift gears, the front lifts. The fact that you are in front of the front tires exaggerates the feeling that you are popping a wheelly.

On to the problems,
I have been worried about high EGT temps, but since my latest mods to the intercooler and resivour tank, I havnt had any issues. If I floor it at a stand still, I will be at 70 mph by the time it hits 1400 EGT. I never drive faster than that in it and rarely actually go that fast. I’m not sure if this will change with mid summer heat. We’ll see.

Problem number one, I had the idler pulley mount break awhile back. I changed the design to a much more beefy mount and all seemed good. Then the idler began chirping. At that time, one of the Irate members here told me about eliminating the idler altogether. I didn’t do it because I already had the new mount made, but I did source a belt that would fit without the idler. When this idler began chirping, I just put the short belt on and drove. After a couple thousand miles, I am hearing this clicking sound. In a matter of 20 miles, it started getting bad sounding.

I pulled the belt and confirmed it went away. (Whew) I really can’t say what the noise was. The water pump might be a little rough. (With the emphasis on little) Everything else turns smooth. Just for fun, I installed a new belt and “presto” the sound is gone. I have studied this belt and can’t see anything wrong with it. This sound was like loose bolts bouncing around in the crankcase. It’s hard to believe this belt was making this sound. Have you guys ever run in to this?

Problem number two,
The airbag suspension is great for a lots of reasons, but a few issues have come out. They leak. Not the bags them selves, but the plumbing to my manual valves. I love having control at my finger tips, but it gets old adjusting them every time I go out. They don’t leak fast enough to change in a drive, but over night the truck will invariably be sitting at a slant.

I have a very complicated system of gauges and valves in my console that is nearly impossible to get air tight. I found that individual gauges are not necessary or useful and decided to simplify. Here you can see the old guage panel.

The problem with each guage is it’s not like you put in 30 psi and the truck rides at 2” up travel and 40 psi gives you 3” of up travel. It’s like 30 psi gives you 2” of travel and boost of air makes the truck go to 3” , but the guage still reads 30 psi. The only time the psi changes is if you put more weight in the truck. So if you think about it, you can have exactly 30 psi in both rear bags and the back of the truck is slanted to the left. Basically, the gauges are useless. The only thing the gauges do is require a maze of plumbing that is hard to seal. Look at the back of this panel.

My new panel only has one guage to read tank pressure, so the back got a lot simpler. After plumbing, I put pressure to it and dunked it in a five gallon bucket to see any bubbles.

On the new panel.

I also put a main tank shut off on the panel.

After installing in the console.

So now I have a much cleaner system that doesn’t leak, right?




Fuc no. The sumbitch leaks worse than ever. It appears that the “push to connect” fittings that I used to run airline to it will not hold air. I have some new fittings coming. (Not push connect) It also seems that pressure guage itself might have a small leak. ( I never stuck it under water)

 

[Grendel]

On my C10, I used Ride Tech's e-controller, with a big red valve.

It had ride height sensors, that controlled the air valves, with a digital controller that monitors a lot of different variables. Also did things like air down on engine off, air up on engine first idle, several other pre-sets.

It isn't cheap, but when built, it's very, very solid.

 

[WaterH]

On my C10, I used Ride Tech's e-controller, with a big red valve.

It had ride height sensors, that controlled the air valves, with a digital controller that monitors a lot of different variables. Also did things like air down on engine off, air up on engine first idle, several other pre-sets.

It isn't cheap, but when built, it's very, very solid.

I’m trying to not use computers here, but I may give in eventually. It would be really nice to have standard “on street” height. And a “off road” with more up travel for bumps.

If nothing would leak, I would be happy. My air valves are all stainless and very well made, but one of them was leaking inside. So when I stoped, it would leak from the tank in to one bag and jack that corner up. I have smal leak in the tank plumbing also and after enough time, the high corner would leak back to the tank and become the low corner. Ahhhhhhh. At least with the main shutoff, I stopped all that bs. (I replaced that valve also)

 

[bdkw1]

Fuck pushlocks. I ran AN fittings and Teflon lined brake line on my bagged truck. 27 years later that same setup is on my trailer and still does not leak.

Refresh my memory on the bags, rolling lobe or regular bellows?

 

[WaterH]

Fuck pushlocks. I ran AN fittings and Teflon lined brake line on my bagged truck. 27 years later that same setup is on my trailer and still does not leak.

Refresh my memory on the bags, rolling lobe or regular bellows?

Yea, I’m done with the push locks.
They are rolling lobe bags.

 

[bdkw1]

Ok, rolling lobe bags kind suck when you look at the spring rate curve. They are great for trash trucks, not so great for performance.

 

[elbekko]

I just went through this on my Range Rover as well. There are two types of push fittings, single o-ring and double o-ring. The double o-ring fittings don't leak down nearly as much.

But now I'm just putting in compression fittings with nylon line, no leak now, not ever. Amd copious amounts of Loctite 577 to seal the threads.

 

[Grendel]

But now I'm just putting in compression fittings with nylon line, no leak now, not ever. Amd copious amounts of Loctite 577 to seal the threads.

This is all I will use on air.

 

[Dougal]

Push-lock fittings compress the end of the hose and it often won't seal up on reconnection. When that happens there are two common fixes.

1. Cut 5mm off the hose and reconnect.
2. Wait a few weeks and the hose expands back to sealing.

I'm amazed how often #2 has worked for me.

I reckon having some ride height sensors displaying lights or needles wouldn't be that hard. Just some analog electrics.

 

[WaterH]

Push-lock fittings compress the end of the hose and it often won't seal up on reconnection. When that happens there are two common fixes.

1. Cut 5mm off the hose and reconnect.
2. Wait a few weeks and the hose expands back to sealing.

I'm amazed how often #2 has worked for me.

I reckon having some ride height sensors displaying lights or needles wouldn't be that hard. Just some analog electrics.

I tried cutting off some of the tube. It seemed to work on one joint. I just got some non push fittings and will be installing them in the next day or two.

I’ve been trying to figure a non-computer ride height guage. I found out my radio has a feature to read those psi sensors on tires. (Would have to get the sensors) I thought about putting them on the bags instead of tires, but I don’t like more computer shit. And as I said, the psi reading on the bags is not much help.

If I really could stop all leaks, it wouldn’t be much of an issue. To date, I have only had the truck off road 5 times and only one time did I change the ride height. (F’ing mall crawler) Now every time I take it out of the garage, I measure the bumpers to the floor.

 

[ExWrench]

I tried cutting off some of the tube. It seemed to work on one joint. I just got some non push fittings and will be installing them in the next day or two.

I’ve been trying to figure a non-computer ride height guage. I found out my radio has a feature to read those psi sensors on tires. (Would have to get the sensors) I thought about putting them on the bags instead of tires, but I don’t like more computer shit. And as I said, the psi reading on the bags is not much help.

If I really could stop all leaks, it wouldn’t be much of an issue. To date, I have only had the truck off road 5 times and only one time did I change the ride height. (F’ing mall crawler) Now every time I take it out of the garage, I measure the bumpers to the floor.

If all you GAF about is maintaining a constant PSI in each bag, maybe plumb in adjustable regulators? If you GAF about maintaining ride height, you're going to have to complicate things.

 

[Grendel]

If you just have one ride height, why not Semi truck height sensors? They're a fill and release valve in one.

an example: Truck/Trailer Height Control Chassis Leveling Air Valve

 

[WaterH]

If all you GAF about is maintaining a constant PSI in each bag, maybe plumb in adjustable regulators? If you GAF about maintaining ride height, you're going to have to complicate things.

Constant psi doesn’t matter.

If you just have one ride height, why not Semi truck height sensors? They're a fill and release valve in one.

an example: Truck/Trailer Height Control Chassis Leveling Air Valve

Those are pretty cool. But if I really was going “lock it” at one height, could just leave the shredder valves at each corner with nothing attached. No leaks there and I haven’t found big changes with temperature. (I’m not up where you are in winter) I do have to put air in the rears when I tow something. But I did build the whole truck, you would think I could seal a simple air system. If I get it sealed, I would only f#ck with it for two reasons. More ride height for off road and towing.

If I were to lower my link mounts by about 2” at the frame, I would probably never change the height for off road. I would just have increased travel all the time. (Right now it develops “roll steer” at the higher ride height.)

 

[Dougal]

If you just have one ride height, why not Semi truck height sensors? They're a fill and release valve in one.

an example: Truck/Trailer Height Control Chassis Leveling Air Valve

Constant psi doesn’t matter.



Those are pretty cool. But if I really was going “lock it” at one height, could just leave the shredder valves at each corner with nothing attached. No leaks there and I haven’t found big changes with temperature. (I’m not up where you are in winter) I do have to put air in the rears when I tow something. But I did build the whole truck, you would think I could seal a simple air system. If I get it sealed, I would only f#ck with it for two reasons. More ride height for off road and towing.

If I were to lower my link mounts by about 2” at the frame, I would probably never change the height for off road. I would just have increased travel all the time. (Right now it develops “roll steer” at the higher ride height.)

One possible solution. Fit two of the truck/trailer height control valves at different ride heights and run a pneumatic switch to select between them.

On-road, off-road and vent (slammed) would be pretty easy.

 

[pinchegringo]

Those manual valves will eventually leak if they don't already. Sometimes they will leak up.
As for the overheating, is air not thinner in summer and have less oxygen to burn?
I always thought egt problems got worse in the cold.

 

[Dethmachinefab]

One possible solution. Fit two of the truck/trailer height control valves at different ride heights and run a pneumatic switch to select between them.

On-road, off-road and vent (slammed) would be pretty easy.

This is the best solution.