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Project: Midnight Panic

Now I can finally get to the aluminum floor panels,,,,,Almost,

I had to work on the mounting tabs first,

I have used these tabs before & bought a whole box of them for this project, they are handy, but I have a couple issues with them,
First, they have a 1/4" hole in them, so either thread them to 5/16" (which is a huge fastener for an .125" thick tab)
Or attach 1/4" threads to them somehow, (J-nut, thin-sert, etc.)

I chose the ole weld a nut on technique,



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I'm really surprised how many people make note of this particular detail, to oakie for the build maybe?

Second issue is they are crooked, I'm not sure if the stamped out blanks are crooked, or if something happens when they get bent to shape, either way it drives me nuts every time I hold one up to a piece of tube,
I've welded plenty of them on, & more than likely no one would ever know,
But for this project I took a few minutes & modified an old soft jaw for my mill vise, now it will grip the tab both rigidly & consistently,
A carbide cutter the diameter of the tube each tab will go on makes short work of truing up the tab, & making a nicer fit to the tube itself,
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Now I have lots of threaded, strait tabs, & with that much work invested in them, there was no way I was MIG welding them to the chassis if I didn't have to, But my TIG machine is on the opposite end of the shop, I have a torch, & ground that will reach no problem, but my pedal cord was about 6 ft shy of reaching, so I burned up a few hours rearranging the shop, (mostly just under one bench), moved the welder & bottle from one end of the bench to the other, & now I can reach both shop bays with the TIG machine.

It' got plenty of use over there this weekend too.
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As posted earlier I had already built the center/front aluminum panel under the throttle pedal, I really like how it fits the main chassis rails inside the cab with the edges that rest on the main rails get the outermost 1/4" bent down slightly
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I had other plans on how I was going to build the rest of the floor, but that section turned out so good I changed my mind & decided to continue that design down the length of the chassis inside the cab,

The next section, (middle) butts up to that first piece that had already been built, using the second hole pattern to hold the front edge down,
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The next seam in the floor will be where the mid & rear sections meet, at this point there is the row of tabs (seen in the last post), so both panels will share those tabs/bolts, for this I dug out the old bead/flange roller from "Project Pete" & run the back edge of the mid section through it,
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Should make a clean overlapping seam,

And the mid section is roughed in,
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The rear section was next, mostly just making sure the bent edges matched the mid section, the holes were drilled in the correct location, & paying attention to fitting around the tubes at the rear for the cab,
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With all the panels fit, I needed more tabs to finish mounting them.
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More tabs, more milling,
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The tabs with long nuts are used along the main chassis rails, I'll be able to bolt rubber dip clamps or other tabs from the bottom side for holding wiring, cables etc. in place, & do so without having to pull a nut of bolt under the truck before removing the floor panel,

More tab welding,
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Then I had to transfer all the seat, seat belt & pump mounting holes to the rear section & drill them,
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Next I will removed the center section & it will get some reinforcement channels riveted to it for more support under that big area, That should about do it for that part, maybe I'll get back to working on the outside sections as well, see what squirrel I decide to chase next,

I'll get another pile of tabs welded & machined, then go from there.
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Back to tin work, after measuring, cutting, fitting, a little bending, & then some riveting, the driver & passenger floor pans were done,
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I was specifically asked to make a video on the actual rivet process, so I just as well post that here as well,



As I said in the video, the rivets in the channel were a installed a little differently, but the basic process is the same
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With the majority of the flooring close to completion, I figured I better try to button up the front steer hard lines,
I had ordered an inline heat sink cooler, which showed up prior to the weekend, The same style cooler, half this size seems to do the job on the buggy, so I'm sure it will suffice on this project too,
I figured this stretch of plumbing would be easy, but when all said & done, I have a good 2 days invested in it,

A half a degree in a bend makes a pretty big difference when dealing with the long sections,
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I actually had to use a compression fitting in the cooler the get that short dog leg tube in there, (it may get changed out to a stainless piece before the project is finished)
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Part of the reason it takes so long to do something like these lines is building every bracket or tab,

(Don't mind the grungy hands & rust scum on my thumb nail, it's part of my COVID19 protection system)
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I know "it's just a tab" or "could have saved a lot of time buying or building something less elaborate" I'm sure I get a little carried away, but like I said, this project is about the build, & nearly every piece gets this kind of attention,
Like for example, the clamp that holds/supports this long section,
I've got a couple hours figuring out & building this little guy,
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To me that couple hours on one part is worth it when everything fits as planned,
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So now once the pump, reservoir, & pressure relief are in place, I can plumb them up to these bulk heads,

Back inside the cab, the floor pans fit pretty good, I even got a little start on the rear section,
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Once complete the rear portion will likely rivet to whats left of the original cab floor.
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The next day I spent a good part of the day laying out the dash panel, placing gauges, switches, etc. Then I decided it was pointless to try & design anything without sitting in the driver seat, so all the floor, seat, shifter etc was reinstalled, but before bolting the seat back in I got the riser blocks back in the mill & lightened them up a little bit,
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I had almost talked myself into just cutting the mounts off the seat & starting over, but the blocks just offer so much adjustability if the seat needs to move around at a later date.
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With the seat back in place I worked on the dash panel design more, basically until I was bored with it,

So I just moved on to the top side of the dash, & more tin work,
Here's a little video of how all this aluminum is cut, I don't have a shear, & the plasma cutter leaves a bit more cleanup on the edge than I would like.



A quick template got the shape I needed, then cut the aluminum, followed by a little work with my "kneenglish wheel" & I had a 2 piece dash panel,
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I way over did the tabs on this part, but lots of fasteners is almost kind of a theme inside the truck, (try to not overkill, but obviously more than needed) the dash is a little overkill,
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But once the panels are on it doesn't look to bad,
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The front edge got a little work to just start wrapping the dash bar,
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And the seam in the center overlaps in an attempt to keep it clean looking,
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And back to the dash panel again, for real this time, it will be home for the switch panel, 5 gauges, a digital display/dash, & the main fuse/ relay box,

When I finally decided how to lay it out, I got it cut out, cleaned up, & made sure the parts were going to fit,
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Had to do a little grinding & fitting in the corners before going in the chassis,
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Then it was tacked in place,
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The dash stops about 3/4 the distance across, & will continue from there in aluminum to the other A-pillar,

Even though the plan is to tie this steel portion into the aluminum section, it still just looked like it needed a little support in this bottom corner that's just hanging out there,
An old mirror bracket from the Peterbilt project looked like it had potential,
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Finally a little project that didn't take all day,
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For the dash to continue on in aluminum, it need mounting points, so a small flange was cut out, & fit to the dash bar, a-pillar, & door bars, just like the driver side, (obviously a little more practice on this one)
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Then tacked in place,
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Then the seat, shifter, & floor panels back to the rear steer pump were removed, & the dash was completely welded in,
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And this was about the time the PBB died for good.

Continuing on the project I figured I would finish up the tube work in the roof while everything else was still removed from the cab,
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Once fit & tacked into place, I went back to tin work, a little over a day & a half to finish up the forward foot areas, & outer firewall panels, so now the cab once again has a complete floor & firewall,
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Since there was still pieces of aluminum laying around everywhere, I threw something together to finish out the dash panel,
After the chassis is powdercoated this panel & lower edge trim will rivet into the truck,
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With all the dash parts in place I did a quick mock up to make sure everything was going to fit & clear,
So far so good,
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The passenger seat mount was finished, test fit, & kiddo approved, these will get powder coated, then riveted to the seat before permanent mounting,
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Then for some odd reason I decided to mount the front fenders, I have been putting this off for a while now, for a couple reasons, one was they would be in the way for other work anyway, & the other was I did not know how I wanted to cut the opening to have the right amount of clearance, & look right, (hard to beat the look of a late 70's ford factory body styling)
I was really hoping to make the cut it in one clean shot so the part I have left over would make a good template for next time I have to do this job,

Half a roll of painters tape later & I ended up with this,
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Obviously at full bump,
In this pic you can see a small stand holding the front of the clip up under the grill,
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It was clear more body mounts was next on the to-do list,
 
Odds being pretty high this thing will get wrecked, I am trying to simplify repairs as much as possible, So for body mounting at the front of the chassis I used a couple tube clamps that I had in the "goody stash" I believe they are used for mounting/moving ballast weight on circle track cars, but they are aluminum, so the caps were removed, & used to build a steel lower half that I could weld to the chassis,
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Two of these clamps were built & after some careful measuring & placement, they were tacked to the front of the shock hoops,

The other aluminum half of those tube clamps were setup in the mill, drilled the threads out & counter sunk to basically become a second set of caps, A couple pieces of .75" aluminum bar was cut, & machined to both serve as the second part of the tube clamp, & bolt to the front fender using factory mounting holes,
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In the second pic of the above post you can see both the cap, & home made half of the clamps have drilled/tapped holes, There will be a smaller link/bar, that will go from the main chassis, to one of those two threaded holes for more support/adjustment,

Hopefully in the event of a crash, if all of the main bracketry survives, one strait section of 1.5" DOM will be all that is needed to get sheet metal hung back on the frontend,

Later on I will probably do some other type of clamp off this same tube that will mount the front pins for the hood.


Since I no longer needed a stand to hold the front clip up, I got it out of the way, jacked the front tires up just off the ground & cycled the steering to see if there was going to be any contact, or if I was going to have to cut the grill, (I probably spend as much time during the original layout/planning stage figuring front axle placement, as I did anything else trying to avoid cutting the grill if at all possible)
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If the truck ever sees any serious articulation there may be a little contact, but I think I can live with that,

On the other end the cab corner was already close, so I knew the fender would be too,
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Turned at a full 42* these Axletechs look like something is broken on them,
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Everything looks awesome at full bump, here it is roughly at ride height,
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Since the front fender thing was reasonably successful, I figured I'd move right on to the next part I had been avoiding, & that was finishing out the back of the chassis, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do back there, I knew it would involve some pretty mundane machine work, but at least the list of requirements was short,
1, Continue the chassis to the length of the bed sides,
2, Tube inserts on the lower stringer tubes must be solid to block coolant flow
3, Proved enough room for rear sway bar mounting,

So a couple pieces of 2" cold roll were lopped off & run through the lathe, turning the OD down to fit inside the 2" x .120 lower chassis (stringer tube), these tubes will be used to carry coolant to & from the radiator & engine, so I couldn't just sleeve the tube splice by just using a smaller tube, the inserts have to stop coolant flow,
When machining these inserts just the ends were machined down, leaving about a .75" wide band/shoulder in the center, there a hole was drilled & tapped in each one, then one end was bored out to intersect this cross drilled hole,
During final assembly I will install bleeders in the threaded holes to bleed air out of the cooling system,

This is the insert slid into the lower chassis tube after machine work,
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Peeking down the bore to the cross trilled bleeder hole,
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Here you can see the other end of the solid insert was also bored out, obviously not the full depth, the bore stops about a 1/2 inch shy of the shoulder/bleeder hole,

The upper sleeves/inserts are just some heavy wall 1.75" tube machined down to fit inside the 2"x.188 upper chassis tubes, a small shoulder left to keep the from moving around, & lots of plug weld holes with a couple at each joint,
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Had to take a break here & go to prep for Mountain Havoc. Once back home & everything cleaned up/put away, it was back to business on this project,
I got back in fab mode with a little machine work,



2"x1" cold roll drilled & tapped, then cut to fit the 2" main chassis tubes,
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These are the mounts for the rear sway bar bearings/blocks,
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All the parts for another set of sway bar arms were cut & a little machine work so the splined hub fit nice & snug,



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And another set of 7075 aluminum sway bar connecting links were built,




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The lower mounts are similar to what was built for the front end, with the exception of integrated tie down points,
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With all the mounts tacked up & the other parts installed, the suspension was cycled to check clearance, & that part was done until final welding,
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Mounting the bed sides seemed like the next best thing to work on, I'm not sure why, I'll only have to pull them off to continue with everything else on the rear part of the chassis, but at least the tin will be done I suppose,

Another set of tube clamps were whipped up, this time I stared with a set designed to fit 1.25" tube,
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Back when I built the tube work around the engine you may remember the 1.5" tube with compression fittings, this is where they come in,
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With the help of a stand a bed side was set in place, located, & a rear mount was drawn up & cut out, this mount actually bolts to the chassis & is designed as a sacrificial piece in the event the truck is crashed,
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These rear mounts were bolted on less than 2 days & I already had a better idea, so I may redo them in the near future, the chassis mount will stay the same, just refine the upper skin mounting, & make the overall bracket a bit less bulky, but they will do the job of holding the bed skin for now.
 
As for the skins themselves, they required cutting just like the front fenders to clear the tires,
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Both front & rear fenders needed more support.
I started buy building some mini adjustable link bars to add triangulation & support to the strait tubes that hold body work,
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I started doing the same for the rear bed skins, but quickly found out that unless the support was bolted to a rigid mount they did not work that well, the sheet metal is not rigid enough & allowed the ball in the rod end to roll around, so there was still a fair amount of movement (kind of floppy) so I needed a clean way to build a more rigid strut,
Thinking back to when I used part of the old Peterbilt mirror bracket as a support for the dash, I though that would be a good option, but I needed a way to build custom length parts, & also be able to duplicate the parts in the event of a crash that might destroy them,

A couple pieces of 7075 aluminum were cut, & squared up, then alignment pin holed were drilled so the two blocks would mate up the same every time, After smashing a couple pieces of sacrificial tube & getting some measurements, each block received matching (mirrored) machine work to create a forming die that would consistently form tubing to create a flat at the end, since I was setup in the mill each block got machine work to fit both 1/2", & 3/8" tubing.
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This new tool goes in the press & does a real nice job forming left over pieces of stainless tubing from the steering plumbing,
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After going through the press, it was short work to grind a little radius on the corners & drill a hole where needed,
I may add a punch & receiver die in the tool, so once it is formed I guy could just used the press to punch a hole in the flat,
These supports worked much better for supporting the thin sheet metal,
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The front of the bed skin got adjustable supports so adjustments cam be made to line the skin up with the cab, but the rigid supports will be used everywhere else.
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Next was cutting the driver side bed skin so the fender opening matched the passenger side,
Using the drop from the first cut (passenger side) a template was made using masking tape,
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As you can see, the new fender line goes right through the fuel door opening, I think I will just build an aluminum plate that will rivet in place, filling the hole & matching the fender opening radius,

Only thing left to do was hang the other skin in place, & install the supports, (I built double when doing the passenger side so everything is the same)
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There will be at least two more supports added to each side, one right above the fender openings up to the shock hoop, & one from the back of the shock hoops to the front edge of that dimple died mount, to control fore/aft movement,
 
Next I decided work on a guard to protect the front of the SCS, along with the rotor & caliper, which all stick out past the front of the main belly pan,
To start a pair of gusset/flanges that the guard will bolt to were cut out & welded in place,
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With the guard removed there should be plenty of room to get the drop box out when needed,
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It was pretty challenging figuring out the compound angles so that once cut & bent the main part would have a good fit up before welding to the bolt on flange pieces,
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After test fitting & tacking the parts together, all that was left was burning some wire,
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It even bolted back into place without any issues
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This guard will also double as the mount for one end of the drive line cage,
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Of course now that it's done, I have an idea on how it could be better, So I may redo this part at a later date,
 
Seems like lots of hours went into the project this week, without a lot to look at, but I got a few pics,
I continued working under the truck, this time on the back side of the case, the rear driveline will be 2 piece with a carrier bearing, rather than use a carrier setup like a lot of buggies with 2 bearings in a sleeve, with a yoke on each side, I decided to go with a standard splined midship shaft, that fits a regular rubber mounted carrier bearing, & bolt on yoke, I found a splined midship tube end that had the same splines as the SCS output shafts, & fit 3.5" .134" wall tubing, so I bought that & a 1550 series tube yoke for the end that will go on the drop box,
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I machined the bearing mount surface down about .0005" so the bearing would be a snug slip fit, rather than press on,

I did not like the thought of using a rubber mounted bearing, so I took a medium duty sized carrier bearing, (HB88509) cut the bearing itself out of the rubber mount, then run a chunk of 1.5" aluminum through the table saw to get a couple usable sized pieces,
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After squaring them up in the mill, then several hours whittling away at it, I had a 2 piece aluminum carrier bearing mount that clamps the bearing in place, similar to the main caps in an engine,
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The "lower half" bolts down through the slotted holes, these holes are slotted so the bearing mount can be adjusted side to side,
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The top side of the slotted mounting holes were recessed so the bolt heads do not interfere with the cap, this recessed area was cut .75" wide so a 1/2" bolt can drop right in & no wrench is needed when tightening, so basically the bearing can be adjusted side to side without pulling the bearing cap off.
Also the bore for the bearing is setup so the middle driveline does not have to be an "exact" length, if a new shaft is ever needed it could be built +or- .250" & still fit without issue,
The hole was bored .0005 under the OD of the bearing for a slight crush to keep it from spinning,

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Next up was a place to mount the new bearing setup, I figured I would have to shim under the bearing mount to get the correct height, so I just needed to get something in the chassis relatively close, The original plan was to have the bearing sit on the cross member rather than hang like a traditional setup, while figuring out bearing height I did entertain the idea of hanging the bearing from a higher cross member or tube, thinking it would never be effected by a hard hit to the belly area. In the end, hanging the bearing & having a higher cross member started cluttering things up around the bell housing & oil pan area, & I just like the thought of having the bearing sitting on the mount rather than hanging a couple heavy drivelines from it,
So after a coupe quick measurements & knowing the bottom of the carrier bearing needed to be right around 4" from the bottom of the belly pan, & also knowing the cross member needed to be pretty stout, another chunk of 4" I-beam was cut to length, & spent several hours setup in the mill, A series of 1.5" & 2" holes were bored through the web to match the cross member I had built earlier & installed under the cab floor, The top web of the I-beam was machined flat, & mounting holes for the carrier bearing were drilled, these mounting holes also line up with a pair of the 2" holes in the web, so there would be easy access to the nuts on the bottom side, again making side to side adjustment easier, I did have to mill the top side of these 2" holes, & into the upper web enough to have a flat surface for a nut/washer to tighten against,
To finish off the cross member the bottom web was cut & fit to the notch in the belly pan, making the bottom of the two parts flush when everything was welded together,
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Then to make sure I was in the ball park a line up bar was turned on the lathe with a slight press fit in both the carrier bearing ID, & the minor spline diameter of an SCS flange,
the flange was bolted to the output of the SCS, & the bearing was installed on the opposite end, then it was not to bad to figure out about how much shim I needed under the carrier bearing.
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I started building the middle driveline, but soon found out that the tube I had bought for the project was not working out very well, it was a 6 foot long piece of 3.5" .134" wall tube I bought from the Spicer distributor, but it turns out it is terribly out of round, & after measuring in several places averaged .025 interference fit to the rest of the components, I could bore the tube & make it work, but I do not have a steady rest for my lathe that will fit 3.5" diameter material, & turns out the new lathe my dad bought last year did not come with a steady rest at all, He still has his old lathe with a big enough steady rest, but it's sitting on the middle of his shop, not powered up, so not much good to me right now. I spent way to much time trying to make something work, & the whole time just felt like even if I got the driveline together it would be a half assed job.
I decided my time would be better spent else where on the project, I believe I will send the components I have to a driveline shop, buy new tube through them, then have them assembled to the length I need & shipped back,
So in preparation for that I did what machine work I could, as I mentioned earlier the spline midship stub, & weld yoke are for 3.5"x.134" tube, that should be plenty for all the drivelines in the project, problem is for the front & rear shafts I could only find splined stubs for .095" wall tube in the 3.5" size, And on the other end of the shaft will be a flange to mate to the 8.5c U-joint, I could only find these flanges to fit 4"x.188" tube, The plus side to both of these parts is the area that presses into the tube was plenty thick enough to turn down to the 3.243" diameter needed.
All 4 of those parts were run through the lathe & are ready to go, most likely send that stuff off next days off,
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That pretty much brings the build up to speed here, I'm currently up in the air on my drive line slip yokes, they are 1550 series, but only 2" slip travel, cycling the suspension I only need 1" for the rear, & 1.25" for the front, a little more breathing room wouldn't hurt, but the next step up that is affordable ($500 for 2 more slip stubs & 2 more yokes) would be the 8" slip, that almost seems excessive,
I guess I have the weekend to consider it, then either order parts, or ship what I already have out to the driveline shop.
 
Thanks for moving your build over here, subbed for the home grown mega/monster/mud truck with some badass machining skills and clean ass fab work. :grinpimp::grinpimp::grinpimp:
 
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