Build Project: Midnight Panic

[ridered3]

Skipped_Link appreciate your willingness to share info as well as go into the unknown areas of Caster and Ackerman.

 

[bdkw1]

So, Ackerman with 4 wheel steering. Do you set the pivot point at the center of the axles or the center of the WB? Split the difference?

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

So, Ackerman with 4 wheel steering. Do you set the pivot point at the center of the axles or the center of the WB? Split the difference?

I'd be curious what that answer is myself.

 

[Skipped_Link]

So, Ackerman with 4 wheel steering. Do you set the pivot point at the center of the axles or the center of the WB? Split the difference?

I'd be curious what that answer is myself.

On the buggy, & the way the mega truck is currently setup, the Ackerman is to the center of the axles, so if only steering one end it’s most,,,,efficient?
Using 4 wheel steer with “reverse” Ackerman is acceptable at best,
4WS with any amount of correct Ackerman works crazy good! Even if not perfect geometry, So I’d rather have the vehicle steer the best it can if only one steer axle is used at one time,

 

[SLOWPOKE693]

My mind is blown with how 10 bolts and a register hold an entire corner of a monster truck axle together with it regularly landing from 20' up and weighting 10k pounds.


Who is going to be the first one to 3D print a monster truck chassis out of plastic like what the RC monster trucks are made from? My Grave Digger LMT takes a beating and just keeps going without breaking.

 

[06h3]

I agree, it is wild.

 

[Treefrog]

So, Ackerman with 4 wheel steering. Do you set the pivot point at the center of the axles or the center of the WB? Split the difference?

I'd be curious what that answer is myself.

I think the only wrong answer for two steering axles is at the axles. As long as all 4 wheels have the same pivot point it is Ackerman. I think it could be shown that center of the wheelbase will result in the sharpest turn possible with two steering axles.

 

[gt1guy]

On the buggy, & the way the mega truck is currently setup, the Ackerman is to the center of the axles, so if only steering one end it’s most,,,,efficient?
Using 4 wheel steer with “reverse” Ackerman is acceptable at best,
4WS with any amount of correct Ackerman works crazy good! Even if not perfect geometry, So I’d rather have the vehicle steer the best it can if only one steer axle is used at one time,

I just want to see you spinning doughnuts so fast the rig is just a blur.

 

[bdkw1]

I think it could be shown that center of the wheelbase will result in the sharpest turn possible with two steering axles.

I would think the same, but not having driven a monster truck, maybe optimizing single axle steering is better. I guess we'll know soon enough.

Skipped_Link how much steering angle do those axles have? Actual WB on the truck?

 

[SMI17]

In the MT world you use the rear to steer more than the front most of the time. Helps to whip the rear around for tight turns and other fun stuff.

Sad to see this truck getting rebuilt but awesome to see it get rebuilt into a MT!

 

[Skipped_Link]

My mind is blown with how 10 bolts and a register hold an entire corner of a monster truck axle together with it regularly landing from 20' up and weighting 10k pounds.

Some times that’s not enough, that’s why safety equipment like wheel tethers are required,
The Strait Up Racing team are getting ready to switch all of their trucks over to a heavier custom 14 bolt champagne/flange setup.

Skipped_Link how much steering angle do those axles have? Actual WB on the truck?

Not much, there’s a reason most equipment with this type of planetary was 4 wheel steer,

The truck is 140” WB.

 

[Skipped_Link]

(Edit) these are built by Dave Tucker.
Quoted from Strait Up Racing

“This is the first SUR champagne made from 4340 with
1.5" thick flange
10.5" Diameter flange with 14 1" mounting bolts.
2.25" thick bell.”

 

[bdkw1]

That's a lot of material removal. Especially on an open mill, flaming hot chips everywhere......

 

[WiscoF100]

So a wheel tether is either a cable looped around the hub and anchored to the knuckle or a plate and flange setup again from the hub to the knuckle?

 

[Firstram]

(Edit) these are built by Dave Tucker.
Quoted from Strait Up Racing

“This is the first SUR champagne made from 4340 with
1.5" thick flange
10.5" Diameter flange with 14 1" mounting bolts.
2.25" thick bell.”

 

[Skipped_Link]

So a wheel tether is either a cable looped around the hub and anchored to the knuckle or a plate and flange setup again from the hub to the knuckle?

Correct.

 

[WiscoF100]

Ok, my google searches were correct. What style will go for?

 

[SMI17]

(Edit) these are built by Dave Tucker.
Quoted from Strait Up Racing

“This is the first SUR champagne made from 4340 with
1.5" thick flange
10.5" Diameter flange with 14 1" mounting bolts.
2.25" thick bell.”

That can be a game changer for some drivers!

 

[Skipped_Link]

Ok, my google searches were correct. What style will go for?

Most likely the plate style.

 

[Skipped_Link]

This last days off was engine time, to start off the week I made a call to BDS (Blower Drive System) & placed an order for a brand spanking new supercharger, I was again surprised that their expected eta was by the end of the week.
The following 4 days I stayed pretty dang busy measuring, double checking specifications, & measuring again, some measuring like the main & rod bearing oil clearance required 100% mock up, so it's like building that part of the engine twice, only cleaner with the lack of assembly lube or oil,
Since the crank was in the block I mocked up a rod & piston to double check my piston to deck clearance,
SOme measuring was actually pretty simple, setup a dial bore gauge & make sure the cylinder bores are, round, the same size top to bottom, & that they had fit the bores with the proper clearance for my pistons,
After all that was complete I started with file fitting all 32 rings to both blocks, (this was a good long evening project all by itself)
The next major part was finally deciding to cut the snout of the crankshaft about an inch shorter than factory, I'd been wrestling with this mentally for a while, but once you go to town with a grinder & zip disk the only thing left to do is set the crank up in the lathe, clean up the rough cut, & facing the snout to the exact needed length, & then re-drill/tap the crank bolt hole.
Fortunately this procedure did not effect the balance of the crankshaft,

That along with some serious cleaning pretty well concluded the prep work, at that point I could get on to the good stuff & actually assemble some parts,
First was loading up the pistons with rods, wrist pins, & spiro-locs, followed by installing the previously mentioned rings,

After knocking in the cam bearings & fitting the camshaft, the crank & main bearings were set in the block for the final time,
The rods were split & bearings placed in those for the final time as well,

Completing the rotating assembly was just a matter of sliding all 8 piston rod assemblies in their bores.

The final step to the short block was installing the timing chain & dialing in the cam shaft,

I ended up ******ing the cam timing by 4* to put the intake centerline at a 108, which I'm told will make this particular camshaft work very good for this engine & blower.

With the new information I learned this week, I can call Monday & get a set of .080" copper head gaskets on their way, with the heads I have for this engine deck clearance, & piston combination, I should end up just under 11:1 CR.

Before bagging up the shortblock while waiting, I did get one more pic.

 

[Skipped_Link]

As much as a guy dreads going back to work some days, at least his thing ended up on the porch before the work week started!

Prior to this, I've never actually owned a brand new supercharger before.

There's a few things that I can do on the engine while waiting on head gaskets, if the wait gets too long I can always go back to axles, or get started on wheels,
We'll just have to see how long that wait ends up being,

 

[ridered3]

Glad to see some blingy updates and did some binge watching of your YouTube videos during this past week. Really appreciate your time to film, edit, and share the videos as I had a handful of "I see said the blind man" moments during the videos that I had overlooked/didn't fully understand in this thread.

 

[bdkw1]

So, any improvements in the new blower over the old one?

 

[Skipped_Link]

So, any improvements in the new blower over the old one?

That’s probably a matter of opinion.

For all out performance, you’d be hard pressed to find a better blower than the 14-71 currently on the truck,

This new one will make plenty of power, should have better fuel/air distribution in the lower/mid range, & will go years before needing any major servicing.

 

[Skipped_Link]

And a complimentary YT vid to go along with this update,
Kind of long winded to start, (I even cut out lots of info)
At least the next engine video can roll right into progress!

 

[CarterKraft]

My mind is blown with how 10 bolts and a register hold an entire corner of a monster truck axle together with it regularly landing from 20' up and weighting 10k pounds.


Who is going to be the first one to 3D print a monster truck chassis out of plastic like what the RC monster trucks are made from? My Grave Digger LMT takes a beating and just keeps going without breaking.

It's not really uncommon method of attachment still.
The articulated dump trucks we have use this method, more smaller bolts.
This is a 725 axle, they don't steer but they bolt on very similarly and have a loaded weight over 100k lbs.

 

[WiscoF100]

Love the picture with the crank in the lathe

 

[Skipped_Link]

This week I just continued on with engine assembly,
First thing was cleaning up my paint booth area, masking off areas I did not want painted, then laying down some tech primer followed by base/clear,
A little overkill, but I couldn't find any gun metal, or dark grey metallic in town. & that was Allisons color suggestion (who am I to argue?)
Definitely worth the effort.

Next was a front motor plate, since it sandwiches between the front of the block & the timing cover, I had built two back when I was building the chassis, knowing I would need two plates for two engines, well now there will be 3 engines. A couple weeks ago I bought a 12"x36" piece of 1/4" 6061, & now was the time to cut it up, after making a detailed drawing, & converting it to a DXF file, I converted it to a tool path & put the CNC router to work making the new part.
Other machine work included taking about .056" off a small area of the plate to clear the front of one head where it sticks out farther than the front of the block,
On the 547 currently in the truck I actually faced the front of the head off for this clearance, however this time I opted to cut the motor plate instead, & I'm glad I did,
Turns out this piece of aluminum really isn't very flat, (Must have been fresh off the china boat) the entire plate has a verience on .015" in a span of 12"! I just can't live with that for this application,
So the second OG plate was machined for head clearance & installed, at least I know have a DXF to cut as many as I want, once I source a decent piece of plate.

Before installing the motor plate & timing cover & had to sort out the fuel pump drive stuff, the cover is already setup for the pump, I just needed an adapter that bolts to the front of the cam, that I could bolt a fuel pump drive spud to. After some measuring, a little mathing, & a bit of machining, & I have a pair, one for this engine, & one for the next.

The long set screw, & bolt with the turned down tip bothe thread through the adapter & fit into the dowel pin holes in the front of the timing gear/sprocket to ensure a positive drive & no chance of slpping,

It even fit!

Finally the front motor plate & timing cover could go in for good.

As seen above, the oil pan could also be installed, but before I got that far I did have to installed the new oil pump, pickup tube, & windage tray.

And on my last day off I got the drive hub installed on the crank, mocked up a head to check clearances & measure for pushrods,
It looks like I have pushrods here that will work, so I'll hold off on ordering those,
Hopefully by the end of the day tomorrow I'll have head gaskets, & can finish the long block this coming weekend!

 

[Skipped_Link]

I’m not sure, this might explain it all better.

 

[Firstram]

You're killing it!