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Build Project: Midnight Panic

Leroy, Thankyou for keeping us up to date. I always enjoy your posts and I’m not on FB.
Absolutely! Thank you for following build!




This ended up being a long video, but finishing the axles & assembly is all covered pretty good here, I didn’t want to do a “part 4” on simply getting the axles done, this one ended up about double the length I would have liked,

If you have friends into monster trucks, you should have them over for a watch party, then everyone take a shot every time I say “basically”
Report back on that!


Enjoy the “Fabrcation”

 
Continuing on with axle install, again last week everyday after work I out a few hours in wrapping up parts & hooking things back up,
Starting with wheel tethers, I run down & cut all the parts out, the following night I got them all cleaned up, & tacked together, I even got 4 welded out before calling it a night.
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I have to post this pic just to trigger the internet welders,
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It really bothers some some folks that I didn't burn edge to edge on that fillet,
Truthfully I know it's strong enough for the application, & I just wanted to see if there was enough time & materials difference to be worth running a smaller bean on all the passes on all the parts,

I wasn't worth the time, the rest of the parts were welded edge to edge,

Once the tethers were finished I moved on to plumbing,
By my last work day I both front & rear steering plumbed a long with the brakes,
That lead into days off, where the first one was started with a trip to the bulk fuel distributor about 100 miles east, & having a couple 55 gallon drums filled with methanol. After getting back to the shop I messed with the rear steer RTC,,, until the power went out, since the whole town was down, the kiddo & I loaded up & ran into town & bought all the paint & oil we were thinking we'd need to wrap this thing up. By the time we got back to the shop the second time, the power was back on & the RTC stuff wrapped up,
I had a couple friends rolling into town to help out for a few so while I waited for them to show up late, I got started on driveline cages,
The next day I continued with driveline cages, while my buddy Ben (normally co-driver at Havoc) cleaned up the tether parts & spritzed a little blue paint on them,
By the time the cages were done, the tethers were dry, & installed,
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Only part of the D-line cages got any paint, mostly cause I'm simply running out of time,
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That night we tired the truck down, & got the diffs & planetaries filled with oil,

Sunday morning company left & I was back to working solo, I decided to tackle the tire rack for my trailer,
I can only get two tires inside the trailer, so I whipped up a rack on the back door that will haul two tires outside,
It's pretty simple, after closing the door about 75%, the tires can be rolled into the tire rack, as you finish closing the door it lifts the tires about 18" off the ground,
I still have to add a couple D-rings the the main rear trailer structure, that way I can tie the tires down without actually putting the full load on the door/pins.




Yesterday was my last day off, & that time was spent going over the valve lash/rockers, changing oil, & firing the truck up to make sure everything goes the right direction,




I turned the truck around in the shop, moved the trailer outside the main door, & winched the truck into the trailer,
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Sounds like you're trying to make it to an event.
I think this the first I've read about running out of time then the truck is loaded to go.
 
I’m surprised the door lifts can lift those tires. In the video, you were joking about skeeters, right? They don’t have them out there, right?

Watching you mount those tires pains me. I need some kind of handtruck setup to mount my tires. I would like to copy you when you make one. You need to get on that. Otherwise, great video.

Oh, one other thing, are those safety bypass blocks on your hydro steering an “off the shelf” kind of thing? If so, what are called? Supplier?

Good luck on the show. Please don’t scratch the paint.
 
This, this and this so much. I recognize that he will probably have to go to fiberglass eventually, but I wish I could see it in person now.

I know that Bigfoot runs similar style Ford fiberglass bodies on some of their retro trucks, so if he does mess the steel body up he should be able to replace it fairly easily.
 
I’m surprised the door lifts can lift those tires. In the video, you were joking about skeeters, right? They don’t have them out there, right?

Watching you mount those tires pains me. I need some kind of handtruck setup to mount my tires. I would like to copy you when you make one. You need to get on that. Otherwise, great video.

Oh, one other thing, are those safety bypass blocks on your hydro steering an “off the shelf” kind of thing? If so, what are called? Supplier?

Good luck on the show. Please don’t scratch the paint.
Look up cross over relief valve.
 
Did anybody catch him talking about suspension bolts and bolt torque in the video? I agree 100% with his statment about the shoulders and why he doesn't do that.
The only thing I have to say different is if you run a long enough body and it does loosen you might have a better chance of it not destroying the hole where the threads pound on it

Agree completely with proper bolt stretch and clamp load.
 
Did anybody catch him talking about suspension bolts and bolt torque in the video? I agree 100% with his statment about the shoulders and why he doesn't do that.
I don't disagree with what he said, but at the same time I'm going to do what ever I can to insure success. Obviously there are financial and physical limits to that, but buying slightly longer bolts to have the shank go all the way through the mounting tabs doesn't add that much to the cost of the parts. Ironically the only reason I have against properly shanking bolts is the fact that usually you wind up cutting off the end of the threads and removing the plating on the end of the bolt setting it up to rust. You could buy AN style bolts, but those are typically pretty spendy.
 
I think it's because he works professionally on equipment that has properly designed bolted joints.

You don't find any gimics on earth moving ****. Right bolt, right washers, grip length etc. with torque or torque turn.
Right, and there is a lot engineering in each connection before the prototype is even built, vs we're just taking a best guess and sending it.
 
If your bolt doesn't loosen and the joint can't move within the bracket, shoulder length doesn't matter.
Can you guarantee unexpected things aren't going to happen? Would you hinge your whole race program on that? What is the downside to bolts that are properly shanked?
 
Can you guarantee unexpected things aren't going to happen? Would you hinge your whole race program on that? What is the downside to bolts that are properly shanked?

I see it on equipment that weights hundreds of thousands of pounds every day that are worked harder and vibrate more than any race car, and its not a problem because the bolts are torqued properly. If you think equipment has bolts that are all the proper shoulder length for the span they go through you would be highly mistaken. They rely on torque to keep the parts from moving. Ive never had to retorque bolts on equipment....
 
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