My Progress
- Thread starter durallymax
- Start date
that is a massive ass hitch. you have someone w/a break punch those side pieces out, they look clean.
Are you referring to the brackets on the side that bolt to the frame??
No they started as 3x4" angle iron with a 5/8 wall cut with a Marvel band saw.
We drilled the holes on the trusty old drill press in the shop.
The notches I torched out by hand.
Damn how about some specs on that hitch, that thing is nice
Okay here is a general list of what it is.
For the side brackets I used 3x4" angle iron with a 1/2" wall cut to 20" long. youll need two of these of course. To drill the holes and mark where the notch needed to be I used my old hitch as a template. I lined the angle iron up so it sat flush with the edge of the framerail at the rear. The holes are 9/16" and fit snugly so make sure you have them drilled dead center. The notch is???? I dont know the specs on it, I just grabbed the torch and cut it out and kept shaving a little more off if it didnt clear.
The two cross tubes are 4x4" tube with a 3/8" wall. They are cut to 35.5". Youll need two of course.
The reciever tube is 2.5" square with a 1/4" wall. A little light duty compared to the rest of the hitch but it was either this stuff or 3x3x1/2" in order to fit a 2" hitch inside. I dont know exactly how long we cut it. But I believe it is around 19". If you can find a different tube that will accept a 2" hitch then by all means use it, I was just using what was available at the structural steel division where I work. I used a Dynafile to remove the weld inside the pipe to allow the hitch to slide in. i also radiused the corners on the hitch so it would fit inside.
To mount the reciever tube I torched out a notch so that it could slip downinside the front 4x4, then i butted it up to the rear 4x4.
The gussets are all 4x4" 3/8" plate.
Welded all of it with a 252 Millermatic and switched over to .045 flux core wire and switched tanks to straight C02 for better penetration.
Well Today was steady and at the same time not fun.
After class I ran around with my list getting the things I needed. Coolant, gasket for rear housing plate deal, front diff, flange to weld to banks IC pipe, cable for shutoff and a few more pieces of steel.
Then i decided to get my EFI Live working and for once had success, it seemed as though the day was going to go well.
But then I decided to call about my parts that were supposed to be in the mail.
First I called SFX performance to ask about my 4-5" adapter for my intake. I guess it was on backorder and they neglected to inform me of this. They said they could have me one by friday. I stated i needed it tomorrow. He was going to try and overnight one but didnt sound too ambitous.
Then i got a call from Jim@UDP about my banks IC tube. Turns out Banks never processed the order. Good thing I called Jim yesterday and told him to check up on it. They are overnighting it to me.
Then I called Mike, and bugged him about my trans dipstick tube again. I guess it will be here tomorrow or thursday. Im gonna work on other parts of the truck tomorrow as much as possible but If I dont see it by the time Im done with those things, I will be bending up my old one to get by.
What was accomplished tonite:
The hitch is 99% done. I built the bump stops and got them attached, and finished up the loop, however I left the loop tacked as we have some trimming to do yet to get it to line up in all of the positions.
The Front end is finally back together. I just need to do the wiring tomorrow. Ill do a nice finished job in the engine bay, but in the cab the switch and extra wires are going to be thrown in the cupholder.
I replaced the gasket on the little cover on the rear housing. I decided to not drain the block to do this and thought maybe I would be fast enough and wouldnt loose much coolant. 4 or 5 gallons later I was finally tightening it down. hopefully this fixes the coolant leak, but with my luck I have my doubts.
Driveshaft loops are done but still need to be mounted.
And some other little things.
What we have left?
Still need to attach the driveshaft loops. This is the first thing I will be doing tomorrow.
Need to hook up the shutoff cable, also one of the first things I will be doing.
Need to refill with coolant.
Need to attach the entire exhaust and cut stack to the right length, possibly modify the A-frame to get it the right height.
A few tweaks need to be done on the hitch.
Bars and blocks need to be installed.
Banks IC pipe needs to go down to the neighbors to have him TIG the flange on.
Intake has a few things left to be done If I do get an adapter. otherwise I will finish it anyways, and see If I can get one overnighted to the pull site and pick it up when i get there.
Trans needs to be filled up.
Bars and blocks have to be installed.
Tires need to go on
And then I have to go try out the tune to see if It will hold desired rail pressure.
Then its time to load it up, strap it down, take a power nap and hit the road.
Here are a couple pics from tonite.
After class I ran around with my list getting the things I needed. Coolant, gasket for rear housing plate deal, front diff, flange to weld to banks IC pipe, cable for shutoff and a few more pieces of steel.
Then i decided to get my EFI Live working and for once had success, it seemed as though the day was going to go well.
But then I decided to call about my parts that were supposed to be in the mail.
First I called SFX performance to ask about my 4-5" adapter for my intake. I guess it was on backorder and they neglected to inform me of this. They said they could have me one by friday. I stated i needed it tomorrow. He was going to try and overnight one but didnt sound too ambitous.
Then i got a call from Jim@UDP about my banks IC tube. Turns out Banks never processed the order. Good thing I called Jim yesterday and told him to check up on it. They are overnighting it to me.
Then I called Mike, and bugged him about my trans dipstick tube again. I guess it will be here tomorrow or thursday. Im gonna work on other parts of the truck tomorrow as much as possible but If I dont see it by the time Im done with those things, I will be bending up my old one to get by.
What was accomplished tonite:
The hitch is 99% done. I built the bump stops and got them attached, and finished up the loop, however I left the loop tacked as we have some trimming to do yet to get it to line up in all of the positions.
The Front end is finally back together. I just need to do the wiring tomorrow. Ill do a nice finished job in the engine bay, but in the cab the switch and extra wires are going to be thrown in the cupholder.
I replaced the gasket on the little cover on the rear housing. I decided to not drain the block to do this and thought maybe I would be fast enough and wouldnt loose much coolant. 4 or 5 gallons later I was finally tightening it down. hopefully this fixes the coolant leak, but with my luck I have my doubts.
Driveshaft loops are done but still need to be mounted.
And some other little things.
What we have left?
Still need to attach the driveshaft loops. This is the first thing I will be doing tomorrow.
Need to hook up the shutoff cable, also one of the first things I will be doing.
Need to refill with coolant.
Need to attach the entire exhaust and cut stack to the right length, possibly modify the A-frame to get it the right height.
A few tweaks need to be done on the hitch.
Bars and blocks need to be installed.
Banks IC pipe needs to go down to the neighbors to have him TIG the flange on.
Intake has a few things left to be done If I do get an adapter. otherwise I will finish it anyways, and see If I can get one overnighted to the pull site and pick it up when i get there.
Trans needs to be filled up.
Bars and blocks have to be installed.
Tires need to go on
And then I have to go try out the tune to see if It will hold desired rail pressure.
Then its time to load it up, strap it down, take a power nap and hit the road.
Here are a couple pics from tonite.
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thanks were hard at it right now. So far its smooth.
banks pipe is here and down at the neighbors getting the flange welded on.
Adapter should be here in the morning and my dad will be dropping it off on the way to his meetings in ohio.
Had a huge coolant leak when we filled it up, turned out the o ring for the upper coolant pipe wasnt seated.
took a lot of time but we got the trans dipstick bent the right way.
a few little things left and then we can go drive it around and make sure the tune works well.
lookin good so far, but still gonna be a late night.
talk to ya tomorrow night probably after the pull.
banks pipe is here and down at the neighbors getting the flange welded on.
Adapter should be here in the morning and my dad will be dropping it off on the way to his meetings in ohio.
Had a huge coolant leak when we filled it up, turned out the o ring for the upper coolant pipe wasnt seated.
took a lot of time but we got the trans dipstick bent the right way.
a few little things left and then we can go drive it around and make sure the tune works well.
lookin good so far, but still gonna be a late night.
talk to ya tomorrow night probably after the pull.
thanks guys.
quick update its running good, took it on teh road and everything seems to be functional e locker and all, air shutoff is working good.
we were able to use a metal adapter for the intake to the turbo.
the gasket fixed the coolant leak.
well back to work, got some stuff to finish up yet.
quick update its running good, took it on teh road and everything seems to be functional e locker and all, air shutoff is working good.
we were able to use a metal adapter for the intake to the turbo.
the gasket fixed the coolant leak.
well back to work, got some stuff to finish up yet.
