T-Bone's Tiny (Temporary?) Truck Thread.

[user 9328330]

Since when did an F550 ever come with coil springs?

From 2005 up, just like the front springs on every other Super Duty.

http://www.sdtrucksprings.com/index....ducts_id=10190

2WD Super Duties thru F350 had front coils since '99, but all 4WD's and all F450 and F550's had leaves through 2004. From 2005 on, every Super Duty has had coils in the front.

[user 9328330]

Thanks to the rain which is keeping me from a time-sensitive job, there has been much weeping and gnashing of teeth around here. But I've made a little progress on some other important things.

I cut the wood bumper off quite awhile ago.



Starting layout on the hitch part of the work deck.



Continued layout ...



The basic frame clamped in place.



The deck set on top to be sure the frame's in the right place. This is where I stopped tonight, after discovering the piece of 3/8" plate I had sheared at a local shop for the deck was sheared out of square by 1/4". It's tempting to say the heck with it and leave it, but I have to look at it from now on. So I have a new cut line laid out and I'll recut it with my circular saw.



I'll end up with around a 3.5" overhang past the bumper tube which will be good for clamping. I'm going to round the corners, will probably need to cut a little inset for the front of the vise so it can clamp something longer than deck-height at true vertical in the jaws. I can't space the vise all the way to the rear because I want to straddle the 4" x 4" bumper tube with the vise bolts, and the bumper tube's backspacing is set by the retainer pin hole location in the receiver hitch tube. The hitch is spaced so that the end of the receiver tube is flush with the back deck plate. So X determines Y determines Z. The deck's overall depth is around 18".

The vise is a Reed 204R with original copper jaw covers. It needs a good cleaning, lube, and paint job. But right now I'm just hoping to get everything on the bumper mostly done so I can head back to the job with a functional rear deck for the first time ever. I debated putting lights in the hitch tube, but have decided on reflective tape for the short run. We'll see what happens long-term.

[6Boys]

One of my pet peeves is getting a piece sheared and it showing up out of square!!!!
I would've cut it myself and been within a 1/8" if I didn't care about it being square!
Nice job on all your work. I don't know where you find the time.

[user 9328330]

I don't know where you find the time.

Rain days and midnights.

It's looking like I'll get this mostly done today; subframe and deck are welded on already and I've come in for a late lunch. Going to locate the vise so it can be swiveled to the side while driving so it isn't beyond the deck acting like a bumper. Also still need to fill in the gap above the 3" angle, mount the bracket for trailer wiring, and prime and paint everything. The priming / painting is almost definitely not happening today.

[duaneb55]

I don't know where you find the time.

There's 24 hours in a day. If you can't get it done in that time frame you can always work nights.

[user 9328330]

There's 24 hours in a day. If you can't get it done in that time frame you can always work nights.

Yeah, right now I'm working on a major job that has a hard deadline of May 1 and have lost 4 days from rain. Tomorrow it's pedal to the metal on that job, daylight to dark. Then from there to another job on an excavator that's down for good-sized repairs. Should finish in the wee hours of the morning, then back to bed for a quick nap before time to start on the big job again.

I did get a fair bit done on the F350's work deck and it'll be usable tomorrow. Hoping to remember to toss a few cans of primer in with the tools tomorrow morning and maybe I can get a chance to shoot it with primer over lunch. There are a few things left to do before final prime and paint though. And I have no idea when I will get to them.

[Blocker]

There is always winter too in that nice big shop you are going to have leased by then TBone!


Lincoln SA-250
Lincoln SW 200
Miller Thunderbolt

[user 9328330]

Yeah, we will see about the shop. My wife quit her job unexpectedly last week (she has health problems), so single income family here now. We'll have to see how the expenses stack up when the time comes to decide what to do about that lease space. I was leaning towards giving it a try since the extra $1k / month wasn't going to kill me if it didn't work out, but money is tighter now.

I just got rained out of my big job AGAIN. Was planning to burn the midnight oil there tonight, guess I'm working on my business property taxes which are due May 1 instead.

In on-topic news, the work deck seems like it'll be nice although I'm not really using it on this job -- nothing really small enough to lock in the vise. Still haven't gotten it primed although I was able to beat the rain home so no rust either.

[storeman]

t-bone,
Sorry about your wife and necessary adjustments.

VA taxes/licenses are somewhat confusing, depending on location. I went last week to renew my county business license (assuming May 1st, like state income/business) and found it was due Apr 1st. 10% penalty. Revenue commissioner tacked on the penalty then I crossed the hallway to the treasurer to pay, who added another 10%. That got fixed after some discussion about twice screwed. Treas said they didn't realize rev had already penalized me. Wonder how often that happens elsewhere (this is VA's second smallest county).
Jerry
Jerry

[user 9328330]

The personal property taxes are a County thing, so I'm sure it varies from place to place. The one local business license I keep renews every March 15. All of my other licenses are state issued, some renewing annually and some biannually.

I'm hoping my wife will be able to fill in for me on some of this paperwork, which will allow me to at least get a bit of a break when I get home rather than keep feeding time and energy into the business.

[Blocker]

Hope your wife gets better. Been single income here for several years. It is tighter sometimes but better all the time. I am guessing the same front that got us got you.


Lincoln SA-250
Lincoln SW 200
Miller Thunderbolt

[user 9328330]

Like always, working on my own stuff took longer than what I wanted. But with a deadline of this Friday, I pushed the bumper on through and got it primed and painted today. Swapped the old tail and backup lights for LED's. Now I need to get a trailer flasher to get the LED's to blink at the correct rate, find the old mudflap brackets, cut new flaps and install them, and I still have to get the retro-reflective tape put on the bumper and center rear of the body. Also, going in to town tomorrow at 9 a.m. to get a new windshield, and Thursday I should have 4 new Toyo M55's arriving so I'm not driving 1200 miles on old dry-rotted tires to get my "new" SAE-400.

Here are the pics of the work deck. The vise cut is so that stuff longer than the height to the deck can be locked at true vertical in the jaws. I turn the vise 90 degrees when driving the truck, and the nose of it sticks just past the edge of the deck. Keeps it from becoming the rear bumper. I decided not to paint the majority of the flat deck, as I'm just going to be scratching it all up anyway. What paint is on there is just overspray. Think I might just rub it down with a little motor oil to keep the rust down and call it good. Going to leave the vise off until I get back from NY; no reason to haul an extra 60 lbs around for that trip.

PS - Yeah, I know the paint colors don't match. Or maybe they do if I wash the rest of the truck.

[bhound]

Look's GOOD!Give rhat white a few days it'll match!

[12V71]

Looks good to me. I keep my work decks clean with a coarse flap wheel if I'm welding on them and using the deck for a ground.
Those M-55's are the cat's... I've been running them since the mid 90's and never had a penetration flat, and I run on some nasty shale roads going to drilling and pump sites. I even ran 6 ply 55's on my '98 Ranger.