Not a huge amount of progress here, but a few more jobs done and a few decisions made.. Have settled on a tyre choice.. 12r 22.5 Pirelli TC 85's. The other thing I've decided is that the body has to be on a three mount system. Having had the truck 'off road' today on the block positioning retaining wall rocks, I've witnessed the chassis twist, which carries into the tray. Its a lot, but it does mean it keeps all 4 wheels on the ground! Will post a few pics tomorrow! Here's a pic of said tyres...
Oops! Well, mine needs a decent looking bumper, bigger fuel tank, second sprung seat, longer wheel studs to suit the alloys, door seals, and a few cab fixtures etc... Pricing all that up from the wreckers and it'd be in the region of $4000. Happened to stumble across this on Gumtree, and it cost less than 4k! So, meet 'The Parts Department'!
Yes! Its a 340hp V6 Prime Mover with a hole in the block. Rod No 2 let go. Its the weak link in the V6's, especially when they're turboed and pushing 340hp.. Mine has the same engine sans turbo and is only 220hp. Loads of useful stuff on it!
local bush fire brigade learnt about body twist the hard way. cracked a few tank mounts and then some other bits on a new MAN 4x4. NSW RFS have specific bolt patterns and strength to ensure the big bits of the body stay on the chassis. They learnt that the hard way unfortunately.
Hi there. You're right re twist. Something a lot of people don't take into account. Just using my truck as a tray collecting rocks and driving it off road, has shown me how much it twists. The body I build will be mounted on three points. The first two about a meter behind the cab (one on each chassis rail). These as well as being pivot points have to have a small amount of 'fore and aft' movement. The third mount will be about a meter forward of the chassis ends. And will be a heavyweight pivot point mounted centrally between the two rails. It will have to be heavy enough to support the weight of the body under heavy braking as the front two need fore and aft movement which happens under chassis twist.
The trucks I drove in Africa where on a spring/bolt setup. This worked on the 4 wheelers, but was very noisy, but it was not enough on the 6x4's as the bodies cracked thru the point above the rear axle pivots.
Bit of progress today. Removed the huge roo bar and tiny leaking diesel tank, and fitted a nice standard bumper and large leak free fuel tank. Its transformed the look of the truck no end!
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