My '77 K-30/V3500 Monster Truck Build

[roundhouse]

Then Check on some of the RV forums

There will be someone who has done it before

Start here


http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showforum=97

And here

http://www.hhrvresource.com/node/45#Florida

Pick your state and see what is required




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Engineer]

Well, here is my latest update:

Finally was able to set the frame up on the rear axle. This is not permanent. Just a mock up.

In this view the frame top is about 5 feet off of the ground. The military tires are roughly 42" tall. My Terras are 66" tall.





The pink string represents the torque rods:



For anyone still wondering this is how the springs clamp to the axle/lift block:



Setting up the lower shock mount:



Componentry for the lower shock mount. There are 4 sets of these:



Lower shock mount completed:



Installed:





And a couple of angles with shocks:





Been really busy haven't been able to get much done. Right after my last update the weather went to worse. Couldn't do anything outside. Then, I was gone for a week to chase my youngest son around central Florida and watch him play baseball.

I try to get a few hours on this project here, and there. My oldest son just brought me a cut off saw so I can get to the end of the metal fab phase.

The rear axle is totally done except for the paint. Getting ready for the front.

The front will have to be torn down completely. I'll have spin the differential so the driveshaft flange will set center in the housing. Also, the knuckles have to come off to replace the knuckle boots. With the front disassembled it will make aligning the leaf spring mounts/lift blocks easier. I want those square, level, and true so the axle isn't askew when it is in the truck.

[FlatBlack77]

i like the shock mounts they came out pretty nice!

keep it up

[LTZ C20]

Very nice work as usual. Those lower shock mounts are out of control! Very cool!

[Engineer]

I finally have my steering cylinders. (YAY!)



These are the two cylinders I will be using to steer my truck. Now that I have these I will start with the teardown, and build of the front axle. Notice the "Made in USA" label.   

The reason I am using two cylinders is so I can have balanced steering. Meaning the hydraulic fluid volume will be identical when steering both left, and right. This will mean cross connecting the chambers of opposite cylinders so that when one is contracting under pressure the other is extending under pressure.

This image should give an idea of how using a single cylinder would have the effect of more assist in one direction, and less in the other:



The problem with using one double acting single rod cylinder is the displacement of the rod, and surface area the rod takes from the piston disrupts the balance of the system.

By having two cylinders of the same diameter, and stroke you can plumb together the opposite chambers of either cylinder and have an equal volume, and equal force in both directions.

Looking back at these photos from an earlier post in this thread, one will see that I am going to have steering arms on the backs of both knuckles opposite the tie rod.





By using both cylinders in a push/pull manner the load will be shared by both steering arms, and knuckles simultaneously so as to not put all of the load on one arm and one knuckle at any one time. By doing this I hope to reduce wear on the steering pivots, and kingpins, thus achieving a more durable, and long term reliable system.


And as always, check back often. Since I don't have to heat my shop I am not obligated to a full day of work. With the warmer temperatures I can sneak out to my shop for an hour or two here, and there. My son's baseball has priority in my life right now so I'll try to update when I can make some progress.......which hopefully will be more regular now that warm weather is here.

[LTZ C20]

That's a sweet idea.

[illinoisk30]

Looks great Engineer, love all the fab work. Do me a favor and put a cover on that poor pulling truck body. I'm sure your not throwing grinding dust all over it but it drives me nuts having that thing all naked with all the work you have into it.

[Engineer]

ik3-

No worries. I do all my grinding and sand blasting outside in the driveway with the shop door closed. The black 2002 Silverado that sits in the other side of my shop is in the same shape. Just ordinary dust. The '02 is sort of special to me. It has an 8.1/6sp manual with less than 10,000mi original miles on it. It has never been in the rain or on a gravel road. I wouldn't allow either truck to be harmed in any way.

I just bought a new tank for my air compressor yesterday so I can carry on. Getting the nerve up to do all of the sandblasting that will have to be done as soon as the front axle is finished.

[illinoisk30]

Phew, sounds good Engineer. Very nice units you have. Carry on.

[Engineer]

I mentioned in an earlier post that I had a fourth wheel located and that I intended to go get it around Christmas. Hehe. Well the opportunity presented itself, and I finally went and picked it up. I really wasn't in any hurry as I didn't expect it to go anywhere.

I now have all four wheels and tires.







That 10-ply Firestone is my 8th 66" tire. Lol. I would have never dreamed the tires would be so plentiful when I started this build. I gave away the Primex, and traded the 2 Terra XTs. So I either need to sell the Firestone, or find three more for a second truck build. Hmmm...........

Anyway, all four of the wheels will need to have their centers cut out so a new wheel flange can be welded in. There is a guy that is somewhat local to me who has been tempting me with powder coating some of this stuff. Not going to use him for the frame or axles. But, the powder coat is really tempting for the wheels and possibly the roll bar.

I'm thinking powder coating will be a better option for the wheels. Should be more durable than paint, and the powder coat will give a better/smoother sealing surface for the tiny rubber o-ring that seals the outer wheel flange to the inner wheel. The guy with the powder coating business sent me some sample pics of "chrome" powder coat with a clear over coat and the end result looked convincingly like polished aluminum. And the cool thing is that the base metal doesn't have to be perfectly smooth. The powder coat will hide slight imperfections.



Not much else to update on. Haven't been able to get time to start on the front axle as of yet. I did get a new tank for my air compressor so I'll be changing that before there is any more work on the '77.

And the transmission in my son's Blazer took a dump just after it turned 300,000mi. It is the original transmission. I guess it was due, but a rebuilt transmission is money I could have used to buy my transfer case and I don't really have time to rebuild it myself or I would.

[Engineer]

OK, so I lied. Or maybe just a fib. Or maybe I just change my mind a lot. Anyhoo I didn't get my air compressor put together before starting the tear down of the front axle.

I still need to pull the differential. I'm going to leave the knuckles, and tie rod on until I have the steering cylinders mounted.





That's a hum-dinger of an axle. Not to mention the hub, spindle, wheel bearings are massive.



For comparison, the puny little stub axle next to the 5-ton is from a bona-fide GM 30 spline Dana60 front axle.



You Dana60 guys have such cute little stubs.......

I wish I still had a 1/2~3/4 ton front axle shaft lying around. Haven't had a need for one of those around here in many, many years. The difference with the 5-tonner would really be lol.



I pulled the hubs off of the rear axle while I was at it. I'm going to repack the wheel bearings, and put all right handed lug studs in it while it is apart. I need to clean up the rivets on the axle housing spindle left over from the brake backing plates as well.



I am going to try to cram the front axle done in the next week or two. After that it will all be ready to sandblast.

[LTZ C20]

That is actually pretty funny. We think the big Dana 60 and 14 bolt stuff is pretty stout, which it is....until you compare it to something much heftier, like a 5 ton military truck lol.

[Engineer]

Just dropping in for a real quick update.

I have my air compressor back up and on line. While I was at it I took the time to run new piping throughout my shop. Did several improvements that I seen that I would like after the first time I set up my air lines. Now I am ready to get back after my monster project.

Rain pushed me inside so among other things I did a little punkin chunkin:







Next step will be to weld on the axle block/spring seats/torque rod mounts. Then I'll weld on the steering cylinder mounts and after that I'll reinstall the differential opposite of how it was removed. Once that is all done I'll removes the steering knuckles so I can sandblast the housings and knuckles separate. I plan on sandblasting the housings with the diffs in them. I will probably take off the drive flanges and seal the open inputs as well as closing off the open axle housing ends with duct tape and plastic.


Bought a half dozen of these recently for "down the road."





And the gold mine just keeps on giving up fat nuggets........

Found this Bearfoot 3 picture recently in a separate photo album:



Giving Bearfoot a bath. Really wish camera technology had been better evolved and more affordable in 1985.........

[Engineer]

Update:

As the slow pace of this project has allowed I have been researching different pivot and attachment methods for my steering cylinders.

Going to use 3/4" female heim joints. Luckily they have the same thread as my cylinder rods.



Here is a pic of one of the cylinders and a jig that will be used in place of the cylinder to weld the mount to the axle housing.



If research can be considered progress on this build then I have accomplished more than the recent actual hands on work.

After a trip to watch my youngest son's college team play baseball my trip home included a long delayed trip back to the home of Bigfoot. I thought it would be good to see how the most experienced monster truck had built his steering. If anyone would know what works it would have to be Bigfoot. Man, was I in for a surprise.

I had these 3/4" heims for years from a failed traction bar setup on my puller. I didn't think they would be adequate for a monster truck swinging 66" wide foot print tires. But, that is why I stopped, to see what worked on the old-schoolers.

This truck, Bigfoot 1, used the very set up I had envisioned for my truck. I had scored a win without knowing the rules of the game.



The difference being I will have my tie rod out front whereas Bigfoot's is in behind the front axle. I like my set up because the force from the hydraulic cylinders isn't being directly transferred through the cast on arms of the knuckles.



Bigfoot took this route because it leaves a cleaner frontal look, and I can appreciate that.

Bigfoot 1 also uses 66" rubber but was shod on 48" Firestones as it set in the showroom.

FWIW, this truck was in the showroom that day. I think I had them convinced to swap the engine and body over to a Chevy Silverado type so I could take it home. They acted like it was no problem with a cool $250,000.00 on my part.



And if you guys get Spike TV this is the 640ci hemi they recently rebuilt on one of the Sunday morning Powerblock shows.



So, back to my research. I was able to acertain that 3/4" heims would indeed work for my application.

By using special top grade military/aerospace heims (not your every day available low quality, go-fast, speed shop parts) I can achieve a joint capable of almost 30,000# of ultimate static radial strength. The large surface of my steering cylinders will only produce approximately 2,500# of force. This is less than 10% of the capacity of the strongest 3/4" heims, and this is assuming an ultimate high output of 1,450psi of pressure from the modified GM/Saginaw steering pump. The military/aerospace grade heims also come with a special teflon lining so messy grease isn't an issue. Also the lack of any grease fitting adds to the overall strength of the military/aerospace rod end.

So, would the 3/4" heims be sufficient for this build? Well, how much more evidence should I need if they will steer Bigfoot 5's 120" Firestone Tundra tires?



Sorry if it is a low quality picture but it was raining and the lighting was low from the cloud cover.

The axle pic is a photo that I took of this truck's rear axle:



Again, it uses the same balanced cross connected steering cylinder set up I am building into my truck, and is present on Bigfoot 1.





So, here is the latest progress:



Made a bar to hold the spring seats true, centered, square, and level while I welded them into place.

Then started the process of boxing them in:







These photos are after the torque rod brackets were added on.







And while I was goofing around I thought it cool to see what polishing the housing would turn out like.....



That is the back side before the torque rods brackets were welded on. Will probably do the front side to give it a cleaner look.

Next I will be welding on the steering cylinder anchor mounts. Still brain storming, er um brain farting that idea. It must be functional, and it must be of a quality that prohibits failure.

[LTZ C20]

Sweet update.