Someone said I should post this in the CT chapter thread as well, so here goes:

I am building a 1/4 scale electric radio control Ford pick up truck. This is turning into a three generation project, my father, myself, and my brother's kids!

I joined this forum just to find some information. Since my build will not be an accurate scale replica of a specific truck, I am not looking for absolute accurate information, but I do want to build a chassis that at-least looks right under the body. For that, I am really really hoping to get some dimensions off of an early-90's era chassis. 2x4 or 4x4 doesn't matter too much, I just need the profile (side view) of the frame, and some relatively good measurements (within a quarter-inch at the most), so that I can have chassis rails custom made for my truck. I am considering either commissioning one of these email-order laser/waterjet sites like ponoko or just doing it on a bandsaw.

I also need someone with a lathe to make wheel adapters for me. Real simple, they need to be a tight fit (I believe 1.5 inch, but I'll measure when I get the wheels) where the bearing used to be in the hand-truck wheels I am using, and they have to slide over the 3/4 inch drive axle that I already ...

I would love to get SOME sort of club interested in the build so that I would have more resources for the build, and would love to show up at some local truck shows with it! Maybe I could even get some 'sponsors' and drive the truck around at shows, maybe tow some kids or something!!!!

Mike, at DieCastoms.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y89...ot/f250sig.png

[Edited 6/8 by DieCastoms] Here, I forgot to put a link to my other thread(s) about this truck:

In the 80 - 86 Bullnose forum: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/1...-here-but.html

In the "Show off your Pre-97" forum: https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/6...l#post11921933

 

sounds like a cool project, where are you located?

i cant get you measurements because i sold my 97 for a 2003, but josiah might be able to help you some, his is an 85ish f-150

 

you could ask the CT coal rollers, lots of them have OBS trucks

 

Sorry for being away for a while. Got a little busy and also bummed out because I still cannot find good wheels.

Zookie400, I am in Thompson Connecticut, not far from Thompson International Speed Way.

ACF6, pardon my ignorance, but what is "OBS" and how would I get in touch with the Coal Rollers?

I hope to be picking up a pair of hand-truck wheels and tires from Lowes tomorrow. Anyone want to make suggestions on rear suspension? I've mostly been thinking 4-link but that could change...

I will try to get some new pictures up once I have wheels.

Michael.

 

coal rollers was a joke, because they are a joke.
OBS is "old body style" which mainly refers to the 96(97 for f-350) and older trucks.

not sure what kind of truck you want to do, but you can do 5 link with coils or airbags, 3 link (ladder bars and a panhard rod), leafsprings, 4 link with angledtop links, i dont like them but you could even do a watts link setup. what genre of truck will this be? 4x4 off road or a 2wd slammed pavement scraper?

 

I've considered the pavement scraper BECAUSE I currently cannot do 4X4 drive-line. What I am building, I think, is a 4X2, but 4X4 in appearance. It will have the equivalent of 40 inch tires on it, so it's going to look like a 4X4 for sure.. Maybe some day in the future when I have more bucks or more interest or more resources I can get a full 4X4 drive train in the thing...

Also.. I think it's going to end up getting a fixed flat-bed on it.... because I want it to be useful other than at car shows and to look at. With the flatbed I could actually use it to move things in the yard without needing it to tow something...

*sighs* But the pavement scraper idea is still in my mind. . .

The 5 link that you mention is I think what I keep calling a 4 link.. two parallel links on each side and then a link across the top to keep the axle centered.. that would work fine for me. Ladder bars would also work fine for me. Leaf springs I cannot do because, try as hard as I might, I have not found small enough leaf springs, even in utility trailers and such... so it's likely going to be coil springs... I'm not yet sure about airbags, but I once thought up a way to do small ones from bicycle inner tube... We'll see.

Next on the agenda is to get a pair of wheels mounted on the back axle so I can figure out how wide the front axle will need to be. I don't mind too much what the final width of the axles turns out to be as long as it doesn't look like the stereotypical 4x4 truck on 4x2 wheels sticking waaaaaay out the sides >.< I hate that . . .

Michael.

 

i am not sure about the scale, but you should check out freightliner cab air bags. there are 2 general sizes that are used, smaller ones are about 6" tall and 4" wide, the bigger ones are about 8x4". they are pretty light and can be run at low psi all the way up to 120.

 

Sleeve Air Springs | Goodyear® Engineered Products

 

That's a great idea Zookie, thanks for the source. Keep in mind when you or others suggest real-world parts for my truck, you need to multiply every dimension by 4 and then think about how big that is. A 4-inch by 6inch real-world airbag would be the equivalent of 16 inches wide and 2 feet tall! I will certainly keep the source in mind for other things but they'd be far far too large for my truck.

 

times four...got it.

 

So I went and got tires. They fit, sort of. The steel wheels that the tires came mounted on do not fit the axle that I have (I knew this already, I need to make an adaptor), so I tried putting those tires on the plastic split wheels from the wheelchair. The tires fit the split wheels to an extent.. when you inflate the tubes, the beads pop over the edge of the rim . . .

so I took some photos of it anyway with the bigger tires on the wheelchair's rims to at least get the 'look'.. I don't know what I think about it yet. I know that those damned wheel arches have got to be fixed >.< 40 inch tires look like they are donut spares with those wheel arches cut so gapingly huge. . . Ride height will probably have to be higher once they are fixed..

Here's a shot or two.. note that it's the rear axle just tucked under the front of the body to hold the wheels in place..





I will post again later with shots of the actual axle itself and a couple other things if people are interested in seeing.

Michael.

P.S. I'm thinking of a couple names ... since the mobility scooter was made by "Pride" I was thinking either simply "Pride Crusher" or to tie in with the Ford Built Rock Tough, "Pride Rock" and have this picture on the sides:

 

I took a few more photos while cleaning up.. here they are:

This is what my brother thinks I should be building:

Also, the grey tire wedged between the big tire and the body is one of the original tires from the wheelchair. It's about 6 inches in diameter.

This is the rear axle with the tires that I want mounted on it:


This is a selection of tires that I have around.. Unfortunately I do not have a matched set of 4 of any of these tires, but the nice black ones I can easily get more of.. the middle tire is the one I REALLY do not want to use because it doesn't look like a real tire profile... it looks like something off a dirtbike.. (it too is a hand-truck tire, available for as little as $5 or 6 complete with wheel and tube at Harbor Freight or Tractor Supply etc.)


Here's the face of the same wheels..

 

i agree with your brother.

 

there is no way I could build that.. the tires are almost as wide as the body, so there is barely any room between them at all.. They'd be like putting a 72 inch tall and 40 inch wide tire on a real truck.

Also, with the increased tire size, the reduction in torque from the motors I have available would make it gutless as all git-out.

It would be totally useless unless I went gasoline powered, in which case I should just buy one of those Chinese pocket-bike four-wheelers and RC that and put my body on it.

 

And... ?