Shaun/Ken - That may help a bunch as the strip may then come off the panel. Thanks.

Yaga/Ken - Thanks, I am proud and pleased. We are making progress, as the attached pictures of dent removal on the bed show. The first picture shows the damage some idiot did below the tail light, with the next picture showing what it should look like from the other side. Presto, it is gone!

One of the conversations today centered on where to stop the spray-on liner on the bed. There are, by actual count, 57 holes to be filled on one bed rail alone, although Marshall is sure he can fill them smoothly. But, the little lip that is ~3/4" wide on the inside of the bed rail is apparently wavy so Marshall wants to bring the liner up and cover that, but not the rest of the rail. What do y'all think? Should it also cover the rails?

 

Applying bed liner on the top rails is something I see quite often with the Ranger crowd. It's really a matter of personal preference. It would definitely hide the imperfections, but I feel that it looks out of place, much like an over-the-rail ABS drop-in liner does.

 

With the paint job you're going with, I'd like to have some type of covering on those rails. Imagine you'll still be using it as a truck, wouldn't won't some scruffed up rails on it.

 

Shaun/Jon - Thanks for the input. I'm thinking I'll stay with it just coming up over the lip on the rails, as discussed - assuming Marshall gets the rails straight. I'd like to show them off if they are good as I can always put liner on them later if need be.

Now, on to the rotisserie - it is almost done. Bruno helped me put the pieces together today after I got the welding done. I still have to drill some holes for the center piece, which will have more sections in it when used on something long like a car. But for the cab I may not have to put more on as it is long enough with that piece - depending on how much room Marshall needs between the L-brackets and the cab for access.

And, there are some other tweaks I'd like to make if I have time. For instance, I have hydraulic rams to life the rotating assembly after picking up the body or cab. They aren't necessary, but would make using the thing easier.

 

We are going to do some chickens on the rotisserie tomorrow.

 

You could roast a whole ostrich on that thing!

 

... or a new Ford Raptor!
If it's worth doing, it's worth OVER doing. =)

I think it is going to be a lot easier to move (loaded) with the larger diameter scaffold casters on it.

 

I agree that the larger casters will make it easier to move - in one way. And that way is when there are multiple people involved in the move. That's because all four casters swivel and, in my experience, moving something with four swiveling casters is difficult. That's why the small casters swivel on one end and are fixed on the other. But, I do want the larger casters to be useful, so one of the minor things I need to do is to make some spacers for their shafts. Apparently they are designed to be used in the end of a pipe or tube 'cause the locking tab extends above the top plate and hits the "feet" I have welded to the legs. But, I have a piece of tubing that is close to the right ID so all I need is to bore it slightly and then lop off 4 little doughnuts about 1/2" thick.

Another thing I need to do is to drill another locating hole in the sliders on the arms. The locating holes in the arms are 2" apart and that's too coarse of an adjustment - especially since you need to keep things balanced so both sides have to move the same amount. So I will drill another hole in the sliders 1" from the existing one so at least the adjustment can be down to 2" increments side-to-side. I've already done a similar thing on the vertical sliders so the adjustments can be more precise and should have done it on the horizontal ones from the get-go.

These are the kinds of things I hope to capture in the how-to since the plans I found on the internet don't. In addition, I want to add the hydraulic rams for height adjustment, but don't know that I'll get it done before the cab goes on.

 

Got the larger casters installed today. What do you think of the rake on it? Actually, the first shot is just to show the difference in the large and small casters. I eventually got the other two on as well.

The second shot shows one of the casters and a couple of minor problems. The first was that the shaft just barely goes through the tubing, so any lifting would cause it to come out and potentially dump the load. Initially I fixed that, as shown in #2, by drilling and tapping the shaft 1/4-20 and installing a Rube Goldberg mix of washers that held the shaft in. But I happened to spot some washers that were laying on the work table that just fit the bill as the OD was slightly larger than the shaft and the ID was 3/8". So I drilled and tapped the shafts 3/8-16 and used the "new" washers, as shown in pictures 3 & 4. Anyone, except for Bruno, recognize the washers?

The other minor problem was that the brake lever was too tall to go under the leg, as shown in #2, so I put them in the vise and bent the ear 90˚. Problem solved.

 

Those are some serious Bellville Washers Gary.
I'm not sure what they're out of, but must be from a driveline that takes some incredible shock loads.
Also, you can see the wheel's shaft is cross drilled.
I don't imagine it would be too difficult to drill the box tube for pip pins in order to lock two of the casters in place and make a 'shopping cart' out of the rotisserie.

 

You planning on barbecuing a bison on that?

 

Jim - Those are the leftover washers from the top of the front shocks that were on the truck. While I didn't grow up in the Great Depression, Dad did and he taught me to keep everything. So I've had these, and probably several other sets of, washers laying around. But, they don't really fit anything so I didn't know what to do with them. Until yesterday.

As for cross-drilling the tubes, had I thought of that before I welded the upright and feet on the tube it would have been the easy way out. But, with all that stuff on the tube I couldn't mount it on the mill so chose to drill the end of the shaft. However, holding the shaft doesn't keep the casters from swiveling as the plate on the end is the top "race" of a ball bearing assembly that allows the caster to swivel. Yes, the brake locks it from swiveling, but it also locks the wheel from rolling at the same time, which sorta defeats the purpose.

Having said that, there is a need to lock the shaft from rotating as any rotation allows the casters to swivel even with the brake on, so when working on something on the rotisserie it can move on you. Unfortunately my approach with the "doughnut" and washer doesn't lock the shaft because I purposefully left some end-play so the washer doesn't hit the tube. But, if I were to make a new set of spacers/doughnuts that are just a bit thicker then there would probably be enough friction to keep the shaft from turning in the tube. Or, I could put the whole thing on the work table and drill the holes by hand and cross-pin them as you suggested.

Bill - We do have bison about 60 miles away, but I'd need a way to crank the spit. Do you think one of those little Wheezers would be able to do that? I think I know where one is.

 

 

 

Good one Bruno! From my experience, I would trust one of those "weezers" a lot more than the overweight pig of a 351M.