Fellers - its supposed to be -40 with the wind chill here on Monday.

So - since I'm not going to be out in my garage - I thought I'd plan out the power tilt system for my nose.

The 56 already has a nice tilt fiberglass nose - I want a power tilt.

I've been thinking of adding a linear actuator with a switch to lift & lower the nose.

There is a steel frame that the nose is attached to & a large piece of angle iron on either side that I could attach to.

the other end I would have to make up some kind of bracket on the frame - plenty of space - but I have a couple questions.


1 - when I open the nose - it only takes 20 or so pounds of effort to get it moving & it gets heavier as it opens. I'm holding it at the point farthest from the hinge & so the leverage is in my favor. Right at the front of the hinge however - the weight to get the nose to move will be much greater.

ANY idea how strong of an actuator I should start with?

2 - the actuators all have a travel distance - how do I measure how much travel I will need?

3 - how should I wire this? It would be really cool to have a remote control so I could lift & lower it from outside the truck.



You can see the frame & the pin hinge & the angle iron I would connect to at the lower front of the frame.

 

You can also see in the pictures the buckles used to hold the nose closed - these really chew up the paint at the junction.

I'm planning to paint the truck this spring/summer & I want to eliminate these & use the actuator to hold the nose in place.

I'll put a pin or two to catch it & make sure it lines up & all - but that's the real motivation for adding the actuator.

 

B-monkey..

that's what I did on my hood... here's the details.. might be of some help

http://jniolon.classicpickup.com/til...gfulltilt.html

later
john

 

Very cool write up!

Do you remember the weight limit on your actuator?

200 lbs?

 

these are industrial actuators... I think 1000#s... I don't have to worry about stalling them

j

 

I found (and bought) this

Remote Control Wiring Switch Kit for Linear Actuators | eBay

I still have not decided on my actuators - but for $65 I decided to just get it & get busy installing it.

Next is to find the actuator that I want to use - there are a million of them to choose from.

I want the silver bullet - cheap, 10x stronger than I need & it should open & close fast.

By fast I'm thinking between 10 & 20 seconds.

Any suggestions on where I might find this mythical beast?

 

Have you given any thought to moving the buckles/latches to the inside of the fenders?

If you don't have something on the fenders to hold them there, I think you might run into a rattle or flapping problem.

 

Do you have any other pics of your truck?

 

 

I like what I see and really like the stance.

 

The kit I ordered arrived today. Very compact & looks simple to hook up. It has 4 programmable functions on the remote key fobs.

So I can raise & lower the nose with 1. 3 more to play with.....

 

Hey Brass check this video out i just posted of my 54 F100 full front end tilt with linear actuators. Turned out pretty good. If it came forward a bit more it would be perfect but i can live with it. Enjoy

 

Now that is COOL. I plan to measure my open & close distances this weekend. There are 2 or 3 places I could mount to. Each with advantages & disadvantages.

Once I get that figured I plan to order the actuators.

Thanks for sharing the vid!

 

Brass,
I went back and forth on where to mount the rear side of the actuators. I tried welding an L bracket to the side of the frame but ended cutting them off as it hit my tires on a sharp turn. Figured that out AFTER all that welding of course.

Anyway what I ended up doing is welding a bracket inside the A shaped framework that houses my shocks, just above the top of the shocks. It is already welded to the frame already and enough clearance to do any shock work so figured it was a good choice. That is what i ended up with although you cannot see in videos. If it helps you I can email you a picture of it close up.

I did a lot of research before during and after this actuator job. The open close distance is key and the right size actuators. Mine have a 6" travel plus the length of the actuators.

In a perfect world i would have it open even further but could not get that worked out. The back of my hood sticks up just a little I have to work that out. Overall the coolness factor supersedes these items which i will fix. Plus i went for the wireless key fobs rather that flip switch. I can stand back 20' and raise this hood. Talk about a head turner...ha ha.

Anyway just thought I would share that any questions let me know.
Len

 

Do you have any photos of the actuators that show how you have them mounted and is the front bodywork metal or fiberglass? Also what is the push-pull lb. rating on your actuators.


I've seen several applications using only one actuators to open these tilt noses and I hope to be able to fabricate mine to do the same. Been looking at these actuators.

Linear Actuators