How long is the intermediate shaft between your tranny and t-case? And are you eating u-joints from lack of movement?

I'm gonna put a t-case in my 2wd to get the low range as well as go to 4wd when I find a donor for the front end. Because it will all be custom I can do whatever I want with it, and was wondering if a flexable coupleing would be better than a shaft with u-joints?

 

the shaft length varied on whether you have a manual or automatic.. i swapped my c6 for a np435 in my 75 highboy and had to get the dhaft lengthened by about 3 inches IIRC... i can get you a measurement yoke to yoke in the am if you want it... i've run divorced t-cases for years and have only lost 1 set of u joints in close to 150,000 miles.. thats only because i twisted it a bit in a mud drag race and haven't gotten the shaft re-tubed..

 

Check your drive geometry here from my LINKS page:

http://www.drivetrain.com/driveline_angle_problem.html

 

Wow, nice link Eric. That's a keeper as a bookmark.

 

Check out my FTE website for a whole page of those links.

 

Nice link Torque, thanx, I'm not interested in the exact length just a guess, I didn't want to make it too short. I can put the t-case anywhere I want, and I have the 140" WB so I have plenty of room. Another quick question do you have an inframe side tank with the devorced t-case or is it in the way of the front shaft? I still haven't figured out what to do with my tank yet, because I'm using a backpack box and I have NO ROOM behind the rear , I'm running out of options for a tank location.

 

either behind the seat like the original highboys or have a custom tanks built inside the bed. i mounted mine in the rear using a tank from a 1 ton cab and chassis to get it out of the cab.

 

If you read the info in the link you will see that there always has to be some oscillation in the U-joints to keep them alive based on the minimum angles required.

A person can always mount a tank outside the frame but GM caught hell from legal people for that. Of course when the truth about the "inflammatory" news stories was revealed it was humorous. The news guys could not get the GM truck to explode in a fireball when struck from the side so they rigged an ignition source so they could get some good film footage for their news "story". You could always use a racing type fuel cell tho.

 

the t-case is in front of the tanks on the inboard mounted frame tanks... custom build one and you'l be golden...

 

The outside frame saddle tank doesn't bother me as far as safety is concerned, but I'm trying to do alot with this truck and I may not have room.

This is planned to be the ultimate work truck, I'm putting all the ideas I've had over the years into this one if I can configure it correctly. What I'm aiming for is;

F-350 dual rears,
4wd
40 gallons of fuel (good luck with this)
9 ft steel flatbed with dual, double acting pistons pivoted 30" from the rear so it will dump 90 degrees to the ground and almost touch the ground.
12000 lb electric winch, front bed mounted ( used as a crane with the bed at 90 degrees for loading)
2600 watt generator
air compressor
backpack tool box
dual 27 series batteries, switched
gas welder/cutter outfit

the only thing I don't have that is listed is the front end for the 4wd, but I'm not in a hurry for it so I can wait for a donor while using the truck.

 

Go with a hydraulic winch!!! You can buy truck mounted crane setups that would probably be more useful than tilting the bed for a loading crane. A boom off a wrecker would work very well also. You may want to put in some timber strips in the bed to nail down cargo etc. Cut the bed short and mount your toolbox, generator, welder to the frame in front of the bed. Use an isolator to charge the dual batteries. I am assuming here that you are going to use an engine driven compressor setup. You can use a magnetic clutch on the compressor to regulate the pressure.

Good luck with the project!

 

The winch is electric, I already have it and it's a 12000lb single pull so it should be ok for anything I want to load, plus they are easier to setup.

The reason for the bed dumping to the ground instead of a boom was so i could have multiple slide in beds, IE; covered box, dumpster

the nailers in the bed is an excellent idea, I've never been fond of steel beds because they are slippery, but I bought one extremely cheep and couldn't pass it up.

I have a 140 wheelbase so I can leave the bed 9 ft and still have room for the 2 foot backpack, the generator will go under the bed.

I prefer a battery switch, similar to the marine switches. I've been using them for years on all my trucks and like the setup so I'll stick with that.

I've thought about the engine driven compressor, not sure if I'll do it or not, I already have A/C that I want to make work so it will get a bit crowded if I run another compressor, and I have a 110v compressor that will run off my generator so I may atleast start with that. The engine driven would be far superior but I may wait and see if I can get away with the 110v one first.

I'm spending a bit of money that I can't do without so I'm leaning towards using what I have to get it up and running. The truck I'm replacing is gonna need work soon if I don't finish the 74 so I don't want to waste any time getting it on the road.

 

OOOOOooo Multiple slide in beds, -Nice idea!!! I may have to give that a lot more thought. Store the extra beds on end and just back up to them, or mount them on stands like a camper insert. The local county yard stores all of their insert beds suspended from frames. Of course they have tax money to spend...

Extremely Cheap!!! -hehe -My Favorite!!

Hydraulics work so much better but if you have the electric winch already use it.

Isolators are cheap at an RV supply house and it will save you money on batteries in the long run. The switches work great for selecting which battery to use for starting, winch, etc. Whatever you do, -do not wire the batteries in parallel for charging. It shortens the life of the batteries significantly. To get up and running, fine, but get the isolator ASAP.

On my truck I will be running two AC compressors. One York piston type normal setup for the air compressor and another rotary type off an 85 Van for AC since it is a smaller package. I have scoped out most of the mounting hardware and will fab the rest. Sounds like you could do the same but it does take time which you may not have. A project for next year perhaps.

Good luck!

 

Ya, I never looked to see if I had the hood clearance, but if there is you could mount the rotary on top of the york, then just run a single belt from the york to the rotary, single belt would probubly be ok if you killed the AC when you need the air.

On the multiple beds, I almost went with a hooklift , but I didn't like the way it dumped when using it as a dump truck, that and the fact I'd need an additional bed laying around for a flatbed.

Right now, the covered box I need only has to be 24" high, so I can dump that on the ground and put the open dumpster on top of it so it only takes up 1 space. I'll just put a pair of angle iron tracks on top of the box for the dumpster to ride on.

PS. as far as the electric versus hydraulic goes, although the hydraulics are much better they tend to be a pain to use. I drive a hooklift for a friend when he gets busy and it has a hydraulic pump on a pto, you have to have the truck in neutral to operate the hook, it's a royal pain in the *** if your in a bad place and have to move while your loading, so I figured I'd go electric winch and electric/hydraulic dump. Add that to the fact it's easy and cheap to have multiple controls on the electric setups, so youu can run the dump and the winch from in the cab, or out beside the truck, or off a remote switch on a cord. I have a 100 foot remote for the winch now on my flatbed and I can sit in a car and load it on the trailer myself, comes in pretty handy.

 

The rotary AC will mount beside the existing AC also.

Most hydraulic winches will operate off the PS pump which just means some T's in the lines and it will work with the engine running in gear or neutral. Multiple remote switches are easy. Some sales info off the web:
======================================
* Your workhorse Mile Marker HI12000 Hydraulic Winch delivers 12000lbs. of pulling power
* Uses an integrated directional control valve instead of a remote solenoid
* Taps into your rig’s power steering pump for longer, cooler and more reliable pulls than traditional electric winches
* An 18.7ci hydraulic motor powers your Mile Marker Winch
* Your Mile Marker Hydraulic Winch passes the ultimate test of ruggedness, durability and dependability: the US Military’s
* Completely sealed from the elements with a corrosion resistant finish
* Even fully submerged in water, your Mile Marker HI12000 Hydraulic Winch will work flawlessly
* Uses a 2-speed, free-spooling planetary gear train for fast line pulls with or without a load
* The Mile Marker Winch comes with a 100’ spool of 3/8” galvanized aircraft grade cable
* Includes all the hoses and adaptors to connect your Mile Marker Hydraulic Winch to your vehicle’s power steering pump
* Comes with a 2-Year Warranty