1979 F600 4 x 4... Im the bastrad stepchild that doesnt fit anywhere

[Notmeofficer]

Ill be rebuilding the frame this week.. with a new t 1 doubler.. done more nicely than the original fire truck builder. FMC



The truck is entirely apart now... this weekend I stripped the axles bare and sandblasted the housings.. next week Ford B700 bus rotors arrive and I will begin the aspect of 4wdb conversion (hopefully they fit).. Ill make custom caliper brackets and weld the rear ones on.. the front will require making a mount that bolts to the top four bolts of the upper steering knuckle(s) on both sides/// the only right way is to machine one,
This will take time.. probably 2 days to engineer and make... this is my plan anyway.. everything takes twice as long

Rockwell parts are around.. but not at the local store.. so everything has to be researched and then bought over the phone.. which in and of itself is a hassle and makes for problems and slowdowns

What Im doing now is the dirty and hard stuff that takes a lot of time and isn't really fun..lots of sandblasting etc of a zillion parts.. you cant imagine how HEAVY everything is compared to a lt duty truck...everything requires the assistance of a forklift.. that slows down all the processes

Give me a couple of weeks for another update

 

[Notmeofficer]

Lockers are coming.. for both the front and rear.. front was easy..the axle is in a lot of things.. internationals etc... rear was hard as they are no longer made.. but I scored a NOS at a premium price.. oh well.. if you have to have it youve got to pay for it

Bus rotors came in.. American ones wont work but the Chinese imports look like they will..(the casting was different) Ill have to machine my hubs.. more work.. more slowdowns

The t1 frame doubler is done.. Ill do a trial fitup today... I actually went with a steel called "domex".. higher PSI than t1 at 110K.. so it will be mondo strong while saving weight

No pics of real consequence.. it will be a bit

slow progress....

 

[TheRoadVirus]

Still sounds like it's moving along, I'm anxious for more pics. Are you doing a more in-depth documentation (pictures) on a website or anything?

 

[89frankenford]

keep up the good work!! and keep us updated!!

 

[Notmeofficer]

Ok .. some progress

Lockers are installed

The front one took 30 minutes because I went very carefully,, the rear about 20 minutes.. easy as pie...

And some pictures of the B700 rotors

American economy style.. note taper and thickness of face where wheel abuts
Its thicker than the drum brake face... requiring longer studs




Chinese version import.. note straight barrel casting.. this is good




thickness of face is close to stock drum thickness.. this means stock wheel studs will work

The chinese version wins hands down... funny thing is that it was probably 10 pounds heavier than the American version.. the American casting was finished nicer.. but not by much. The Chinese versions will work with minimal machining of my hubs,, the American version would require alot more work.. neither of the rotors has enough meat to machine them instead,, and then that would also make a custom rotor that would be a PITA to replace

The gears are so heavy that I have to wait for a friend to come over to help me put them back together.. it just needs four hands ..no way around it

I know these pictures aren't hugely exciting.. but its all in the building process and this is the kind of stuff that takes time and patience
Im doing a one off conversion to 4wdb... even different than what the rock crawlers do on the military Rockwells when they disc brake them.. none of that stuff fits my axles or knuckles... but the good news is that there doesn't seem to be any unsurmountable roadblocks. Im going to look at B700 calipers and f 550 calipers next.. the F550s are rated at 13.5 k each.. so they have plenty of oomph... and would match up nicely to a f550 master cylinder and hydroboost
Ive never seen b700 calipers.. so that will take some investigation.. and I imagine the braking system is drum disc with hydrovac.. but again Ill have to look into that

The rotor diameter is 15.2 inches.... the inside clearance of my Stazworks 20 x 12 super single wheel is 17 5/8.. so my caliper height can be about 2 1/2 inches.. I think thats doable (Tires are military michlen xl,, 46 inches tall)... this is going to be one big machine

Slow..progress


No.. Im not keeping a journal other than here and pirate off road.. and a competitor ford site that took a dump and has been down for two weeks.. maybe when I get it down Ill just copy the thread for build posterity

Cam

 

[Skandocious]

Holy crap! How big is that ring gear?

 

[89frankenford]

those rotors are HUGE! and that ring gear sounds huge!

 

[Notmeofficer]

about 150 pounds big,,,.... .. heck.. probably 20 inches

the rotors dwarf anything on a one ton....they are probably 2 inches thick... Im sure they made them overkill for school buses.. people are heavy!

 

[Skandocious]

How about taking pictures of these parts next to something to show us a scale. Maybe a 12-inch ruler or something. I am AMAZED at the size of these parts.

 

[Notmeofficer]

Ill try that in the future,, remember a stock one ton dually rotor is about 12 inches and about 1 inch thick.. and you can lift the ring gear.. this one I cannot lift without getting hurt,,,

Night everyone

cam

 

[Notmeofficer]

Bet you guys thought I forgot about you.. I havent...

Im currently piddling along awaiting the wheels... ordered 3 months ago and paid for through stazworks.. great work.. slow production

Ive also been very busy with fire season.. which for those of you in other parts of the world may not know.. its burning everywhere around me..I joined the local fire company a couple of months ago and haven't stopped since.. Im getting to drive real fire engines right now....

Couple being overly busy with temps over a hundred has made work on the truck slow to a crawl... Im still amassing parts.. I did get the disc brake rotors but without the wheels im not absolutely sure what calipers will work so Ive been hesitant to build the rotor stands yet.... as soon as they arrive Ill begin making progress again.. Im hoping for them within 4 weeks.. Once I get to rolling chassis again and get the truck back inside the shop work will progress daily.. until then it sits... waiting for me

The frame is all welded.. the double frame all built and mounted (not painted yet).. Im struggling through spring mounts.. but Im making slow progress. The front and rear carriers are all setup and back together.. it took two people to do it as they are so heavy.. lockers went in without a hitch

I will post in the future... Im itching for progress

 

[tomtoc]

sounds awesome - thanks for the update

 

[blacksnapon]

Just be careful with the fires, and keep us updated with the truck!

 

[Skandocious]

Hey thanks for the update, I've been wondering about this project.

You say lots of fires around you... Are you by chance in California? We've got tons of fires here right now.

 

[Notmeofficer]

Hey thanks for the update, I've been wondering about this project.

You say lots of fires around you... Are you by chance in California? We've got tons of fires here right now.

360 degree ring of fire around Redding California.. Im currently driving a 4900 series international crew cab brush truck.. Ive been on every day for the last 12 days.. now off for a couple.. and Im burned out..

We are starting to see resources coming from as far away as Idaho... but, and this is a personal belief only without substantiation, we dont have anywhere near the manpower needed to fight whats happening right now... Big Sur and Napa have fires and the money is there... so are the resources

Most firefighters have been on 12 and 12s for awhile and everyone is tired and there is no end in sight.. it was a drought year and everything was dry in May and the snow was gone off the mountains.. sometimes that doesnt happen until July

I wish I had my engine done and had it available for structure protection at my place.( somehow my 5hp hi pressure pump and foam system seems pretty whimpy right now). but I spent a solid week on the cat and tractor cleaning my firebreaks and am in good shape as far as brush and road cuts

thats it from hell central.... sure wish we had some of those flood waters over here

 

[Skandocious]

Yeah man I know whatchu mean. I'm up in the foothills near Auburn and the smoke is nasty down here. I took my flashlight out last night and shined it into the air and I cold see the column of light leading from the tip of the flashlight all the way into the sky. Looked like someone was running a fog machine back there.

 

[slmann]

be careful out there. thanks for the update and keep them coming.

 

[Fellro]

We'd be more than happy to let you have some of the flood waters... better get a bunch of tankers going!!!

 

[tylstruck]

U-haul has many left-over NOS F-600 and F350 truck parts in their warehouses. Priced low to sell. Call them.

Tyl

 

[LEB Ben]

Holy chit...just did some digging and saw this build is over here too. I followed it like a hawk over there. Anybody heard/read anything about it????