BajaF250

[ChaseTruck754]

you happen to know what the 1 tons are Philo? I think they might be the same as the F-250's but not positive.

[BajaF250]

Need more pictures Tom!

Hey Brian,
I haven't been able to work on it for a while... since Saturday. I was helping a buddy mount up a Garvin bumper to a CJ-5. Since they don't make a bumper to fit, I had to spend the day fab'ing up a sub-bumper to structurally attach the new bumper. So, the project has been on hold for a couple of days.

I hope to get into the shop tomorrow after work and get to the TIG table to finish up the diff housing... then on to the axle housing.

[BajaF250]

I thought I'd post an update... I haven't been able to get to the shop as much as I wanted this week but I wanted to get a pic of the radius arms up. I did finish welding up the diff housing and it turned out great! Welding cast steel and cold rolled was new to me so Darin helped me develop the welding process. When I first tried welding the bungs on the diff case, I found that the welds cracked almost immediately. (Yeah, I know, all you welders out there know this stuff.)

Radius arms - I boxed the radius arms all the way back to improve bending resistance and added strength. The diamond shaped patch covers the seam between the front and rear plate seam. I used 1/8" chromoloy.

Front diff welding process - To avoid weld cracking when welding cast steel to the steel boss', I preheated the diff casing to 300°C over the entire area to be welded, inside and out. You have to use a high nickel content filler, I used stainless welding rod. Throughout the process you have to keep the area uniformly heated which was accomplished with an oxy acetylene "rose bud" tourch. After I completed all of the welds, I post heated the entire region again to ensure the whole thing was uniformly heated and then let the entire case cool to room temp without any cooling aids... I had to isolate the diff housing from any breeze or air movement to avoid premature cooling and/or differential cooling. In the end it turned out great with no cracking what-so-ever. Learned a new welding techinque!

Yesterday I cut out 1/4" chromoloy plate for the front axle housing boss mount. The purpose is to hold the stud boss' from the front and to add strength to stiffen the front bottom housing (you can see the front bottom housing is deformed from multiple rock hits). Once this is finalized, this will all be covered with ramped skid plating which will extend up to the axle truss. The intent here is to form some ribs that will run vertically down to support the plating and then the plating will run from the truss to the bottom of the housing at an angle to form a "ramp" to transfer any hits into vertical axle movement and to "slide" up over any hits. Don't know if it'll work, but it has to be better than providing a vertical face that essentially "takes" the hit and turns the force into a bending moment on the radius arms. In theory...

[ChaseTruck754]

Looks good Tom! If you think welding cast steel is fun you should venture into cast iron next. Anything casting aside from aluminum I try to avoid.

[BajaF250]

I've thought about it... mainly to upgrade the front brakes... but understand it's really tough... haven't gone any further than think about it...

[ChaseTruck754]

Hey Tom - I'm having an "adventurous mind" moment since I've had a little time to kill sitting idle recently...

You mind getting a measurement or 2 for me?
Can you measure the outside of frame rail to outside of frame rail at the i-beam cross member?
Can you also measure the inside edge of frame (top/inside edge of the [ to top of ] )?

Safe to assume your truck came originally with the d50 TTB and leafs?

What t-case is in your truck?

Also - does your frame look like the broncos (pic below) from the top/front? I know they run the same steering box, so I'm assuming the F-250's with TTB would be similar looking.

[BajaF250]

Hey Tom - I'm having an "adventurous mind" moment since I've had a little time to kill sitting idle recently...

You mind getting a measurement or 2 for me?
Can you measure the outside of frame rail to outside of frame rail at the i-beam cross member?
It measures 35" outside to outside at the rear pivot point on the engine cross member.

Can you also measure the inside edge of frame (top/inside edge of the [ to top of ] )?
Can't get to this measurement... too much stuff in the way.


Safe to assume your truck came originally with the d50 TTB and leafs?
Nope, came with the D44HD and leafs.

What t-case is in your truck?
BW1345

Also - does your frame look like the broncos (pic below) from the top/front? I know they run the same steering box, so I'm assuming the F-250's with TTB would be similar looking.

Yes, it looks very similar, but I do believe there are some differences in measurements. But the basic layout is the same. I clearly didn't have the coil mounts on the outside of the frame It did have a small shock tower though.

[BajaF250]

Spent the day at the shop and didn't seem to make much headway. I did straighten the axle housing a little, heated it up and put it in the 100-ton press... got some of the kinks out. I then got the support plate all welded up to the axle housing... I moved on to making a cardboard template for the plating... Got that done and then made the cutout templates for the flame table. I got all of the skid plating cut out, 3/16" chromoloy... I then spent the next couple of hours trying to get the first piece bent and formed to tack into place... that's about as far as I got...

I'm a little worried that I won't get this darn thing done before the Aug trip... I might have to take the Rover !

[philofab]

Steve, I'll measure my f250 frame section once I get it back from my former employer.

[yikes]

I'm a little worried that I won't get this darn thing done before the Aug trip... I might have to take the Rover !

You better hustle then Tom! The only reason I'm going on this trip is to see the green hornet in action. Haha!

[BajaF250]

I'm a little worried that I won't get this darn thing done before the Aug trip... I might have to take the Rover !

You better hustle then Tom! The only reason I'm going on this trip is to see the green hornet in action. Haha!

Oh crap, the pressure's on!

[BajaF250]

Ok, before anyone asks, no pics for todays work... I forgot my camera...

I spent the day in the shop and got over a major hurdle today. Got the diff housing all trussed up and the skid plating all fit and welded up. I even had the time to smooth out the seams. I still have to put an skid overlay over the bottom section, but that shouldn't take much time, I already have the process figured out.

Ok, to make the Aug trip, I have to pull my p/s pump... apparently it started leaking at the 500... it's drained all of the fluid out since I've been working on the front end, gotta trace that out and fix that. I need to rebuild and reshim my front shocks... I need to reset my pinion and ring gear setup. Rebuild the front end, need new upper ball joints... they'er only 8-years old... I guess the way I beat them, I'm pretty happy with their life span, can't complain. I got my new bypass' on Friday, so I'll try to get those installed if I can find the time (I really doubt it), I'd really like to have them but if I don't have enough time, it'll be fine too.

All this in only two weekends... ugh! I have my work cut out... and on top of that, I'm SLOW! I'd really like to say I'm slow but good, but alas... slow but crappy... ! I guess I can't have everything!

[tcm glx]

Ok, before anyone asks, no pics for todays work... I forgot my camera...

I spent the day in the shop and got over a major hurdle today. Got the diff housing all trussed up and the skid plating all fit and welded up. I even had the time to smooth out the seams. I still have to put an skid overlay over the bottom section, but that shouldn't take much time, I already have the process figured out.

Ok, to make the Aug trip, I have to pull my p/s pump... apparently it started leaking at the 500... it's drained all of the fluid out since I've been working on the front end, gotta trace that out and fix that. I need to rebuild and reshim my front shocks... I need to reset my pinion and ring gear setup. Rebuild the front end, need new upper ball joints... they'er only 8-years old... I guess the way I beat them, I'm pretty happy with their life span, can't complain. I got my new bypass' on Friday, so I'll try to get those installed if I can find the time (I really doubt it), I'd really like to have them but if I don't have enough time, it'll be fine too.

All this in only two weekends... ugh! I have my work cut out... and on top of that, I'm SLOW! I'd really like to say I'm slow but good, but alas... slow but crappy... ! I guess I can't have everything!

Where are the pics.... .hahahaha! Glad you got work done Tom!

[BajaF250]

Where are the pics.... .hahahaha! Glad you got work done Tom!

I knew I set my self up for that!

[BajaF250]

Hey Tom - I'm having an "adventurous mind" moment since I've had a little time to kill sitting idle recently...

You mind getting a measurement or 2 for me?
Can you measure the outside of frame rail to outside of frame rail at the i-beam cross member?
Can you also measure the inside edge of frame (top/inside edge of the [ to top of ] )?

Safe to assume your truck came originally with the d50 TTB and leafs?

What t-case is in your truck?

Also - does your frame look like the broncos (pic below) from the top/front? I know they run the same steering box, so I'm assuming the F-250's with TTB would be similar looking.

So Steve, tell us, what are you scheming?

[philofab]

You going to be busy selling stuff in a parking lot next weekend?

[yikes]

I'd really like to say I'm slow but good, but alas... slow but crappy... !

"I don't do good work, but I sure am slow" ...is what my dad always said. Haha!


in my best Rob Schneider voice - "YOU CAN DO IT!!!"

[BajaF250]

You going to be busy selling stuff in a parking lot next weekend?

Yup, I'll be there! If so, do you have room for my stuff?

[philofab]

You going to be busy selling stuff in a parking lot next weekend?

Yup, I'll be there! If so, do you have room for my stuff?

Hoping to bring all of it....

[ChaseTruck754]

Steve, I'll measure my f250 frame section once I get it back from my former employer.

Thanks Philo.

So Steve, tell us, what are you scheming?

4wd conversion on the '74 supercab. Yes, I know I should be focussing on the crew cab, but hey, when I get a brain fart my ADD tends to run with it...

At 1st I was thinking about grafting in this bronco cross member I have here, then I read up and figured out the d50 TTB stuff is different than the d44 (remember - I'm converting the truck to 8 lug so it can share spares with the crew). I then though about getting a d50 TTB truck (maybe d44hd) and taking the cross member and beams off of that. I then thought "If I get a 94+ I can find one with the 351w roller block I want" and it went even further from there to be maybe even the E4OD trans (yes I have a race c6 and gear vendors sitting here) and t-case.

After thinking all that, my current though is to possibly just swap the '74 cab on a 94+ F-250 chassis. That way the beams and everything is already on there and wired. If I get really nuts I may even drop it on a standard cab, long bed frame so as to shorten the wheel base a bit.

Need to look into if the thing would have to be titled according to the chassis at that point though, because I'll just go back to swapping the suspension over if it will be titled as a 90's deal and I'd have to smog it.

So yeah - I'm crazy. Keep in mind I'm still very much in the "thinking about it" phase and the details are very much subject to change depending on whatever my little pea brain thinks up next.