Builds 73 series wheeler project (1 Viewer)

[joekatana]

A friend stopped by the shop this morning and since I really don’t have enough time to build/modify all I had planned I decided to fit an old ARB bumper with. 24v Aisin winch to see how it looks.

The approach angle doesn’t look all that great and I will have to cut the sides of the bumper but I am seriously considering using it at this point , let’s see how I feel about this in a few days

 

[2fpower]

May be the angle of the camera; however, looks like your panhard would hit your ram at left hand (US DRIVER SIDE) tire up flex.

 

[joekatana]

May be the angle of the camera; however, looks like your panhard would hit your ram at left hand (US DRIVER SIDE) tire up flex.

Gonna be close but I should have half inch or so clearance there

 

[joekatana]

Sunday evening update , front and rear brake lines are done , now I just need a chinese volunteer to pass by the shop to bleed the brakes

Front drive shaft installed ........ check

Then I started tidying up some stuff around the engine and ended the day test fitting the radiator wich needs to be lowered in position about an inch or so because I raised the trans and transfer case up trying to keep that between the frame rails and out of harms way ....... to be continued

 

[Mr Cimarron]

A friend stopped by the shop this morning and since I really don’t have enough time to build/modify all I had planned I decided to fit an old ARB bumper with. 24v Aisin winch to see how it looks.


The approach angle doesn’t look all that great and I will have to cut the sides of the bumper but I am seriously considering using it at this point , let’s see how I feel about this in a few days

If you still don’t like the look and want to sell it I’ll need one of those eventually. But I do think it wouldn’t look bad if you cut down to make stubby bumper.

 

[joekatana]

If you still don’t like the look and want to sell it I’ll need one of those eventually. But I do think it wouldn’t look bad if you cut down to make stubby bumper.

If I don’t use it on this Cruiser it will probably go on another.

 

[joekatana]

This morning it seemed that I either moved back to Belgium or took a wrong turn and ended up in Alaska rather then Texas , 32 degrees in the shop is way colder then what I would like it to be , probably gonna be back in the seventies here in a few days but in the meantime all available heaters are running on full blast.

I decided today to fit the radiator and fan shroud and at the same time I installed an old transmission cooler from a HDJ80 that I will be using as a ps cooler.

In January I ordered the Chilkat cable locker conversions but so far only the front has been delivered and I installed it today. The Chilkat bracket for the 8” diff does not work with an 80 HP third and needs to be modified, Alex send me a twist cable rather then the big lever to engage it but I am waiting on the rear to come in to see what the best location will be for the T handles to activate the lockers.

After that I started bending some tube for the roll cage but after screwing up 3 times the same A pillar I decide to quit and continue tommorrow before I go bankrupt on wasting Dom tubing :-(

 

[joekatana]

 

[joekatana]

Started bending some more tubes today and had more luck and less waste today , only damage today was a big fat burn hole trough my pants and straight in to my shoe of course and the Harbor Freight welding blanket turned out something I would not recommend to buy as a welding splatter went straight trough and burned a hole in my dash :-( luckely I have a few more dash pads around the shop.

Cage is not perfectly symmetrical but with 8 more days to finish this truck it is close enough for me , tomorrow I will tackle the rear part and install an X in the center hoop.

 

[joekatana]

 

[2fpower]

Looking amazing. Very excited to see this on the trails!

I wish I was not as busy at work right now... would love to come down and help you get this done.

 

[joekatana]

More progress on the cage today

 

[joekatana]

Saturday night update , Roundup starts in 4 days and still a lot if work that needs to be done.

The rol cage is completely done at this point , cable lockers are done and handles are next to the emergency brake.

Both Optima batteries are installed behind the seats and 2 shut off switches also, one switch will be just for the winch and the other for all the rest.

Fuel tank installed and fuel lines connected.

Fired it up for the first time and had a bad fuel leak at the fuel cutt off solenoid valve , not sure what was causing it but I removed it and installed it again and used some sealant on the treaded part and it seems to stay dry for now.

Power steering was a 50/50 shot to connect the lines to the ram correct and of course I guessed wrong , put some oil in and with the big cooler installed it seems the system has trouble getting all the air out , I only had a gallon of fuel in the tank and with it first leaking like a mofo I couldn’t run it to long before running out of diesel.

 

[joekatana]

 

[dogfishlake]

Wish I lived closer, I'd be helping (and learning). And it probably isn't snowing there.

 

[Mr Cimarron]

I want to take a look next weekend on how you ran your battery cables as I am going to do the same thing.

 

[2fpower]

when I changed to hydro assist, I did the turn rack to rack 20 times with car not running then another 20 or 40 times with it running. Have one person with flashlight watch fluid level as that ram will take a bunch. I also found that it worked better for the first 20 of off and 20 of engine on to not turn to full stop of the rack.

Good luck this week.

 

[Broski]

Looking good joe, dido what 2fpower said, 1guy turning the wheel the other watching the reservoir. Dont know how meany time we turn them but it took adout a hour to get all the air out. My guess is you know all of this.

 

[joekatana]

It has been a long Sunday but I took it for a quick test run up and down the street and mixed all my left over paint together and gave it a fresh color. Bottom half I put some bedliner to hide my crappy bodywork .

 

[joekatana]