Cummins = win

There's a lot of history with them I like and their overall simplistic design that I love.

I think it is a bad-ass idea and you should get it under way ASAP! Just because it will have air brakes does not mean you have to have a CDL. I drive a 33,000# truck with air brakes and don't have a CDL. Why, because it is used for non-commercial use. Yours would come under the same. I don't see why it would be illegal. It would be just like a tandem axle big rig but smaller and with a bed instead of bare frame and a 5th wheel.

Exactly, but you never know how the government might react to non-sheepish creativity. I don't see an issue with it, they allow people to build and drive Kit-Cars, so why not this?

and yeah- I remember someone objected my airbrake idea because of the cdl thing- I researched it and found the exact rules and how wrong he was lol.

Sense you will have air brakes, might as well go with air ride on the rear axles. Was thinking about putting air ride on my F-250 and C20.

Is it cheap and is it tough as nails like leaves

Not "cheep", but fairly inexpensive. and they are tough and can handle a really good amount of weight. But I just thought of something, you will be using your truck alot for off-roading. I will be towing a travel trailer and other various trailers so mine will be used for driver/passenger comfort. However, you could use the airbags to increase your ground clearance.

Eh, I'd rather just run leaves- I'll have the perfect height, time tested durability, and can still put 8000 lbs in the bed itself- and I can pull 26,000lbs if I need to. I won't have as many leaves as the deuce, because of ride issues with having 2 axles and a light bed- I'm hoping the 300 lb rear bumper will smooth it out.

Honestly (after thinking about your use lol) I think the leaves will work out the best, specially with the dual axles. Sense I will be staying with the single axle and primarily doing road trips, the air ride will do me good. For my 4X4ing, I already made up my mind - 1970's Jeep CJ-7 with a late 90's HO 4.0 I6 EFI upgrade.

Yeah, and Hell Yeah! Good Ol' Cj's ftw

Fucking A. Ya better know it's for the win lol.

and that 4.0 is a fucking beast love those motors

oh yea.

I believe that in the state of California you would need a CDL regardless of the intended use.

Most other states I don't think you do unless you're operating for hire.

Nope- checked the laws

I thought I came across this when I was researching some things about m35 stuff, that in CA you need a CDL because of 1. air brakes (even though it's air over hydraulic lol) and 2. three or more axles. You need at least a class B license although it can be a "noncommercial" license.
http://www.steelsoldiers.com/deuce/.....tion-long.html

You can drive a 40ft motor home with 3 axles and air brakes without a CDL, the Dodge Trex was a street legal truck that could be operated with a standard license. On forums you will get a mixed answer because a lot of people don't know their shit and read the rulebook to the T but in the wrong sense.

I don't need a CDL.

agreed with what badland said. At most what might be needed is what would be equivalent to NM's class "E" which is - non-commercial exempt vehicles in excess of 26,001. But that's easy, just walk up to the DMV and say "I need a class [insert CA's class here], I'm gonna be operation an RV." But defiantly no CDL.

The day I see photos of this I'll pee myself

I'll hold you to that

Thanks hon!

^^

Shortbed? thought you were aiming for a longbed?

I am //Sketch\\ not to spec. You can't do this with a short box

Maybe I should pay attention to what I type hahaha

This is just a sketch, nothing to spec- just an idea. If the DOT has no issues with it, I'll go ahead and draw up a detailed version true to spec. then start saving :)

what issues do you think the dot might have with it?

Communism- that's a serious answer this time. This state might not like it, I personally don't see any flaw besides loosing 1-2 mpg from the extra drag.

Interesting, I like the M35 deuces that where people have removed (bobbed) the second rear axle.

Still a cool concept though, but remember when you do any kind of project you will spend as least as much in "incidentals" which are the bolts, nuts, paint and all the things that need to be replaced on the donor parts you get.

I prefer tri axle, not bobbed. They're cool- but not my cup a joe

Mhmm- I'm gunna make sure the D-train is in decent condition- don't much care for the mil-spec'd 3116 pos under the hood. Always have to leave room for unforeseen expenses.

What about that multifuel engine a lot of them used? Not that great on power or mileage but you can run it on a mix of used motor oil and stale gasoline.

You can run old diesels on everything from ATF to canola oil. That multifuel engine puts out no power, I need power lol.

Its injector design and piston dish design is pretty radically different than other diesels. The injectors shoot a stream of fuel into the dish where it vaporizes, whereas other diesels try to make the fuel into a mist. This is much better when running odd viscosity fuels, a multifuel will happily run on 140 weight gear oil if your lift pump is up to the task. They can also be hotrodded like any other diesel with bigger turbos, injection pump mods, water injection, etc...

There's even one cool IP mod that lets you change how hard it fuels from inside the cab using the stock fuel density compensator. Pull a knob in the cab when you've gotta show riced out hondas what's up, then push it back in for lower EGTs when just puttering around looking cool.

Heh, I type too much.

I read in several places you /can't/ soup these up without them having the shelf life of milk. It's not made for high power applications. That is an interesting fuel injection design, but to fit it in my pickup I'd have to remake my firewall and push it back 15". Not worth it when I have an extremely reliable cummins that'll bolt right up and make TONS of power easily. plus- they aren't the best on gas :P

Weeeelll, maybe you could tool around in the M35? They are all kindsa cool after all!

On them not holding up too well, I dunno, I'm sure that could be dealt with too, stuff like better head studs and rod bolts, main bearing cap girdles, cylinder sleeves, all that crap. Hell, at that point a cummins is the cheaper option I guess. Just have to thin out whatever fuels you run to about the same viscosity as diesel with some gasoline.

I plan on running bio-diesel, bout it.

The environement is evil! It must be punished!

Hahahaha xD Fuckin' Trees- BLOCKING MY XM RADIO SIGNAL! We need to turn em all ta toothpicks!

Needs more .30 cal

Fuck that NEEDS MOAR 50 CAL >:O

50 cals are overrated >:C

You need a pirate cannon!!!

ARE NOOOOOOT! >:O

and um eh-hem.. HELL FUCKING YES

Looks damn good to me.

Thanks!

The rocks are locked in with a 6.17 ratio. They make one other gearset in the 4.xx range, but you'll be spending as much as your engine for just one gearset. If you go with something more along the lines of dana 70s and offset the rear pumpkin, put a driveshaft carrier bearing on the front axle tube and run a dual rear output transfer case you wouldn't be locked into such shitty ratios. It's how they did it with some of the 5/4 ton jeep 6x6s.

Then you might run into ride height issues, being redicu-tall and that just don't look cool at all... I'm running into these problems on my current build. Things are easy if you want a tall truck, but stuffing heavier running gear under a truck isn't easy when you want to keep it at near stock height. :\

I can have custom ring gears made- not an issue. I'll just have to save up for that as well lol. that'll probably run me about $1300 for all 3 rings. Or- I could buy a bolt on overdrive gear splitter. Either way- problem solved. Splitter would be easier though- bolts in right between the trans and transfercase.

A company already makes the gears, and they're about that much for 1 set. The gears on rocks are weird, they've got a set in the top of the dropout, then another driving the carrier. Double reduction I guess...

With an overdrive on an already overdrive transmission you're gonna be getting some wicked driveshaft speeds. Look into tractor trailer axles, or maybe dump truck axles, you could even probably get a 2 speed axle set for decently cheap from a scrapyard. Wouldn't be much available for front drive axles, but with 2 drive axles in the rear do you really need the front drive axle too? heh

I like the rockwells because the diffs are small- gives me ground clearance unlike semis.

and what company?

Google seems to be broke for me, got a virus that's spamming them I guess. Anyways, google 4.90 gears rockwell and you'll probably find them.

Thanks!

Do you know of a tandem axle setup that utilizes 3.75's or higher with decent differential ground clearance? I want speed/low rpm mainly, I can always reduce gears with a crawler or a different T-case if needed. 4.90's are the highest I can get for those Rockwells, and I read the seals like to leak above 70 :/ a 3.50 Ratio would be ideal

Nah, I dunno. At that point you've got 4' between the inner tires and anything that the diff would get hung up on would be pretty easily avoidable. Put the truck 4 feet to either side and it'd be under your wheel rather than the diff. Just make a nice skidplate for the pumpkins and maybe the driveshafts too and power over whatever you can't avoid. 8 drive wheels (assuming you're going DRW on the rear axles) and a bit of momentum will get you through a lot of shit, and if that fails you've got a winch, right? heh

Also, in gear numbering, a "higher" ratio is lower numerically (like 2.73s) and a "lower" gear is higher numerically (like 5.13s). IIRC it goes back to the gears in a transmission, when you downshift to a lower gear you're going to one with more gear reduction. Rather counter intuitive, but it makes you sound real smart if you can get it down. haha

I don't always have 4 ft on either side, let alone 1'. I want something with relatively small pumpkins so I can clear an obstacle if needed. And I won't need diff covers lol, and I can't protect my d-shaft with a skidplate lol, my trans, airtanks, fuel tanks, and lines yeah- but that's kind of impossible to cover a component with such travel. And I'm not going DRW, just singles- but really wide M/T's... and it'd be 10 ;)

I know that lol- I took a transmission class, among other things :P 4.90's are the highest I can get on those rockwells aftermarket- they come with 6.25's. With those 4.90's I couldn't get over 70 without redlining- and I need speed out here, It's a long drive to anything and I /can't/ drive 55. Ideally I'd want between 3.00's and 3.75's- If you don't know any offhand, do you know anyone that would? or maybe a site?

I'm not new to this haha- I just don't know semi's all that well. I'm going to get into that next.

Well, if you find the ratio of everything else in your driveline, then the target RPM at whatever speed, then you can find your wheels' RPM in the gear you want to use as "cruising" speed (I'd use direct drive, less frictional losses than overdrive) then find the circumference of your tires (Pi times the diameter) to find the distance covered. Google makes a great conversion calculator too for the distances in this last bit, inches to feet to miles and all. Then you do that for all readily available ratios, and at least first gear to see where you're at with the range of gears, and carry that sheet with you to the big truck scrapper's. Get whatever's closest to ideal.

Hey wait, I remembered a calculator for all this... You can forget what I said up there along with everything you learned in math class. http://www.grimmjeeper.com/gears.html

You might be able to get a plate on some hinges between the diff pumpkins to get a skidplate under your driveshaft between the axles, it'd certainly complicate your suspension geometry, unless you made it telescoping so it could change a bit in length like a drive shaft slip yoke or something. Also, remember you won't be getting too much axle travel what with the driveshaft between the 2 axles, gotta keep U-joint friendly angles and all because of the cost (if they even exist) of ultra heavy duty CV joints.

Thanks! That calculator is awesome!

If I did use the rockwell diffs, then I wouldn't have to worry; the D-shafts are on top- but the ratio is so low I won't. If I used a semi axle they could be on the bottom, but even so- the wheels would be so close together I don't think It's a concern. I'm gunna talk with my buddy Marty- used to build custom semis, he can help me further.

Those CV's do exist- they use em on sandrails out here, but they are /very/ expensive.

Oh! found a perfect one :) The 2007 Freightliner Columbia has a 3.58 ratio- the only problem will be finding those axles cheap since it's so new. I'll keep searching.

if you build that i wanna go for a ride D:

You pay for the fuel to drive across country :3

well i'd come to you for the ride......

no deal

]: i cant afford that much gas....

Neither can I :3

I found a F-350 with a tandem axel, a diesel, a flatbed, and a late 80's cab for sale.
Then I nearly rear-ended a Taurus.

More epic than my truck. Almost.

No shit? PICS OR IT DIDN'T HAPPEN =3

Right! I'll work on it, pronto.