Looking for info on Front Discharge Mixers.

[Oldmopars]

Due to my job I travel a lot. One thing I noticed as I travel trough the Mid-West area, Indiana, Michigan, etc. I see a lot of front discharge mixers. We do not have these on the West Coast, everything is rear discharge truck mounted. 

I am thinking of making a Terex FD4000 4 axle mixer. I have downloaded the pats manual and it is a wealth of info. I have narrowed it down to a 2010 due to the rear hood being more square, easier to make from styrene. 

The engine options are Cummins ISX or an MTU Series 1300. What is an MTU and where would I find either one?

Front axles are  Marmon-Herrington MT22 or Meritor MX23160, any idea where to find something like these?

Rear Axles are Meritor Primaxx RT-46-160 , Meritor RT-46-160 or Dana Primaxx D46-170HP. These seem pretty beefy, where to look for those?

There also seems to be 3 options on drop axles. Hendrickson COMPOSILITE, Hendrickson HLM, or WC TRU-TRACK.

It also uses a Cushman Transfer Case. I doubt I fill find one of those anywhere, so I will have to make one. 

Any help you can give on where to find these components would help. I know I may have to settle with "close enough" on some things, or make it myself. 

If you have suggestion on substitutions that would be close, I am open to them as well. 

One more option would be to make a "Vintage" 1970-1990 generic Front Discharge like a Mack and be able to use a lot of kit parts from the DM Macks. 

Opinions or suggestions?

 

[ShakyCraftsman]

🍿😀 I'll tag along. Pretty ambitious project.

Ron G 

[gotnitro?]

I built an Oshkosh FDM a few years ago, with tons of help from Gary Wallace who cast the suspension,  and drum . He also made quite a few other parts . Most of the body parts were scratchbuilt by me w plans from the factory manuals .

Here's a few shots of mine 

I'd recommend sending Gary a pm see if he has any random parts available, the project is very interesting.  

[chuckyr]

52 minutes ago, gotnitro? said:

I built an Oshkosh FDM a few years ago, with tons of help from Gary Wallace who cast the suspension,  and drum . He also made quite a few other parts . Most of the body parts were scratchbuilt by me w plans from the factory manuals .

Here's a few shots of mine 

I'd recommend sending Gary a pm see if he has any random parts available, the project is very interesting.  

Nuff said!

[Oldmopars]

10 hours ago, gotnitro? said:

I built an Oshkosh FDM a few years ago, with tons of help from Gary Wallace who cast the suspension,  and drum . He also made quite a few other parts . Most of the body parts were scratchbuilt by me w plans from the factory manuals .

Here's a few shots of mine 

I'd recommend sending Gary a pm see if he has any random parts available, the project is very interesting.  

WOW, that is amazing. That really captures the truck. Thanks for the info. I can see that this will be a lot of work. It won't be something I jump on right away. I know I will not be able to come close to the masterpiece you created.  

[gotnitro?]

Thanks , it took a few years to fabricate everything and hundreds , literally , of the real truck to capture the enormous size of these work trucks . I gained an extensive appreciation for the drivers after meeting them to properly detail their office on wheels. My favorite parts are the drivers lunch box , sans bologna sandwich and the absolutely important " slump gauge" . 

Any questions please ask, I'd love to see ya build one . Their not so much hard , its a straight frame truck w large subassemblies. 

 

[Force]

MTU is a German engine manufacturer and MTU stands for Motoren und Turbinen Union Friedrichhafen Gmbh started by Wilhelm Maybach and now owned by Rolls Royce Power Systems.
Most of the engines they make are for marine, locomotive  and stationary use, they do the engine for the German Leopard 2 tank.