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TAT 2018 Cali Pete 359 with Peerless Log trailer


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So, I have wanted to do one of these for a while now. I grew up in Oregon and was a teen in the 80's. During that time in the area I was in it was logging country. I saw log trucks by the hundreds and many of our friends and their families were connected with logging somehow. So, with the reissue of the 359 Pete and an Ebay Peerless trailer I am off to the races. 

To start with, the interior tub on the Pete is total garbage, so I had to scratch build a new one with sheet. I also built some new door panels to get put in there to add some 80's flare. 

I also spent a little time adding details to the frame, air lines and such. The engine will be the kit Green leaker 8V71.  My goal is to build a truck that would represent a mid 80's working truck like I used to see. Not too much flash and chrome, but a little because the owners of these trucks did take pride in the trucks they drove. 

I work from home, so some days I get a lot of building done, I happen to get a few good days this last week and made some good progress on this and another kit. 

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Edited by Oldmopars
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Nice start to your project.  I like your interior modifications.  I think you'll need to add about a 6ft stringer to the rear of the frame before you put the pintle hook on, though.  Similar to this:

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It has something to do with how the trainer turns.

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If you do a long extended frame behind the drive wheels you have to do an extendable telescopic reach for the trailer drag bar as the turning point of the log load and the turning point of the coupling are on different places and too far from eachother so they will work against eachother otherwise.
The extended frame and extendable reach setup helps the trailer making tighter turns on the narrow logging roads.

Edited by Force
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Well, I was able to get a little more done on the Pete. As you all said I needed to extend the frame, I cut and added about 1.5in and added the hitch back on. I think I still need to add back some details, like bolts that got sanded off, but that is easy. 

I now have the frame primed and it is looking pretty good. I did a basic mock up to get a full view of it. I don't think I will display it with the logs, the plastic logs look like plastic and its hard to find real wood/branches that have the right scale look. I will leave that for later. 

I assembled the exhaust stacks and they look ok, till you see the top. So, I drilled out the top of the muffler and cut some Aluminum tubing (7/32) to fit inside. This gives it a much better look and allows me to adjust the height  to just clear the rack. Right now they are all the way down and I can pull them up about 3/4in. Will CA in place when I am closer to finished. I will also polish then up to make them shine. 

The tray for chains/binders was cut out and I used bug screen to make it look more real. Looks more like the expanded metal they would have used on the real trucks to let dirt/mud/water fall through. 

I ran some Hose/Wire on the trailer to add some detail, may not be totally accurate but I am looking for the visual, not accuracy. 

Not sold on the chrome wheels, if I leave the chrome wheels it forces me to make it a more fancy show truck. I want it to be more of a nice working truck. More research is needed to find what would have been correct in those days. I might switch them out for some resin 5 holes. We will see. 

So, here it is, as is. More to come. 

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Edited by Oldmopars
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I'd say 5 holes or daytons would be pretty accurate for an 80's work truck. You could also do the alcoa fronts and 5 hole/dayton rears, I've seen that on some trucks too if you'd like the extra chrome up front. Looks like a great beginning regardless!

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From the pictures I have been able to find, it looks like anything as far as wheels go was used. I have seen Aluminum, Daytons, 5 holes and even 5 holes with a Chrome "Hub Cap" style disk over the painted steel wheels in the front. This is for any Log trucks of the era, however I still can not find any pictures of a 359 with Daytons/spokes. Were they ever made that way?

So at this point it will depend on my mood and budget because it seems anything was an option.

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I have been moving very slowly on this project, as other are doing, I have several projects going at once. To add to the issue, I am currently living in an RV, 30 foot travel trailer waiting for my house to be finished.  So, at this time I have no where to paint and I have to pack up all my stuff every time I work and put in the outside storage box. However, light at the end of the tunnel, the house should be done in the next few weeks.

So, I got the new holes drilled for the mud flaps after extending the frame and cleaned up the flaps. Had to fill in the pin holes and extractor marks. Then I added some structure under the hood, also worked on filling the gaps at the bottom by the fenders.

I hope to move forward more this next month, but hey, an update is an update.

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  • 1 month later...

Progress has been very slow on this one. However I have finally moved out of our RV and into a real house. I have an office with work space for my models. No more working out of a tackle box on an RV table. Still need to get my Air Brush set up, but I am getting there.

So, I got some work done on the interior. The interior tub is scratch built, the stock one sucks. I made new door panels as seen in another post and got everything painted and installed today. As you can see, the final color will be some kind of blue or blue/white combo.

The dash came out pretty good, but wish I could have sprayed the door panels. You will see I added window cranks and arm rests to the doors.

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