The squirrels chased this CAT home!!!

[gotnitro?]

My next build started off like others browsing the web for inspiration. I stumbled onto a twin steer mixer from Canada,  and decided I needed a challenge. Canadian trucks typically have large 72 inch axle spreads , and I just happen to have a rubber block suspension stashed from plaskit. The rest of the build will rely heavily on the aftermarket.  I had  parts  for an mtm mixer Dave Natale had cast yrs ago thats going into service here. 

Lucky for me theres a cab available from Dave Carey in the form of his " modern construction truck"  aka CT660. A quick email later and it arrived . 

Dave suggested the paystar for a donor chassis, so I phoned in a favor and a shiny new set of frame rails arrived . Not wasting time,  I mocked up the parts onto the stock rails....before its future stretch lol.

I carefully grafted 2 paystar frames together using the stock springs to achieve my front susp. 

Building a set of frame rail stands allowed me to mock everything up and admire my work..and realize the marathon ahead lol. Ignore the autocar spoke rear wheels..their temporary. Theres a short extension needed behind the rear pedestal to complete my frame mods. The rubber block works  perfectly for this build. 

Next up frame clean up, and start making mounts for the cab/  hood..hence the marathon.

Jeff

[Mopar - D]

Jeff I’ve got my popcorn ready for this one! 

[DRIPTROIT 71]

Looks like a really cool project! I’m sure that this will be good!!

 

[Fabrux]

I don't think you have the spacing of the axles quite right. The steers might be but the rears are a bit too far apart. I took this picture of a mixer yesterday morning at the shop.

The twin steer conversions are done by Simard. They do a bunch of different configurations:

https://www.simardsuspensions.com/en/applications/concrete-mixers/

Edited March 22, 2022 by Fabrux

[gotnitro?]

15 hours ago, DRIPTROIT 71 said:

Looks like a really cool project! I’m sure that this will be good!!

 

Thanks Brian, something I've wanted to try for awhile now 

[gotnitro?]

Chris - thanks for the photo of the mixer! I've seen several different layouts of the rear axles , your photo does have a smaller spread 

Here's the inspiration photo I'm going from

NMP

[Fabrux]

Ahh! Lafarge pulled out of here a number of years back, so I've not seen their rigs for a while.

[Ace-Garageguy]

Man...cool truck. I've never seen anything like that before. Definitely watching and learning here.    

[gotnitro?]

15 hours ago, Fabrux said:

Ahh! Lafarge pulled out of here a number of years back, so I've not seen their rigs for a while.

It's the only photo I could source of a twin steer Cat in the wild, I'll likely try down sizing the walking beam to smaller spread.

11 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Man...cool truck. I've never seen anything like that before. Definitely watching and learning here.    

Thanks Ace ! Haven't seen ya around the big rig section, glad to have ya following along , and your input along the way

[Gary Chastain]

Wow, love this build, following 

[wayne00]

Looks like a great project.

We don’t have anything like that around here. Every thing here is the front discharge type.

When you get around to mounting the cab and hood, I would very much appreciate it if you could give us a quick rundown on your method for mounting these aftermarket items.

I have yet to delve into the resin cab conversions ( I intend to in the future ) and I really have no clue whereto start.

Thanks

   Rog 😁

 

[gotnitro?]

Thanks Roger I'll definitely post photos of the mounting parts. Thankfully a model buddy sent photos of the mounts that the caster made for his build. I'll start on that area this wknd hopefully 

On 3/23/2022 at 12:48 PM, Gary Chastain said:

Wow, love this build, following 

Thanks Gary 

[wayne00]

Thanks Jeff.

I will be watching!!

   😁Rog 

[gotnitro?]

Picked up a huge batch of goodies for the Cat yesterday,  planning a few hrs of bench time later to get this build rolling along 

[carsntrucks4you]

Thats an interesting truck. I also have the Modern Construction Truck and don't had an idea how to build it. Now i have one😀

[gotnitro?]

4 hours ago, carsntrucks4you said:

Thats an interesting truck. I also have the Modern Construction Truck and don't had an idea how to build it. Now i have one😀

Its a good cab for building something more modern. I have a few pics of the mounts still to fabricate. 

I started getting all the new wheels and tire combos together last night. The front will have wide floats from gw trucks, along w his 10 hole Alcoa wheels. The rear tires are also gw trucks rubber,  using his 22 inch  sds drives . The wheels are scenes unlimited 2 hole budd w drive hubs . The metal steering axles will add strength up front and allow me to pose it

The front floats , I really like the off road tread on these . 

 

[Mopar - D]

Nice parts Jeff. Are those SDS Drivers from GW? 

[Gary Chastain]

This build is gonna be a good one

[gotnitro?]

2 hours ago, Mopar - D said:

Nice parts Jeff. Are those SDS Drivers from GW? 

Yes those are the SDS drives . I use them on almost all my builds 

[gotnitro?]

Sorry its been a few days since the last update. I decided to experiment with a different vehicle,  so the hunt was on. My loved Ram 1500 was burning thru the strategic oil reserves faster than I liked..so it was traded. I honestly can say that was the toughest truck to sell off I've ever owned, and our new family member has some enormous shoes to fill. 

I happen to find an available vehicle,  and we ran to dealer to try it out. Everyone liked it, so I left the Bighorn keys w them and brought the 2022 Explorer XLT home. Hopefully they don't get upset about the box of squirrels I left under the tonnue cover lol .

 

[bigred63]

Nice!

 

[Mopar - D]

Nice Jeff now you can get back to building your CAT. Lol. 

[gotnitro?]

Shortened up the walking beam after photos posted earlier , really like the look better. Removed 6mm(1/4" ) out of each.The wheels are loosely attached here

While working on suspension parts. I installed the metal hubs and steering links. After a few minutes researching twin steer steering designs, I settled on a bell crank pull- pull  set up for simplicity and  I had enough of the angled arms to run that type. Now the brain cells can get a work out lol. Heres the drivers side. The steering rod hasn't been installed yet

Any feedback or ideas I appreciate them, this is new territory for me 

[Mopar - D]

I like the shorter walking beam Jeff. Sorry I don’t have any knowledge either for the steering on one of these. Nice progress to Jeff. 

[Oldmopars]

On 4/8/2022 at 6:17 AM, gotnitro? said:

Sorry its been a few days since the last update. I decided to experiment with a different vehicle,  so the hunt was on. My loved Ram 1500 was burning thru the strategic oil reserves faster than I liked..so it was traded. I honestly can say that was the toughest truck to sell off I've ever owned, and our new family member has some enormous shoes to fill. 

I happen to find an available vehicle,  and we ran to dealer to try it out. Everyone liked it, so I left the Bighorn keys w them and brought the 2022 Explorer XLT home. Hopefully they don't get upset about the box of squirrels I left under the tonnue cover lol .

 

I have been renting 2 of these recently. I had one for 3 weeks and swapped it for another one, not sure how long I will have it. I like these Explorers, great cars to drive. I am currently using one to drive from Yakima Wa. to Kamloops BC. 7 hours each way. I'm not sure what engine you got, the ones I have had are 4 cyl turbos and get right at 20 MPG. Better than my Suburban, but not near as good as my wifes Forester at 31+ MPG.

Anyway, hope you enjoy it, they are very nice.