SpreadAxle Posted March 22, 2007 Share Posted March 22, 2007 A few pix from Ray's Diesel Garage: Caterpillar 3208 I continued with the engine details. I left the valve covers and alternator chrome as this wild be a mildly custom truck. Maybe a second or third owner that breathes new life into an old truck kind look, without going nuts. This will be a working truck. The filters came out of the Snowplow kit, left them orange to look like Fram filters, wish I did a better job on the big black letter F on the fram filters, but I'll take it. Tonight and last night were the first time I've done anything since the injector lines back in Dec. i finally glued the intake cover to the hood. the holes were opened up, and the hinge brackets I made were done 13 yrs ago, b4 the door hinge crisis scared me away. Still working on those, but I will at least go further on assembly this time. Wish me luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted March 23, 2007 Share Posted March 23, 2007 Ray, This is coming along nicely like the details on the engine. Great Work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted March 25, 2007 Author Share Posted March 25, 2007 It was quite fun actually. A challenge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted March 28, 2007 Author Share Posted March 28, 2007 I finally sat down and ran some of the air brake lines tonight. So far I only have the lines to the chambers at the wheels, and the main line to the rear axle barkes, but at least we have progress. And I finally remembered to "pose" the front axle for the camera. Enjoy I have the world's brightest flash, and I can't turn it off, so I just partially blocked the flash bulb. Once a coat of primer goes on, I won't have to do that, but this plastic is so light, I had 2 do something. Thanks for looking. 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted March 28, 2007 Share Posted March 28, 2007 Ray, That steering front axle looks interesting. Is it the kit one modified or have you sctratch built it? Great Work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 Ray, Interesting question, how did you build you front axle? I modified the kit axle using the details in Jensen's book. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rottin1 Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Yeah , I like that front axle as well. I would love if the all the trucks I built has stearable fronts. I know alot of the kits and older kits had none. Looking good so far Jim! Keep it up and keep the pics coming!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim B Posted April 1, 2007 Share Posted April 1, 2007 Johnny, That's not my axle. It's Rays. I'll post pics of mine soon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted April 2, 2007 Author Share Posted April 2, 2007 that is the kit's axle with the ends VERY CAREFULLY removed. I did it from, you guessed it, Phil jensens book. as with the brake details. the reason the axle is orange, is that it comes from the snowplow kit. Had to try it more than once. This truck is the 1994 reissue of the shorthauler van. I just took some evergreen tube(will get the size later) and made 4 "washers" out of them. I then used a fairly thin piece of plastic rod for the spindles to rotate on. the tie rod ends were simply cut, and again, small thin rod. I believe like 1/16", but I may have had to shave it just a hair thinner. that was the very first modification I made to this truck. I think I will do this more often. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted April 4, 2007 Author Share Posted April 4, 2007 Wow, after rereading the questions regarding my steer axle, i didn't realize what an attention getter it was. it really didn't take long. After building 2 Revell AG 359s, i wanted more of my truck to have poseable steering. It was fairly simple to do. It's just the cutting that was the biggest pain, otherwise, it wasn't bad. Just make sure to really shave everything smooth after cutting, especially the tie rod ends. You will notice that when finished, one wheel will seemingly turn tighter than the other, which is ok, although it's really noticeable on this ford. On any truck I've driven, except my current tractor, I turn my axle stops inward for the tightest possible turn. the right wheel will always cut tighter. I'm just hope it doesn't become a bear to operate once it's painted. I better get the primer on this frame. I'm way overdue. the only thing painted is the engine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Ray, The axle looks great, adds that little extra interest to the truck. All my builds have steerable front axles. its a must for me. With regard to the geometry of the steering axle. You should find that if you steer to the right then the right wheel will have a tighter turning circle than the left. This is because the radius is smaller that the right wheel has to move through. Similarly if you steer to the left the radius is smaller so you will have a tighter turning circle for the left wheel rather than the right. My dad used to tell me that the angle of the tie rod ends in relation to the axle king pins is set by an imaginary line from the centre of the rear axle passing through the tie rod end and the king pin. I,ve tried to show what I mean in my little sketch below. I suppose for a dual drive the geometry of the steering axle is set from the front driver. You can see that the distance from the front axle to the driver is important. The shorther the wheel base the bigger the angle. The longer the wheel base the smaller the angle. Hope this makes sense. If any one knows better then please let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Ray, Does your rear driver tyres suffer more wear (Scuffing) than the front driver? If so its because the steering axle geometry is set from the Front driver. On tight turns the rear driver tyres will actually be moving sideways. Just a thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted April 4, 2007 Author Share Posted April 4, 2007 That is very true about the rear drive tires. On my Pete, i didn' get a chance to buy all 8 at once, but the ones I had to absolutely replace first, were the rear drives. My spread axle trailer does the same thing when pulling out of a tight turn. the rear whells just slide around. So many places I go are tight, so I have no choice, otherwise, I would make wider smoother turns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted April 4, 2007 Share Posted April 4, 2007 Ray, Do any trailers in the US have steering axles? Its become very common here in Europe. Coupled with road friendly suspensions (Air suspension) there are good tax and weight carrying advantages over conventional spring types. Not to mention the savings in maintanance and the price of tyres. Good Luck with the build. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted April 5, 2007 Author Share Posted April 5, 2007 I don't believe American trailers have those. I do know that in the western states, you will see tractors that have steeerable "pusher" axles. It's an air lift axle just ahead of the drives. these are usually pullling 3 and 4 axle trailers, but those are only in the 11 westernmost states, like Oregon, Washington, etc. If they do have steerable trailer axles here, I've never heard of them. Sounds like an interesting setup, I wonder how it works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Albion Posted April 5, 2007 Share Posted April 5, 2007 Ray, I'm not sure exactly what the set up is. Different trailer manufacturers and types of trailers will have different steer axles versions. A good example in scale form is the Kit Form Services Nootboom heavy duty drop deck trailer. All the four axles steer. The steering is done through hydraulics. If you follow one down the road you see they are very stable. One of the best heavy duty trailers on the market. The rear steer means that they can manouvre better with big savings in wear and tear. If you check the Revell orange and blue tri-axle tanker trailer this kit has a steering rear axle. In the kit it doesn,t move and is molded to go straight only. Just a couple of examples. if I find any more usefull information I will let you know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpreadAxle Posted April 5, 2007 Author Share Posted April 5, 2007 Hmmm. that is an interesting setup, but I don't believe we have that over here. Some heavy hauler might have one I don't know about though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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