Some days.............

   / Some days............. #21  
<font color=blue>The pictures aren't the best. Heck, I make things, just don't take good pictures or do well at describing....... </font color=blue>

The picture just needed a little lightening {see attached} and I think you describe them just fine.

Didn't you get just a little nervous, even though you measured 3 times, as you began to cut the frame of that new truck?
 

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   / Some days.............
  • Thread Starter
#22  
<font color=blue>Didn't you get just a little nervous, even though you measured 3 times, as you began to cut the frame of that new truck?</font color=blue>

/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif/w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Thanks for fixing the pic Mike.

As for being nervous.....nah.

You see I had measured it all out and I knew it was right.

I also have an ace up my sleeve.

I operate on the premise that there are few things I can screw up so bad I can't fix'em back and most folks will never know.

Seriously, it's the confidence thing. You get confidence by being successful at something. I've been lucky so many times that I just assume I'm gonna get lucky again.

And before I made that cut I had mentally cut it a dozen times and fitted up the bed while my hands were busy on something else. So when I got to the point of measuring and cutting all the figuring had been done. Then it was just taking a measurement, checking it twice from different points, that's important, one point can be wrong, and then cutting.
 
   / Some days............. #23  
<font color=blue>But probably what's the most important thing about sharing stuff like this is to spread the belief that there is no magic. Anyone can do it. It just takes a little confidence and some preparation and then it's like dominoes falling in place.
</font color=blue>

Harv,

That calls to mind something I think I read in one of my scifi books. Goes like: "Technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable from magic." Now I know you're not using computer-guided cutting lasers for this stuff, but the feeling is still there for me! It also kinda reminds me of the guy on the "New Yankee Workshop" making one of his antique replicas. I always start off figuring, Yes! I could do that. Then he turns around and picks up his special jig for boring curleyQ holes, either Q or q, and in any size you'd want. And, he actually knows how to use it!

Anyway, yes, I know I could probably do lots of the stuff you do. I could also do brain surgery. Want to volunteer to let me get some practice?/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

Chuck
 
   / Some days............. #24  
<font color=blue>You take like cutting that plate at an angle so when the bed is lifted the chances of a hangup are minimized.</font color=blue>

w-h, do you have a picture of this? I'm having trouble visualizing this.

Also, what did you use to cut the frame? Torch? Plasma?
 
   / Some days............. #25  
Probably a 'GAS AXE' :)
 
   / Some days............. #26  
<font color=blue>You take like cutting that plate at an angle so when the bed is lifted the chances of a hangup are minimized.

w-h, do you have a picture of this? I'm having trouble visualizing this.</font color=blue>

Think of it like how paper cups nestle nicely inside one & other. as soon as you pull the top one up, there is space everywhere between it and the cup below. Contrast this with two pipes that fit perfectly inside each other. As you move one relative to the other, it is always in contact.
 
   / Some days............. #27  
Harv,

You know I admire your hard work and ingenuity at getting that bed up and off your frame, it sure seems like an awful lot of work to me (<---lazy by nature). /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

I think I'd have gone for cutting the thing free as you did then getting a heavy duty recovery operator with a boom over to help you out. He could lift the thing up in the air while you drive Moby out from under and back Lucy under it. He lowers the bed down on your frame rails, unhooks his equipment and write you up a bill for about $50 and you get busy securing your bed. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Then again, I just like watching those boys do their thing, too. /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif/w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif
 
   / Some days.............
  • Thread Starter
#28  
Gary I had a bud offer his big big forklift to do the job.

I just like to do things like that nice and careful like making sure that things don't get in a bind one way or another.

The tool box is painted. We did that yesterday under the shed in the rain. Yup, it's been raining. Like I needed that./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Lucy is sitting in a bud's shop high and dry. I've had some glitches in the syrup. The new truck is trick to the max in the wiring department. It has a bank of rocker switches. Those not in use have blanks. When you pull the blank there's a plug all wired up underneath. So we put the rockers for my lights in the bed and box in two of those slots.

But no one, and I do mean no one seems to know how to wire up the brake controller.

The guys who shortened the wheelbase haven't got the brightest candles in the chapel. I've had to redo a couple of their hiccups. They either didn't know or didn't care. I do. Their man that wires up the brake controllers was way wrong. He's got the 2002's down pat but evidently he hasn't done a 2003 yet.

What makes it such a bugger bear is the wiring is all to the back, plug's in, factory, fuses and breakers for the circuit are all in place, just no clue as to where to splice it in to take advantage of all the planning by the factory.

The other killer glitch was the way the guys shortened the wheelbase. They moved a crossmember which screws me in moving the tank so that the inlet is in a place advantageous to me. So it's been lift the bed six inches off the frame, make a cut, put the bed back down, do a trial fit, lift the bed, make a cut, do a fit, etc and so on.

The simple installation would have been to hang a ninety out of the tank and go to the side of the truck straight. But, I'd be cussing myself forever and a day if I'd done that.

There needs to be a drop in elevation so the diesel goes down. Diesel and sewer work best when it's set up to go down hill. Running the line straight across meant that it would have a flat spot. That would make filling a bear. A double bear if the truck was parked with the inlet side down.

It's a done deal now.

So this morning I've got to borrow the Bravada and go get some parts and talk to some people. All the seven prong trailer plugs I've got access to locally are plastic. Plastic is great for laundry baskets and toss away furniture. It isn't worth a flip for work stuff. So I've got to go to a wholesaler in Dallas and pick up the metal plugs and recievers. While I'm there I'm going to get on the shop manager's computer at the dealer and out the right way to wire up the brake controller.

The rain is supposed to end late this morning as I understand it. I'm using some Xylene based paint. It's for ornamental iron and it's tough and dries before you can sneeze. So hopefully about the time the rain stops I can install the box and then get the truck inspected and tagged.

I'm taking all the different wiring leads to a common terminal strip this time. That means fewer splices and a central place if there is some trouble shooting to be done. Splicing leads from the lights, two different trailer plugs, the lead in from the truck means one big knot. A terminal strip makes it so much cleaner.

I hope to have pictures tonight.
 
   / Some days............. #29  
Harv,

You need to get a hold of a copy of what is know as a body builders book (as in cab & chassis, not muscles). Your dealer should have a copy & let you look at it. It should explain how to tap into all the wiring harnesses.

If the dealer doesn't have one, you should make him get you one cheap as you did part with a good chunk of change for Lucy.
 
   / Some days............. #30  
Hazmat,

I just wanted to tell you that I find your way of explaining things to be absolutely excellent. Your analogies really seem to take things from difficult to comprehend to utterly simple for me and I really appreciate it. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif
 

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