Chronicles of Project Hank

[tubolove]

Anderson sc

[gregamorton]

So your building yourself a bump super camper special? If so I am digging the idea!

[crewcabfan]

So your building yourself a bump super camper special? If so I am digging the idea!

Times two

[tubolove]

Well I spent an entire sunday morning pulling F-350 radius arms from two different trucks in the bone yard that looked beautiful on the truck, but when I got them off were so corroded where the radius arm bushings go that they were unusable. GRRR. Cool thing about these model radius arms is that they are completely flat on top (perfect to mout airbag buckets on top of):

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and have a bigger opening for the modified steering linkage to ride through. Heres a pic of the ones I'm looking for if anyone has a set:

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[tubolove]

Airbags, plates, and tubing for fabbing the front airbag suspension have arrived.

[tubolove]

Since the axle is being relocated 13" rearward to give me a wheelbase of 144", we had to remove the first crossmember for clearance. We also removed the second crossmember as well since we will be notching the frame inwards 1" for wheel and tire clearance I want to be able to box the frame where the notched section will be.

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[tubolove]

Been a while on the updates because I am waiting for a direction on the frame. I am waiting on confirmation that I can get my one-off wheels custom made before I cut anything in the rear. If I can get them made then I only have to notch the frame 3/4"and I will run a triangulated four link. If not I have to cut and narrow the frame rails and then I will run a parallel four link. I'd much rather do the former than later.

Here is a shot of the standard 22"dually wheels clocking in at 23 and 3/8" wide, and the custom, one off wheels measuring exactly 20 and 7/8" wide. I have 21 and 3/4" in the wheel well of each side if I roll the fender lip.

[tubolove]

Anyway, while we wait on wheels I am accumulating the parts for the rear suspension. Here are the brackets from Air Ride Technologies. AMAZING quality. Everything is perfect, laser cut and far exceeded my expectations.

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I don't know why but the rear airbags are my favorite part to date. They just oooze "Big Rig". They are Firestone F2107 airbags rated at 3500lbs each at 100psi.

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[tubolove]

I am very excited and feeel a little bit of a victory. Remember these grease caps that are MADE IN CHINA POS's that I didn't want to use but they were the only ones I could track down at any of the aftermarket parts houses?? Well as it turns out the Ford Dealership in town had two NOS OEM made in AMERICA grease caps in stock!! No more made in CHINA stamped on my grease caps! Thanks Brad, BAM!!!

[tubolove]

So here are the ChassisTech 3" drop I beams before and after being redesigned and reinforced for added strength in the kingpin area. I feel more comfortable with this arrangement than the original design and have no reservations usung these I beams now.

Before:

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After:

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[tubolove]

Ok, so I need to notch the frame for axle clearance. Problem is all the cookie cutter notches you can buy look very "cheap" and home made. I wanted something with nice radiused curves that looked a little more finished. So I made this thingy. My son calls it "Nach-O". Kind of like Wall=e but for making notches with.

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Here is the first notch from the fixture. Looks good.... but I need 3 and 1/2" wide instead of 3" wide because it looks like my custom wheels may not come to fruition and If I dont notch the frame inwards then 3" wont be wide enough.

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It is Ed approved!! I woder if he is getting enough iron in his diet!?!?!?

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[tubolove]

better lighted pic:

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[Ranchero50]

Would it be simpler to just find a long wheel base F350 dually and mod it? Check out my build, I might have the wheelbase in there somewhere, it's about 2' longer from the wheel to the cab and the frame is very beefy.

Jamie

[tubolove]

Funny you bring that up because I couldn't agree more. A buddy of mine who owns a small Ford truck only junkyard said the same thing. Mind you he owns probably ten F 350's just sitting there in various states from irreparable to perfect and won't come off a single one!

The truth is this.....There are family politics around this truck. I actually wanted to sell it when I decided to build a hauler and go 2wd instead of 4wd and buy a '70 crew cab for my project that I was going to make a one off short bed dually with custom dually fenders that perfectly match the bodylines.

And I will admit to a little bit of sentimental value for ol Hank as well.

Lastly I will honestly, never haul more than a single car trailer and an F250 frame with F350 bolt on parts will be more than sufficient. BUT it's never too late if a rust free crew cab F360 just happens to become available..... Just saying.

Anyway I'll check out your build thread!!

[tubolove]

Well thanks to my friend Dan in Idaho I now have my flat top forged F-350 radius arms!! Just back from bead blasting the 4 decades of character off of them and the look pretty good! Looks almost like they are coated with cheap silver spray paint after blasting. Pretty cool. Anyway THANKS DAN!!!

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Still not sure Ed is getting enough iron!!LOL

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