Nothing to do with PSD's...

[Notneb]

So as some of the 6.4 guys know, I'm starting a project soon to make a global explorer type vehicle at a fraction of the cost. Going to spend a year traveling around South America. Here's the build sheet so far, keep in mind there's TONS left to do, just trying to track down all the major parts right now!

Donor truck will be a M932A2 chassis and rolling gear
Going to mount a PLS HEMTT cab on the front bumper, for those of you who have no clue what that is, it'll look like this:

It will receive an HEMTT A4 style side radiator
Most likely going with a 450hp Cummins ISX motor with Eaton Fuller 10 speed, and a custom transfer case for the front axle
Air ride seats, brand undetermined, w/e is cheap, lol
2-5 gallon air tanks, one on each side above the fuel tanks
2-78gal MRAP self sealing fuel tanks and a midships style 100 gallon tank behind the engine bay for about 250 gallons of fuel
Fabricated water tanks, centerline between the frames, 200 gallons total
Twin air cleaners *dust during the dry season is horrible in South America*
Dual 40" mufflers
Complete waterproofing and fording kit installed *dif and trans vents in the cab roof* for a fording depth of 8'

Still haven't even started on the "rv" portion, as that will basically be the last part of the build, since getting powertrain and all the wiring to make it road worth will be a HUGE undertaking. For those of you who don't know, a 450hp ISX and 10 speed will require some pretty extensive fab work to make it work, but the end result will be a 70mph capable truck that gets 7mpg at around 30k lbs.

I know this has nothing to do with Ford, but I figured it was neat and a few of you might get a kick out of the extreme amount of overkill that is about to happen... Will update as I get parts but expect the build to start around the end of the year, as I still have to move to Phoenix end of summer, and so I don't want to start stock piling 5-ton truck parts just to move them...

Also the truck in the picture was built in Phx, so if he agrees to help me build mine, it shouldn't take us long once we've sourced the part, so hang in there!

 

[joe d]

Subd

 

[Powerstroke Man 6.4]

Subd

 

[Decker]

Subd

 

[NY_Mott]

^^^^ 100%

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[cbf9703]

Looking forward to the project and maybe running into the final beast on the road down south!

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[Notneb]

Looking forward to the project and maybe running into the final beast on the road down south!

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Oh I'll definitely stop by, either on the way down, or on the way back!

 

[Jonnydime]

Why not start with an Oshkosh HET? They already come with either a 8v92 Detroit or a C15 cat and an Allison transmission. They go for around 30k around here and it would save the time of a drivetrain swap.

 

[superpsd]

Cool.

 

[04stroker]

Looks awesome and love seeing different stuff will be following this. When your done with your year trip can I buy or rent it for a year for a similar trip? LOL

 

[Cutting-Edge Diesel]

we have a M932A2 and I drove it about 300 miles home and had no problem going 70mph. but we were also empty. I will say that the Allison in the thing needs to be in the scrap.

 

[Notneb]

Why not start with an Oshkosh HET? They already come with either a 8v92 Detroit or a C15 cat and an Allison transmission. They go for around 30k around here and it would save the time of a drivetrain swap.

So the problem with an HET... is how MASSIVE they are! 13ft tall and grossing over 40k lbs with 8 wheel drive. Plus you can only find the detroit 500hp model and lets just say MPG's are not it's strong suit. Add to that the axles are HUGELY expensive as they're all steering axles with outboard planetary drives, and the fact that I would have to remove the main awesomeness of the HET's, which is the twin 50k hydraulic winches, to build my RV rear. Plus HET's aren't off-road vehicles, they're designed strictly to pull Abrams tanks across nominal surfaces. They use the HEMTT 8x8 for overland transport.

My build shouldn't go over 8'8" based on 3 other similar cab setups. Standard shipping containers are 8'6" tall, so all I'd have to do is air down the tires and easily get 3" of height drop. Also fully build and loaded my build will sit at around 32k lbs.

Trust me I love the HET, it's a magnificent machine, but it's just designed to do something completely different, aka pull 200k+ loads around greasy roads.

 

[Notneb]

Looks awesome and love seeing different stuff will be following this. When your done with your year trip can I buy or rent it for a year for a similar trip? LOL

Lol, talk to me after the trip, lol.

 

[Notneb]

we have a M932A2 and I drove it about 300 miles home and had no problem going 70mph. but we were also empty. I will say that the Allison in the thing needs to be in the scrap.

Oh I know the Allison and stock 8.3 will hit 70, but they're not very economical since they're wrapping above 2k on the tach. An ISX/10 speed will see 70-80mph in the nominal 1500-1600rpm range which *theoretically* should net me 7mpg average.

Plus once I start climbing in elevation *up around 20k ft* the stocker is going to run out of pep and get even worse MPG, so the engine/trans swap is just looking more and more like a necessity. This build isn't about "making due" but rather "prepared for everything" while still trying to keep the cost down.

 

[Cutting-Edge Diesel]

my uncle has a cargo truck with the 8.3 turbo and it had a hard time running 65. but ours has the 855 non turbo.

but yeah fuel consumption would suck. Dont blame you one bit for wanting to do a swap. thing is a turd with 1200gal of water.


but the chassis is a beast man. we run ours hard when we head to fires. only problem we see is the bushings wearing out on the control arms on the rear suspension and the arms popping off.

 

[Jonnydime]

So the problem with an HET... is how MASSIVE they are! 13ft tall and grossing over 40k lbs with 8 wheel drive. Plus you can only find the detroit 500hp model and lets just say MPG's are not it's strong suit. Add to that the axles are HUGELY expensive as they're all steering axles with outboard planetary drives, and the fact that I would have to remove the main awesomeness of the HET's, which is the twin 50k hydraulic winches, to build my RV rear. Plus HET's aren't off-road vehicles, they're designed strictly to pull Abrams tanks across nominal surfaces. They use the HEMTT 8x8 for overland transport.

My build shouldn't go over 8'8" based on 3 other similar cab setups. Standard shipping containers are 8'6" tall, so all I'd have to do is air down the tires and easily get 3" of height drop. Also fully build and loaded my build will sit at around 32k lbs.

Trust me I love the HET, it's a magnificent machine, but it's just designed to do something completely different, aka pull 200k+ loads around greasy roads.

Only the front and rear axles steer. You could chop the top for transport and use a high cube container to gain a few inches. I only mentioned it for fact that the drivetrain is already built to handle the power you want to throw at it.

 

[Notneb]

my uncle has a cargo truck with the 8.3 turbo and it had a hard time running 65. but ours has the 855 non turbo.

but yeah fuel consumption would suck. Dont blame you one bit for wanting to do a swap. thing is a turd with 1200gal of water.


but the chassis is a beast man. we run ours hard when we head to fires. only problem we see is the bushings wearing out on the control arms on the rear suspension and the arms popping off.

Yeah, and I'll be at the trucks max payload for off-road use, all the time *10,000lbs* so you can imagine just how much the stock engine would have to work all the time, just a recipe for failure. Good to know about the control arm bushings, and I'll have to take a look at a way to keep them from popping.

 

[Notneb]

Only the front and rear axles steer. You could chop the top for transport and use a high cube container to gain a few inches. I only mentioned it for fact that the drivetrain is already built to handle the power you want to throw at it.

I gotcha, understand the power, it's just too big of a platform.

 

[Cutting-Edge Diesel]

Yeah, and I'll be at the trucks max payload for off-road use, all the time *10,000lbs* so you can imagine just how much the stock engine would have to work all the time, just a recipe for failure. Good to know about the control arm bushings, and I'll have to take a look at a way to keep them from popping.

we over load the max payload on them with our water. they are way under powered and way over built like most any military vehicle. we never have any motor or over heating problems. Other than the power steering pump going out. Your arms hurt after fighting a fire with no power steering! but anyway.

What we do if they pop off is just put them back on and weld some strap across them. We havent had one on the newer 5 tons pop off yet mainly just the old 5 tons and deuces. but it wouldnt be good to be in the middle of no where and have one pop off.

 

[Notneb]

we over load the max payload on them with our water. they are way under powered and way over built like most any military vehicle. we never have any motor or over heating problems. Other than the power steering pump going out. Your arms hurt after fighting a fire with no power steering! but anyway.

What we do if they pop off is just put them back on and weld some strap across them. We havent had one on the newer 5 tons pop off yet mainly just the old 5 tons and deuces. but it wouldnt be good to be in the middle of no where and have one pop off.

I shouldn't have to worry, looking at a '90's chassis and running gear.