Nothing to do with PSD's...

ja_cain · Mar 21, 2016

Sweet project! I have changed a couple torque rods on the side of the road in Greece and Kosova. Big azz pipe wrench and a jack/portapower and you can pop the tapered part out. It works like a charm. Before coming up with the idea we tried everything including the torch. Just make sure to keep a couple spares on hand that are the correct length. I found out the hard way that there were minute differences based on the position, model and configuration. Good luck with the project!

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

ja_cain · Mar 21, 2016

An expandable van like they have on the M934A2 would be kind of cool. The optics guys always worked out of one (or something similar) when we were deployed. I seem to remember them having a fair amount of room once expanded.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

Notneb · Mar 21, 2016

I'd post up my blue prints I have laid out for the back, but I want to keep it as a surprise for the end of the build, as I think it will be rather impressive what I'm doing with space saving. I will be using a pop up roof, and there will be at least one hammock involved...

Mechcont · Mar 21, 2016

Sounds crazy good luck with the build.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Notneb · Mar 22, 2016

Mechcont said:
Sounds crazy good luck with the build.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks a bunch!

Update for everyone else: If you like pics, check this thread Sunday, as there's a Military Vehicle show in Phoenix that will have the exact build truck *minus RV part* at the show, and I'll be taking tons of pics so everyone has an idea of how this all will go together/end up.

I'll try and get some mocked up "photo shop" build pics up next week if I'm not to busy with the $partan vs P!P test. This should give everyone a basic idea of what I'm actually planning on, yet leave some mystery to the build so the end of the thread doesn't lose steam!

SDS97_7.3 · Mar 22, 2016

Might want to rethink the ISX. Hear of a lot of issues with them reliability wise.

bluedge8 · Mar 22, 2016

Cool build!

Notneb · Mar 22, 2016

SDS97_7.3 said:
Might want to rethink the ISX. Hear of a lot of issues with them reliability wise.

I'm kind of back and forth because I can get a Cat to fit, with enough fab work, but the reliability claims are hard to judge, because they come from the OTR community for the most part.

They're logging insane miles on these rigs, whereas I'll be lucky to hit 50k miles in this trip. I'm just familiar with the ISX and would rather not pay Cat prices on parts/filters, lol.

Next bad part about OTR rigs is the payloads... My rig will have max 35k on it all the time, and the only time I plan on towing is if someone needs help up a slope, or pulled out of a ditch, no where near the 80k plus OTR rigs see.

That's the lovely part about this build, it's all pretty much new. The concept isn't, but the application will be, so it'll be trial and error. If the final setup can handle the 6 months of torture it'll see here in the states, then I won't have any issues in SA.

Notneb · Mar 22, 2016

bluedge8 said:
Cool build!

Thanks! Can't wait to get started at least with the 3d modeling. I hate build threads that drag on with nothing to say but: "still waiting on stuff", so hopefully I can keep the updates plentiful.

SDS97_7.3 · Mar 23, 2016

Notneb said:
I'm kind of back and forth because I can get a Cat to fit, with enough fab work, but the reliability claims are hard to judge, because they come from the OTR community for the most part.

They're logging insane miles on these rigs, whereas I'll be lucky to hit 50k miles in this trip. I'm just familiar with the ISX and would rather not pay Cat prices on parts/filters, lol.

Next bad part about OTR rigs is the payloads... My rig will have max 35k on it all the time, and the only time I plan on towing is if someone needs help up a slope, or pulled out of a ditch, no where near the 80k plus OTR rigs see.

That's the lovely part about this build, it's all pretty much new. The concept isn't, but the application will be, so it'll be trial and error. If the final setup can handle the 6 months of torture it'll see here in the states, then I won't have any issues in SA.

Just saying. Seem to hear of a lot of lower mile failures, like cranks and things that aren't just side of the road fixes. Go over to CompD and ask about failures of ISX's in the trucker thread. Only one of the guys there claims to not see them lol. Everyone else it's a regular thing. And hate them with a passion. And no one around here wants to run ISX's that I know of haha

Notneb · Mar 23, 2016

SDS97_7.3 said:
Just saying. Seem to hear of a lot of lower mile failures, like cranks and things that aren't just side of the road fixes. Go over to CompD and ask about failures of ISX's in the trucker thread. Only one of the guys there claims to not see them lol. Everyone else it's a regular thing. And hate them with a passion. And no one around here wants to run ISX's that I know of haha

Hmmm thanks for the heads up I'll go check it out. I'm going off what the MV community is having the best luck with, however they don't log many miles on their trucks with a few exceptions.

I'm also toying around with an older big cam cummins...

Notneb · Apr 3, 2016

Small update, will be going with an M916 platform with a Detroit S60. Haven't found the trans combo I like, but after talking it over with a few guys who've done this conversion, the 7 speed allison with a custom transfer case will probably be the way to go.

Sadly there are no M916's for the right price at the moment, but I'm hoping the right one will pop up!

If anyone see's any good deals on early 1990's M916's, feel free to PM me!