Project, TERMITE

[Farmerjon]

Long story shortened a bit, I have been lurking here for sometime. Heat my home solely with a Central Boiler OWB for the past seven years. This is a project I am doing with a group of my welding students to finish out the year. This is a truck that my oldest daughter flipped on its roof with her and her sister in it. Thank God both walked away with even very few bruises and nothing else! I am going to try to document this build with daily pictures so the end result will be seen by you as it happens.

From the rotor picture you can see the rotor broke allowing the caliper to "lock" the wheel up which caused the truck to flip on its roof during a panic stop trying to miss deer crossing the road.

THAT day I had installed the newer style seats for her, the roof was flat on the driver's side from the steering wheel to the headrest. Shudder to think if the old flat bench seat had still been in there.

The project is to create a very useable wood hauler from this truck that protected my two daughters so well four years ago. Students are really excited, you will notice we have the grill, hood, passenger door off of the truck. The passenger fender is loose, the bed is loose and the passenger wheel has one twisted/stripped lug nut holding that wheel on.

The project name and new name for this truck is the TERMITE.
If any of you are FarmShow subscribers/readers, you have the article that will give the major clue what it is my students are trying to build. We will see how well they do.

 

[WVwoodsman]

Glad to hear that your daughters were alright. Rolling a vehicle has got to be terrifying. It's my worst fear as far as automotive accidents go. Looks to be a labor intensive project, but I am anxious to see the end result. Keep us posted.

 

[iCreek]

Project

Sounds like a neat project for the kids. Glad to hear your girls are OK and that you can use the truck to teach some kids welding and other skills. Keep us posted your project sounds interesting, I look forward to some updates here..

 

[fourustircom]

Thin rotor?

It's a little hard to tell, but was that rotor REALLY thin, like below minimum spec? Insurance companies say they won't cover a vehicle that involved a swerve that resulted in accident to avoid an animal. A lady I worked with flipped a Riv into a ditch trying to avoid a dog.

 

[Marc]

Glad to hear that your daughters were alright. Rolling a vehicle has got to be terrifying. It's my worst fear as far as automotive accidents go. Looks to be a labor intensive project, but I am anxious to see the end result. Keep us posted.

I think having an 18 wheeler land on me is right up there...




I can't believe the rotor broke! That's insane! How many times had it been turned, and how old was it? With the cost of rotors, I never have mine turned down any more. It's much safer just to replace them with new ones.

 

[Farmerjon]

Yesterday's progress. They got the passenger front fender off. The spare tire came down finally allowing access to final bed bolts. So, bed is now gone. Driver's door we made a cut down the center relieving some pressure allowing it to "unpinch" and come open. That door and seats should be gone today. Here are the pictures.

 

[Farmerjon]

WV, glad to hear you want to see more. Was concerned this wouldn't be interesting for most even though I think in the end, it will be quite the project and conquest for my boys.

iCreek, also thanks for the interest. We are on the downhill side of tear down. I have to gather needed items from my farm for next week's build up. This Thursday and Friday my school has inservice days so no shop for the boys. Thus you won't see me post, but will be back Monday!

fourustircom, Of all the things I checked when she bought this vehicle as well as the mechanic that went through all of the fluids and tranny, we missed the rotors. Yep, it was thin.

Marc, you and me both. Cost of rotors is nothing to me now! Wasn't a matter of cost then, just what I missed in going over this truck and trying to insure my kids were safe. The truck in the end did do its job in protecting them.

Thanks for the interest, the boys will love seeing their work posted and your comments. These guys are anything from 10th to 12th graders in high school.

 

[gink595]

What issue of Farm Show? sounds kinda fun!! I'll keep up on this as well

 

[gink595]

What school do you teach welding at? I have a good buddy that is the welding instructor at Bloomington North, in Bloomington Indiana. Ya might know him if you do the VICA contests

 

[Farmerjon]

gink595, other end of the state same side! North Judson, NJ-SP High school. I teach Agriculture. And it was the latest issue of FarmShow, volume 32, no. 2, page 4 across the top half.

 

[iCreek]

Thanks for the interest, the boys will love seeing their work posted and your comments. These guys are anything from 10th to 12th graders in high school.

Just keep those kids from reading hanko's posts, They might loose interest in that boring shop class !!!

 

[Farmerjon]

Last of the teardown is completed. Truck is running again and quite well as a matter of fact. Rotors and brakes are ordered, gathering parts this weekend should start the building process Monday.

 

[gink595]

gink595, other end of the state same side! North Judson, NJ-SP High school. I teach Agriculture. And it was the latest issue of FarmShow, volume 32, no. 2, page 4 across the top half.

I see, I found ya on the map. Yeah he used to teach at Valpo high, a little closer to ya. Great projects, stuff like that can influence someone for a lifetime. I think we need more stuff like that and less other crap, Great project

 

[Farmerjon]

Okay, the Termite is being born!!!! Teardown is pretty much completed, we set the bed I am going to use for this truck on the frame and the elevator is sitting so we can start fabricating brackets. Tomorrow's pictures should show a lot also if we keep this pace.

 

[streeter]

I love it......I grew up in Buffalo NY. Teach those kids how to do it right and they can right there own ticket anyplace in the USA. You eastern people (salt climate) can learn more then most of these western and southern people can learn. Teach the right and teach them hard and they can do anything that is given them and make lots of money doing it

 

[nametrux]

Cool!

Great project. Will that be a dump bed? The boys can learn a lot and take pride intheir work. Keep us posted.

 

[Farmerjon]

Dump bed eventually. Before we get to that we have to make the elevator bracket strong enough that the elevator itself will swing out 90 degrees as I want to be able to pull alongside of a trailer or another truck and load. Also as I look at the elevator now in the pictures, if I leave it at that angle so it will dump near the middle of the bed, it will need to swing out so the bed can raise.

 

[Farmerjon]

Okay, here is how I have lined out the pivot for the elevator and how it has been explained to the boys so they can put it together tomorrow. First of all the first picture shows the angle iron bracket I picked out of the junk pile and it will attach to the outside front of the right side of the pickup frame. (under the elevator from the last pictures). I had a boy burn a hole in the center of it for the ball's threads to fit through (picture 2). Over the ball fits a very thick walled pipe for lack of better term providing the center hinge point for the elevator (picture 3). And this is how I want the inner shell to look once done as I don't want a bead on the outside of this inner shell or that will "lock up" or interfere with the turning action of the outer shell which will be attached to the elevator itself. Thus I had the boys cut a short pipe and set it inside the inner shell's hole, let the ball down in the hole and the short pipe holds and centers it so they can weld it inside of the inner shell's hole thus connecting the two without an outside interfering weld.
Welded altogether and the outer shell slid on for picture (picture 4). Outer shell needs to be drilled and tapped and will get 3 grease zerks added before completion. Any suggestions/comments? Thanks for looking.

 

[Farmerjon]

Got some parts in today along with a fancy socket with four ears so I could reach in the front hub and remove a lock ring, locking washer and the outer bearing nut. Picture one is the axle with rotor, hub and most parts removed. Picture two is the front axle with the new rotor and caliper shown. Hub is drying from getting a rattle can paint job. New studs and nuts were ordered tonight, if they come in in the morning, wheels and tires maybe back under it tomorrow and off of the jackstands!!!
Third picture is the elevator's bracket temporarily bolted to front frame member. Fourth picture is same bracket with the inner swivel hinge attached. Last picture is a wider shot of the same thing as picture number four. Square tubing you see leaning against the front we robbed off of an older project, thinking of using it to extend the front of the frame for the splitter and log lifter to work from. Want to get it back down off of jackstands before committing where the elevator bracket goes as I want plenty of wheel travel. Hope to be able to get the inner fenderwell back in so the overflow bottle can attach on it and keep the engine a little dryer and cleaner. Thanks for looking.

 

[Farmerjon]

We didn't really like the angle iron bracket on the side of the frame, weight and twist issue so went back to my scrap pile and pulled out a rear bumper and it seems like it is going to work well. Picture one is the old/original idea for the swivel on the elevator. Picture two is the second idea and most likely how it is going to be mounted. We welded the bumper to the frame horns without turning them over. Picture three is a close up of the swivel so the elevator turns 90 degrees so a trailer or another truck can be easily loaded. Picture four is what the passenger side looks like with the inner fender well laid on top of the tire. And last but not least, the donor splitter which will provide this project with the cylinder, wedge, and beam and maybe the lever.