Third time's a charm...but it will be slow going

[jeeper]

Nothing picture worthy today, but I did get the truck into the garage.

I had the idea that I want to put a communication radio in this truck. I started looking at military surplus radios and got sticker shock.

I have a lot of reading to do but so far what I've read is the military radios aren't great radios, they are just overpriced.

I am starting to worry that I will end up resorting to my last choice of "faking it" by making a modern amateur radio "look" military.

Anyone reading this have any suggestions on where I can fine an affordable surplus radio that would be period correct? Beast has an RT-524 and that seems to be a period correct radio. I'm wondering if there are other options other than the RT-246?

[jeeper]

Still nothing picture worthy today.

I started to look at relocating the engine up so it isn't resting on the front axle. Every time I would raise the engine it would shift. After several attempts I decided to try something different. I jacked it up with a bottle jack and just let it shift over. I figured I'd try installing the steering into the cab to check clearance. Now I need to get a steering box in place to be sure. There isn't a lot of room but so far it appears that there is enough.

The cab I have is very rusty. It was sandblasted many years ago and never treated afterward. It was rusty like it is now when I picked it up several years ago. I would really like to replace it with a better one and will probably trade it out if I find one that works out for me.

I spent some time extracting broken bolts and chasing threads with a tap. There are a lot of threaded holes in a cab.

I have a lot of parts but didn't actually start with a parts truck per se. My parts truck is a J truck cab on a M715 frame. Not a ton of parts I can use for this build,

I'm riding the struggle bus at the moment. It's been too long since I've actually had a complete M715 and I don't remember a lot of the details about how the body is bolted to the frame. I found some hardware in the J truck that I'm pretty sure is the body mount bolts. My memory is that the bolts were clamping the body to the frame with springs. I'm looking for pictures so I can determine how this is supposed to go together.

I'm also planning to install a NOS front wiring harness from a M35A2 in the M715 cab. I remember reading an old post from Barrman where he did something similar so I thought I'd give it a shot. It seemed easier that building a new harness from scratch.

I'm starting to think about running a dual voltage truck. My Duramax engine is 12 volt but I'm contemplating running dual sensors so I can keep the stock M715 gauges and fuel sensor. I did dual sensors on a Jeep TJ when I did an LS swap and it was pretty easy. I don't imagine it would be too complicated to do it to the Duramax as well. I'll also likely get an Edge monitor to see what information the engine computer is getting from the stock Duramax sensors. Basically 24 volts for everything M715 related and 12 volts for Duramax related stuff. I'm not settled on this though. Having 12 volt lights might be easier long term.

I'm still trying to find all the parts I thought I had for this build. I have duplicates and triple of some parts that I don't remember buying, and I'm not finding others that I thought I had.

I found the seats that need to be recovered and just realized I'm missing the bracket for the drivers seat. I got the passenger seat sitting in place but am not finding the drivers side. I'm now on the hunt for that.

[Flingarrows]

Nice forward progress

[jeeper]

I found a seat bracket for a CJ 7 in my parts pile. It isn't really all that close of a fit but I think I'm going to modify it to make it work for now.

I'm still looking for a stock seat bracket. I'm pretty sure I never had it so I will need to start searching on-line I guess.

I ordered a dual alternator bracket for the LBZ engine. I ordered an extension bracket for the sugar scoop.

I started looking at the M35 wire harness I have here. I need to do a bunch more reading I guess. I don't see how this is going to work yet.



I spent more time fiddling with my heater than I did working on the truck. I have a fairly quiet heater but I sometimes run two heaters when it gets really cold. The quiet heater is 80,000 BTU and the normal torpedo heater is 115,000. This year the torpedo heater doesn't want to stay running. I ordered some new parts for it today as well.

[jeeper]

I got the motor mounts relocated higher on the frame. I am not finished yet though. It is apparent that the steel on the inside of the frame isn't going to be enough to support the engine as I have the mounts installed currently. I need to add some gussets and re-enforce it. The frame had already started to get pulled out simply from the weight of the engine at rest. Once this thing starts bouncing I'm pretty sure the metal will tear out if I don't make it more solid. I will eventually (maybe today) be getting some rubber installed in between the engine side and the frame side of the mount. I will also use a larger bolt of at least 9/16 or maybe 5/8 grade 8. The current 3/8 bolt is just there to keep the engine anchored while I'm adjusting the transmission into position.



I'm now closer to three inches of clearance between the oil pan and the axle with the weight of the engine on the springs since the mount was raised. Once I get the rubber in I'm expecting to be closer to four inches of clearance. I will then get some bump stops made to protect the pan from the axle, just in case this truck ever gets launched or driven hard.




More to come later today I hope.

[jeeper]

One more thing before I head out to the garage today. I started to look for videos or forum posts about the CUCV electrical system. I keep getting distracted and haven't seen a lot but I did see a video from Tim that describes the dual alternators and the 24 volt portion of the CUCV.

If anyone has any links they'd care to share about how to set up a dual voltage truck I'd be interested. From what I've gathered so far I need to have at least one isolated ground alternator. I'm wondering if I can modify an existing alternator to be isolated ground myself. I will probably start searching for how to do that this evening.

[jeeper]

I started the day off modifying the seat bracket I found to fit flat in the floor of the cab.





Then I moved on to adding the rubber spacer to the motor mounts.



And I got the transmission mount started.



I verified the steering shaft will fit with the engine in it's current location.

[jeeper]

lost post? Anyone else having trouble seeing new posts?