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  1. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    No, I finally decided that whole set-up was too heavy. I will be putting L-Track into the floor and ceiling. The generator will run in its enclosure and will, in fact, be able to run going down the road, if desired. The generator is fed directly from the truck's gas tank via an auxilary port...
  2. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    In its present state - probably 10 . . . hoping for 16 when its completed . . . more would be wonderful . . . less would be tolerated.
  3. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    Check your dealer. Mine JUST confirmed the 10,000 GVW six wheeler with 176" wheelbase is still available. I checked because I'm quoting building another one for someone else. You can still get it.
  4. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    I started with a six wheeler, which does have 12,500 chassis downrated to 10,000 GVW available. That's how I got a 176" wheelbase, which is not available as a four wheeler either. I saw I could get both in a six wheeler so I changed the hubs and made it a four wheeler (and went to 1" wider...
  5. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    It is amazing how many "little" details have to be taken care of before the skin goes on, because once the skin goes on everything becomes so much more difficult, or impossible. So now we have the box back on for the (hopefully) final time. The front sheeting had to be attached, and then the...
  6. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The box had to come off this week to enable us to properly hang the front sheet aluminum. While we had it off, I undercoated the joints in the chassis, welded in an additional floor brace, and installed the wheelwells. I forgot to take the pic of the front aluminum sheet installed. Tomorrow.
  7. westmicher

    The Future of Expediting; Yes or No?

    Just about every one of them list their capacity to be at least 4,500 lbs. up to 6,500 lbs. I can see them on the load boards when we are parked near them. I see the size of the box and the "capacity". These lawbreakers are trying to sneak under the radar, often listing "UNDER 10,000 GVW on...
  8. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The box is mounted very solidly to the cab, and the entire box/cab assembly is rubber mounted to the frame. A partial bunkhead will go here during the final trim of the interior.
  9. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The floor is made of 2" x 3" aluminum shape, welded with crossbraces at each mounting point. The bottom pans are on most of the frame, the only exception had to be made near the axle because of a up-bump in the frame to allow axle travel. Although there will be no insulation ubove the axle...
  10. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    That's probably a good idea. The chassis itself is very, very strong but I can see that the top rear frame could be strengthened more for insurance, especially at this point when its easier to do. I'll run it by the welder guy.
  11. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    I should mention that she weighs 5,480 now, so with the addition of the skin, door, and power deck, we may exceed or 6,000 lb. empty goal by 100+ lbs. which I can live with.
  12. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    With a total of 16 mounts and the rear axle width @ 80", I feel comfortable with the limited movement these rubber mounts will allow. However, the entire body can be removed easily just by removing the floor plywood to access the mounts, so we can change them if we have to. I think they will...
  13. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The front view shows how we kept the wind resistance to a minimum, by staying as close as we could to the cab profile. A slick fairing is in the works now. We even gave bottom of the box a return angle that mimics the cab angle to help manage the wind under and around the bottom of the box.
  14. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The cab came from Ford mounted on rubber mounts, with 8 rubber mounts for the box. We added length to the frame and added 8 more rubber mounts to handle the entire box properly. The box is now completely rubber mounted, unlike most box truck which have solid u-bolt mounts.
  15. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The Ford gas tank has an auxillary fuel port, which we are hooking up to our on-board generator. This will allow the generator to use gas right out of the tank, down to 1/4 full. NO MORE CARRYING GAS CANS!!!
  16. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    The only steel we added was at the rear of the truck, to extend the truck frame & now for a combination step, fork lift stop, and anti-submarine bar (the later mandated by the feds to prevent a car from sliding under the truck & getting to our fuel tank. It also serves as a skid bar when we...
  17. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    We are done with the box frame, and concentrating on details now before we skin her. I'll describe many of those details in the next few posts. Here is the completed frame for now . . . Before you ask, I decided to raise the cargo rails 3" higher to allow for a "Power Deck" cargo transfer...
  18. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    After another day of work, the entire box is framed is, minus filling in the angles at the rear. The cargo lashing rails are going on Monday.
  19. westmicher

    Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!

    This was our very first quote withour goals listed. The reference to "6,000 lbs on the tail" was addressing concerns expressed that the bed was too long . . . extending too far past the rear wheels. So 4,000 lbs cargo has always been the goal, which seems like it will be easy to achieve...
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