Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!
- Thread starter westmicher
- Start date
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Very nice work!! Really like the box length and totally flat floor!!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
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.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
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 gasketing/sealant between the cab & box was applied before we mounted the box again. A lot of minor welding to strengthen the box was done too because there were a few places we could not weld with the box on. The generator box has been built and mounted. It is fully sealed to the box but will require a couple of fittings through the generator box wall for incoming fuel and pwer out, both 120 and 12 volt. It will have a door too. Lots of small angles were welded in the interior because we are going to finish the inside nicely and had to have these angles to mount to. Finally, you can see the box with the wheelwells and the generator box installed with plenty of load clearance. The floor is on tap for this weekend. We have switched to airline track/fittings from the e-track/fitting we had planned, because of weight.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
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 wheel and bigger tires to handle the load properly.)
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Ya, I read about your conversion. I wonder if Ford changed their offerings (or if there are special order codes not available on the comm. truck website) since NONE of them are available under a 10050# rating according to the website. Kind of irritating
I guess I'll have to buy a used chassis to avoid logging.Great project by the way!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
Ya, I read about your conversion. I wonder if Ford changed their offerings (or if there are special order codes not available on the comm. truck website) since NONE of them are available under a 10050# rating according to the website. Kind of irritating
Great project by the way!
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.
guido4475
Not a Member
I think that would be a difficult question to answer seeing as it is not even finished yet....lol...
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
In its present state - probably 10 . . . hoping for 16 when its completed . . . more would be wonderful . . . less would be tolerated.
It looks like you removed the E-Track from the side walls to accommodate the wheel boxes and generator box. Will you be incorporating E-Track into the floor? Also is the box for the generator strictly for storage or will it be open enough to run the generator while housed in the box?
Very impressive! Thanks for keeping us updated.
Very impressive! Thanks for keeping us updated.
chefdennis
Veteran Expediter
Very nice!! You go into business building them, I might have to buy a new truck!!!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
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 so there will be no more trips to the gas island carrying gas cans!
The entire box will be insulated with rigid foam. 2" in the walls. 2-1/2" in the ceiling. 3" in the floor except where the axle causes a bump up in the frame. The doors will all be insulated too. This is how we can survive with a smaller generator and air conditioner. You can fight the heat by overpowering it as we do in our Sprinter or you can beat the heat (and save fuel) by insulating completely. We are going to beat the heat this way.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
Very nice!! You go into business building them, I might have to buy a new truck!!!
When you see it in person, I'll accept your deposit!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
OK! Here's a few pictures after we applied the skin using special 3M aircraft tape. No screws or rivets for this girl! Notice we haven't removed most of the protective clear coving from the skin yet.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
Once the skin was applied, we began attaching polished diamond plate to the beltline & below. We've have too many dings from wind blown Wally World carts and door dings from careless kids. We put some real bling into the protection with the polished plate.
