My New Project! that will never get finished

BeNimble · 12-30-2020, 09:04 PM

Now the proud owner of an old PGE work truck, 1985 Ford C700.
One has to love the homely face of these work horses that has one of the longest production runs essentially cab was unchanged from 1958 to 1990.
I associate them primarily as Fire Trucks, but there were used for everything.

Not sure about putting this project here, not a skoolie, not even a bus.
Plan is to make it a big bad 4x4 'overland adventure camper'.
The Detroit Diesel 8.2 was running good when parked.
It has a 5-speed manual trans.
That drivetrain will be removed and put up for sale or used in my Willys Ratrod.
This puppy is going to be a Hybrid.

Very excited, but I do have other things to get done first..but doesn't stop my planning. In particular, I really think the straight axle in front has to go, must have a IFS, and actually would like a IRS too, which might be a bit of overeach for a vehicle with a 26,000 GVWR.

I am going to be selling the utility box if that is of any interest to anyone here. And also going to be parting out a Hydrogen Fuel Cell bus that was a research project at UC Davis, it will be donating some parts to this OAC project. Not sure where to go for selling transit bus parts.

Native · 12-31-2020, 02:11 AM

What a fun project! You seem to have a lot of those.

Danjo · 12-31-2020, 02:48 AM

You bought a diesel

Looks like a nice project

joeblack5 · 12-31-2020, 06:44 AM

Love those cabs.. were these ever made in 4*4?

Are you going series or parallel hybrid?
3 years ago I salvaged a series hybrid , research vehicle, chevy suburban from Penn State University. NIMH batteries and electric motors on front and rear axle.. 2.8 crd linked to generator.

Good luck

Johan

TheHubbardBus · 12-31-2020, 10:11 AM

That is SO COOL! You must be very excited.

BeNimble · 12-31-2020, 12:01 PM

The plan is to use the 200hp electric motor from the Transit Bus in the back, the front will be gas/electric, so will be both a series and parallel.
The front straight axle will have to be changed, there were some 4x4 version of forest service trucks, but I don't really want a solid front axle. I have 87 F250 4x4 with the TTB (Twin Traction Beam) I could use. Thinking of something custom, can't help myself in that way..

TTB:

BeNimble · 12-31-2020, 12:41 PM

Is there forum for diy campers? I didn't find any before..that had much activity.

joeblack5 · 12-31-2020, 01:10 PM

Expeditionportal.com

BeNimble · 01-03-2021, 09:16 PM

Got this truck towed back to the Barn..one of the rear wheels was not turning.
It has air brakes, is there some kind of e-brake for air brakes that needs battery power to turn off? My 2-ton gmc had a brake on the trans/driveshaft this has doesn't, but it is a manual. Or maybe they is another issue. It is hard to roll a 12,000 lb truck when the wheel doesn't turn.

Some other news..he was supposed to also tow another vehicle for me, but couldn't becaue it took too long getting this on his trailer..but I now have another free vehicle, this one is a 88 Ford van box truck. It was supposed to have a diesel, but after getting the title, it has a gas motor (a 460 bbf I'll bet), but I did not open the hood.
It is also a refer box, did not look inside, but surely its all insulated in there.
Not sure what to do with this thing. lol If it was a diesel, no smog, now it needs smog checks BOO! This is not the van, but its basically the same and about the same condition looking..

Oh and been looking at how to do 4x4 front without a solid axle, and it looks like GM has the right parts, their upto 1ton trucks have a-arms and torsion bars, just like my explorer does. Then I also thought of a C5 corvette differential rear suspension..I had a couple of the diffs, they are heavy duty units, downside is they have like 3.5 gears typically.
I will give you a secret about them, they can be powered from both the front and back as the pinion shaft passes through..only diff I've ever seen that can do that, so it can have two electric motors driving one. ;)

Native · 01-04-2021, 01:17 AM

You sure do fall into a lot of interesting FREE stuff!

Booyah45828 · 01-04-2021, 08:48 AM

Cool project.

I've always wanted to take a fire truck or old cabover truck like that and turn it into a roll back wrecker for private use. Install air ride on all 4 corners, good engine with an OD trans, and use it to pick up classic car projects all over the USA.

Maybe some day......

BeNimble · 01-04-2021, 01:02 PM

Yeah I want to build a car hauler too, I have a 68 Chevy C40 cab and subaru tribecca drivetrain and suspension. The PG&E truck would work too, but I want a low-floor bed and not have to put the car above the big 22.4 tires.

I should show you the rampless car trailer I built, something like that attached to a cab is what I am thinking. hmm, do I have a pic...can't find any good ones, except this one, which was showing how to attach trailer lights that don't break..it is attached using polycarbonate that bends. and does not stick up from the bed, so tires can roll over it without breaking it. What you can also see is the mechanism to raise and lower the back half of the trailer which serves as the ramp. I use a scissor jack with a winch motor. I have a whole video on making this trailer..somewhere not edited yet.

The trailer is too small for a truck.

BeNimble · 01-04-2021, 07:02 PM

well no answer on the air brakes, so I had to read all about air brakes, and indeed if there is no air pressure the brakes are turned on. Because its only the right rear, it might be a leak in just that diaphram the rest still hold air to keep off the brakes..i assume.
Or the shoes or pivots rusted..I looked under there and surprised there is no backing plate on the drums, can see the shoes. Seems prime to get water and rust if sitting for 5 years.

Also cleaned the dirt off the speedo and this truck has only 92,000 miles on it.
I was told it had a big generator/welder mounted behind the cab, which is why it was bought at auction. They removed it and then it wasn't driven until the last owner bought it and used it around his ranch until he got too old to enjoy having to climb up to get inside, which I understand completely, a little pickup much easier to use, and he has a couple of those 'gator' things now.

BeNimble · 01-08-2021, 04:03 PM

Went to actually look at the free box truck, and while the title says 'gas', it has a 'reman' 7.3 diesel engine. And good sized aluminum refer box. Might just put this box on the C700, might need to shorten it.

UFO pilot · 01-08-2021, 08:57 PM

Luv the Ford C series! Watching this build!!

BeNimble · 01-13-2021, 05:37 PM

So just bought this former wrecker F550 as a parts donor for the C700. Dead 6.0 diesel. $800
This gives me the front and rear suspension with hydraulic disk brakes.

demoman · 01-14-2021, 12:51 AM

Jack
Good to see you got the truck towed. Give me a call if you have questions about the air brakes or need me to show you how to release them if the air is not working.
I have a research fuel cell 30 foot transit bus that i am selling jack. It is from 1992 and came from a million dollar research grant to see if a bus can work with a fuel cell charging nicad batteries to power a 200 hp electric motor. It has a phosphoric acid fuel cell, charger, controller and all kinds of other pieces he can use for his projects. I would love to see what he can do with all those parts.
John

BeNimble · 01-27-2021, 07:18 PM

I scored some new alcoa wheels and tires for the C700. only $60 each!! on CL
Maybe someone can confirm, but from what I've read, these are March 2018 tires with
a 1218 date code? They have quite a few, closing down their truck repair business.

BeNimble · 03-06-2021, 07:13 PM

Finally got some time to try to get the c700 running. Was quite the effort to get the tilt cab up, took a lot of lubrication and some 2x4 wedges and a crowbar, but day 2 I got it up. Then I could check the oil (full), and the air cleaner (dirt dabber nests), but after that cleaned up, battery hooked up with charger and all I got was starter clatter.
The battery cables not cleaned, so today I cleaned them, and first crank after 5+ years of sitting, started right up! Awesome. And good air brake pressure.

So next was seeing if I could get it to move, but after pushing in the clutch pedal, it stayed IN.
Not sure if mechanical or hydraulic problem, but I need to debug this next.

rossvtaylor · 03-06-2021, 10:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BeNimble

I scored some new alcoa wheels and tires for the C700. only $60 each!! on CL
Maybe someone can confirm, but from what I've read, these are March 2018 tires with
a 1218 date code? They have quite a few, closing down their truck repair business.

Hey BN...I missed this when you posted it...many weeks ago. But as you probably already know by now, yes...the 12th week of 2018. Unless it's 1918.

That was a great score, sir.

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