Well WTF, do I post my 3500HD project here or not

I don't know why I have such a massive chubby for this build...but I do.

There's just something about building a real truck for real work.

Well let me throw this pic at you for grins, the guy that is coming to help me out also has a '94 3500HD. His has a Dynamic self-loading wrecker unit on it, which are pretty good units, wish I had the bucks to lay out for one - the job would already be done! His truck still has the 6.5 in it though.



That pic was taken about 5:30 AM, after a whole day/night of us working on it here in my shop. He had just bought the truck in Ft Lauderdale and was driving it home, stopped in here to take care of some issues before continuing on. It had some serious wiring problems, most due to just plain hackery, but also some doof had installed HID's (it had the single sealed beam grille, we changed that out for composites) and didn't put on a relay. The headlight switch, pigtail, high/low beam switch and its pigtail were all burnt to a freaking crisp. So we fixed those, did the grille/headlight/harness swap, he did a bunch of other wiring repair under the dash, we swapped in a standard bench seat to replace the ruined Dodge seat that was barely hanging in there, some other stuff we did I can't even remember.

Richard

SCHWING!!!

If only it were a square...

hows the truck comming along ?
my guess is that you have the wreckingunit of the old truck now but working on replacing the parts hacked up by the preious owner

My buddy Nick has been hard at work designing a mounting system for the Sneeker wrecker unit and hauler bed. Here's some early drawings, and his notes:

"The blue outline is the bed its self, the Yellow Outline is the truck frame, the Red is the new frame for the bed and sneeker, the Cayan are the slide rails. The frame is going to be a perimiter frame that bolts on top of your existing frame made from 3x6" box tubing. At the very rear it will have a piece of 1/4" steel plate as a tail board that supports the slides for the sneeker, with a pair of 1/4" plate gussets that fit just inside of the frame rails. The frame rails at the rear will also tie in to the perimiter frame for the unit keeping your frame in line. Keep in mind that the gussets are not drawn yet in the side view, nor is the back of the frame beveled to clear the bed, and the crossmember that supports the front of the slider rails for the unit has yet to be drawn as well but I have a pretty slick idea for it. The crossmember will have the ball mount on top of it for your 5th wheel ball. Thus making it really strong, and spreading the load over the entire frame."







Richard

More updates from Nick:

"Retracted and extended drawings"





"Concept becomes reality"









"I still have to fabricate all of the tail board, the slides, and caps for the slide brackets, as well I need to bevel the end of the frame so it will clear the bed and cap it, and I need to build the hydraulic tank. As well I need to pick up the 5th wheel ball and get it put in place."

Richard

since the frame on the picture is made out of boxsection he might as whell use that as a hydraulic tank from the looks of those whelds its watertight it should hold a couple of gallon of oil , its pretty thick too so you have some flesh to weld the bungs too

i realy need to get intoo a cad cam program someday those drawings look pretty proffesional and i know he can run the proggy to slide that system in and out and make sure its strong enough for the job too

Not a bad idea but he would have had to section off an area that wasn't going to have holes drilled in it for mounting anything. Won't be a big deal to source, modify, or just make a tank for it; I've got my buddy at the wrecker shop hunting around for a spare one that will fit.

Another update from Nick:











"Getting the tail board built, still a long ways to go, I have to get it all welded out, and I have a set of gussets to cut out, as well I have to build another cross member with a mount for the hydraulic slide."

Richard

hello again hows the project going

Not much to report, but looks like we're getting ready to dive into the wrecker unit install. Here's a small update,

Nick's just about got the framework ready so tonight I began the teardown of the wrecker unit from the old truck. First things first, get the hydraulic pump moved over. The unit (Deweze kit with a Parker pump) is now installed on the HD. While I was in there, I also replaced the A/C compressor with a known good unit; old one was locked up.


This pic is for reference; it shows the upper radiator hose setup on a previous wrecker of mine with the same kit and engine. I've got to splice the hose and add a generic section w/a bend to clear the pump. This wasn't an issue on the donor truck because the 3" body lift placed the radiator neck above the pump so the hose just barely cleared it.


Last two pics are just for fun; they're the most recent pics I have of the truck while it's clean! They're probably also the last pictures of it before the wrecker framework gets installed.




Richard