DamageWagon's Build - 2011 "AdventureWagon"

[DamageWagon]

I hit up the guy that bought my 1992 W-250 Cummins a few days ago to see how he was still enjoying the truck. He was a great guy, planned to buy my truck sight unseen 6 weeks in advance, flew out from Ohio to so-cal and drove it home. He bought it to tow a fifth wheel to take his antique diesel Oliver tractors to tractor shows. He rebuilds old school diesel Rabbits in his free time, real cool dude! This morning he texted me back with these:




He said a #1400 pound angus cow walked into the highway at night. That was the cleanest first gen I've seen, and I did a lot of work to it to make it a nicer truck. I just about cried when I saw the pictures. Don't know why I wanted to share that, but I'm pretty heartbroken for him. He is doing a great job getting it back together though.


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[olyelr]

Damn the luck!

[Bill2014]

Imagine that - didn't see a black angus on the road in the dark at night.

[DamageWagon]

Waahooooo! My drag link has crawled back from the hidden depths of hell! Damn is this thing sweet!

It's amazing it didn't fall out during transit. Or maybe it did and that's why it took so long...



1.5" solid 1018 bar. Machined ends, no weld bungs. The threads are perfect.

Can't wait to put this on! Between the new drag link and a new Trackbar heim I think I'm going to have a brand new truck lol


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[nts007]

That is pretty..... I want one now

[Colibri]

Damn beefy! Glad it finally made its way to you!

[DamageWagon]

That is pretty..... I want one now

Just call up EMF! I ordered mine in October


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[DamageWagon]

I'm stoked Colibri. Can't wait to get this on. My steering feels so funky. I can turn from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock without turning the truck, and it feels like it's going over a hump in that motion.


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[Pit Slave]

I'm stoked Colibri. Can't wait to get this on. My steering feels so funky. I can turn from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock without turning the truck, and it feels like it's going over a hump in that motion.


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I vaguely remember those days...

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[DamageWagon]

Alright guys! Here we goooo!




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[Colibri]

Now that is a pile of potential awesome!

[nts007]

That is pretty..... I want one now

Just call up EMF! I ordered mine in October


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Bet I'll order mine in June and have it in June.... Lol

You don't have enough steel...

[DamageWagon]

That is pretty..... I want one now

Just call up EMF! I ordered mine in October


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Bet I'll order mine in June and have it in June.... Lol

You don't have enough steel...

Well to add to that... 2 of those sticks is for tgibbs' roll cage haha. I get my DOM at half his price so I grabbed some for the guy. But the THIRD stick... We're going to use that to make White Knuckle sliders look like nerf bars on a 1995 F-250


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[DamageWagon]

Getting there fast. Shower time.


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[vanished]

Not enough steel for my set too!


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[DamageWagon]

Not enough steel for my set too!


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Might be able to get you a set


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[DamageWagon]

[RAM4ROKS]

Looking good! Very nice welds! Aluminum is quite a challenge to weld to me, it dissipates heat so much until it finally melts and the zoom, gotta get that weld going!!! Well done!!!

[DamageWagon]

Thanks! It took me a bit to dial in the settings. The hardest part is that my company only used Lanthanated tungsten since we only TIG stainless, and when you run that stuff on AC it makes the tip look like stalagmites. It works ok but tends to lead to big welds. I'm happy my TIG skills are way better than my MIG skills (with aluminum) lol


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[nts007]

You gots skills!! I've never used a tig before but I really want to learn. My mig skills are decent enough I can make things stick together and not fall apart

[Colibri]

My wife can tig better than mig as well, but she weird lol.

[DamageWagon]

Well I finally got the EMF drag link on last night! Crappy pics but it has to come off later for painting anyways.

I ended up loosening the BITD and driving for two days on the stock drag link to get it off. That broke the knuckle side loose, but the pitman are side was still way on there! Another try with s torch, tons of PB blaster, and a sledge and I finally got it off! I brought a 2-jaw and 3-jaw puller home and neither fit. Even lifting the truck up by the TRE stud using a bottle jack and smacking he pitman with a hammer didn't do it.


The different adjustment methods
the factory end has a big range of motion


The steering is a tiny bit tighter now. I have also developed death wobble, I believe because the play in my old link was masking it so it never came through to the steering wheel.


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[nts007]

Tie rod outer ends are likely shot. They tend to go before the drag link does most of the time. It just takes one

[DamageWagon]

Tie rod outer ends are likely shot. They tend to go before the drag link does most of the time. It just takes one

You were dead on. Checked it with a DTX guy and it was the tie rod ends, on the tie rod. I called up EMF today to see if they can make me a stock replica tie rod with their tre's. If they can't I might design one and get a shop to machine the link for me. I don't want their full steering, I can't pay $1500 for that.


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[DamageWagon]

So I made some good progress with the 3 day weekend. Went down to tgibbs place (DTX guy) and he bent up my rock slider tubes for me. 2"x.120" DOM


Also made serious progress on the camper




Also got my HAM radio in. Yaesu ft-2900r. 75 watts, 2m band. Larsen NMO-150BK antenna, per recommendation of Radio at Carli.


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