zero Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Just finished the front cab repair. Now want to fix and modify the back bumper and spare tire mount. The owner before me filled the hollow 3" X 4" frame extensions with pressure-treated wood. I guess so bolts could be put through sideways and tightened without crushing the hollow steel? Problem is - modern pressure treated lumber is extremely corrosive and rots out plain steel and aluminum something awful. So the frame extensions are ruined. No so easy getting them off and welding on new ones either since they are very close to wood and plastic parts. Especially the holding tank. Main part of the back bumper was also pressure-treated wood. Most of the bolts were easy to snap off since they too were severely eaten up by corrosion. The wood idea would not have been such a problem if commercial grade pressure treated wood had been used (CCA treated with arsenic). Many stores in the USA were selling ACQ treated wood for consumer use until recently and it's it awful stuff on metals. Seems this is what was used. The newest MCA treated wood is supposed to be less corrosive. I suspect less rot resistant too - but time will tell. Commercial grade treated wood like is used to build house foundations is still the old CCA. I hope to relocate the spare tire elsewhere. Maybe underneath. At present the exhaust is in the way. The guy before me had a custom exhaust bent up for this RV since the one before was too close to the the waste-water tank and burnt a big hole through it. I just got done repairing a 3" hole in the tank with ABS solvent and shavings. I robbed a hollow square tube bumper from an old RV trailer I have. I'm planning on using it for septic hose storage and hopefully will build a large rear storage box to sit on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WME Posted June 19, 2014 Share Posted June 19, 2014 Wet blankets and weld fast, as your redoing the entire rear bumper just weld the new extensions on the outside edge of the existing frame rails. At a closer look it looks like you had 2 sets of extension on your toy. A set of extensions welded to the truck frame and a set of bumper brackets welded to the extensions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Wet blankets and weld fast, as your redoing the entire rear bumper just weld the new extensions on the outside edge of the existing frame rails. At a closer look it looks like you had 2 sets of extension on your toy. A set of extensions welded to the truck frame and a set of bumper brackets welded to the extensions Yes, I'm thinking I'm going to fill the tank with water, use some sort of barrier, and weld fast. The price of the new steel is kind of depressing. When I moved to this area of NY near 40 years ago - there were four steel yards within 20 miles of me. Now there are none. When farming died out - so did many other businesses. So I ordered some rectangular tubing on-line. $30 for the steel and $35 just to ship it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted June 19, 2014 Author Share Posted June 19, 2014 Just took a ride to the "big city" of Oneonta NY to look at some storage boxes at Home Depot and Lowes. Lowes has one that looks amazingly rugged for $150 and is the exact size I was looking for. Has real hinges, locking latch, gas-springs on the lid opening, etc. Looked so good I bought it instead of trying to build one. 5 feet wide X 25" high approx. Fits alongside the ladder and does not block the tailights on the bottom or the kitchen window on top. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Changed my mind on the new storage box and used a 44" box for $100 from Tractor Supply instead. Cut out pockets in the bottom of the rear to access the OEM frame extensions. ID is 2 3;/4" X 3 3/4". No standard metal available to fit. So I took 3" X 1 3/8" C-channel with a 3/16" thick web. Doubled it in two areas and welded together to make it 2 3/4" wide sideways and welded on 5/8 round stock to make it vertically 3 5/8". These fabricated rails fit into the OEM frame extensions tight. Got fastened with 4 1/2" X 1/2" grade 8 bolts. After these two rail-extensions were in place - I put in new lower 3" X 4" frame extensions to hold the two hitch. Also had the problem of not having adequate electricity to run an electric arc welder out in this remote barn. So had to bring in a tractor and PTO 15 KW generator to make power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted June 30, 2014 Author Share Posted June 30, 2014 Got it done finally. Added a spare tire carrier and a new support for the bottom of the ladder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek up North Posted June 30, 2014 Share Posted June 30, 2014 Lets see. If you added a 4x4 transfer case you could create a forward facing PTO and then mount your 15kW generator on the front bumper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zero Posted July 1, 2014 Author Share Posted July 1, 2014 Lets see. If you added a 4x4 transfer case you could create a forward facing PTO and then mount your 15kW generator on the front bumper. Yes indeed. But the transfer-case PTO would be too slow. To be serious - I wish I could mount a 200 amp alternator on the engine. That in essence would be a 2800 watt powerplant. 200 amp alternator fits on the engine easy. Problem is the belt drive. My 88 22RE has a single V-belt drive which is not really capable of gripping a pulley and not slipping at over an 80 amp @ 14 volt load. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolphinite no longer here Posted July 1, 2014 Share Posted July 1, 2014 That is one cool generator! John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kayakthecoast Posted July 3, 2014 Share Posted July 3, 2014 I'm pretty happy with my Nippon 100amp alternator, I don't need a generator any more except for my winter extended ski trips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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