Change in Plans?

So thinking about some of the issues we’ve seen with Brian’s bumper and the sag in the hinge has us thinking. In my post on the Binder Planet, I put out the call for other hinge alternatives, and we got some information about this hinge setup. It’s meant for a top-mount system, but Brian and I talked over an alternative that would work if we can find someone with a metal brake to fab it up for us:

It’s a C-shaped piece with two holes drilled for the hinge sleeve, and a third tab added in the center for extra rigidity. It gets mounted to the face of the bumper, then the sleeve is welded inside the holes, and none of the geometry of the bumper needs to be altered.

In Future Plans, Inspiration on 21 November 2011 with 1 comment

Wagoneer and Scout

I’ve passed by this example of Brooks Stevens’ handiwork many times and never had the opportunity to stop and look. It’s a bit rough around the edges, the fenders have been chopped, and there’s a bit of spray foam in the interior fender cavities, but it’s in decent shape for a 20-year-old piece of oxidizing metal. That look is so iconic and so unique. I’ve always said, if I didn’t have a Scout, I’d have a Land Rover. If I couldn’t have a Rover, I’d have an FJ-40. And if I couldn’t have one of those, I’d have a Wagoneer.

In Design on 20 November 2011 with no comments

Backsheesh!

From our friend Mike in Colorado, straight to my keychain. Sweet!

In Uncategorized on 20 November 2011 with no comments

Bumper Building, Day 2

Sunday morning I returned to the Eastern Shore for day two of building my rear bumper for the Scout. While this was my second day, technically it was Brian’s third or fourth, because he had worked hard to get his ready for our trip to Hatteras back in September. Here’s a picture of what his looks like, completed:

Now, a little history: We built the design around a hinge we found online, which was rated for 3000 pounds and built for hanging fence doors. With that in mind, we decided to mount the hinge to the face of the bumper and have the swingarm come off the front, vs. a pole hinge on top. The reason for this was to keep the pivot of the arm closer to the middle of the bumper instead of the top of the far corner, and to allow for more clearance between a lowered tailgate and the top of the bumper.

What wound up happening was that there is a lot more vertical play in the hinge than we’d anticipated—it looks like it was designed to carry a heavy vertical load in tandem with one or more identical hinges, but never to deal with shear loads by itself. When it’s pulled free from the receiver, it immediately droops by about 1.5″ under the weight of itself, a Hi-Lift, and spare tire. This is, as you might imagine, not optimal. We decided to move forward with the design and materials we have, and if we come up with a better solution, grind it off and replace it.

On the other side, we cut down a section of 2.5″ box tube and added a trailer pin to close the swingarm.

To mount to the body, there are two standoffs of 2.5″ box mounted to plate, using the four holes from the OEM standoffs. We also welded angle support to the backside of the frame to beef up the mount point.

Provisions for a Hi-Lift are on the swingarm; Brian drilled bolt holes and welded two supports to the underside for the jack to rest on. I’m going to swap ends with my mount so that the foot of the Hi-Lift is on the hinge side.

So. Yesterday’s labor started with two angle grinders and a lot of noise. With three people working, we had all outside surfaces clean, deburred, and straight in about an hour.

It was during the grinding portion that I discovered the main tube is tuned to a high A#, according to the app on my iPhone.

The first things we did were to tack in the endcaps on the main tube, then put the Hi-Lift notches in place. We’re having a pro lay in the full welds; this is all just for placement and transport.

We moved on to the top swingarm, measuring and correcting for clean 90° angles. Once we’d straightened it out, it got tacked into place. Then we measured and tacked in the side supports to brace everything together.

Once the arms were in place, we measured (again) for the diameter of the spare tire (mine is 32″, Brian’s is a 31″) and added a few inches for clearance, then welded a mounting plate to the standoff, tacked that to the vertical arm, and added a 45° gusset directly below.

After taking a break, we cleaned up a little bit and got things ready for mockup. First, my OEM bumper had to come off, which took some PBBlaster and air tools. Then, we clamped the OEM standoffs to ours and drilled out the holes. Next, we mounted the new standoffs temporarily and then lifted the new bumper into place, supported by a single 2×4″. After careful measurement, marking with a sharpie, location of a fire extinguisher, and a few Hail Marys, we tacked the standoffs to the back of the bumper tube.

Looks good!

By this time, we were pretty tired, I was facing an hour and a half ride home over the bridge, and anything else we wanted to do would take some serious consideration. The hinge is the big question; we’re thinking about alternatives to the mechanical problem, or changes in the geometry (angling the hinge slightly upward to account for droop).

And, on the plus side: the manifold replacement surgery is holding strong, quiet, and smooth. It no longer sounds like a thundering herd of doom, and the cabin doesn’t stink of exhaust anymore.

In Friends, Progress on 14 November 2011 with 1 comment

Gasketed.

Thanks to some 11th-hour help from Mr. Scout, I got the second bolt off the exhaust manifold and a new gasket installed, along with two shiny copper bolts of the correct length and diameter. It was tricky work by myself trying to hold a wrench on the top nut while torquing the bottom bolt enough to make things turn; as it worked out, I snapped the bolt in half. Whatever works.

Peer Pressure is quiet again. There’s no backfire coming off a heavy foot in the gas, and exhaust fumes in the cabin are all but gone.

In Friends, Progress, Repairs on 12 November 2011 with no comments

Exhausting.

So here’s the culprit.

It’s not the donut in between the pipe and the flange; it’s the gasket in between the heat riser valve and the flange. I pulled the outer bolt off and let it hang loose by itself; the bolt and nut are bent and rusted, and there’s no trace of a gasket left there. So I ordered two copper-jacketed bolts and a new gasket from Super Scout, as well as a set of newly reprinted manuals. Finally. Everything should be here by the end of the week.

Oh, and speaking of the end of the week: I may be heading back to Chestertown to finish assembling the bumper.

In Purchasing on 7 November 2011 with no comments

Busted.

So, who’s got an emergency brake assembly I can buy?

In Uncategorized on 22 October 2011 with 1 comment

Soft Top Repairs

I’ve got a hand-me-down Kayline soft top that came with Peer Pressure when I bought it at auction. It’s a fastrac, which, unfortunately, I wouldn’t have chosen. It’s black vinyl, which, fortunately, goes with anything. It has a hole in the center section above the bed. And the flaps that close over the door panels, which originally fastened with velcro, stopped working before I even bought the truck. Kayline sewed loop velcro to the flaps and glued hook velcro to the metal door inserts, but the glue failed over multiple summer/winter cycles. This makes driving with the top on interesting, because the fabric around the doors puffs up like a hot-air balloon and flaps like a chicken trying to achieve liftoff.

I knew that re-gluing the velcro wasn’t an option, so I decided snaps were the best answer. After looking around online, I found a snap set at West Marine with everything I needed. The important bit were the pliers, which offer a lot more control over installation than a hammer and punch. I then went to the Home Depot and picked up a couple of different combinations of bolts and nuts, and a metal drillbit to fit.

First, I marked off where the snaps should go on the driver’s side, then pulled the insert and drilled holes. I used 8/32 3/8″ bolts to hold in the female sides, held in with nylon lockwashers. The bolts are just long enough, with the thickness of the insert, to hold the whole nut without going beyond. I put three snaps along the top and two on the side, and that seems to work pretty well.

I’m not as happy with the snaps as I’d like to be; they don’t hold as securely as I’d hoped they would (or the OEM snaps on the top itself). I thought I’d try something different for the passenger side, so I went to find a bolt with a smaller head to use on the male side. I picked up some 6/32 1/2″ machine screws and they fit inside the male heads much better, so I put the male heads on the insert and the female side on the fabric, then removed the excess on the bolts with an angle grinder. Either way, these snaps still don’t seem to have a whole lot of grip.

Overall I’m pleased with the results, and after a day’s driving at 55+ with the top buttoned up safari-style, the flaps didn’t budge. I’d still like to find some heavier-duty snaps that will grip tighter.

In Repairs on 15 October 2011 with no comments

Under Cover.

Two quick things: I got a pair of Fel-Pro donuts (60478) for the manifold leak last week; now I need to get some time to install one. (New company policy around here: When buying parts, buy two, use one, and put the second into storage).

Secondly, I had to kill a little time with Finn, so I brought her out to the garage with me and put the soft top back on. According to Peer Pressure, summer is officially over. But having the soft top on leads me to one of my next projects: adding snaps to the soft top frames around the windows. I picked up a snap repair kit from West Marine a month ago. The plan is to screw male snaps into the frames and add female snaps to the underside flap so that the flaps will stay in place; I have to wait for a warm day and pick up a good metal bit for the drill to get started.

In Future Plans, Part Numbers on 18 September 2011 with no comments

Out Of Gas.

I grabbed about 15 minutes while I was on grill duty this evening to pull the faceplate off the dashboard and swap out the amp/gas gauge with the spare I’ve got in my bins. Unfortunately, it didn’t read anything from the tank. The backlight and amp gauge work in both units, so I’m going to officially say it’s the wiring, which means I’ve got to run a new hot wire from the tank up to the bulkhead.

Meanwhile, Brian H. took delivery of his Wagonmaster today, and will be selling his red Scout to make room for the new acquisition. Pretty, isn’t it?

I also got an email from my friend in Wheaton, who mentioned he’d been up to Crazy Ray’s in Mt. Airy to look around, and found a Scout II that hadn’t been picked over much. Because they were already in the area, I let Brian and Bennett know, and they made a trip up to look it over. Apparently there wasn’t much left of the body, but they pulled some engine parts and left the rest for the crusher.

In Friends, Progress, Repairs on 20 August 2011 with 1 comment