From what it sounds like, the donut on the exhaust flange of the passenger’s side has evaporated, giving Peer Pressure a decidedly more sinister (and loud) noise. Replacements are $5, but I really need a shop manual to help me with the job.
Continuing from my first thread (gas tank replacement), Sunday morning Brian and I took Peer Pressure out for a test ride to get breakfast, and everything seemed to be working great. We had some food and then adjourned to the garage to begin our second project: cutting steel for new rear bumpers. We took our cues from a couple of different writeups here on the BP, especially this one this one and this one, and a number of different pictures and other references from around the web. What we originally imagined and what we wound up with are two different things, as you’ll see here.
The first thing Brian did, months ago, was find us the hinges. He got them here: Guardian Gate hinges He got the 2000 series unprimed model.
From there, we worked with the specifications some other folks had used, and bought a length of 6″ x 2″ 3/16″ box steel as well as two pieces of 2″ x 2″ in the same thickness. The first step was cutting the bumpers down. We used a very durable Porter & Cable circular saw with standard metal cutting blades. We decided to keep the width the same as the stock steel bumper, so they got cut to 64″ wide.
Next, we cut the swingarms 54″ long and mocked them up roughly on the bumpers. We originally debated mounting the swingarm on top of the bumper or on its face, and finally decided to mount on the face 3/4″ outside the edge of the endcap so that the tailgate can be lowered with the swingarm at a 90˚ angle.
Next was the cradle for the swingarm, which came from 2.5″ box steel. Brian notched out one side by hand and we sliced two of them off.
From there, we pulled out our spares and laid them down on some board to mock up the vertical tube. Originally we were going to mount Hi-Lift jacks on the two support bars below the tire, but as we looked at it in person, we thought it would raise the tire too high. (we’re both paranoid about the welds giving way and the whole thing falling off the back of the truck into oncoming traffic).
We both agreed that we’re not going to be running anything larger than a 32″ tire for the foreseeable future, so we settled on that as our baseline size. We decided to lower the spare to about 1.5″ above the swingarm–mine will be 1″ higher than his–and mount the jacks on the face of the swingarm. The vertical bar is 28.5″ high. We lengthened the support arms so that they make a triangle right where the standoff for the tire mounting plate will go.
With that figured out, we cut four support arms down and laid out the triangles on the floor. It was looking like we were going to finish it all up quickly, but then it slowly dawned on us that we had a ton of smaller cuts and pieces to make.
Luckily it was about this time we took a break for lunch, changed into clean clothes, and stopped over to a friend’s house to watch him brew a Belgian triple while being interviewed for the local paper (and sip on a Dogfish Head 90 Minute while doing so). Suitably refreshed, we returned to the garage.
I’ll probably remember this out of order because it was hotter than the hinges of Hell that afternoon, but next we cut two standoffs for the tire mounts and attempted to cut braces for them. Then we measured for standoffs on the frame and cut those from the 3″ box so that the new bumpers will sit roughly at the same height and depth as the stock steel bumpers do, providing enough clearance to lower the tailgate and access the hitch below.
Brian took on the four most difficult cuts himself, which were the shallow angles on either end of the bumpers. We sloped them 6″ from the ends and 2″ from the bottom.
Then, we used some cardboard to measure and mock up flat steel for the spare mounting plate; that piece is a 6″ x 9″ rectangle aligned vertically so that we can use three of the five bolt holes on the spare. Then we cut a bunch of small plates to seal up all of the open ends of tubing.
We made notches for jack mounting points on the bottom. We sliced our remaining 2.5″ box in half and then cut four notches out of the top. Then we measured 12″ from the ends of the bumpers, centered them on that mark, and notched the bottom out. This cut is the only one we couldn’t make with our limited tools; we’re going to hire a professional welder to connect everything and have him use a plasma cutter to chop those bits out before welding in the notches.
The last four cuts were angle iron for mounting the whole assembly to the frame; we’re going to weld the angle so that it’s on the outside edges of the frame rails and bolt the bumper plates to that, as well as the crossmember–we are taking everyone’s warnings into consideration.
By this point it was about 5:30 or so and we were whupped, so we called it a day and cleaned up the shop. I think we probably have a couple of small things left to do–cutting plates for the bumper standoffs comes to mind, as well as gussets or braces for the tire standoff–before we’re ready to call in a welder. We also need to run power out to the arm and come up with some kind of lighted license plate bracket that’ll mount inside the wheel. Brian’s goal is to get his bumper mounted and ready by September 1 for a vacation trip, and I’d love to have mine by then too, if possible.
This took two guys about six or so hours with minimal steelworking equipment: A circular saw, four metal blades, some clamps, angles, and a flat surface in the shade.
Last year I did some horse trading for a new poly gas tank. The tank that came on my truck leaked from several different places, and the gauge never worked, so I figured I’d try to knock out a few birds with one stone. I ordered a new sender and J-hooks from SSS and tried to block out a solid day’s time to work on it. I talked to Mr. Scout about my plans, and he kindly offered his garage for the weekend. I cruised over the bridge Friday night and he had a big pile of steamed Maryland crabs waiting for me, and cold beer never tasted so good.
Bright and early Saturday morning, we got started by using a cheapo Harbor Freight siphon to pull the gas out of the tank. It worked great after I finally looked at the bulb and realized the big arrow was pointing in the wrong direction.
After we drained the tank, we disconnected all of the vapor lines still existing on the driver’s side, the fuel line and the sender wiring from the passenger side. (make sure to have a bucket handy to dump the remaining fuel in the lines).
I’d sprayed the bolts with PBblaster the day before so it only took a little coaxing to get the nuts started, and the straps loosened up quickly. We rolled a floor jack underneath and braced it with blocks, then let everything down slowly and pulled the tank forward.
Once it was clear of the straps, we disconnected the sender leads and pulled it free. It was in decent shape but the sender unit had been sealed in with some kind of goo that came off in one piece. A couple of the vapor lines had been capped with non-fuel grade hose (two years ago, I replaced the fuel neck hose it came with, which was actually radiator hose) and several others just dead-ended up into the fender cavity.
We put the new sender into the tank, made sure the seal was tight, and set it into place. The poly tank I got is a little smaller than steel, so the straps aren’t quite as tight as I’d like, but once we cinched it down, it’s won’t go anywhere. We had to scoot it over to the driver’s side slightly to make the fuel neck hose fit (nobody in Chestertown had any to sell us, and the piece I had was about 1″ too short) but once that was done everything went smoothly.
We removed the plastic evap assembly from inside the fender (it wasn’t hooked up properly) and tightened the fuel neck up to the body (it wasn’t, originally), then double-checked our hoses and started putting fuel back in the tank. While that was happening, I worked on splicing new connectors onto the sender wiring.
When the last bit of gas was in the tank (and after Brian pranked me by pouring some of his water out on the floor under the tank while I wasn’t looking) I primed the carb and fired it up.
She ran smooth and didn’t die, which meant the engine was pulling from the tank properly, and I pulled her out into the driveway to idle for a moment. The gauge still read zero, so we decided to ground the wiring when we got back from Dogfish Head out in Rehoboth.
The next day, we tied the ground into a bare spot on the frame, hoping that would solve the issue with the gauge, but there was still no reading. So I’ll pull the gauge itself, test the wiring, and swap it with a spare, then look at adding a new wire for power all the way up to the dash. (I get good power to the gauge itself, and the ammeter works correctly). The ride home was uneventful and easy; I put 5 more gallons in it before crossing the Bay Bridge and didn’t have any problems with the pump shutting off or fuel coming back up the filler neck.
All totaled, it took two guys about four hours with minimal air tools, a couple of jerry cans, a siphon, and an assortment of electrical connectors.
Mama and Finn are going away for a 4-day weekend, so I will be on my own. Naturally, my thoughts turned to projects that require time that I haven’t had, and I made a list of things that take more than 2 hours but less than 2 days to complete. The first thing that came to mind was spraying bedliner on Peer Pressure’s tub, but the amount of prep time needed for that job is just too much for one person. Next on the list was the spare gas tank I’ve had sitting in the basement, surrounded by the parts and tools needed to replace it. I called Mr. Scout, and we made a plan, which then expanded into a trip across the bridge to Chestertown, a visit to Dogfish Head, Rehoboth, and other adventures unknown.
This product looks very promising, and is much, much cheaper than some of the others I’ve seen out there: EZ Cool Insulation. I’m going to order a free sample on Monday. They’re also a H.A.M.B. Alliance vendor, which goes a little further towards believability.
Here’s an interesting and helpful teardown guide for a Dana 20 transfer case. I’m going to see if I can save out the pages and the larger images into some kind of usable offline archive.
So it looks like Super Scout Specialists have new manuals in stock, which is great news. Previous printings had images that were were dark and muddy, and for someone as visually-oriented as myself, having clear diagrams and reference is mandatory. They’re having a special on them this month, so I may bite the bullet and get mine ordered next week—just in time to help drop my gas tank.
I did a 160-mile round trip out to West Virginia in the Scout this weekend, and Peer Pressure ran flawlessly. I’ve never been able to tell what my speed is (larger tires and a speedo with no provenance) but I’ve suspected that it’s indicating slower than actual. I passed several SHA radar signs—the ones that measure your speed and display it to you—and found that 50 mph indicated is somewhere around 60 mph actual. So, there’s that. I also found that I got her up to 60 indicated, which means she’ll do 70-75 mph with no worries. I will say that hitting expansion joints at that speed on Triangle springs is a dicey proposition. Apart from that, and my ladies being in a separate car (one with air conditioning and airbags), the ride was perfect. The outside temperature was warm but not sticky, the sun as at my back, and the roads were mostly clear.
I got one guy who pulled up next to me in an Acura SUV, honked his horn to get my attention, and gave me a huge thumbs-up and a smile. He stuck a camera out the window and shot a picture on the way past.
Not much new to write about right now; the truck is running really well and I haven’t made any major updates to it since last I wrote. Two small things of interest, though:
I lost my gas cap last weekend while filling up the 1-gallon tank for the lawn mower, so I bought a Stant locking replacement cap.
Super Scout Specialists is now selling updated Scout II service manuals for the low price of $95, which means I can finally buy a set. The old ones were reproduced poorly so that the pictures were useless. If these are anything as nice as the Scout 80/800 manuals, they should be a huge improvement.
This weekend, I finally solved the mystery of the rear bench seat. When last I’d attempted to swap out the bench that came with Peer Pressure (a fantastically ugly, ripped pillowed vinyl) I was stymied by two latches that hook around posts mounted on the inner wall of the wheel well. The latches were too high and didn’t catch the posts, making the seat an unsafe proposition for any passengers I might be transporting. (in the event of a sudden stop, the seat would most likely shift forward, squishing passengers between the seat and the seatbelts they were buckled into).
Saturday evening, while moving three benches around the garage, I finally noticed something missing from the original bench, and everything suddenly made sense. IH mounted two feet on the bottom rear of each seat, which propped it up off the floor by about 2″. These feet were missing from the bench the truck came with—they had been knocked off with a hammer. I reasoned that once the feet were gone, the seat sat lower on the floor and the latches were able to swing under the posts correctly. So I busted out the POR-15 and painted up two mounting brackets in preparation for Sunday afternoon.
After I’d knocked the feet off of one of the spare benches (no pillowtop, thank GOD), I sat it in the bed, adjusted the sides, and bolted it into place just as easy as could be. The only thing left to do now is scoot the Tuffy console forward about two inches so that fold becomes fold-and-tumble. And, after unbolting the set of belts it came with, I can get rid of the original bench and reclaim that much more space in the garage.
Sunday afternoon I took a quick trip down to visit Brian H, who has taken a Sawzall to his driver’s floor, and we shot the breeze for a half hour or so. He’s making adjustments to his cab before welding in all new metal—floor mounts, rocker, the whole works. What he’s got done so far looks good, and his welds are really coming along. He’s trying to get her back on the road for next weekend’s trip to Bennett’s farm…I’m pulling for him.
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