Ok here we go...PMF!

[dales133]

Well I washed and vacuumed my car , so eased the drives haft and checked the oil ect, went to 3 differnt super markets filled the crusier up with fuel and basicly thought about what to do all day.
I've got everything else I needed to do done today so tomorrow's free to spend a day on the TD and work out a plan and get some other bits of it sorted

[lrrowe]

Sometimes I think we need to start a fresh thread on; what kept me awake at night –staring at the dark ceiling– and thinking about, "how I'm gonna fix this?

Something will work.

Tony

Ain't that the truth tony.
When everything's going right you realize you forgot to do/buy something or when your trying to get something done in limited time you almost know it's going to cause a problem.
I don't know how many nights I've spent thinking about how to tackle something

Sometimes that is what puts me to sleep - like counting sheep, or sometimes I realize what sleeping pills are for.

[dales133]

What dosn't put you to sleep keeps you awake!

[dales133]

Had all the bad kinds of weather possible this morning except snow! But then again the hail was close to snow so I've done nothing except Ho to the flea market drive fly .
Suns out so might get to work soon

[Sheddie]

Was thinking of you when I was watching the weather on TV last night. Hopefully by the time that gets across the Tasman the high will have pushed it south and we will miss the worst of it. I have a busy week on then heading off on Friday for ANZAC weekend with the TD.

[dales133]

Yea pretty ugly down the south east.
Snow flurries in the high country and tassie

[dales133]

I've seen a couple of other builds where a tall front box (call it tounge box or drawbar box; you say tamatahs I'll say tomatoes;) ) and they have the same curve as the front profile...I'm considering this option to fix my problem but as KC said it may pay to have a gap but can anyone see a reason why I can't build it into the main box and if so why.
Another reason why I'm tossing this idea around is I think the easiest place by far to put the battery is the drawbar providing weight distribution works out ok.
I believe it will as I can use the water tank as ballast.
I also need to put the fridge either in the Wagon on drop slides of in the tounge box.
I was thinking of having access from each side of the tounge box and the batteries could be accessed from under the fridge when it's pulled out.
It also allows me to fit the solar controller and fuse box for the cabin front stuff right near where it needs to be.
Your thoughts please

[felixx]

good luck for your course tomorrow mate

[dales133]

Thanks bud. I'm driving a 5 ton excavator vroom vroom

[Sheddie]

The reason KC would have suggested the need to leave a gap, would be that you do get flexing where the tongue meats the main chassis frame. Therefore if you don't have enough gap between the box and the house they will bump. The more height you have in the tongue box, the more space you need to allow. The other option would be to build the box as part of the house and leave a gap between the bottom of the box and the tongue. If you do it this way you would need to beef up the construction of the front of the house to support the weight you will be carrying up there. If you attached it to both, the structure of the box and the front of the house would need to be strong enough to stop the flex or in time it would damage the structure.

[dales133]

Yea i hear you but my drawbar runs almost 2 meters each side under the frame and the center member runs just under a meter under so it's pretty beefy.
I could always mount it on some polyurethane bushes or something as insurance but it would be far less an issue than similar I've seen on Harbour freight style trailers.
I can also add steel if needed

[KCStudly]

Sheddie hit it. On my frame, despite being 2x2x3/16 A-frame, there is noticeable flex between the tongue and main frame. This will only become more so when the cabin stiffens the frame further. Because the tongue box does not extend out to the side walls, this could cause a can opener effect on the front wall if the box was built rigid to it. That was my original plan, but then I changed and planned to have rubber isolation mounts between the TB and frame. Then I decided to separate the TB and left 3/4 inch gap to my front locker bump out, but will still use the isolation mounts, just because I had already bought them and allowed for their height.

[dales133]

Yea might require a differnt plan.i realy like the look of the built in style that mirrors the front shape

[KCStudly]

People have done that, and I don't recall anyone saying that they had a problem. So maybe not doom and gloom. I guess I'm just saying that it is something to consider. For my build method and chassis, I changed my mind and decided not to do it that way.

In the end, you are the only one who can evaluate your own build and your situation. If it doesn't seem like a situation for you, then go for it.

Just be aware that regardless of how stiff a chassis is, where the tongue meets the main frame is going to be the place were the flex shows itself. Nothing is so rigid that it does not flex, unless it breaks.

Anecdote: One time while traveling with the family as a kid, traffic was backed up on a large suspension bridge and we came to a complete stop (turns out the cops were searching vehicles for a fugitive). The thing that struck me was how much you could feel the bridge moving from the large trucks traveling in the other direction. I asked my dad why the bridge was moving so much, and he simply said, "because if it didn't it would break". He was a pipe support engineer by profession and I learned a lesson from him that day about work hardening. You always think of a huge structure like a bridge as being super strong and being the so called, "immovable object". It just isn't so; I may have never been the wiser if we hadn't stopped on that bridge. Well, maybe I would have, since I went on to become a mechanical engineer, of sorts, but I hope you get my point.

So if the loads are not so high, and the strength is there, and the joints are flexible enough, then it can work.

[dales133]

Yea i remember when my HQ holden threw number 6 piston out the side of the block on the auckland harbor bridge on the way to pukekohe going to the v8 super cars many moons ago.
Scarey how much that flexed and carried on.
Never felt quite the same driving over it ever again ( .
Still thinking on it but I was up at 4 after a bad nights sleep to get down to melborne to do this course.
Uggggh at the paperwork and repetition but got a decent play on a CAT skidstear and another tracked skidstear plus an old hitachi dozer.
Strange to be in a class room again and with industry health and safty crap here its all repetitive paperwork.
Came home with another pile of homework as well but it means we get more time on the machines tomorrow.

KC I got something arived from eBay today I recon you'll love or at least get a kick out of.
I bid on it last week and won it for 10.50.
It's , I'd estimate looking at the design and the fact it's Baker lite about a 30s-50s 375amp duel battery isolator off an old boat.
It's made in Boston and in realy good shape and pretty huge.
I was going to mount it somewhere pretty prominent for a bit of nostalgia.
I'll get some pics for you



here ya go bud and to any other nautical buffs out there, i think its a thing of beauty