|
|
Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Sunday, February 21, 2010 at 21:24:51 :
I've had everything to go to put the rebuilt MU2 back in my beater M37, and today was sunny so I went at it. It turns out the guy who did all the previous modifications had used a military winch drive-shaft to go from the turned-around PTO to the special gearbox under the bed, so I didn't need to go find another drive shaft. The winch end of it had a 1-1/4" hole and a keyway, rather than the 1" hole and cross-drilled hole for the MU2's shaft and shear pin, but it was easy enough to make a sleeve and drill a hole.
All looked good until I went to put it in. Turns out the custom front bumper and/or the use of an MU2 instead of LU4 winch on the M37 raised it up too high for the drive shaft to clear the front cross-member and the radiator support.
The guy who did all the other mods torched out the holes in the cross-member considerably larger, but I needed them higher still. I didn't mind that too much because it was already hacked up, and I didn't think making the holes a little taller would weaken it. But the radiator support was a big problem. There was no way to lower the winch without rebuilding the whole bumper assembly, which looks like a high school welding shop project; 3/4" plate everywhere and all of it with multiple weld beads all over. He welded the bumper to the extensions, the extensions to the frame, the spring perches to the frame, the steering bracket to the frame, and the front winch mounts to the bumper. Plus lots of other stuff.
So, I took a deep breath, reminded myself that this is already a beater truck, and torched out about 80% of the radiator support. It'd be easy enough to weld a brace over top of the cut-out part, but then the winch drive shaft would be permanently locked in. I'm thinking I may just choose to believe that the radiator support was built way more stout than it really needed to be, and it'll be okay with the whole bottom cut out of it and only about 1/2" left on the sides. I hope I don't hit a big bump and regret it.
A mechanic with a torch is at least as dangerous as a plumber with a sawzall.
At least the winch now turns, and I can look down inside it and watch clean gear oil sloshing all over the happy new gear. It might even be time to see if I can scrounge up some good used slusher cable for the drum. I still have to find a bigger key for the PTO end (The one that was in it was too small, but I re-used it temporarily), and a genuine grade 2 bolt for the shear pin (I have a carriage bolt in now, but would not want to try to grab hold of the head of it once the nut is rusted on. All the 5/16 bolts I have around here, and all they sell at our local hardware store, are grade 5 or better.
Follow Ups: