Ram Build

[jerry56]

Ok time for a new project, my superintendent says he's tired of using his truck to haul stuff and he wants a company truck....
So I need a pick-up that can pull a trailer, haul and dump dirt, gravel and mulch across town and on the job site... so we have a three-fer
A truck, trailer that my Delta loader and D5 fit perfectly on and the bosses daughter gets a new car...




The goal with this one is to keep it as close to the original ride height and wheel base. For this I don't want a rock crawler I want to keep it looking as street-able as I can.
I'll use WPL axles and drive train, just to try them I'm using the plastic axle housings with metal internals, and the stock plastic WPL transfer case ( I have metal parts in case these fail miserably), but I wanted to see how they hold up.

First I wanted to get the ride height set.


With the Bruder rear axle out I can see where my new axles and springs will set...


And it's way to high and well...uneven so we are going to have to do some cutting.. I've seen these where they just cut out the center and hot glue in a WPL frame and call it a day, or just screw the springs to the plastic ... I'm not going that route...
So time to cut up a brand new toy....


All the molded in features and gone on the rear....now I have a flat plane to work from.
and the front gets the same treatment


Now to figure out what I'm going to put in the gaping holes and how I'm going to do it....

[frizzen]

I'm digging the quad cab Ram and especially that tandem trailer.

Some styrene sheet in like 0.040" or 0.060" would probably be about right for filling those chassis holes back in. Either solvent weld or a low temp soldering iron should work

[jerry56]

I liked it too, and the trailer fits the D5 and Delta loader perfect and the skidsteer...
That's what I was thinking or aluminum then I could tap it...I'm kind of leaning toward the aluminum, I want to see how it is to work with cause I want to get into some different builds.

[jerry56]

Ok, I went with aluminum so I could tap it and bolt things right to it. So I went with with this.

I can tap it but you have to be careful not to strip the threads cause it's just barely thick enough.
Here's what it looks like, this raises the axles just enough to get away from the rock crawler look. I'd like them tighter but I can't find a wheel/tire combo I like.



Still higher than I wanted but if I go lower the front tires will rub pretty bad and I don't want to hack the wheel wells anymore than I have to.



Judging from trucks I see on the road this is a streetable lift.... not my cup of tea but streeable.

Here's a shot with the front half of the body sitting on it.



I have a set of these coming https://store.rc4wd.com/RC4WD-Goodye...es_p_5837.html they are 54mm vs 60mm for the ones in the picture. I'm hoping they give me a little more room in the wheel wells without looking to small...
The rims are WPL at about 1.2 but I have a set of 1in beadlocks I want to try... Next I want to get a motor mounted, I'll probably go with a 180 can motor so I don't have hack up the interior....but I have a back-up if it doean't have the power I need.

[jerry56]

Time to get the motor mounted in this thing. I'm using a stock WPL plastic transfer case because I just want to see how it holds up... never know until you try. I have a 180 case slotcar motor in it it's an old Ninco NC2 motor they had a lot of torque...If the plastic doesn't hold up I have a metal unit with a 370 motor to put in it...
I didn't want to cut into the interior so went with the smaller 180 and it fit better than I thought I cut the hole for it then reinforced it with some .60 plastic sheet.


I'm using a combination of aluminum and plastic along with JB weld and a body panel epoxy again just to see how well they hold up.
Here is the transfer case,the one on the right is stock and the one on the left I shaved down so it sits tight against the bottom of the chassis.



I looks good screwed in place.






So because the wheel base is longer than a WPL I made some drive shafts.
These are stock steel WPL pieces, I cut part of the keyed section off and used JB weld to glue it in one end then glued the rest in the other end. I trimmed the tail down about a 1/8 of an inch so if I need to pin it I can and it won't bottom out this little truck doesn't have or need a whole lot of drive line travel


The shaft is simply aluminum tubing that fits snug on the drive shaft with a little sanding...




Once I get everything worked out I shoot a quick coat of satin black paint on the the whole chassis.

I decided this needs to be a dump bed... cause I want to see if I can make it work and still look stock plus I'll need a pintal hook on it cause it needs to pull a trailer too...

[dremu]

In the 1:1 world, I'm a Ford guy, but I'd take a RAM over a GM any day. (Actually, my FIL says the perfect truck would be my SuperDuty with the Cummins out of the RAM and the Allison out of the Chebbie. But I digress.)

I think those new tires will do much better for it. The ones one it now (that came with the truck, I presume?) are way too big, bro-dozer style, ugh.

Doing a dump bed sounds fantastic. Depending on size, might be really hard to do RC, though. Even the small Actuonix linear actuators are kinda big. Servo(s) and lever(s)? Or were you gonna do like a manual crank for it?

For a tow rig, you might do up the rear as a dually, do the wider fenders for it. Could just space the rear wheels out and fake it, or actually double them up with spacers inside.

Anyway, my ramblings aside, I think that's gonna look good. I get so caught up in my scratch work that I forget that it takes MORE work to retrofit stuff in a conversion like that!

[jerry56]

Well... Big farm has a chevy dually, I haven't found a Ford in the right size yet, I just kind of go with what I find... LOL
No I'm going to make the bed dump from the radio.... one way or another...it's only 3x4in so it's not very big and it is plastic after all. Not sure how useful it will be I just want to try and do it...
I have another Ram I want to do as a flat bed dually but that's another build...
I wasn't digging these tires at 60mm I found some that are 55mm I hope they look better.
Scratch building and conversions each have their own challenges. With conversions if you want to stay close to the original look you have to figure out ways to make things work without cutting the day lights out of it... starting from scratch... whew....that takes vision... you don't have to work around someone else's design but you have to work out your own....I go with conversions because I just don't have that kind of "vision". My hats off to those that do...


I'm a Dodge truck guy....mopar or no car...

[frizzen]

That chassis mod is looking pretty sharp. If you can't catch many threads, it might be worth adding a nut onto the top side of those spring retainer screws to help what's there last

When you said tow rig, i thought maybe lowered little more from stock 'Bro-dozer' with the bumper towbar and possibly a 5th wheel in bed. It's cool to see where this one is going.

[Tgrzes]

Wow, that’s really coming together nicel! Very clean looking.

[jerry56]

Thanks Tgrzes, I hope it ends up that way,,,lol
Frizzen, yeah I've had a couple holes strip out on me so I added nuts I thought that might happen. I hope the smaller tires get it just a little lower with the 60mm tires I'm as close as I can get they already rub more than I hoped... I'll pull the trailer it came with it with a pintel hook. I have a set of 50mm tires that are actually close to scale for a stock 17in tire but they look "skate board-ish" IDK I'll probably try both just to see how they look once I'm done...

[frizzen]

If you can bring in the wheel offset, or narrow the tire, it would probably help the amount of stuff rubbing up front?

Its hard to see in your pics, but if you're wanting the next step lower from there, try going to Spring Under Axle with the Lifted setting on the 'not a shackle'. You can fine adjust the fixed side of spring with spacers back up.

[jerry56]

I've looked around for a narrower tire but haven't found anything that's better than what I have except those I put up the link for, I have them I just need to set them under the truck.
I thought about putting the springs under the axle but the tires in the picture fit in the wheel wells ok but rub the inside when you turn. If I put the springs under the axles I think it would be worse.Been working outside this week so haven't been back on the truck hope to get a little more done on it this weekend....This dump bed is a challenge....

[skeeter]

AWESOME project!

[jerry56]

Thanks it's coming along....slowly....

[jerry56]

Finally.... I'm finishing this one up. the dump bed was a challenge, I'd never done anything like this so it was all kind of new.
First I had to figure out a place to hinge it from, I settled on fixing the bumper to the bed and hinging from the very bottom. This way the fenders bumper and everything moved. I didn't get fancy with the lift mechanism just a simple lift arm on the servo. I used a hiteck mini servo so it would fit under the bed. I wish it were stronger but it will lift a full pound and the bed isn't big enough to hold much more...


I made this rail so the bed wouldn't bounce when it was moving..



and it lifts high enough to completely dump dirt so ... it works..



I did headlights and tail lights and back-up lights... just wired the LEDs backwards across the motor so the only light up when the polarity to the motor reverses to back-up. I know not earth shattering but it worked better than I thought it would.
The truck sits higher than I wanted it to but I designed myself into a corner when I put the flat aluminum plates on the front and rear. Frizzen suggested I put the axles on top of the springs to get it lower but because there was a plate above the axles there wasn't enough room so I was kind of stuck. It will work and I'll know better next time...
I'll get the trailer done over the next few weeks, just some paint, tail lights and make the bed lift. I'll just put it all here... Now when I do my flat bed dually I'll know what not to do...lol

[Tommy R]

That's awesome! I so want to built a version of my 1:1. It's just a Rebel, but close enough. LOL But maybe I should finish a project before starting a new one??

[jerry56]

Thanks it has a nice look, you know Bruder has a "jeep" that makes a pretty sweet conversion.
LOL I know what you mean... I make myself finish one before I start another because if I don't I'll have a dozen half finished projects laying around... And you know what they say..
" Never embark on vast projects with half vast ideas"...

[skeeter]

That dump bed on that truck is AWESOME!

[frizzen]

That's looking really cool!

Couple thoughts that might help the dump action: if you could shorten the servo arm extension a little (more torque). Or shim the aft part of the bed-mounted slot lower away from bed a little (gives more throw once beds already tipped). Or move the servo mount forward a little more (uses more servo travel, can shorten arm for more torque).

Sucks about the axle clearance, i'd hoped that could help you. Sometimes you've got to get pretty crazy when lifting or lowering stuff.

"Finish a project before starting a new one?" Huh. I don't like that plan...

[jerry56]

Thanks, I'll experiment with some different tires over the summer to see what works best... for the dually I think I'm going to use some WPL D-12 tires and wheels, they have an "off road" looking set. I ordered some and think they will work well, the next one I'll make sure I get the axles about 10mm or so closer.
The lift works pretty well it can dump a full load of dirt, but I wanted the servo to be able to "draw" it down but at a point it just buzzes.... I can live with it I just adj the end point til it stops...