Bulldog's Szczerba's F350 Welder Rig

[Bulldog]

So here we go. I recently purchased this rig from Szczerba. As life would have it...scalers come second and he had to let it go...So now the ball is in my court. I HAVE to give him Major credit for the engineering of this build and all the cool touches that make it scale goodness. My intention is to take his momentum and put my spin and energy into finishing it. The original thread can be found here

Szczerba's F350 Welder Rig

Along the way, I'm going to make some changes...but such is the nature of building. I've talked to Shane and he understands. So here we go.

I loved the 3D printed wheels in the 2.2 size, but in reality, there were just too many hiccups with tire fitment, offsets, mounting etc. It was either go with the 2.2s and stretch a 1.9 over the rear and do a single rear wheel or switch to the double troubles and go 1.9 all the way around with 1.55s stretched. The 1.9s/1.55 Thrashers won.




The only problem is that without custom rear axles, the tires would stick out way too far. Shane already did enough suspension work that I don't want to mess with. So...Round 2...body work.

[Bulldog]

So with the double troubles hanging in the breeze, I had to widen the bed. Started by laminating styrene. Machine blocks weighted it down.




Then with all the goodies removed, I took the styrene (left) and my laminate router and got to work.


Glued and screwed, the new sides are ready for depth adjustment of my flush cut bit.


And then the fun began.


Is it time for lunch already? I'm going to be finding styrene chips for years!!!

[XSRCdesign]

Holy crap! I would have never thought to tackle that in that manor.

[Bulldog]

After the snowstorm and a lot of questions from my kids as to what I was doing making it snow in the summer...a wider rear end...like the wife.


Check the fit.


Almost equal tire coverage for the front and rear.



Plenty of help from my boys...Porter and Cable.


After detail sanding and bondo...a very clean transition.


Three coats of primer and it's ready for its first sand...or maybe sixth.


That's all the updates for tonight. More work tomorrow. Thanks for following. G

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by XSRCdesign

Holy crap! I would have never thought to tackle that in that manor.

It worked, but cleaning up was second only to sticking a meat thermometer in my ear!

[XSRCdesign]

Originally Posted by Bulldog

It worked, but cleaning up was second only to sticking a meat thermometer in my ear!

Two questions...

Shop vac?

And how? Why?

Ok that was three technically

[Szczerba]

Told ya! You are going to knock this build out of the park!

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Told ya! You are going to knock this build out of the park!

I didn't knock a thing out of the park today. Labor day weekend...I labored and didn't touch the scalers. I did build the kids a playhouse though. $450 bucks and counting. But it was quality time spent teaching the little ones how to build and how to be a man. Blood, sweat, Home Depot, sawdust and 400 tools to do the job. And John Denver on the stereo..."Thank God I'm a country boy!"

[badBKO]

Looking good man!! I would have never thought of widening the bed like that.


It's about time I start back making me a new F350 Crew Cab dually to go with my excursion.

[nwnewbie]

Awesome start! Can't wait to see what you do with this to finish it up!

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[Ballistic17]

That is looking pretty good. Subbed

[DieselRC]

He's back!!! Been following the build all over social media but glad you're taking a stab at it. Totally off topic but what ever happened to the newer style superduty bodies you were making?

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by DieselRC

He's back!!! Been following the build all over social media but glad you're taking a stab at it. Totally off topic but what ever happened to the newer style superduty bodies you were making?

I'm just sitting on them for a few years...they're like wine! Honestly, I'm just trying to finish a couple dozen builds and then I need to get back to that project. I wasn't happy with how I could present the molded bodies without a finished one to reference and I had to move before I could knock off a full build in all its glory. I still have them and they will arise someday!

[Bulldog]

Update!
So I had a chance to really dig into the rig. I really wanted to make sure it looked sharp for the new owner (if you know one?!) So I went to town. First off, I had to get the body in paint, even if it was a little premature. It's probably the nicest paint job I've done. I credit duplicolor paints over painter's touch primer. It just worked well and so far no problems. And I'm NO PAINT WIZ!!!

I went with a paint color that was a little off the grid, but I've got some builds going right now that are flashy, so I wanted to keep it subdued. It will have some cool touches though. Here we go. The paint is different in different lights.






Then I tore down the whole rig, which will be factory fresh from the ground up.


Shane did an amazing job engineering all the details. It took me about three hours just to disassemble and document how it came apart. This is full custom building here!!! Keep in mind, have of the holes you see are drilled and tapped to match the axles. Great job Shane!



Then I wanted to grind down all the sharp edges and clean up some of the metalwork.



After a lot of grinding and flap wheel work, things are nice and smooth.


Of course, there had to be a hiccup. While cleaning the chassis, I broke one of the link mount welds. I'm a brazer, so I had to find my setup and put a bead inside the link mount. The rest are solid as Sears.


After primer and paint, a fresh new chassis...and another three hours to put it all back together!


Oh and of course, you can't just have one or two superduties, I have to have 4 (And the late model ones on the way!)


Next up is redoing all the links in a uniform manor. Thanks for looking and updates soon. Greg

[Szczerba]

Very nice!

I don't have the whole MIG thing down yet, lol. Especially since I am using it on such small pieces of metal.

This truck is going to be super clean when done.

[Bulldog]

Originally Posted by Szczerba

Very nice!

I don't have the whole MIG thing down yet, lol. Especially since I am using it on such small pieces of metal.

This truck is going to be super clean when done.

I could have taken it a bunch of directions, but decided on the "Custom Offroad shop can't have a beatup welder truck driving around town" theme. Plus, the body was already so clean, I wasn't going to weather up a perfectly nice crewcab.

I've got some fun bits in store. We'll see how it goes. And damn I wish I had a welder. It's a whole different ballgame as far as fab work goes. I never could have pulled off something like this brazing. I think the perfect setup would be a welder to tack and then braze up to finish the joints. But, I've got enough tools and a welder isn't in the budget! Stay tuned.

[CM9000]

Rig is looking good. Gotta admit. Im a bit jealous. I have #56 of shanes.. And im not giving it up. Good luck on the finish. I like where this is heading.

[Bulldog]

So after a some thinkering, tinkering and swapping out some parts, I'm ready for reassembly. I made sure to take notes how everything came apart, because this isn't a kit with instructions. I reversed the order and everything went back together better than I expected. I swapped alot of the original hardware and just tried to clean things up to do the rig justice. Again, Shane did an amazing job engineering this.

Here we go. First off, I put a coat of paint on the double troubles. Black is in, so black it will be.


Then, I took the chassis into the studio to get some nice clean shots.








Next up is mounting the body and adding some details. Thanks for looking. Greg

[dman10]

Astonishing work from both of you, of course I am partial to superdutys, and I am from Texas, where welding rigs are the norm


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[BadWagon]

Wow. This is really coming along. Both of y'all have done a hell of a job. I can't wait to see it all together.