f350 tow truck/ tow rig

[bbnate804]

hoping to contribute a little to the forum that i've been getting a lot of info from lately. have been collecting parts with the intention of building a 1.9 f350 tow truck. pulling the guys over with the two straps and winch on my 2.2 blazer had been a lot of fun. that got me thinking it could be fun to put together a tow truck. so far i've got

axial frame, trans, axles
integy 55t, novak rooster
1.9 proline tsls on axial wheels
hs 5645 steering and servo winch
homemade links and cms/3-link

couple pictures of what i've got together so far. don't have a set plan, just some ideas of what i'd like to do with the truck. its gonna be more of a fun rig as super scale is out of my league at this point. maybe someday though. the picture of the orange truck is just a general idea of what i'm hoping to do with the tow body. with work and some of the other things going on its gonna be a pretty slow build. this is my first full build so please feel free to toss in any comments or suggestions.

 

[swezy207]

Good start! should be a good build. "thumbsup"

 

[Bulldog]

great start! You'll refine your skills by trying! concept looks cool and different...always good! Take your time...there's no rush. Post up with your progress."thumbsup"

 

[bbnate804]

well i was out in the shed for a couple hours this evening but i'd be lieing if i said i made any progress. the brazing on the thin sheet metal of the back body is kicking my butt. i fabbed up some of the boom and the boom mount. i can't for the life of me get the boom mount brazed to the bed. it seems like the large surface of the bed is sucking the heat away from the area i'm trying to braze. its the same issue i had trying to braze together the deck and bed sides. i had to get my uncle to tack the bed together with a mig welder. anybody have any ideas or tricks for brazing sheet metal?

 

[jcsaxial]

You could just mount tabs on the bed and run a rod through the boom so it would raise and lower.

 

[bbnate804]

what i've got is similar to tabs. i took some scrap sheet from the bed and bent into some 1/2" inside c-channel. my 1/2" square stock for the boom slips inside nice and snug. i test fit the two pieces together, drilled through and pushed in a tension pin. the end result is snug but still allows the boom to move freely in its mount. i just can't that mount to braze down to the deck of the bed.

 

[sixshooterstang]

is it going to have a working winch in the rear? id like to see where you get a scale orange light bar from

 

[jcsaxial]

Garden trucking has a yellowish bar but ithink its a little pricey

 

[Helicopter Len]

As far as your mount goes, does the 1:1 tow truck's boom bolt into the bed? Use some small scale screws and nuts, and maybe a smooth looking bezel ring/ doubler to clamp it down to the bed. I'm thinking it would look scale with the right hardware. Just a thought B) Nice work so far though, looks good

 

[bbnate804]

is it going to have a working winch in the rear? id like to see where you get a scale orange light bar from

definitely going to incorporate a working winch on the lift boom. i don't have enough radio equipment to do it remotely so i'm planning to mount up a couple micro 3-way toggles at the back corner of the truck. similar to the 1:1, 1 switch for winch the other hopefully to run the boom up and down. i've been looking around for an orange light bar. at the prices i found, i'm leaning towards outfitting my light rack at the back of the cab with a bunch of offroad led's instead. in my head i'm seeing 2 large in the middle, 2 smaller on the outside ends, and a pair on the underside pointing back. i'd like to see lights in the body too. at this point lights are a wish list item tho.

As far as your mount goes, does the 1:1 tow truck's boom bolt into the bed? Use some small scale screws and nuts, and maybe a smooth looking bezel ring/ doubler to clamp it down to the bed. I'm thinking it would look scale with the right hardware. Just a thought B) Nice work so far though, looks good

after reading your idea and looking at the pic i'm thinking your onto something. i cut up some discs and did a rough mock up. i like the look and think the scale hardware running around would really set it off. if i can get it all attached to each other.

i did some more work on the bed, filling the seams and holes. much nicer looking. few more pictures, sorry for the junk in the background.

 

[Helicopter Len]

Always up for some brain storming! Looks sharp, I like the tow rig idea, sure it will turn out good

 

[bbnate804]

got some hardware in the mail so tried to make some progress tonight. about all i managed was to get some things bolted down. tried again to do some brazing on the sheet metal. had absolutely no luck and i've only got one idea why. i jacked the sheet metal from a computer case. it was perfect size and price for what i wanted to do. now i'm thinking its some form of alloy that doesn't take well to brazing. initially i just chalked up my struggles to the size of the piece of metal dissipating the heat. tonight i tried to braze a couple of small tabs (nickel size) to each other with no success. the metal turns red, the flux turns silver, the brazing rod doesn't take whether i try silv 45 or 56. i didn't run into any kinda trouble like this with brake line, solid rod, or the lil bit of angle when i worked on my blazer. unless somebody's got some idea it looks like i'll be scrapping the bed and starting over again with some fresh sheet metal from tractor supply.

 

[bbnate804]

wanted to thank you guys for the help and support on this. unfortunately its not gonna get finished by me. its pretty wild the hand that life deals you sometimes. i'll be letting this thing go as an unfinished project and hopefully somebody will pick it up and finish it out. thanks again.

 

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