Jon And Sheri's Vitamin D Wagon

As she sits now,

But it didn't start out like this.




We returned from our trip to Colorado Sept 2009 to find this waiting in the yard.

It needs a few little sumthuns--but it is a great start I do think.
Here is where we begin to take over the work started by trukmajik and dejello

updated pics ^^^^^how it was when I got it

Now here is how it looks as of 4-1-2010

got the wheels all shiny!

and as of 8-5-2010

with swaybar^^^

without sway bar

revised shock towers and more flex-Big thanks to Dkchrist for coming over to weld em in. I owe him big time!!

With a top

LED rock lights

 

[Turdle]

Good stuff - cant wait to see what interesting color you choose for it!

Wrinkle black is the only choice. But do not despair as great news is forthcoming.

Here it is finished up

This shot shows ground clearance

And now the best part. Turn it upside down, slide it back in and my truck is now a nightclub. Now I need a mirror ball

 

[jad2411]

Way too cool!

 

[gmanpaint]

Sweet! Throw a vinyl tablecloth over it and you can set the travel bbq grill on it.

 

[crazyflights]

Love it!! Now just bring it to Smorr and we can use it 1st hand!!

 

[Turdle]

Look what I just scored for FREE!!!

They are not usable for the fire department, however they will fill them for me free of charge to 1200 psi

I was focusing on the label sorry--these do have the fill level gauges ( up to 2500 psi) on them.

 

[sparksafly'n]

Look what I just scored for FREE!!!

They are not usable for the fire department, however they will fill them for me free of charge to 1200 psi

I was focusing on the label sorry--these do have the fill level gauges ( up to 2500 psi) on them.

Hey buddy!!!!!? Joshua wants to know how much your rack weights??? BUDDY!!!!!:BUDDY

 

[Turdle]

Hey buddy!!!!!? Joshua wants to know how much your rack weights??? BUDDY!!!!!:BUDDY

Well, if he wants to come put it on a scale he can. Off the top of my head I would say bout 75 lbs givertake

 

[gmanpaint]

So whats the plan Stan? Gonna mount them on the roof top with a 02 mask that drops in the cabin to help ya breath when your on top of the Mountains in CO?




:

 

[Turdle]

well, I was hoping to use one for inflating tires, air tools --etc.

I need to figure out a regulator though, and those are $$$ so this might get put on hold for a bit.

 

[cybergasm]

FWIW
if ya get the Powertank type regulators those are major $$$ I Know for a reason

right now on the Powertank i have i am running a Uni Weld Co2 regulator on it.

It is only good to 120 psi but it gets the job done albeit a little slower than the 200PSI powertank regulators.

but i still can air up tires with it and run air tools also with it no i am no hurry to get the Powertank Reg.

 

[Turdle]

A 120 psi output would be like cheese cake with cherries as far as I am concerned.

 

[Maniak]

I have 2 regulators (one is on the 5lbs bottle, and the other is on the 20 lbs bottle).

PolyPerformance sells 150 psi fixed regulators for pretty cheap.

My 2nd regulator is a hyperflo (hyperflo or hyper-flo) one and it works better (freezes less). Both will freeze if I use a ball valve as a blow gun but neither freezes using air tools.

Poly performance also sells a co2 regulator with hose (won't sell it without the hosue) that is 220 psi. They won't sell it without the hose since most hoses can't take 220 psi working pressure.

The issue I see though is co2 bottles are only 800 or so PSI all the time (hence why a gauge is worthless). Your going to be running higher pressures AND the o2 bottle (don't think its pure o2 though) has a different fitting. If you can find an adapter to take what is on that bottle now and convert it to a cga-320 (I think thats the right name for the co2 fitting type) you could use the hyper-Flo or another fixed co2 regulator.

~Mark

 

[dkchrist]

Hey nice tanks! What about welding regulators from the local metal yard?

 

[Turdle]

Hey nice tanks! What about welding regulators from the local metal yard?

Hi Daniel!! Good to hear form you man!

Yeah, I found a high pressure 4000psi in 100 psi out regulator, now all I need to do is swap out the inlet nipple to one which fits the air bottle. I'll see how well that flows. I usually don't run my air impact over 100 psi anyway.

 

[corkey]

did they fail the hydrostatic test or have some leakage that caused them to be unusable to the fire department ?

 

[Turdle]

did they fail the hydrostatic test or have some leakage that caused them to be unusable to the fire department ?

No, they need to be re tested or swapped out so they are swapping em out.

 

[Turdle]

OH I almost forgot to log this. Today I re-pulled the fuel pump assembly so I could "adjust" the float rod. Now the gas gauge reads full when full, instead of reading 3/4 full.

 

[Turdle]

OK, long time ago I removed the sway bar because it didn;t work out well, and since we are going to be driving on a few curvy roads it was time to address this issue.

The stock width bar also was an issue as to clearance with the track bar frame bracket. So, I needed to find one about 36" wide eye to eye

I found what I think is a 88 ranger 2wd front bar. The frame mount points on the ranger were more inboard but using the stock explorer mountas and bushing works great.
The 1/2" eye ends are turned vertical making for an easy direct mount to a 1/2" rod end using some low mis shims.

Also, the ends are more of a direct path, reaching around the trac bar mount just fine. Now the bolt I was having clearance issues with is behind the bracket, out of the way.


I used the endlinks Dkchrist made, however i had to trim the tube eye a bit, and installed a 3/4" inner rubber bushing ( recycled eye bushings from a 2nd gen 5th shock, bore the center to 3/4" on drill press) . I then sleeved the bushings with a 9/16" tube to use a 9/16 bolt on the bottom end. This gives a rubber bushing end for a bit of ride quality.

Quick disconnect will be down the road I guess, for now you'll just have to wait a minute for me to wrench them out. I'm not in a hurry lately. Needed for the quick disco's are 2 9/16" universal hitch pins in place of the lower 9/16 bolts I reckon.

Here's the pics

Look how horizontal the sway bar is now.

It handles great.

I believe this is now a safe sway bar. Comments?

 

[gmanpaint]

Looks Great Jon.

With the Heim joint & the rubber in there it will help with lateral force on the lower connection. It looks safe to me.

 

[Albino 94LTD]

I recommend turning the bolts around on the vertical links with the nuts on the inside so you don't rip a sidewall when at full lock.

It might seem like the rubber will never get there but,,,an ounce of prevention,,,,,, full lock down hill can really distort the tire carcass.