Berthas Cummins Build: Update 8/9/11 Drivetrain Assembly

[badriver19]

Not really any updates right now. It is definitely alive and kicking, just no chance to work on it right now. And actually, i just moved again out of that damn cul de sac that we moved to a year and a half ago and onto a little over 2.5 acres which is the main reason for having no time at all to work on this beast. It has a 32x24 barn on it that used to be a horse barn but has wood panel siding and a shingled roof that i plan on gutting the two horse stalls out of to make room for the build. I am hoping to gut it very soon so i can start repair work on the cab and get this thing in some paint finally.

Thanks for the comments too!

I'll definitely post back once i have some progress though.

 

[badriver19]

Well here goes the longest overdue update ever.....

Most of 2012 & into 2013 - It looks like I left off while I was living at my first house. I was working out of a 1.5 car garage. I made the progress on it that I could while I lived there, but it was tough as I could only access one side and end of the truck at a time. I'd pick away at it here and there as I could.

Early 2013 - Put running gear and drive train in storage in one of our plant buildings while I worked on the cab I thought I was going to use(I ended up parting the original body).

Summer 2013 - Then I ended up moving to a 2.5 acre property that had a 24x32 horse barn on it that was half (2)stalls, half concrete, and 24x8 of it was a tack room addition. I decided right away I was going to turn it into a shop and possibly add on to it later. I tore down the wall dividing the tack room along with the stalls and it opened it up quite a bit. Although it was much more room than I had in my first garage, it was still pretty limiting, especially with the two posts in the middle of the dirt floor. Only a little better than half of it was concrete with the back half being dirt still, there were posts left from the original structure and stall layout, and there was very limited power on a 30A sub panel with 2 breakers on it for the lights and a receptacle. I ended up running a new 100A sub panel from the house to the barn so I could run the welder and plasma.

2013-Current - Ive worked on it here and there when I can from 2013-2018 making some progress on milestones and then losing steam. RZRs consumed a fair amount of my barn time along with adding on to the barn in early 2017 until I finally made a big push at the end of 2018 which left me with very few minor things left to check off the list only to have the winter cold delay the final tasks. However, without heat at this time, I dont think she would be seeing much road time until spring anyway. Ill complete the last remaining tasks on the list over the next couple of months and take her on her first test drive after a final nut & bolt check.

Here are pics of some of the work that went on over the past 6+ years. They should be fairly organize chronologically:

Running gear heading for storage from my first house

Pulled the cab and had it blasted and primered it. This is actually how it sits today in storage

In storage

2013 - 100A Sub panel and 50A receptacles added to the barn

2014 - Then I impulsively bought this for the body and sold the running gear. I almost broke even on it and it will put off bodywork for several years.

2014 - Taking the running gear to the new to me barn to put the new cab on.

2015 - The cab needed the same modifications that I made to the previous cab and a bit more: modified the brake booster hole to fit the hydroboost mount/nut and turn it into a high hump from the low hump it was. I already had a high hump with the holes in the correct locations from the previous cab.

2015 - Cab and bed on

2015-16 - Mounted the hydroboost and got it hooked up. I recently replaced the high pressure lines with some heavy Parker crimped lines though because somehow one of the Aeroquip lines I was using developed a pinhole leak in it.

Even on the old cab, I could never get the hydroboost to bleed through the power steering pump and always had a whine. I replaced the pump with a unit from I believe a 2nd gen Cummins that has 2 return ports in the reservoir. I made a thread on that but I cant remember if it ended up being the return lines running separately that fixed it or if the pump itself was bad. I can look it up if it would help someone.

 

[badriver19]

Clutch push rod at rest

Clutch push rod at full engagement. Im dont care for the angle of the rod fully pressed but it works fine for now and Im not sure how I would modify it at the moment.

I could not for the life of me find a steel driven gear for my 29 spline Dodge output shaft/housing so I ended up swapping the housing and plastic drive gear with parts from a Chevy housing which parts were much easier to find for.

This is the driven gear that I could not locate

I made a set of traction bars from some solid aluminum and some heims from Ballistic Fab and cut some brackets out on the waterjet for them. I thought these turned out pretty damn cool.

Once I had most everything hooked up to the cab and it semi-bolted to the frame, I threw a block of wood on the floor and drove(putted) it around the property. At this point it was bare bones obviously. No seats, still starting with a jump wire key across the ignition switch plug, a piece of pallet wood propping the radiator away from the fan, no bolts in the bed, the fuel tank propped up on a block of wood to get the little bit of fuel to the draw tube, the fuel pump hooked up to the battery manually, etc. It still felt good at this point to get her out and at least stretch her legs a little bit. There is ton of work yet left to do at this point.

I think that is enough of a dump for tonight. Ill try to do another one soon.

 

[mtnman]

Thanks for the update! Got a buddy doing a similar project and he’s gonna love this stuff!

 

[badriver19]

More updates: This one will be more shop related than truck related.......

So switching gears a bit just as I did with life, I knew I wanted/needed more room for my outdoor hobbies. The idea was to convert the barn into a workshop somehow. With an 8'x8' sliding barn door as the only access door and the 24x32 size, I knew I had to either build new or try to add on. There were a lot of posts in the middle of the barn floor as-is and if the back wall of the barn was removed, it would leave even more posts. I figured if the space could be opened up and doubled with maybe some outdoor cover, that would serve me for a good bit.

This is an overhead view of the "floorplan" with the lower half of the picture being the original part of the barn. This seemed like a ton of space on paper......

Here is a rendering of the vision. With the barn facing the back of the long and narrow property, I thought it would be super cool to have a door that allowed a view of out back....

I played with the layout and even messed with the possibility of a two post lift...... more on that later.....

February 2017 - Apparently I had started the wiring process somewhere in there. I was not ready for that undertaking. It went on pause for a good while....more on this later as well....

February 2017 - Time to pull the trigger on the addition by removing the siding and back doors from the existing barn. Check out all of those posts in my floor.....

Another view. Also laid out the corner locations.

View from the inside. Again with the posts......

Night shot

More playing with lift locations.....

And all of a sudden the construction begins.....

These Amish guys can really go to town on this stuff. Ive heard it before, but its hard to believe it until you actually see them in action.

 

[badriver19]

February 2017 - 12' walls going up!

You can start to see the patio portion of the barn start to take shape here.

So the contracting house that I used for the construction happened to have these scissor trusses left over from a canceled job that just so happened to fit my exact width and they offered them at no extra cost. I was hesitant at first to let them use them but I think that the made a huge difference in the feel of the new space. I am very happy with them.

Framing complete and in the dry.

And skinned.....

Inside. Again with the posts.....

Berthas awaiting her new home

Night, Night.

 

[badriver19]

April 2017 - Last look at the posts....

First row of posts gone!!! Three down, two to go.

You can see the 24' LVLs that were used to support the first row of posts instead of them taking up all of my floor space!

And both pairs of sandwiched 24' LVLs installed.

It definitely changes the feel of the barn. She has come a long way to this point.

And the final posts removed. This felt great and was a major milestone of the construction.

Heres a look at the support brackets that were cut on the waterjet and welded up.

I decided to add these LVLs in last minute. There was a lot of space up there and I didnt think that it would end up being used for anything so I came up with the idea to throw a loft in. This would give me storage to get a lot of unused stuff up off of the precious floor space.

 

[badriver19]

May 2017 - This ended up being kind of a cool intersection with the LVLs and their brackets.

Loft floor joists framed in.

An overall look from the new doorway.

The ground was graded and prepped for the base gravel for the concrete.

Base gravel was spread and then these were dug.....

For these in ground scissor lifts

Holes dug a little deeper and cleaner

July 2017 - All formed up and ready for the first load of concrete. The concrete was done in three different stages. The pits will be poured separately from the rest of the floor and the patio will be poured last.

Another milestone complete!

Day of the main floor pour!

 

[max 02]

Very cool man!

 

[badriver19]

July 2017 - Main pour complete and being finished!

I started on some insulation using some 3" rigid material that we had left over from a project that we run frequently. I wasnt able to finish it before winter last year or this year, but I was able to get the addition's roof insulated between the trusses which help hold the heat from all just escaping where most of it goes. Ill finish the rest once the truck is finished.

Bad picture but the final pour is complete and finished! The outside patio slab is one of my favorite parts of the barn. Lots of usable and covered space.

The lifts in the barn and ready to be installed.

And yet another pretty major milestone for me was the door install. This is exactly the view I had envisioned when I came up with the idea of a full view door, if not, better.

I recycled this barn light shade from over one of the horse stalls. I threw some iron pipe together and got it wired up as part of the minimum code requirement from the inspector.

 

[badriver19]

August 2017 - We dropped the lifts into the pits. Everything fit perfectly and the hydraulic and air lines just needed hooked up at this point.

In place an lowered

So this shelter was originally a lean-to off the back of the original barn. I didnt want to just demo and trash it. I needed a place for firewood for our wood burner in the house and potentially in the barn as well so I figured this would be a perfect use for it. It actually ended up being a perfect size for this use.

October 2017 - It was a mudpit getting anything to the rear of the barn and everything would just track mud into the barn if I didnt do something about it. This was quite a bit of work but well worth the results.

 

[badriver19]

November 2017 - Lifts are now hooked up and operational. They have yet to be bolted down but they are very stable as-is.

I also finished to gravel along the side of the barn. I can now get to the rear of the barn without having to drive in the grass/mud.

Worked a little more on the insulation and finishing the walls. I wanted to get these sections up before I put anything on this wall.

New to me work bench top on the Lista cabinets

Now that most of my tools were halfway accessible, I could get things to a point that were workable in the new space and I could get back to work on Berthas...... eventually.

One last project for the barn. Storage shelves which are also steps to access the loft without a ladder. These are pretty handy except they only fit about half of the bottles that I planned to store on them. SMH

 

[badriver19]

February 2018 - Alright, back on Berthas.

I had been intimidated by the wiring and always said that it was the main thing holding me back on this project since the drivetrain was completed. Once it was all laid out and I knew what I needed out of the wiring, it became a bit easier and less intimidating.

I installed parts of an American Auto Wire wiring harness maybe in earlier 2017? I kind of had a feeling that it wasnt going to do everything that I needed it to do. I needed to add some circuits and wanted/needed to run several different relays. I wanted everything in one place on one panel if it could work. I figured up everything that was needed in addition to the main AAW harness and started laying it out. Some of it works with the AAW harness or uses it as a source to trigger relays.

This was the first sketch of the layout I came up with and actually ended up pretty close to this with the addition of a tach module and the main power distribution block.

The main components were:
- Main Circuit breaker
- Main 120A relay
- Fuel Shutoff Solenoid relay
- Lift Pump relay
- Low Headlight relay
- High Headlight relay
- Dakota Digital DSL-1 Tach Module
- Grid Heater relays
- 8 Fuse Panel
- 12 Terminal block
- Ground block

This panel will be fed from a main power distribution block that will also feed the AAW Main fuse block, the grid heater relays, and it will be where the alternator will sense the voltage drop. The power distribution block will be fed by a 2/0 cable from the battery. The alternator charge cable will be 2 gauge and run from the alternator directly to the battery.

Playing with layouts of the panel

Most of the components needed for the power transfer and panel needs.

This a piece of 1/8" HDPE that was cut on the waterjet, heated and bent, and the beginnings of the final assembly and wiring of the panel.

All of the wires to and from the panel will be routed through the large hole in the center of the panel.

Then came up with the idea to cover the mess of wires running through the hole with the tach module but it would have to be blocked up to allow the wires to pass under it and through the hole.

Most of the small gauge wires are ran with the exception of the wires from the AAW harness to trigger the circuits. They will come up through the same hole under the tach module as well and routed under the terminal block, which was also blocked up, and then ultimately connected to the terminal block.

Power supply cables added

Relays mounted and routed. You can also see the 1" aluminum blocks that were cut on the waterjet to elevate the tach module for clearance for the wires to run through the hole underneath it. Ill post more on the installation of the panel and cables in a later update.

 

[mtnman]

Want to come re-wire all my trucks?

 

[badriver19]

July 2018 - I went on a delay from February through July while we did some renovations on the house in preparation for a new addition to our family who joined us on July 6th, 2018. She has been an incredible blessing and I took some time off of everything for a bit. I did find a little time here and there to work on her a bolt or two at a time.....

I knew that the head gasket needed replaced since I pulled the motor from the donor truck years ago. My original plan was to leave it be until the truck was drivable. I was driving it as is in the donor truck for a bit after all so why not?.... I dont know why I wouldnt have just replaced it while the engine was on the ground and fully accessible.. Ive done one before and there isnt much that can go wrong or be difficult to diagnose if something did go wrong. I guess I just wanted to have a completely blank slate to begin with so I didnt stack the deck against myself. With as long as this project has taken, I am pretty glad I decided not to mess with it much because I would have never remembered what all I did to it along the way.

There were a few issues/symptoms that I want to fix before I start messing with any performance mods:

1.) Blown head gasket

2.) I started seeing oil leaking from the exhaust ports at both the turbo and at the head of the exhaust manifold. I figured that this was caused by a blown head gasket. I also thought it could be valve seals. As far as I can tell, the only other possibility causing oil in the exhaust is blow-by?

3.) I also noticed a bit of white smoke and a HEAVY eye-watering exhaust smell while it was running. Also thought the blown gasket might be part of the cause of this as it seemed to worsen some over the years, but Im going to say that this one is related to the impulsive tweaking we did to the injection pump when it was in the donor truck years ago.

4.)There is some hesitation and stuttering/missing as the engine is revved with no load. I am hoping that this is also a side effect of messing with the injection pump.

My plan was to tackle the biggest item that I knew of on the list which was the headgasket.

Here are the items I replaced while doing the head gasket repair:
- Headgasket
- Thermostat & Gaskets
- Valve springs upgraded to heavy springs
- O-ringed the head
- ARP Head Studs
- Pop Tested Injectors
- Exhaust Manifold Gaskets

Picture for reference before I started disassembly:

The oil wasnt present in all of the cylinders. It was worse in the rear two I believe.

These are the front two cylinders. For some reason I didnt get a pic of the middle two cylinders.

You can see the oil at the bottoms of the exhaust ports along with the oil at the bottom of the downpipe flange.

I got the head removed and took it to our local diesel performance shop. I had them O-ring the head and add heavy valve springs as well. They said that the head was in good shape and that the valve seals were good as well. I also had them pop test the injectors and they said that they were in good shape too.

They cylinder walls didnt look too great as it looks like they all had some surface flash rust on them from the amount of sitting that this thing did. I am really not positive what the proper procedure is for this or how it will affect performance and efficiency down the road, but my hope is that it will be ok for a while.
#1

#2

#6

 

[badriver19]

A little effort with some WD-40 and a red scotchbrite pad and it had them looking pretty decent. There were still some marks left when I finished cleaning them, but I could not feel them. Again, Im not sure how this will affect how it runs, blow-by, or anything else related to efficiency or longevity, but I am hoping for the best at this point. I would be curious to hear if anyone has any experience with running one of these with cylinders that look like this.

One of the better ones

One of the worse ones

The head hanging and ready to be dropped back onto the block.

 

[badriver19]

Want to come re-wire all my trucks?

Rewire? Hell no. lol Rewiring is not fun at all. The custom panel on the other hand, while it was quite a bit of work, was pretty fun and rewarding to put together.

 

[CK5]

Now that's an update! lol

 

[badriver19]

Now that's an update! lol

I really wanted to update it so that I had it to look back on and to reference but hopefully it will help someone else out as well.

 

[badriver19]

I showed the head ready to go back on the block but I did have some hesitation and ended up putting the head on, hand threading the studs in, and then removing the studs and the head again. My hesitation was the cylinder walls. I had meant to clean them up but I forgot to do so before I put the head back on when I got it back as it had been a couple of weeks between the head removal and getting it back and ready to install. Once I got the cylinders cleaned up and revealed the cross hatching, it made me feel a bit better about it but I know that the engine will need to come out for a freshening up. Ill get a feel for how soon once it is driving for a bit.

I had another scare once I did finally get the head on and buttoned down. I installed a new Cummins thermostat but it came with a different style O-ring and only one at that. There is both an inner and outer O-ring and it only came with the inner and it didnt fit the ID of the hole in the head like the original one did. I figured maybe they changed the style and used this style on some of the years and that it would still work. Wrong. I filled the cooling system with antifreeze and sure enough, I had a slight leak. Cue gut wrench feeling.

At this point, I just installed the thermostat and O-ring thinking it would be just fine and that although it looked completely wrong and as if it wasnt going to come close to sealing, someone designed it that probably knew better than I did? Wrong again. That is either the wrong part number(I want to say it even came in the Cummins Head Gasket Kit) or something isnt right there. I actually ended up looking up pictures at my local Oreillys to match the original O-rings. Those bolts on the thermostat housing a a bitch too! Id rather do that 10 times than have to remove the head again for a head gasket that I thought I somehow messed up.

September 2017 - Speaking of water, I also sourced a new water temp sensor. I got tied up in using the stock Dodge wire connector so I went on a goose chase trying to find one that would fit. I relocated the sensor location to the next NPT port forward of the most rearward port of the head because my clearance at the rear wasnt enough to get the plug on the end of the sensor. I would have just relocated the original sensor but it was not the same size as the next forward port. You can see the sensor at the far right of the head and then the next forward port is where I relocated the new sensor to.

Ive got two concerns with the new temp sensor at this point:
1.) Will the reading be similar to the original temp sensor port?
2.) Will this sensor read accurately and send the correct signal to my temp gauge?