Peterbilt 379 Flat Top lowboy project

[clintm]

so what are going to buy for a work truck to pull your lowboy because you are not going want to get this show truck/hot rod dirty every day (P.S. I've got a 2001 379 day cab 60 series 8LL that I could part with )

 

[Rustedcutlery]

Woof! Talk about engine porn.

 

[IronworkerFXR]

WoW, what a long story here, a street truck named desire.
where do you get all the energy to pull this off?, and that first paint job made me sick, I could of done better painting it in the middle of a sand pit in a wind storm !.
Nice work , keep it rolling ..

 

[Fastdirt]

Thanks. Desire? huh... it's possible. I was thinking "Dig Rig" and then the emotions come into play and I want to name it "nightmare" or "patience". I don't know just yet. Yes it is an overwhelming amount of work and I have to force myself to put one foot in front of the next and keep going at this point but I get motivated every single day when I have to drive my gutless L9000 and hold up traffic and get abused. Heck I get overtaken on solid yellow lines on my own street

clintm, I'll trade you a dump truck for that 379

 

[Fastdirt]

Getting started on this project during the evenings. This took a lot of work. I decided to paint it late Thurs evening and my gun was clogged. So I ran to Home Depot and bought a cheapo gun. It turned out bad. I have sanded it all down again and removed the steering arm, wheels and anything else that wasn't attached. It's ready for paint again. I might just do the firewall in a flat paint.

 

[Fastdirt]

I have 100's of pics of this project here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/78974007@N04/

We talked about the steering arm needing trimmed to clear the 12 Gauge air bags in another thread here and the guy said he had good luck with 12Ga. 12 Gauge has horrible customer service and is painful to deal with. They sent me a KW visor and I still have it. You call during business hours and are forced to voicemail and nobody EVER calls you back. I have their strapless air cleaner mounts, a visor , and the Gen 3 air ride kit. $3K is not enough to get their time and respect. Never knew I had to cut this arm.. I just figured it out myself no thanks to them. Guess you need to have them build a $220K Glider to get their attention. Can't stand business who treat paying customers like that.

 

[clintm]

Dirty desires,Dirty Money,Diesel addiction, Dirty la piscina $$ on the dump truck ifs it's got a dog on the hood pre2007 allison auto 400+ I"am planning on coming through hot lanta next week I can drop it off for you hell I can even take it to my neighbor ( the cat ecm man in midland) and get him to polish it up for you he done my CTP last week

 

[Fastdirt]

What is a CTP? You are supper lucky to have him as a neighbor. He has been advising me on the Cat big blocks since before I bought the truck two years ago. He is a good ole boy and works super hard. I almost took my project to him. He sold me on the compounds vs. single turbo. Good guy... surprised he'll let you pull that Detroit on the yard LOL. He also flashed my last ecm. Good guy who will give you priceless experience advise... but he ain't for small talk. Very straight up.

 

[nedly05]

Are you going to put this truck back to work? Its absolutely beautiful! I really admire how thorough you are with everything.Do you still have the lowboy?

 

[Fastdirt]

Thanks Ned. I still have the lowboy. It's been painted for a year and half now just sitting there. I actually robbed the wheels off of it and have them on the Peterbilt temporarily. I am still going to buy a shorty lowboy that has a dropped deck with a beavertail on 22.5's. Hard to find that combo though. I might buy that scraper trailer I've been eyeing and scrap the dolly.




Firewall, frame and stuff turned out good. It's glossy and should keep clean up there for a few years.




I will have to give the Takeuchi, myself and my helpers some credit here. It was tight and all new paint. We had to move the truck back about 25' from our first attempt where the grade was slightly not in our favor and it was tipsy. Once we got on a little better grade that was more in our favor the Tak would balance. Got to give my guy credit for coming up with chain idea to support the fork end as he was telling about breaking a fork at his last job. Plus it kept it from flexing and gave me perfect control with the angle and all. It was the most I've sweated all year without a shovel in my hand. The forks came less than an inch from the firewall. Glad that's over.



Now it's all contained back in the garage and ready to assemble. Heading to Home Depot to get an A/C for the garage because I'll be in there a minute. It took the purchase of a heavy trans jack and forks to make it happen....but glad I didn't have to jack the trans in this time.

 

[nedly05]

So how long do you figure before its back in action? What is the dolly you are thinking about scrapping?

 

[farmerlund]

Hey Fastdirt,

Looks like one very nice truck build.

I was interested in your thoughts on why you went with the compound turbo set up. Around here guys are going to single turbo. Claiming to get better MPG and nicer running truck.

Looking forward to seeing the finished rig. (I am sure you are to)
keep up the good work.

Steve

 

[IronworkerFXR]

Looking good sitting in there !!!! its a milestone day !!

 

[Fastdirt]

So how long do you figure before its back in action? What is the dolly you are thinking about scrapping?

Nedly, I can only go at slow pace because of all the detail I am doing. If my dump truck blew up tomorrow I could actually have the truck running in a few days but at this point it's going to be a month I'd say. The only big things left to buy are the tires and seats. The rest of it is here...although the truck appears to be stagnant it's getting real close.

These Talbert scraper trailers are on Truckpaper now for $15k.. I could be beating up a dead tree but it looks perfect for my work and I could get that thing anywhere and I get in places often that my tag and dump can barely make. It's low which I love. I feel like I have to crawl around curves with a loaded tag a long.... which I'll be towing too.



This Etnyre is from post #68 it sold on an online auction for $9500

Hey Fastdirt,

Looks like one very nice truck build.

I was interested in your thoughts on why you went with the compound turbo set up. Around here guys are going to single turbo. Claiming to get better MPG and nicer running truck.

Looking forward to seeing the finished rig. (I am sure you are to)
keep up the good work.


Steve

Thanks, farmerlund. The single turbo is the way to go up to around 850hp. After that it requires such a big turbo that if you run just the single big turbo you will have turbo lag, unburnt fuel, and more heat. The big Perkins turbo would be used either way if you were going single or compound. Running the big Perkins in a single will peak more horsepower but not much more and the story from actual real world results is the compounds will out pull the single off the start and the response is just better. The fact that it will be less smokey with compounds and a bit cooler along with better response sold me vs. a peak dyno number. The small turbo is waste gated to allow it to free flow once the big turbo takes over.

I am beyond ready to have it finished. It's just escalated so far that I could've never imagined it would go this far when I started.... but here we are for so many reasons good and bad.

Looking good sitting in there !!!! its a milestone day !!

Thanks.. Huge milestone!!! I have lifted, transported, and worked four Cat motors at this point and since I set the engine I have jumped to other areas in need of a break in the engine department. It's all enclosed in the garage now and I installed an a/c unit over the weekend... Having a small garage is actually nice when it comes to cooling. Stays in the upper 70's barely but a huge contrast to the upper 90's heat index numbers outside.


Oversized cool air charger from Dura Lite just came. It's a bit thicker and much taller. It's all aluminum so it's getting sanded and polished with a "respirator" on of course Ironworker


Jacked the cab up to replace the body mounts. Being a unibilt it only has two body/cab mounts and the two airbags at the back of the sleeper. I did replace the motor mounts too before setting the engine.


Need to go dig up some dollars now.... This has been an all consuming ordeal to say the least.

 

[clintm]

ctp 2007 mack granite no dpf now a GU. our families have known each other for years. he's always been that way you just have to know how to take him he's addicted to diesel smoke just like the rest of us:yup

 

[JDOFMEMI]

I am still following this build, and must say it is coming along nice. It is definitely a labor of love.

I will be interested to see this through to completion. Thanks for sharing the details with us.

 

[Fastdirt]

Thank you Jerry. Believe it or not it's getting close. I've climbed the hill and it's all about to be down hill from here.

Got the front steers mounted to the 24.5 Alcoa wheels that I bought a year ago. Went with Michelin XZA3 steer tires in the lo pro size. No I did not go with them undersized 22.5 lo pros. I like the 24.5 look better and they fill the fender well up better and this is a lowboy truck that will go off road.




After coming three times the guys from Peachstate finally got the mirror frames hucked to the truck. It was yet another long spread effort to get it done right. The huck pins and rivets were pre painted.




Huge difference in visibility without a crossbar and a vent window pillar. Part of the plan to make it the easiest possible driving experience. The 4 way Moto Mirrors are also part of that plan.

 

[Fastdirt]

My 379 was just like the L9000 before converting to a single window. I'm just using the picture to show the interference. Backing up on the passenger side in the morning or anytime is not easy because of the vent window pillar blocking your line of sight. The passenger gets a Moto Mirror too.



Got a 5th wheel cover from Talladega Fiberglass which needs painting.



Had a few other pics but they keep getting flipped upside down. Having the mirror frames on allows me to wire the windows and mirrors and the put the door panels on finally. I custom ordered the entire interior kit a year ago and it's been sitting since.

 

[Fastdirt]

Now the mirrors are officially mounted. Very excited about the Moto Mirrors. So much involved there.



Just getting started on sound and thermal protection. I've used one bulk box and will need two more easily. It's Mojo Mat which I bought locally. Won't be long till I can put the new interior in.

 

[Fastdirt]

Dropped all hoses and fittings at Parker to get replaced. I went with stainless as much as I could but couldn't do the air brake lines in stainless. It's not DOT legal apparently and I'd never risk my freedom for that but I was deflated. I wanted stainless to the chambers but new hoses will suffice.



This project is around two years now. This was two summers ago, about the last time I used it here. Oh was it nice. Can't wait and I have to pull my machine 100 miles out tomorrow and 100 miles back in the 8L L10 4:10 L9000. Patience....