Super Singles - got the hubs flipped today

[wallew]

Well, the weather co-operated for almost the whole day. About threeish the clouds started to slowly roll in.

The day stared off at about 10:30 am when Glen McMillan (McMillag) got to my house after driving up from Colorado Springs. We started work almost immediately, as I had everything lined up ready to go.

The FIRST hub flip was instructional, to say the least. Bjorns pictures helped immensely. At first set of left side tire (front of the two set on the rear) we failed to properly flip the hubs. After looking at Bjorns pictures we realized that 'oh, that's what we did wrong'. Then corrected it. We were finished with the first one after about two hours plus. We broke for lunch.

The second left tire (rear of the two sets) we did pretty well. And it went much faster, as it only took us a little over an hour.

On to the right side. WE whizzed right through it. Right up to the point that we realized that we flipped the hubs incorrectly and had to go back and pound out the studs for a second time. We were still making pretty good time. JUST about the time we had figured out the problem and almost had it correct, Randy Barnes showed up with his family. My wife and his and their children proceeded into the house while Randy showed us SEVERAL 'cheats' on how to do things. The third tire (rear right) took a little under an hour.

The fourth tire proceeded at a rapid pace as we now had three sets of hands, one of which was VERY experienced and knew ALL of the shortcuts.

I would like to thank Glen McMullan for taking time out of his day to come over and help me from start to finish. Without Glen there, I might NOT have attempted to do this work by myself. There were SEVERAL lug nuts, especially ones for the inner wheels that literally took BOTH of us on a long bar put through the lug nut wrench bar to get off. I could NOT have done this myself.

I would like to thank Randy Barnes for showing up and HELPING Glen and I to finish in a rapid fashion, which made both Glen's and my day. Glen had to leave no later than 5 pm to go visit with his sister in Boulder. WITHOUT Randy showing up and helping, I would have been still out there working on the fourth tire.

My wife took a few pictures that she had developed. They are NOT very descriptive, but showed two SS members (Glen and I) working together on this project. And the front tires have NOT been installed yet. I have a 24v impact wrench that connects to the Nato Slave plug. I got it out and it seemed like it was going to work. I got exactly one lug nut off when the brushes gave up the ghost. The member who sold it to me told me they were bad and included a new set with the impact wrench. So I saved the fronts for after I get the 24v impact wrench functioning with new brushes installed into it. Nothing like testing all the equipment in your driveway, rather than in the field.

I would ALSO like to say that the 20 ton air/hydraulic jack and the two 6 ton jack stands I got from Harbor freight worked PERFECTLY. Randy even showed us a cheat that I WILL share. When removing or installing lug nuts, put the jack stand to the correct height and put the lug nut wrench on that, so YOU don't have to do a balancing act. WORKED PERFECTLY!!!

I am absolutely exhausted. I WILL post more pictures of this ongoing saga. We are expecting snow tomorrow and Monday so it will be a few days from now. And that gives me the time to repair my 24v impact wrench.

Thanks again to Glen and Randy. Glen and I decided we are going to start calling Randy the 'Deuce Doctor' cause he showed us SO MANY ways to do things easier. IF YOU AIN'T CHEATIN', YOU AIN'T TRYIN'!

AND a HUGE thanks to my wife for LETTING make an absolute MESS out of our car port concrete. HONEST HONEY, I will get all those oil stains out after I get the front tires on! You'd be surprised how easy it is with a little WD-40 followed up with a couple of cans of Pepsi on the really stubborn stains. Just let the Pepsi sit for about five or ten minutes and then just rinse off.

And I buggered up a couple of the right rear lug studs, so I will be removing the right rear hub and replacing them in the near future. HOPEFULLY, I can take my time and take some more informative pictures.

 

[M1075]

Looks good, I look forward to seeing the pics from the completed project. It does a few man hours to complete!

 

[Djfreema]

Looks great! Gotta love that 20 ton air assist jack! Cant wait to see the whole truck finished. I like the tread of those tires, are they tubeless?

 

[Recovry4x4]

Looks good and glad you got it together in a day! Hehe, the tricks you learn as you go. I have foot long 3/4" extension that I use when I have to manually remove lug nuts. I have a piece to 2x4 with a couple of holes near each end. I use this to support my extension when removing rears. It gives me the ability to stand and jump on the big he man ratchet I use. Gave up on the brealer bar 'cause it always moved and planted me in my butt. How tight can they be? About 3 years BI ( before impact) I was removing the tires from an M353 trailer. Jumping on the 5' bar did nothing. I ended up sitting a deuce front axle on the side of the trailer and used a bottle jack to lift the wrench. Luckily it wasn't a dual.

 

[cranetruck]

Looks like you are having fun! It's amazing how the internet and a website like steelsoldiers can bring like minded people together.

I found that using plastic bags on my hands, worked very well to clean up grease, just grab the grease and turn the bag inside out as it is taken off to contain all the grease.

Enjoy your writing Jim! Looking forward to the results of your labor.

Do you have the correct speedo adapter on hand? Just asking, I don't have any extras.
Also, what will your final track width be with the commercial wheels that you are using?

 

[wallew]

Djfreema,
Yep, tubeless Michelins. The 20 ton jack was killer. Did point up that I will need another set of air tanks on the truck. I've got them but the guy in NY has not sent them yet. He's the guy who also has my spare fuel tank. He's looking for someone to steam clean it and hasn't found one yet. So the 'pallet' of stuff he is holding for me is still at his business.

Kenneth,
Yeah, I GOTTA get my 24v impact wrench brushes replaced in the next few days. Then the two front tires will go on. My whole idea was that I would use the electric impact wrench, so I would ONLY need the air in my tanks for the jack or inflating tires. Though it didn't happen yesterday, that's the plan.

Bjorn,
Strangely enough, I LIKE PLAYING in the mess. Go figure. Still just a little kid at heart I guess.

Though I don't have a speedo correction adapter, we have an EXCELLENT speedo shop here in Denver. I have had several vehicles speedo's either repaired, replace or modified due to larger or smaller wheels than when I purchased them, so that shouldn't be a problem. I have yet to bring them something that they can't fix.

The track from the outside of the tire to the outside of the tire is 76". That's the same track that the front of my truck is right now with the NDCC in place. So I guess it hasn't changed any? Overall tread width with the tires on the ground is 8 1/2".

Thx for all the kind words. I just checked our ten day forecast and it won't be until at least Thursday or Friday before it gets above freezing again. So I've got a few days of rest, which is a good thing, because I'm one tired puppy, even after a so-so nights sleep, which is another issue entirely.

jim

Edit - While retightening the lug nuts one more time now that the tires have set on the ground for 12 hours (thx Randy), a thought came to me about super single tires.

For all you guys running doubles on the rear, what happens if one of your inside tires goes flat? Yes, you can just keep going, but most of us would pull over and just put on the spare. That means you will have to remove two sets of lug nuts and tires instead of one if you ran super singles. And I can fix my tire problems fairly easily, as all I need is a pair of tire bars in my 'kit' and I can do almost anything. Having said that, I'll also be carrying two spares in the long run. I'll also carry a correct size tube or two, just in case. After reading one of the guys having problems with their tire stem, I think I'll throw two or three of those in also. Thx for the heads up.

Yes, I'm a suspenders AND belt kind of guy.

 

[mcmullag]

slept good

That was fun working with Jim and it was also an honor to meet Dr. Barnes, deuce doctor, aka Randy Barnes and watch him in action. Last nite was the first time I slept a solid 8 hours, without waking up at all, in years. That was a good workout.

 

[wallew]

Glenn,
We gotta get together again. Sooner rather than later. THIS TIME, no working on the truck.

Just bring the girlfriend over and we'll eat. Fish & chips, or surf & turf kabobs, or steaks and corn, whatever.

We GOTTA get Randy and Robert here also, with their families if at all possible.

And your help was invaluable. THANKS AGAIN.

jim

 

[rizzo]

looks great, good job