Shortening The Wheel Base On A R688. Can It Be Done?

[ozrad7]

g,day all i have a 84 r688 tipper i use for hourly hire work and was wanting to know if the wheel base could be shortend.

I need to either replace the body or repair it at witch time i would like to take about 400mm of each end to reduce the capacity as i dont see why i should cart 13m2 and get paid the same as the ud's i usually work with who can only take 10m2.

I have looked at the rails and in front of the pedestals it looks like it is already drilled to accept all the bolt ons about a foot or so closer to the cab.Has anyone done this before because i would hate to get everything undone only to find the holes are 1/2 a inch out or something stupid like that.

I realise i will need to shorten the centre drive shaft and brake lines ect. but it would be worth it to improve the turning circle and lower the tare weight , at the moment it tares off at 10860kg's.

[HK Trucking]

If you can move the trunnion stand up to that other set of holes and get the proper wheelbase that's great, if not, just move the trunnion to the desired location, drill new holes and bolt it in.

After you're done, install bolts in all the unused holes in the frame where the trunnion formerly was located, and tighten them securely. That helps prevent cracks from occurring.

.

[spud]

ozrad, the amount of money you are going to have to outlay too shorten that r-model will be huge ....... your better off just grinning and bearing it .i dont know what rates you guys are on over east but,i think at this stage of the game i would be probably bee looking for a shorter tipper body.

[ozrad7]

Thanks for the input spud, i have decided not to worry about the wheel base as it would mean losing the tool box on one side and a new hydraulic tank on the other, will definently shorten body though. I like that superliner of yours , i wish i had of held off buying the econodyne till i found one myself.