B-73 Restoration

[mechohaulic]

3 hours ago, mattb73lt said:

Utilizing my amateur woodworking skills today. Ripped down the oak for the frame rail strips. Drilled and countersunk all the holes for mounting and now treating the wood with preservative. I’ll give them a few coats before I mount them. Ordered up some parts from Jerr-Dan for the sliding pads and some hydraulic line protector for the winch lines. Mocked up a NOS control box I found to replace the crusty one where the valve body mounts. Ordered more hardware to attach all the bed bed mounts and guides. All the new hydraulic lines should be back next week. And…. Busy day getting a lot of things ready for the bed. Thinking I might make Gerhart’s this year(maybe)!!

had to go out and buy more ink for the printer ::LOL .keep the pictures coming. if my wife had an interest in trucks , she'd be like me =outta words ( and that's never happened) for the build. 

[mechohaulic]

40 minutes ago, Brocky said:

A light bar on the Top of the headache rack will give you additional safety in stop and turn  for normal driving as well as some amber to show off in a parade..

no offence but alight bar ON TOP it will look like a tow truck, this B-73 is in a class ALL BY IT'S SELF. possibly lights built into the head ache rack will look custom and be a safety addition AND  be ONE OF  A KIND as this B-73 is.

[mattb73lt]

The LED’s are so small now. I can easily hide them at the top of the rack in the screened area, front and back. I might mount some additional rear stops and turns on the back side. Nothing crazy and sort of unobtrusive.

[Brocky]

Matt, 

As Mech said I have no objections to being corrected!!  Yes LED's mounted in the mesh part would  serve the safety purpose without transforming it into a Tow Truck and the possibility of more state regulations.

[mrsmackpaul]

1 hour ago, Red Horse said:

For sure, The last of my WW II veteran uncles passed away and I start thinking of all the things I did NOT ask them about

Yeah, but I think a lot of things might of been a little touchy for them and I was bought up not to ask questions, a very different up bringing to people  today 

 

Paul

[mowerman]

Amateur ??? Matt you do not do anything amateur fabulous thanks for sharing boards look amazing.. bob

[Red Horse]

2 hours ago, mowerman said:

Amateur ??? Matt you do not do anything amateur fabulous thanks for sharing boards look amazing.. bob

For sure on "nothing amateur"...when you get tired of your "day job" Matt,  you should think of going into the restoration business!

Where did you get the oak?

[Red Horse]

14 hours ago, mrsmackpaul said:

Yeah, but I think a lot of things might of been a little touchy for them and I was bought up not to ask questions, a very different up bringing to people  today 

 

Paul

Your comment is timely Paul.  Having a conversation with my youngest and his wife this morning on this subject.  Her grandfathers were unique, one US Army, WW II and Korea, and the other flew in the Luftwaffe.  He and my daughter in laws dad came to US in 1956.  Talk about that family's reunions!  Neither of the grandfathers were willing conversationalists when it came their experiences.

I also had good friends I worked with who were in Vietnam-including two West Point grads.  One got a Purple Heart as a dump truck hit a mine when they were building a road...he got the PH as he had ear damage-he would talk a lot..  The other was a Ranger who saw all kinds of stuff...not so much.  A lot of them also were supply types who had steak and beer very often.

Before you get into conversations with these guys you should know their feelings on this.

Bob

 

[mechohaulic]

have (had) two uncles whom served WWII .one was a Purple Heart recipient and a POW . survived Omaha beach . both had backs which looked like craters from being hit by shell fragments. neither ever to my knowledge talked of those days. My Brother was fortunate enough to survive Viet Nam.  upsetting   me the fact Viet Nam was never a war ; it didn't meet the requirements of a war !!!! it was a conflict. are you fu--in kidding me over 58 thousand died and are still dying and suffering and it didn't meet the requirements. don't want to take a positive topic and turn it negative, just upsetting when military service people are turned in to pawns for a few who think its a game.

[mattb73lt]

All of the WWII vets I know are gone. My Godfather was a LST captain in Europe and the Pacific theater and my neighbor was a Marine vet from Iwo Jima and later the Chosin Reservoir. The Viet Nam vets I’m most close to, as I learned to fly from them when I was a kid fresh out of flight school. We’re all retired now and we meet up monthly for coffee once a month on a Sunday to chat. But, they too are fading away.

[mattb73lt]

And I’ll say this, I feel blessed surviving what I’ve done and now enjoying the fruits of my labors. Three combat tours and 21 years as a state trooper.  Five years away from home from 2003 to 2013. I’m just so glad I’m able to do what I want and fixing up this truck up as I want. A bunch of people I served with never had this opportunity to enjoy what they earned.

[mowerman]

Yeah, so of course my pop was in the US Navy World War II as well as his five  brothers, but he also did not talk about it much as well  God love them, and all that I’ve served the ended the  draft right when I got of age.

[mechohaulic]

1 hour ago, mattb73lt said:

And I’ll say this, I feel blessed surviving what I’ve done and now enjoying the fruits of my labors. Three combat tours and 21 years as a state trooper.  Five years away from home from 2003 to 2013. I’m just so glad I’m able to do what I want and fixing up this truck up as I want. A bunch of people I served with never had this opportunity to enjoy what they earned.

THANK YOU can't possibly cover it but at this time  it will have to😢

[terry]

7 hours ago, mechohaulic said:

have (had) two uncles whom served WWII .one was a Purple Heart recipient and a POW . survived Omaha beach . both had backs which looked like craters from being hit by shell fragments. neither ever to my knowledge talked of those days. My Brother was fortunate enough to survive Viet Nam.  upsetting   me the fact Viet Nam was never a war ; it didn't meet the requirements of a war !!!! it was a conflict. are you fu--in kidding me over 58 thousand died and are still dying and suffering and it didn't meet the requirements. don't want to take a positive topic and turn it negative, just upsetting when military service people are turned in to pawns for a few who think its a game.

Served “69” in V.N. Terrible, terrible waste of young men over there, for absolutely nothing! Of course seems that’s the way all our conflicts go lately  Terry 

[mechohaulic]

22 minutes ago, terry said:

Served “69” in V.N. Terrible, terrible waste of young men over there, for absolutely nothing! Of course seems that’s the way all our conflicts go lately  Terry 

don't want to go off B-73 resto topic ;at this time it's aways important to say THANK YOU, SIR and many others for YOUR SERVICE.  lest us not forget sept15 is POW/MIA recognition day. and the B-73 work is excellent

[yarnall]

You were supposed to have it to Mack day last year. Don’t bring it this year. I can’t go. This will be the first one I’ll miss in a bunch of years. 

[1961H67]

I know what you mean about WWII Veterans, I had 3 uncles and a lot of friends I worked with that were WWII veterans, My son did a class project when in High School on one uncle and video taped it, he was in Pattons army and he gave about a 30 minute detailed video,, it’s very interesting, they have all passed over 10 years ago now . I should have asked them More for sure! About a year ago I was trucking across Tennessee and stopped at a rest area on I40 ,,As I was coming out of the restroom a older man was walking in, i caught a glimpse of his cap ,, You don’t see many of these guys out now days, I waited for him, we talked for about 10 minutes, his family was waiting on him, he was from Indiana, He was very young when he went to Germany and Was In the Battle of the Bulge, then shortly afterwards they sent him towards Japan , he was on a ship going through the Panama Canal when they dropped “The Bomb “ , So they went to California and he came home. I thanked him and asked if I could take his picture, I think it made both of our days! Sorry for getting off track, I figured y’all would enjoy the story. The work on the rollback is looking amazing! I put the rollback on my H Model after I stretched it, and yours far more detailed! 

[navypoppop]

I do not want to hijack this thread but on the Veteran topic there is nothing more satisfying than the look on a veterans face when you thank them for their service. The recognition for their service is precious for the sacrifice that they gave to our country and for our ability to live free here in USA.

[mattb73lt]

No worries, it’s all good.

[mechohaulic]

On 8/21/2023 at 8:13 PM, mattb73lt said:

It's a 24' Jerr Dan roll back with a 10K winch. The deck is a wood inlay. I'm going to use Apitong, a red Brazilian hard wood, for the decking. It's used a lot for trailer flooring. I'm ordering it through Atlantic Trailer over in Cheshire.

If the B73 has a 249 WB  mounting a 24ft body , isn't there going to be excessive overhang? 249= 20ft +- ;  axle to back of cab ? (5-6 ft )  body hinge  mounted close to rear axle ;  jerr dann has 6in side rails ? :3 1/2  new crossmembers ? sitting on 2= 6 in subframes ?guessing based on excellent pictures posted.

[mattb73lt]

Damn, now you’re making me second guess what I did?? I had to go out and remeasure everything to double check and draw it up to be certain.Thanks by the way! So the axle does sit close to the center of the bed, 12’8” forward and 11’4” in the rear. What you’re probably not accounting for are the two under body frames that raise and lower the deck. In the upper photo, they’re blocked by the torch set. The lower frame extends out from the end of the truck frame about 6’4”. From there, there’s only 1’10” of over hang at the tail end. The lower frame presses on the ground to raise/lower the deck, stabilizes the deck at loading docks and is also a rear bumper (Mansfield bar).

[mechohaulic]

It's all good; no doubt You didn't have it figured out. sorry for undo concern. being old school using math on paper not on cell phone/computer, seemed close. 

[mechohaulic]

6 minutes ago, mechohaulic said:

It's all good; no doubt You didn't have it figured out. sorry for undo concern. being old school using math on paper not on cell phone/computer, seemed close. 

it's all good ; no doubt you DID HAVE IT FIGURED OUT  = what is meant ; not you did not figure it out . 

[mattb73lt]

There's actually a few extra inches between the cab and the head board, for the stack and more importantly a condenser for air conditioning (in the future).

[mowerman]

Mansfield bar I guess you would have to be at least our age to know what that meant … excellent progress. Thanks for the post.bob