Peterbilt 6x6 Heavy-ish Hauler

[Small Factory]

Wow, I really dig this. The truck really looks the business.

So weird you got, actual snow, in Texas. We get that every few weeks up here.

I flew to Phoenix, Arizona a few years back. When I arrived, it snowed the next day.

 

[Tommy R]

Wow, I really dig this. The truck really looks the business.

So weird you got, actual snow, in Texas. We get that every few weeks up here.

I flew to Phoenix, Arizona a few years back. When I arrived, it snowed the next day.

Thanks!! Yeah, I've lived here for 26 years and these last 3 weeks were the only TWO times we've received legit powdery snow. Usually it's just some flurries accompanied by everything icing over. It was actually kind of nice until out entire infrastructure died 'cause nothing was weatherized.

I popped some holes in the dash today in preparation for backlighting the dash similar to how Bob at Hobby Concepts does it.

And with paint and my marker job it came out looking like wood grain. Perfect!!

Primed/painted some other bits today, too. Ignore Cletus. I think he sniffed too much spray paint today.

 

[wesmade]

Very nice work on the dash.


Wes

 

[Tommy R]

Very nice work on the dash.


Wes

Thanks, Wes!

I picked up a pair of super single Michelins from RC4WD in hopes of maybe running them up front. Holy crapola, they're gigantic!

I mean....sure, technically they fit, but that wheel is way too narrow so these will be used another time. It's a bummer because they look amazing and are so much softer than the rock hard Lesus.

I also started working on painting the driver. Never painted a person before so it'll be interesting to see how this dude turns out! But how do I mount him into the seat?

Not gonna lie. This felt a bit awkward.

But I had my reasons to violate poor Cletus the way I did!

See? I told ya. This wasn't just for my own personal enjoyment!

Finally getting around to doing some detailing of the cab, too. Rolled the windows down to make it easier to see the interior.

Got the orange lenses fitted to the cab clearance lights and painted the visor.

I also painted the wipers and some window trim.

Lastly, I picked up a Gear Jammer fifth wheel slider and a Lesu fifth wheel and did some painting along the way.

 

[Frizzen]

You did that to dang ol' Cleetus over here too?!?
I knew all the seat-time was bad for ya, shame the chiropractor didn't work for him. Hope he recovers ok from the disk surgery.

Still a sharp looking rig.

 

[Tommy R]

You did that to dang ol' Cleetus over here too?!?
I knew all the seat-time was bad for ya, shame the chiropractor didn't work for him. Hope he recovers ok from the disk surgery.

Still a sharp looking rig.

LOL! Cletus has had a rough week, man! Poor lil' dude... He'll be fine, though. Rumor has it he may even blink again one of these days.

 

[Frizzen]

I think your schedules pushing them too hard.
Poor guy looks like he's been chugging Coffee, RedBull, plus No-doz, Stack...

 

[Tommy R]

I think your schedules pushing them too hard.
Poor guy looks like he's been chugging Coffee, RedBull, plus No-doz, Stack...

Hey, he's got a busy schedule, what with all the hauling he's doing plus he's gotta keep up with his harem of lot lizards!

 

[Tommy R]

Well, Cletus has gotten all gussied up so he can scour the truck stops for lot lizards!

I told him his toupe looks ridiculous.

Since I got rid of the raised transmission I decided to get a new floor section that wasn't cut up. I also painted and detailed the seats a bit.

Uh oh, the Lesu trans is also too tall.

A 2mm body lift under the cab and sleeper did the trick.

Barely noticeable.

Here you can also see the plates I put on the bumper and I also added some lenses to the Lesu headlights because they weren't included! :(

Speaking of the Lesu headlights, it's not going to be easy to wire these up cleanly!

Since I'm planning my trailer build, I also picked up some aluminum axles and some cheap wheels. For now I'll use the extra Lesu AT tires I had laying around, though I'm hoping to get some lower profile tires to fit underneath my trailer. Anyone wanna trade? :)

It's getting so close! Cletus had to jump in and make vroom vroom noises. By the way, it's not easy getting the body on with him in there! LOL

 

[Tommy R]

Uh oh! Looks like I've got a defective super single. I hate it when that happens.

Yep, I'm resurrecting my cut-n-shut days from 10+ years ago. I decided to remove one sliver of tread blocks to get the width I wanted.

I've got some more work to do on them, but I'm liking what I'm seeing so far.

 

[Tommy R]

All done. Incidentally, the Michelin on the right from rcbrmin.com is SUPER hard. It made the Lesu feel like a crawler tire. The RCW4WD Michelin that I narrowed, however, is very soft, but with the stock foams it looks like it'll support the weight of the truck nicely.

I may experiment with taller foams to see if I can get the profile of the tread a bit more rounded, but nonetheless, I'm quite pleased!

 

[SurlyBurly]

The cut from narrowing really grabs the eye for some reason. I haven't foggiest how to narrow a tire so that isn't critique or anything, I just noticed it.

 

[Tommy R]

The cut from narrowing really grabs the eye for some reason. I haven't foggiest how to narrow a tire so that isn't critique or anything, I just noticed it.

Yeah, the gap between tread blocks is a bit wider where I cut it. Fortunately, it's hardly noticeable when on the truck.

 

[Tommy R]

Trying a new servo that hopefully doesn't burn out like the Tower Pros have done.

Interior details.

Now Cletus is ready for some gear jammin'!

Anyone else tried TheDIYGuy999's homemade sound/light controller? I'm working on it now...

 

[Tommy R]

Well, in an effort to make it easier to integrate the DIYGuy999 light/sound controller, I decided to pick up this Flysky i6X. I also picked up an additional receiver and between the two of them I hope to have a solution to be able to fully control the MFCU to its full extent. In time I hope to be able to migrate to a pistol grip transmitter of some sort.

So I've been having issues with the Lesu transmission. I believe I've mentioned how I've burned through a micro shifting servo and the replacement servo tends to run hot. It hasn't failed, but I think it's only a matter of time. The reason? Well, the springs are pretty strong so when you're in low or high gear there's a lot of stress on the servo to hold that gear. In middle gear there's no strain because the springs aren't at play.

After a lot of thoughts on how to deal with this I decided to tear it apart to move the shift linkage toward the front. Moving it from the rear to the front means I'll have room to use a full size servo to shift. It'll still be under load, but a full size servo should be able to withstand the load much more easily. So here's some pics of the Lesu 3 speed 4WD transmission cracked open.

So here's the shift linkage now at the front.

Now to get this full size servo set up to shift it. Hope this works like it should! I may instead mount a low profile servo with the servo horn up top. I'll experiment with a few options tomorrow.

 

[SurlyBurly]

I wonder if some kind of detent system would help hold it in gear without the constant load on the servo.

 

[Tommy R]

I wonder if some kind of detent system would help hold it in gear without the constant load on the servo.

Possibly, but I think the complexity required wouldn't make it worthwhile? Fortunately, I think I came up with a decent solution. :)

I now have a full size servo controlling the shifter. It's so much stronger than the micro servo I tried and doesn't heat up at all. I think that issue may now be resolved.

I also put this stuff in one rear axle to try out. It looks like it'll work better than the 2.5M weight oil I was using and shouldn't leak out. Now to do the other rear axle. No need to do the front axle, though. I have something different planned for it! :)

I'm also starting to make some progress with the ESP32 MFCU. I have the steering worked out, but that's all. I still have quite a bit of configuring left to do. Having to also learn a new transmitter just adds to the complexity!

 

[Tommy R]

So here's why I didn't bother with putting the new diff grease into the TLT front axle. Lesu locking diff with a 2.6:1 ratio. It's narrow so the tires will tuck as far as I want, they bolt up to the F350 leaf springs I'm using, they're shorter in height which will lower the ride height a bit, and with the option of an open diff and higher steering angle, it should turn much sharper. That being said, the narrow width of the axle means the tires will get into the leaf springs. Add spacers to gain more throw and the scrub radius increases, possibly causing fender clearance issues. We'll see, though! Time for test fitting soon. :)

Here it is with the diff lock cable attached. It also included a tie rod, which I wasn't expecting. Nice!

It's substantially narrower than the TLT it's replacing.

I almost forgot this came with my axle order! I'm really excited about the level of detail this unit will add. I think it looks pretty amazing.

 

[Tommy R]

With that narrower Lesu front axle the tires tuck waaaaay more than before. And this is shown with wheels that have much less backspacing than the ones I've been using. I would actually like to space them out a bit more. The issue is the scrub radius is pretty bad and at full lock the tires get into the back/inside of the fenders. I either need to do some clearancing and/or raise the fenders up a bit.

Loving the new AC unit!

And I've got a bit of good news to report on the ESP32 sound unit. I have it operating the lights like it should, but am working on the sound now. Fingers crossed I can get it all working properly!

 

[Tommy R]

Meet Fred.