The Road Ranger. 1997 SEMI

[Rick W]

Is such a setup road legal without a CDL? I’m not bashing the idea, I just don’t know. I think there is a reason only semi trucks use them and “hay trailer” type setups aren’t a common thing for trailers in general.

I actually have no idea. Just another harebrained scheme I think would be cool. Far from a top priority right now. I’ll be doing some research.

edit: when I did the research on the truck and trailer, everything seemed to be about the total length, but mostly about the weight. I have the impression that you could stack chicken crates with super glue on top of rollerskates, and if you didn’t exceed the weight or length, there isn’t a big concern from the government.

I’ll Also look at the regulations that it might be considered a tow dolly like you used for TRS2 for the 40th.

And again, infinitely liberal down here in Georgia, and most of the south. But I’d have to think out if I ever went up to Jersey or such.

 

[Rick W]

Been busy with real estate stuff, running behind on toy projects. Not a bad thing, but the junk pile is my therapy and physical exercise. So when I caught my breath yesterday, today I played with the toys. A little maintenance all the way around, but my focus remains completing the Road Ranger.

I had most of the tongue/pin assembly redone, and it’s good I took a few days off, because when I went back, I saw some things I could do better, and my welds always need a going over. I’m ecstatic to say I believe the assembly is complete, only lacking paint.

I also tackled the passenger side hold-down rail, the piece of rebar I ran the whole length of the bed to hook the tie-down straps. Driver side was reasonably straight, but not perfect, but two of the struts on the passenger side were too long (1/4”?), giving it a pretty good bow out, and then where I tied it in on the front, strut was too short, and toed in. The deviations were small, but since you can see right down the length of the trailer when you look at it from the back or from the front, especially compared to the geometry of the checker plate deck, it looked like it was off by a mile. I was actually dreading tackling it.

It went much easier than I thought. I didn’t take the side light strip (a piece of three-quarter inch thin aluminum angle, completely off, I just unscrewed it on the first four or five struts and bowed it down. I used a cut off wheel to just slice out about a 1/4 or 3/8” section in the two struts that were too long, and I cut the front connection apart.

I used a tie-down strap from one side to the other, to pull the rebar in, and then it was easy to wedge it up and down with a little pry bar and tack weld it. In the front, I made a couple of wooden wages, one from the top, and one from the bottom, to push the rebar out until it was straight to the eye, and then used a 5/16 bolt as a gap filler and welded it back together. It’s not perfect perfect, but nothing on the trailer is, and now it’s straight to the eye and matches the other side.

The light rail is just held on with some self drilling, self tapping screws from the bottom, and I put it back on literally in a couple minutes. BTW, while I was welding, I soaked a hand towel and wedged it between the piece I was welding and everything else. Worked like a charm.

Before I started, I went over everything, and that should be the end of the welding on the trailer. I have to do a little wire brushing and grinding on some of the welds just for cosmetic reasons, and then paint the tongue and touch up everything else.

I also made a light weight receiver tube in the top center of the step up wall, where the lower deck steps up to the upper deck. It’s for the purpose of using a winch, or using a hitch if I put a trailer on top of the trailer, something I already have some visions about. I also made a light weight t-bar insert for my military hitch for that spot. It doesn’t have to really hold anywhere near the stress of towing something, it’s just acting as a tie down point that looks cool. I’m still debating putting a shackle on either side of it. I probably will, but again, I’ll do it with some lightweight stuff, nothing like you do on the back to actually tow something.

I fixed everything shaky on the wiring from the trouble I had trying to get up to 40th, except the left rear sequencing turn signal. When I put the last touches on the trailer before the 40th, I pinched one of the three light wires and I fried the module. I have the new module, but I can’t really test it until it’s coupled with the truck. Hopefully that will happen tomorrow or the next day.

When I get that little bit of wiring done, all that remains, would be to wrap the wire for protection, and to make it look pretty.

The only other issue with the trailer that I’m aware of is one slow leaking tire. No biggie.

I’m going to hopefully go for a nice test ride on Tuesday. If that’s successful, and the clearances are all good when I swing the trailer, I hope to do the bodywork on the damaged fenders by the end of the week.

Then, the next priority is to start at the nose of the truck and install the rest of the lights and air horns and such, and fix or redo the marker lights and strobe lights, air horn, beacon, floods, etc. I started a while back, run all the wires into the cab in an overhead console I have to make while installing the Cb Ssb, like I did on the Missing Linc, but on the RR, all tied to the second battery in the truck box.

Then it’s polish, polish polish on all the diamond plate, and the mag wheels, and clear coat all, maybe get that done by Christmas.

And in between I envisioned running boards, mostly so sweet pea can get in and out easier, and I want to put an air tank opposite the spare tire with a little internal compressor in the toolbox. It should mimic a fuel tank on a big truck.

And I have the carpet and seat covers, don’t know when that will happen!

I won’t have it all done by this Sunday, but if it’s roadworthy, I’m hoping to take it up to the caffeine and octane in Kennesaw on Sunday morning and see what the reaction is there.

Does TRS do any events outside of the couple I know about? I was wondering if we could just piggyback on something like caffeine and octane, and get some of the boys in the south together. And before anybody volunteers me, I wouldn’t mind helping, but I wouldn’t want to be the guy in charge due to my wavering health.

 

[don4331]

I was surfing the net for some ideas and parts, and I ran up on this:

View attachment 99392
Back when I was trying to explain what I was trying. to do, I was thinking it was closest to the “B train,“ but it may actually be closer to the “C train.“ Actually a hybrid, I guess.

Option A is illegal many places for the 1st trailer (dolly being 1st trailer) - the issue is the 2nd joint (the '5th wheel of actual trailer) can push the 1st joint the ball joint of the "a dolly" into a jackknife situation under panic braking. I think this answers @sgtsandman 's question on whether 4 wheel trailers are legal or not.

An 'a dolly' is consider OK for 2nd or 3rd trailer in a number of states/province (but not all) and it is considered additional trailer, so in states/provinces which don't allow trains (i.e. more than one trailer) below certain GCW e.g. British Colombia, its not legal.

Lastly, we will note that for the B train, the frame of the trailer is solid, not flexible (their tandem to tridem sort of matches your single to tandem)

I can't remember if the final geometry of your solution increases weight on the rear wheels or not, but it is critical that it does.

 

[Rick W]

Option A is illegal many places for the 1st trailer (dolly being 1st trailer) - the issue is the 2nd joint (the '5th wheel of actual trailer) can push the 1st joint the ball joint of the "a dolly" into a jackknife situation under panic braking. I think this answers @sgtsandman 's question on whether 4 wheel trailers are legal or not.

An 'a dolly' is consider OK for 2nd or 3rd trailer in a number of states/province (but not all) and it is considered additional trailer, so in states/provinces which don't allow trains (i.e. more than one trailer) below certain GCW e.g. British Colombia, its not legal.

View attachment 99781
Lastly, we will note that for the B train, the frame of the trailer is solid, not flexible (their tandem to tridem sort of matches your single to tandem)

I can't remember if the final geometry of your solution increases weight on the rear wheels or not, but it is critical that it does.

WOW, I like that image. You’ve captured my technical ability perfectly, but I never dreamed about taking that 88 bed I’m making into a trailer for the 87, and coupling it to the trailer I made for the Road Ranger!

I stated a few times the floating axle on the truck/cab, is not supporting the frame. The top two links pivot off the frame in the front, and the springs pivot off the frame on the bottom, and there are shackles so it doesn’t bind. But it actually pulls behind the truck, not under the truck. With the four link, so any chance of jackknife there.

The pinpoint on the cab is about 70% of the way from the drive/front axle to the back axle. That way the back axle takes the majority of the trailer weight, but there is still weight on the truck for traction, which increases when I brake. But the back axle can rise up, so I never lose traction.

Doing a dolly and a second trailer is just a pipe dream at this point. I’m pretty sure Georgia allows them, like you said, you could use an A-dolly behind the front trailer.

It’s my understanding the A-dollies are OK where it is pretty much flat terrain like the East Coast, and the B-dollies and the C set ups are for where there steep hills, mountains, etc.

And always keep in mind that all the stuff I’m doing is parades and fooling around and such. Nobody’s carrying any serious weight on these things.

this is just explanation, and I really appreciate all the input, and thank you for your comments. I have actually changed quite a few things after input from the TRS family.

 

[Rick W]

Got all the wiring under the upper deck and pig tails to the truck complete a couple days ago, snugged up and strapped the wires yesterday, put the wire loom on, and then checked if anything rubbed anywhere when I lifted the deck up and down. I’ve got a little more taping and wire loom to go, but it’s completely roadworthy again.

I jumped to the back of the trailer to swap out the left turn light sequencer module. I pinched the wires when I put it in but didn’t have enough time to fix it before the 40th. I had an extra module, and I wisely put it where I wouldn’t lose it. Yeah it’s as safe as it can be, because I picked such a good location, I can’t find the damn thing. I ended up ordering a couple more, they come in a pair for $10. Won’t break me.

I think I mentioned I decided to add a trailer ball to the vertical where the deck steps up. No sensible reason, it’s another harebrained scheme I’ve got, y’all will understand later. I get these crazy ideas to do extra things and then never understand why I can’t get to the finish line. Anyway, with those couple of hitches I found lately, I used the triple ball on the deck, and I swapped out the one off the tail for the Pintle Hitch. I fabbed the little plate and T-bar that slides into the receiver, that it bolts to, out of the scrap bin.

On another whim, I ran the wiring to the hitch up on the deck so when I put a trailer up there, I can plug in the brake lights and the strobes. I put in a four pin connector, and when I was taking the pictures I realized I probably need a five pin connector, but that’s a pretty easy swap. And if you look close, there’s a four pin aviation connector, same as on a CB microphone. That’s for the four-circuit alternating strobes.

When I went to put it the diamond plate back on, I had completely forgotten that I didn’t do it all the way across the upper deck running out the door for the 40th. But at least now I have the plan with what I have left so it’ll look like I planned it that way.

When I put the receiver tube in the tail, again at the last minute before the 40th, I didn’t think out where the pin goes through the receiver. It’s damn near where the diamond plate cover goes, and there’s not enough room to get a hitch lock through it. I didn’t want to redo the whole thing, so I ended up drilling and tapping the hitch pin, and using an Allen head bolt with red thread locker. I figure if somebody wants my $20 hitch bad enough to fight with an Allen wrench on their knees to get it all off…

Next step is to couple it up and do the parking lot evaluation, and then a good test drive.

 

[Rick W]

Afterthought, but as I was finishing up the trailer wiring, I was crawling all over the truck, figuring out how to wire it to connect them together. When I was searching around, I realized the rug in the rear was wet (there is no rug in the front, and holes for the water to leak out). Also found a couple of stains on the headliner.

So I got sidetracked on that and figured out that a couple of the eight screws I used to put on the roof rack that holds the lights and horns were leaking. I took the screws loose one by one, made better gaskets, gooped everything up with that E 6000 stuff, and put it all back together. We’ll see if it works tomorrow. I’m glad I found it before I put the new carpet and seat covers in.

 

[Rick W]

When I went up for the 40th, I just threw the diamond plate down on the trailer. On the main part, I had a wide enough flange that I just cut all the diamond plate an inch too long (width wise) so I could trim it and square it later. On the upper deck, I was rushing so much and I didn’t want to ruin a big sheet of diamond plate, so I just took a piece that happened to be about 3/4 the width and put it right down the middle.

The last few weeks I redid the pin assembly, and then I had to clean up some wiring, and every time I turned around it was just one more little detail, and it’s been taking forever. Well, everything below the upper deck is done, except for some painting, so I figured I’d just take an hour or two and clean up that diamond plate on top. Well, two long days later…

I struggled back-and-forth with putting a filler strip down both sides, versus having the seam off center, the latter of which won the contest. But the real reason was I wanted an access panel to get to the wiring terminal strip.

The main part of the trailer and the tongue is all steel. For the upper deck, I made a little pressure treated frame to extend the upper deck past the pin and over the triangular tongue, pretty much just for the appearance, but of course it had to be heavy enough that you could walk on it or put something on it. Well, working out the diamond plate, I had to redo one side of that “H“ shaped frame, and then do some little fab/wood work so I could do my access panel. Point being, every time I turn around, there’s some little detail, and it’s been taking forever.

I’ll stop my bellyaching here. On Sunday I’ll spin the trailer around (no small undertaking because it’s almost as wide as the wide spot of my driveway), and couple it up to the truck one more time for a little more extensive road test.

Hopefully tomorrow I’m going to not only get that done, I’ll also wash everything really well, touchup paint here and there, and head out for some pictures for the calendar.

The turn signal sequencer module also came in, so I’ll fix that trailer turn signal and the one strobe light back there in the same place when I couple it up to the truck.

 

[Rick W]

The access panel came in handy when I coupled everything up.

The turn signal sequencer was what I suspected, a pinched light wire burned a spot in the circuitboard. A tedious but simple fix right where it was located by the lights.

When I put all the strobe lights on the trailer, I just tested them with a spare battery. When I coupled everything up, two of them were out. Turns out the one on the back that I thought was somehow related to the sequencer problem somehow, well, I just never connected the ground. Easy enough fix except I’m trying to do with my fat heads in the space the size of the bottom of a soup can. A second light was out, something to do with my crimp connectors that I never figured out. I just spliced in two new pieces of wire, and everything worked.

I also finally figured out why the front of the upper deck is crooked. This one wasn’t my crappy welding and such, the front of my $200 salvage pop-up camper frame was apparently a little bit out of level. I suspect the former owner pivoted to far and just bent where the coupler attaches to the frame a tiny little bit, and when I welded that supports 3 feet to either side, the tilt was more than noticeable. Since it doesn’t affect drivability (and I’m a little wary of welding and grinding), I’m going to tackle it after wiring up the rest of the truck and doing some graphics, and I’m gonna make sure I tested on a dead level parking lot somewhere, not my roller coaster brake driveway.

 

[Rick W]

Turns out a couple of my old prescription bottles are the perfect size for rain caps over my tongue jacks. I cut off the bottom, and then slit them in four spots just about a quarter inch because they were almost the exact same size as the metal tubing, and that let me get them started, and then I could tap them on snug. A little paint they’ll be perfect. I wonder what I would do without the shed of miracles and my mother’s depression-era mentality that makes me keep everything.

 

[Rick W]

We’ll, I’ve been working on the graphics the last few days. I put a reflective red, white and blue pinstripe on the high body line, hated it, and took it all off. Then I redid it with just a red reflective strip, and an old fashioned 60’s thick/skinny double dark blue pinstripe (it’s amazing what’s in the shed of miracles). We’ll, I like it better, but you can’t see it, except at night when the red line reflects. But it’s moving in the right direction.

I bought a rocker panel flag decal probably a year, year and an half ago, and I finally got around to doing it.

Well, I also bought a “chrome” 1 inch wide pinstripe tape, and a half inch black body side molding. My vision was to start the chrome tape in the crease on the lower body line and roll it over the bulge. Then put the body molding on top of that, so it matched/mimicked the rubber bumper on the front bumper. And then I was going to mount the 8 inch tall flag graphic below that which would have reached the bottom of the door.

Well, the “chrome” tape looked like a dollar store piece of aluminum foil, so I scratched that.

Well, then I mounted the flag graffic from the bulge in the body line on the bottom of the door. If you’ve ever done an 8” x 6ft vinyl graphic, you only get one try. It actually came out pretty good, but it was an inch higher than the bottom of the door.

Keep in mind, the whole time I’m doing this, I know I still have more red paint and another foam roller if none of it works out.

Well, I sort of liked the flag graphic, but there is a white line, thin, like a string, across the top from the backing. Well, that’s exactly where I was going to put the black rubber molding, so I stuck that on to cover it and protect my $20 paint job.

Well, I bought that rubber molding like a year, year and a half ago, and when I was pulling off the backing tape and sticking it on, about 3 feet of the adhesive only came off the little 3M foam strip, so it wouldn’t stick. Then I had a tight butt hole, wondering if I had enough extra to redo it. Fortunately, it worked out.

Well, when I backed up and looked at it, and, to me, it looked a little funny with the red paint below that graffic. Soooo, I whipped out my semi gloss black rustoleum and a dollar store brush, and blacked out the bottom. I also blacked out that muffler pipe that was hanging low.

Sooo, it turns out that that actually made a fairly straight line from the bumper across the door and cab across my tandem axle set up. And I thought it finally looked pretty good.

It didn’t help that Lincoln was his laughing his little doggy ass off for the last couple days the whole time I was doing this 20 times.

Well, here’s my dilemma. I like it, and after all the trial and error, I think it came out balanced and good looking. But now I’m wondering if I just liked the old total red cab better.

What do you guys think? Remember that there is still an air tank that will look like a fuel tank behind the cab in front of the axles, and I’m going to have a running board/step below the cab (for Sweet pea).

Thick skin here, BTW, all comments welcomed

 

[Rick W]

I also drove it all over the place today just for fun. I’m very happy to report that I can turn the cab a little over 90° from the trailer without smashing the fenders or knocking parts off. So now I’m going to fix the fenders and paint everything underneath the upper deck.

Then comes one of my fun parts, wiring everything into the cab. I played around with my cobra 129 and made a cardboard template with where all the switches will go, and then traced it onto my last truck box cover…

 

[Rick W]

After a quickie poll, I decided the toolbox cover was way too valuable (I only have two or three extra truck boxes left), and I decided to cut the mount/light panel out of the sheet metal from a stainless gas grille. I used one of the doors on the bottom.

That’s actually the inside panel. The outside of the door had some funky coating on it, and this panel wasn’t stainless steel. It’s not exactly galvanized, but it’s got some kind of plating on it, zinc, aluminized or who knows.

I double checked my template a couple times, and counted up all the switches, and figured where I would put them. I’ve done this several times before, and every time I was done, I realized I wanted another switch or two. If my figuring is correct, I actually have four extra switches on this model.

After I got the holes cut, I sanded the face with a 120 grit, and then I used one of those foam sanding blocks from the dollar store to put the final finish on it. Not perfect, but certainly appropriate for the Road Ranger.

I got in the truck one more time and checked it between the visors. Biggest challenge is going to be cutting the hole in the headliner so I don’t screw that up, but it has to be attached to the underside of the metal roof to hold the CB weight going over bumps and stand up to banging on the switches.

The bottom left is the controller for the 36 inch LED traffic advisor light bar. I had to cut the wire between the bar and the switch/controller, and having done it before, it’s real finicky. On the switch side, I removed the original wires and soldered a little bit heavier gauge wires to the switch, so when I move that panel around, they will hold up.

Top left is the low brightness strobe controller (double circuit, one Amber, and one white, 17 flash patterns, most of them on the trailer). The hazard button second on the bottom is the bright strobe controller (very bright, amber/white combination, lights, many flash patterns, mostly on the truck).

The rest of the bottom row are 30 amp switches, and the top row are 20 amp switches. All of the switches light up when you turn them on.

The 30s will be for the old fashioned rotating beacon, the air compressor to feed the air tank, the forward facing floodlights, and a spare.

The 20s are the rear/reverse light circuit flood lights, and three spares.

For the airhorn, I have an industrial 30 amp version of a doorbell switch. I’m going to mount it on a lever above the inside of the panel, hinged on the right, and sticking out on the left. On the left, I’ll put a short chain or nylon cord with an appropriate bobble on the bottom. It’s so I can pull the air horns just like a real big truck.

Any accusations that I am a child will be rebuffed.

 

[Rick W]

And working with sheet-metal, especially when I use a cut off wheel to cut it out, is one of my favorite mediums

 

[Snoranger]

Cover it in vinyl wrap… it gives it that little extra touch it needs.

 

[RobbieD]

pretty good, but it was an inch higher than the bottom of the door.

Sometimes one must sacrifice for art's sake. Cut off the bottom 1" of the door.


No, seriously. The flag graphic looks good to me. I like it (frankly, it looks MUCH better in the photo than what came to mind when you described it). Don't rip it off yet. Besides, dogs don't know art (however, cats do . . . ).

The switch panel is looking good. I think it still needs a "little" something, and @snoranger has a good suggestion with the vinyl wrap. Back when I did car stereos and accessories I would use black wrinkle paint sometimes on panels like that. Smooth file and/or sand the perimeter of the face and you get a nice silver color framing around the black wrinkle finish.

(as an aside, Rick, do you know / remember the old Auto Radio and CarTunes shops in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Roswell?)

Keep beatin' on it, man. That's a really cool truck, and it shows that you've put your heart, mind (and blood) into it.