Welding Tips and Tricks

Well, here's the scoop.
We've had this old 92 cummins dually on the farm for over 15 years. About 5 years ago we put this bale bed on it. Love that bed.
Finally decided it was time to find a newer/nicer truck and install the bale bed on it.

So after watching CL for a while we finally snagged a 95 cummins dually regular cab.
It had a flatbed on it all ready.
So we pulled it off, and put the bale bed on it.
Then put the other flatbed on the 92.

Lot's of fabrication building mounts and stuff.

So here's pics of everything.

Start to finish on both trucks.

Enjoy.

~John








































































































































































































Ok.
So the 95 is complete.

Ready to put the other flatbed on the 92.
The mounts are already built on it.
Just gotta set the other bed on and weld it down.
Few mods needed tho.

Ok.
Got the 92 done.
ready to be sold.

Thats all the welding work I had for ya.

~John

Now, the big finale.

We bought this JD 310se backhoe and an auction about 20 miles from our place.
Didn't want to pay to have it delivered so we hitched up to our 40' Big Tex tandem dual trailer and proceeded to go pick it up.

Was quite the load coming home.
I'll post a few videos of driving the load home, as well as a couple related videos.

Here's the vids.



Cold start about 10 deg F in the 92.

https://i.ytimg.com/vi_webp/_dqN2KRHQhM/mqdefault.webp


Walk around of the 95 after bed installed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhBXgPTKLpQ

A drive in the 95.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxfJLKKUKbQ

And the video of towing the backhoe home.

Full 26 minute drive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjEQmjpxpvw

Ahhhhh! Some moutains
Oh there was some welds too
Clean and neat as usual.

rick9345 wrote:Ahhhhh! Some moutains
Oh there was some welds too
Clean and neat as usual.

You know how I roll.

John -

'Epic' is an overused term these days, but I find it is always perfectly apt in relation to both your projects and your posts.

Also, I see a heap of 'tough trucks' TV ads on air over here...you know the sort of thing, macho-yet-well-groomed crew of guys with carefully applied dirt on faces and hands head out in their shiny new truck and load up with what the people in Ad Land believe qualifies as a challenging load...usually a quad bike, a kayak and a few power tools.

The Tough Trucks ad guys need to take a look at some of your posts to see how it's REALLY done!




Kym

MosquitoMoto wrote:John -

'Epic' is an overused term these days, but I find it is always perfectly apt in relation to both your projects and your posts.

Also, I see a heap of 'tough trucks' TV ads on air over here...you know the sort of thing, macho-yet-well-groomed crew of guys with carefully applied dirt on faces and hands head out in their shiny new truck and load up with what the people in Ad Land believe qualifies as a challenging load...usually a quad bike, a kayak and a few power tools.

The Tough Trucks ad guys need to take a look at some of your posts to see how it's REALLY done!




Kym

Thanks Kym.

Great post.
I'm glad some of you guys appreciate my threads.

And yes, I watch the "Fast Lane Truck".

Everyday stuff for us.

Nice work. Enjoyed the pix.

shipj0 wrote:Nice work. Enjoyed the pix.

I would be appalled to hear otherwise.

Thanks.

Damn nice looking job! I am a Florida transplant and am also jealous seeing the pictures of God's Country.

That is a lot of pictures. Great job and good to see some other Alaskans on here!

Mountains and trucks,enjoyment without a welder.

Finally got so sick of the rear hitch being so low on the dodge I decided to fix it.
It needs beefier springs too but I don't have time for that.

So I put a higher reciever tube on the back....

Very nice John, that scenery gets me every time, jealous.

Good choice on the AMSoil, good stuff I've had it tested by Blackstone holds up very well. I run it in my 7.3 Ford.

Agree ! Great pics & job as always - though I don't like how low the original hitch is - I might have been tempted to remove it to improve departure angle.

Trying to guess what the little tractor is on the trailer - can't decide - maybe IH 574 ? with nothing to give scale it looks small & the bonnet shape I recall being shared on quite a few models in the 70's - could even be as small as the 354 / 454 though back tyres look too big - & I think the swept back front axle would be just visible - put us sad tractor spotters out of our misery John please ! my memory is getting bad - I should know this era of tractor even allowing for differences in model across the pond.

noddybrian wrote:Agree ! Great pics & job as always - though I don't like how low the original hitch is - I might have been tempted to remove it to improve departure angle.

Trying to guess what the little tractor is on the trailer - can't decide - maybe IH 574 ? with nothing to give scale it looks small & the bonnet shape I recall being shared on quite a few models in the 70's - could even be as small as the 354 / 454 though back tyres look too big - & I think the swept back front axle would be just visible - put us sad tractor spotters out of our misery John please ! my memory is getting bad - I should know this era of tractor even allowing for differences in model across the pond.

IH 674. 8 speed manual. 4 speed reverse.
Just bought that tractor 2 months ago.
483 original hours.

Love that little tractor.

The low one with the rake is our 544 hydro.

Thanks for the info & more great pictures John - so I was close with my guess - the 574 / 674 are visually identical just 10hp difference in motors (68 / 78 from memory in UK market ) & yes they were great little tractors in their day - actually quite advanced compared with others of the same year - gearbox took some getting used to - yours having such low hours won't but high mileage models suffer from linkage wear & can jam between gears or even select 2 at the same time - then you get to lay under them with a prybar & jump them back into correct place ! never seen the 544 hydro - think it maybe a US market specific model - we had a 354 hydro but they are very rare - idea had it's merit for certain jobs but they never caught on here - to find one now would be make it a valuable collectors model - they had one at the college I went to bought just really to show us about hydrostatic drive as almost nothing used them back then - even combines were still mostly belt drive on variable speed pulleys - I only drove it one time & after demonstrating a near perfect " J " turn was banned !
Slight query - you say 8speed manual box - yes thats my memory but all the UK 674's I've seen have the clutchless 2speed splitter .( like dual power on Fords )

Noddybrian, my Dad drove one of those 544 hydro on a baler. He said it was the best baler tractor that he'd had in 50 years. There wasn't much that it did well apart from that, but that one job it excelled, especially on some of our fen crops where the combines spat the straw out of the back in lumps. You're right on the uk 674's, they all had that splitter. Can't remember what IH called it, but the Ford system on the 7000's was called Dual Power. Masseys had something similar as well on the 165/185/188 tractors.

Interesting - I been around a LOT of tractors but never saw a 544 hydro - I can see on a baler it makes sense - probably on beet or spud harvesters too - the Nasty Ferguson version is called " multi power " & is a nightmare - you have to remember in low the tractor free wheels in gear which is not a bonus ! only good thing was you could still bump start them with a dead battery - fords needed engine running for drive as high & low go through a hydraulic clutch pack - at this rate we're going to need a new topic just for farming !