your tech videos are the best, excellent audio and camera, its easy to see you are a journeyman by trade, and a good one.

The rebuild videos are my favorite. that and when you break it towing with it 😂

I like your idea of the heavy-duty off road buggy suspension. I envision Ladder Bars, High-Arch Springs, and a 2.5-ton Rockwell axle! :)

Glad to see that you made it out after this repair - we needed you too! Thanks for getting Tina out of the woods-

Nice job on the blocks u made

Awesome job as allways Eric !! Never mind what all the keyboard commanders have to say here...

She looks good pard! And ready to get the job done again!! Nice fix bud!! She's a sweet machine!

Great channel ...love your truck

If you like lift blocks and leaf springs, you should probably consider some off-road traction bars, especially considering that you put extra torque loads on the suspension by not only driving difficult terrain, but doing so while trying to pull others at the same time. Off-road traction bars are not the ones you see on muscle cars, rather, they are a link bar, run parallel to the leaf spring, the same length from spring center bolt to non-shackle spring eye, but, run above or below it. Basically, it let's you make a leaf spring become a 4 link. I'm sorry, I'm sure I'm describing it poorly, but I am remembering them from a old jcwhitney catalog. But you could make some link bars, attach one end either near the axle, or above the springs several inches, along the spring center bolt line) and then attach the other end to the frame the same distance above or below (whichever you choose on the other end) the spring eye, while the truck is sitting on the ground. If you can spare the clearance closer to the axle (or even below it), and the same distance from the spring on the other end below the spring hanger, you could get the most benefit in reducing torque loads, and transferring drive power to the truck. This should also eliminate axle wrap, which contributed to the u-bolt and spacer block failure. If you want to put such a bar on above your springs, to maintain clearance, and simplify attachment brackets, I would recommend looking into doubling up on the u-bolts, which, with your current setup, wouldn't be a bad idea, especially given the size of your spacers.... you could either make a new top plate, or a adapter plate sandwiched between the top plate and spring. Happy wheeling

Love your videos inventing stuff to use from England

Good job i knew you be back keep up the good work.

Love the videos man keep it up..

This channel is awesome

great job, hope you make it to the next event.

good stuff man you've been makin these videos a long time keep it up

The steel block is so much stronger Having a bigger gap between wrecker body and cab is ok,,,, keeps the body from denting the cab in twisty terrain

It always feels good when you know your truck is home.. lol

these would never come out if you would make the plate a little wider and run the u bolts through them to hold them in place

@MadsWorld34

6 жыл бұрын

thats a good ideal but since he already built them he could just add tabs to extend out to the U bolts.

@Maker_of_Things

6 жыл бұрын

Either tabs or some tube. Square tube, with a side cut off, would be easy to align and weld in place.

get a duce and half and cut it down. there are some of the cab-over cargo movers that would look Ideal, you can even find surplus rigs that have tire are control and they sell for pennies on the dollar, or less. Try Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service, Battle Creek Mi. worked for them a number of years. They will be able to help you find the next sale and you can take a look.

Good luck on the Wrecker

Nice work Eric

Nice repair. Almost wonder if it would be a good idea to add a top link to the top center of the axle. And a sway bar to help prevent the axle from twisting and shift side to side

Can't wait for some trail recovery vids

Eric, you are missing one very important message here!! Just like anything else in life there are different ways to build stuff. DO NOT buy those hollow pieces of shit you were handling. Hollow will break ---- solid won't. I've made my own blocks (usually 4") and if you want more grab another 1" block. I build my own, take 1" steel stock and cut it to exact dimensions and weld together. (4 ---1" blocks welded together gets you a 4" block of solid steel. Just gotta drill your center pin hole or centering dimple like you'd need for centering rear axle. See now---can't break, and much more beefy set-up. Blocks are fine --IN THE BACK!! But you definately need a traction control set-up. I would just run a 1.5 " moly tube from a gusseted bracket under rear shocks with heim joints for adjustment up to a drop bracket about 6-12 inches back from your transfer case . An axle truss would'nt hurt a bit for front axle tube either. I've seen them snapped off right past front diff. housing , when we get bouncing -when yur truck pull'in. p.s. there is only 8% lateral movement in the rear. The front can be up to 18-25%. Thx. Jim

A fairly easy fix for the wrecker would be to add a set of locating arms to the rear axle that would prevent axle wrap. With the locating bars, the lift blocks would only have to deal with weight and not rotational stress which is what causes most blocks to fail. As long as the bars move parallel to the leaf springs, they would keep the axle moving only straight up and down. About the only down side to locating bars is possibly a slight loss of ground clearance depending on where you mount them. Benefits are no axle wrap, no wheel hop and a much stronger rear suspension as it would be similar to a 4 link suspension with your existing leaf springs as 2 of the links. The best part is you could as time permits design and build the mounting brackets while still using the truck because your not changing any of the existing suspension parts.

Having fun sure is a hell of a lot of work.

@xmo552

5 жыл бұрын

1CRA2YM0F0 Amen

I was thinking of rear radius arms with rubber bushes added on, but, although the rear axel is moving around a fair bit the flex will take the shock loads out of the drive train. So that current set up might actually be perfect for the truck and it’s work load.

IF YOUR GOING TO DO ANY OFF ROAD RECOVER, YOUR VEHICLE SHOULD ALWAYS BE IN TIP TOP SHAPE TO BE SUCCESSFUL. GET IN AND GET OUT SAFE. DON'T WAIT TILL IT BREAKS TO FIX IT. RATHER THEN TALK ABOUT IT, FIX IT. ALWAYS GOOD TO KEEP SPARE PARTS.

Super nice I have to do the same thing on my f250 4x4 rear bocks

I saw a guy 4x4 for years on oak blocks? thought he was nuts, but it worked!

@DayRider76

6 жыл бұрын

Won't tow me out of the woods? I only go adventuring in subarus! If you don't blink you might see me passing in one of my pontiacs!

Same thing happened to me. Same cast blocks. Then made my own.

I have to say that those blocks look really good. Congrats. Just wondering, why not make some trailing arms that attach from your lower axle and then attach to the frame up near the cab. That would eliminate any axle rotation but would allow your current spring rate to stay the same. Cheap fix too.

The custom blocks look plenty strong.

i agree with Darkside on welding the blocks to the perch, then they will not spit out. Also, studding the front axle spring perch (instead of bolts)makes it a lot stronger

@Rat-Builder

6 жыл бұрын

That is true. One other thing, I use to be a field guy for Caterpillar, and the standard Cat bolts are grade 8, and the bolt threads are formed in, not cut with a die. That makes them stronger. One other thing, the standard bolts are very reasonably priced. Almost the same price as the grade 2 junk bolts that some people sell. Now the speciality bolts, like 12 point head and allan, they will make your wallet bleed.

Over and over, watching various serious of videos, I keep hearing the same thing. We are in a time crunch for another event. Also we hear, we are not ready to do that yet. You need to find the time. You don’t necessarily need to be at every event. Watching this video and looking at the condition of your wrecker, you really need to find some time to work on the wrecker and stop playing catch-up. I don’t think you will ever be able to find the time to do it right and don’t worry, there will always be another event whether you are are there or not. Your son was right, you need to question why you pushed so hard to run that trail. Hard words, and I am sorry for that, maybe it takes a stranger to say what needs to be said.

Weld a tab on the lift block that makes it wider than the u bolt down the center like maybe some 2" wide square tube then theres no way it can come out

I can't remember if I've mentioned this in other video comments, but a lot of people claim that it's worth some possible drilling out to go to 5/8" or larger diameter u-bolts. I replaced some 9/16" u-bolts with them, but I sold the truck within about 2,000 miles.

@offroadrecoveryteam

6 жыл бұрын

Yes, that is a common up-grade. Mine are 5/8.

Hoping to c da wrecker in action after this repair

Even with the 3rd hole modified in the front have you thought of using bolts that can be safety wired together? Especially with 3 bolts they should never become a problem again!

Are you worried at all about driveline angle with the flat blocks since your wrecker doesn't see much road use?

What size lift are you running on it ?

since you fabbed your new blocks and they're made from steel not cast, could you weld them directly to the original spring perches on the axle, would doing so make it stronger, basically making the new block and spring perch one solid unit, and prevent the same thing that happened to the other blocks or would there be no benefit to do that

@kevinhornbuckle

6 жыл бұрын

Good idea.

@Longtrailside

6 жыл бұрын

I was thinking the same thing. It would keep that thing from spitting out again, and it would be cheap and quick.

@darkside0914

6 жыл бұрын

the axle is steel as is the factory perch so there would be no problem welding the lift blocks he made to the perches on the axle,

MAYBE COULD BE A GOOD IDEA TO PUT TRACTION BARS TO STOP ANY AXLE WRAP WITH YOUR GM 14 BOLT

If you did your rear suspension the way I said in my comment on your last video when you broke you would never have to touch it again, I have built up nearlly 50 one ton class trucks that way that got used WAY harder than even you would ever use it 11 of them were off road recovery trucks 5 of which were 5 ton class used to recover things like logging trucks and heavy equiptment and the like, I also have an ASE in suspension, the problem with the air bag route is (and the guys that use them will find this out eventually too) is you blow or damage an air bag or air line(and out in the woods there are many things that can tear them up) then you are double screwed because you are left with only the wimpy springs doing all the work and air bags do nothing to help with the lateral forces applied when having a heavy rig hanging from the boom on rough terrain, same goes for the fancy race truck suspensions they are great for up and down but not so good on heavily laden work like you are doing, and both of those systems ad many more parts to go bad and break (K.I.S.S keep it simple stupid is the best way to go for heavy use like an off road work rig, But what do I know it's all I've done for nearly 30+ years, Good luck on your endevor. P.S I know you are under time constraints and money may be an issue but I can't help to think that just bitting the bullet once and done would make you wonder why you took so long to just do it, Hell if you were in my area I would be inclined to just do it for you just to prove my point then let you pay me back on payments after you see just how well it works out.

@offroadrecoveryteam

6 жыл бұрын

I do understand all that you say, I to have been working on/fixing every thing from cars to heavy equipment all of my life. in fact I am scheduled to take 4 of my heavy truck ASE recert tests next week, over 25 years of certification. I also like to keep it simple, that is one reason the wrecker in still sprung the way it is. I haven't run into problems with breaking springs yet, but I never did like the way the taped lift blocks sat in there. The flat ones fit much better. The U-bolts were upgraded from the OE 9/16" to 5/8" way back when I first built the wrecker, and haven't snapped one yet. I was however snapping front spring shackle plates, till I fabed my own to of 3/8". I know the wrecker could be built into a heavier stronger unit, but overall curb weight is also a factor for me. I have found that the weight of the wrecker already has affected my ability to get to some of the places I need to, mostly steep hill climbs, and loose sand. So in short I would say we learn/have new ideas every time we go out.

@looseballs1966

6 жыл бұрын

Ever consider a M984 HEMTT, I've used those in gaurds, I am out west in Idaho and have also been around them in civilian use also (I work on them), that truck will go pretty much where you point it unless there is no bottom to it, sand, mud, snow, hills of loose sand, mud and dirt, even very steep ones (up to 60% climbing/decending and 30% sidehill the manual says But I've had them on a good bit worse LOL), actually very manuverable and able to get into some remarkably tight terrain for such a large machine (helps being big and heavy and able to just push over most trees and other crap that gets in your way ), OK so maybe that would be just a tad overkill and a bit too pricey for what you are doing but you wouldn't break it anytime soon LOL, But to be serious you will most likely be much better off with the new blocks you built, they are quite a bit stronger than the cast ones (which aren't really worth the powder to blow them to hell actually), anyhow good luck with it and take care.

@xmo552

5 жыл бұрын

looseballs1966 How did you do your rear suspension?

I have the same tapered, cast iron blocks on a short bed Chevy, and even on the short truck the taper really sucks, my driveshaft vibrates because the ends are at different angles and my pinion seal is starved on oil and has to be over filled to not burn out... again, I wish I had the ability to build a set of my own.

@Rat-Builder

6 жыл бұрын

You could make a few measurements and a fab shop could whip you out a pair for not to much money.

As stiff as those springs are...is leaf spring deflection really an issue with lift blocks on that thing? I wouldn't think so

@D3thM3tal

6 жыл бұрын

It isn't - wrap bars really wouldn't do anything as you can't wrap nearly 10" of spring.

I What was your initial and re torque settings? 100lbs?

I know it's a dumb question but I just put a new 350 engine in my pickup I'm wondering what kind of oil you do you use in the wrecker

@offroadrecoveryteam

6 жыл бұрын

I actually use the same oil as I use in my Duramax. 15w-40 Rotella.

Sir. Have you viewed Rory's videos with Towmater? Just an idea. Towmater is a tough well designed off road tow truck. Thank you. Stay safe.

@offroadrecoveryteam

Жыл бұрын

Yes Rory and I are good friends, check out kzread.info/dash/bejne/nWpp2peKZdjSlaw.html

Eric, I've got an '85 GMC wrecker identical to yours but mine is 2wd. I need a 4x4 recovery truck so I'm considering to make this truck 4x4. I know a 2x4 and 4x4 frame are different. I have a question about the PTO. I run an sm465 and np205. Right now (2x4) my pto is on the passenger side. If I go with a Chevy Dana 60 front will the front driveline interfere with the pto? Is that how you have yours?

@offroadrecoveryteam

5 жыл бұрын

The PTO will work on the drivers side of the SM465, mine is run by a engine belt driven pump.

@xmo552

5 жыл бұрын

recoveryteam Thank you!

Put two ton springs in it

My brother was watching a few of your videos and quickly noticed you are running high psi in your tires. Just wondering why you don't drop a few psi to give you more traction and a bit more of some softer ride. I'm sure you have good reasons just wondering and trying to learn more about wheeling

@xmo552

5 жыл бұрын

Dennis Bellamy I read somewhere he doesn't because the rears aren't beadlocks

I'd measure that gap and write it down somewhere for reference.

I think that repair was great. If the cast iron lasted 9 years, then these should never give you any trouble. Why did you not cut them at an angle? Was it not necessary?

@offroadrecoveryteam

6 жыл бұрын

No, tipping the pinion up for reduced drive line angle was not needed on the wrecker.

@rickmarshall808

6 жыл бұрын

i thought he explain the angle is needed for short wheel base trucks, and his wrecker is long frame.

I think I remember hearing in one of your videos that you have 8" of Superlift. Those blocks are maybe 6" so did you combine with 2" springs in back and 8" in front? Or is there a body lift included? I didn't see 8" superlift on their site. Maybe it was another brand?

You made your own why not make them longer for more support

Traction bars would probably help prevent this

Hey guys sounds like you all need a fab guy that can build well if interested i weld/ fab prodution built alot to be young not a young stupid kid though been though hell to know what i know never gonn stop learning either

Hi uncle

What the hell is wrong with lift blocks on a trail truck. It's not like it's pulling a fifth wheel through the Rocky mountains

cant grip about holding up for 9 years