REAL Wheelstander underconstruction

Hopefully easier to read
Chris

 

I was talking old time wheelstanders, from when it was still a popular crowd pleaser.

 

going to get started on mine again soon just one more project in front of it now.

 

Very cool! please keep us posted on your progress. do you have any upclose pictures of the wheely bars and what do you guys use to make the sparks?

 

Hello,it has been a great while since I last posted.On July 3rd I lost my mother and have been trying to get my life back together.
As a result I have doubled down on my resolve to finish both of my projects and wash my hands of building/fixing cars, be it professionally or for a hobby.Too long to much work/money and I am having no fun, not for a long time.That being said I have been working on the truck every day for a month a have quite a bit of progress that I would like to share.
I had to rebuild the tops of both L/R door pillers where the dash the dash attaches,rust and old bad repairs. Find another dash,cut out ,strip remove all rust behind with navel jelly and sand blasting,thank you Harbor Freight.Filled all of the holes in the dash,make filler panels,weld and the straighten the top,curled from welding,then install into truck,make fillers from front of dash to front of truck..
Installed hydraulic throttle, I was going to use aluminum for the floors in the bed behind the cab,but changed my mind and took out all of the 1x1'' framing to support that,cleaned and smoothed all of that area. I decided to install steel flooring just like Dodge did,but know one repos it and I am done with rusty junk so I stamped and bent panels just like the factory.I don't think anybody will be able to tell.And lastly I got the rear wheel houses tacked in one of which I will have to untack and move farword 1/2 inch because it is to far back.How it happened I do not know and know one will care but I will know and care so I will move it.Here are some pics of it outside.I was switching vehicle positions to get my o/t 71 Mach1 closer to my big welder so I can replace the floors,full quarter,tail light panel,ect......so I will be taking a brake from the truck to work on my mustang,going to be my daily car and the last car that I will "fix".
Chris

 

Hemiwheelstand; sorry for the loss of your mom..stay busy and everything will come back together..Stander is looking good..In previous post it was asked what was used to make the sparks; some titanium dowels in the steel rubbing blocks will add to the spark display..

 

Sorry about your Mom's passing. I have followed this project all along and look forward to your next update. You have done an incredible amount of quality work on this project. Getting burnt out happens to most of us sooner or later. There are thousands of unfinished projects out there. I hope your enthusiasm returns and you enjoy working on this truck again. Thanks for the updates.

 

my condolences on your loss , your truck is very nice , your a talented fabricator , I wish my work was this nice ,

 

Sorry to hear about your mom Chris , Keep up the great work, Tim Jones

 

Thank you all for your kind words.
If you look at the bottomof the wheelie bar you see two square spacer blocks. The two silver blocks bolted to those are 40 pounds of Titanium

 

Hello,once again it has been a while.I am writing for two reasons today.No I have not been working on the Dodge lately as my mustang still is not welded back together yet,but things have started to move along again.
And yet I have been working on the wheelstander project in a roundabout way.You see that I am doing this on a next to nothing/no budget,so a BIG problem was how to haul the wheelstander once it is finished,a 60K dually not in the budget.But I have found and bought by chance what is for me the ultimate tow vehicle,A fully functional,working 1979 F350 crew cab,460(Thunderjet)4spd,4.10 Dana 70.It has a 10,000lbs gvw .I can now tow the huge 5th trailer with the dodge that is to wide to fit between the wheel wells of a 102 wide trailer at 70mph safely down the interstate with 35 year old cast iron.
Which brings me to the second reason .I am looking for a auxiliary transmission to put behind the 4spd in the F350(not the aluminum volvo pos that gearvendors has,but a real auxiliary. A Spicer 6041 or a Spicer 7041 4spd used in the 50s,60s,70s, behind over the road trucks.Any help in locating one would be helpful.
Chris

 

here it is

 

Sweet! I like many saw the little red wagon run many times. I believe the LRW started out to be a real drag car and kinda evolved into the wheel stander gig. g

 

Yes, the LRW did start out to be a drag truck, with intent of being the world's fastest truck. Not really designed to be a competitive drag vehicle that would beat a lot of cars, but beat any other trucks at the drags. In 1965 it ran mid 11's, which was pretty fast back then. When the builders found it had a tendency to lift the front wheels, they sold it to Golden, who made it an exhibition truck.
http://www.rigsofrods.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=74008&d=0

 

If you could make that truck a ramp truck, would be like steeping back in time driving up to the drag strip, pulling your wheel stander

 

Any updates? Hope you are doing well, have not seen a post in awhile.

 

Hope you are well. Would really like to see the truck UP and doing its thing.

 

He is still alive and well ??
He is working on the tow vehicle for a change of pace.

 

Hello,once again.Yes it has been a while since I last posted,because I have not been working on the wheelstander itself.You have to think of the wheelstander as a whole project.As George said I have been working on the hauler for this mess.It is classic,nostalgic,and kick ass,just not how you would say"Hamb friendly".(79 F350 Crew Cab DRW)So I have not posted any progress on the Dodge itself.I have been working on the Wheelstander project.With out the tow truck the Dodge does not go anywhere.This IS my 65,000$ truck
A brief run down of what I have bee doing is:
-Rebuild f350 chassis
-Install dual wheels(Alcoas)
-Install rear gas tank/relocated side tank as far reward as possible
-Build gooseneck hitch flip ball(nobody makes a chassis cab hitch for Ford)
-Rewire truck,install brake controller,dual batteries,better toons
-Fix frame,all new brake,fuel lines,manual dual tank valve ect.....
-Install 6041 Spicer auxiliary trans( re engineer entire drive tran and chassis of truck,no small feat)L+LL=13.5:1,4th+0verdive=0.86:1
That is the short list That does not include rust repair yet.Soon will be done with the ford for a while and I will be getting back to the Dodge very soon.Thank you all for caring because I have days where I could push it all outside and set it on fire,because it takes too much time and I in no way have ever had/ever will have the money to do all of this.So I press on.
Chris

 

Hello,it's been I while,too long perhaps so here I go.I have been in Ford truck land for the past year with building the wheelstander tow truck and then building another truck with 4 wheel drive to use as a normal truck so the Queen Mary(F-350) is only to be used for towing/fair weather duties.
Now that all of that nonsense is done I have since switched gears to start on the wheelstander again,this time I will NOT be stopping work on it until it is done/running,less paint.The paint is the other problem that I have to solve.I don't want to paint and do the body work myself,but I will if I have to.I am quite capable of doing it ,but I am not at all set up for it,which brings me to my next idea.
I would like to entertain the idea of having some help with painting this thing.If any of the fellow hot rodders on here like the idea of laying some paint on a nostalgia A100 wheelstander,please feel free to estimate,question or comment on what and how much the job would be.If you are close I live in northeast PA please stop by and check it out.
So far the the idea is a base of Ford autumn orange metallic,blue and green metal flake over that,inside and out,with a deep red roll cage and subframe and the name STRIP SHOW in silver down the side who knows for the rest? And I will travel to have it painted.
So here's a pic of the fleet being rearranged for work on the dodge to begin w ith more progress to follow
Chris

 

How about a vinyl wrap ?
Should be able to get some graphics savvy folk to do a rendition "Photoshop" like.

Just to explore that option.

 

Just found this build . Love it. I Have had 2 A100's. Second one I built a mild street version a few years back. 440, with a 727 and 8 3/4. rear, all mounted to the rear frame assembly. Drove great and was a blast to drive. Look forward to seeing yours done.

 

Very cool project. And as someone who really drug out their A100 project, I can sympathize with your plight of getting this done and other stuff jumping in the way slowing you down. You have done yeoman's duty to be sure on the truck. You should take a moment every time you see it to reflect on how far you've come, it's quite impressive. Press on and keep the updates coming.

 

I cant really help with painting , but would love to see this beast in person.

 

Just found this build, so cool, following!!

 

I also just found this thread. I'm definetly gonna keep up with the build. Awsome craftsmanship and I admire your dedication. Can't wait to see it go down the track.

 

Hello,I have thought about maybe a wrap on the tow truck after I finish the rust repair on the body,that's a lot of sq.ft. to paint. But that is not an option for the wheelstander. Yes this is a race car,but also it is a show car as well.Too much time ,blood,money,and pride invested into it to put a big sticker on it.
Chris

 

Hello I live just north of you in Schuylkill county.I could give you the 50cent tour.No paint ,but their is a ton of grinding welds to do.
Chris

 

Yep, grinding welds is a lonely job!
Very cool truck, the more outlandish, the better!

 

That's a great truck. I know about getting burned out on cars been there. I haven't gone in the shop for a good bit. I've gotten out there the last few days and started back on things. Feels good to get back out there.

Anyway, keep pressing on. It will be worth it in the end.