westmicher
Veteran Expediter
Actually, I weighed her Sunday. She' at 5,820 without the back door but with the floor. She'll be over 6,000 finished but not by a lot. I can live with that.
Westmicher's New XLT 10 Project Begins!
- Thread starter westmicher
- Start date
Actually, I weighed her Sunday. She' at 5,820 without the back door but with the floor. She'll be over 6,000 finished but not by a lot. I can live with that.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
I've made a lot of progress. The back door is on and the floor insulation is done. The floor itself will be done tomorrow.
I did have her out today for a short run. With only 600 miles on her and no air deflector above the cab she returned 14.9 mpg. The air deflector should make a good difference. Once the engine is broke in should help some more. Still hoping for more than 16 mpg!
More pictures tomorrow night.
I did have her out today for a short run. With only 600 miles on her and no air deflector above the cab she returned 14.9 mpg. The air deflector should make a good difference. Once the engine is broke in should help some more. Still hoping for more than 16 mpg!
More pictures tomorrow night.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
OK, here is a lot more progress to report...
You can see the seallbetween the Cab and the Box, which was well tested by the torrential rain today! You can also see the Rear Drip Edge, The rear upper LED Turn Signal, the side Roof Cap Detail and Assembly, the upper Turn Signal, and the entire rear Upper LED Light assembly.
You can see the seallbetween the Cab and the Box, which was well tested by the torrential rain today! You can also see the Rear Drip Edge, The rear upper LED Turn Signal, the side Roof Cap Detail and Assembly, the upper Turn Signal, and the entire rear Upper LED Light assembly.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
And some more...
This is the Red Oak Floor, covered in 3 coats of polyurethane, and protected by steel cargo guides attached with countersunk machine screws tapped into the main frame... more than 300 machine screws hold it together!
The skid stops are adjustable for 3 skids or 4 skids... or anything else!
The L-track embedded in the floor and mounted on the wall have many types of strong fasteners to secure cargo!
This is the Red Oak Floor, covered in 3 coats of polyurethane, and protected by steel cargo guides attached with countersunk machine screws tapped into the main frame... more than 300 machine screws hold it together!
The skid stops are adjustable for 3 skids or 4 skids... or anything else!
The L-track embedded in the floor and mounted on the wall have many types of strong fasteners to secure cargo!
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westmicher
Veteran Expediter
The back door is finished...
The back door has Red Oak on the interior, with 3 coats of polyurethane, is fully insulated, with exposed fasteners for a certain look. There is a center internal frame member so I can mount a VuCube on the door one day soon.
The back door has Red Oak on the interior, with 3 coats of polyurethane, is fully insulated, with exposed fasteners for a certain look. There is a center internal frame member so I can mount a VuCube on the door one day soon.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
The beginning of the...
I won't make you guess... this is the super high density foam that will be machined into the proper shaped air deflector... and then covered with a highly durable plastic exterior to insure years of good looking fuel economy!
I won't make you guess... this is the super high density foam that will be machined into the proper shaped air deflector... and then covered with a highly durable plastic exterior to insure years of good looking fuel economy!
Great job. What are the box dims?
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
The length is 18' 3" with a maximum of 16' 2" length for cargo... the rest is my kitchen on one side and portapotty on the other side. There is 53" width between the cargo rails with 79" maximum width which allows for a nice bunk side-to-side. The interior height is 73" which is fortunate because that's my height!!!
purgoose10
Veteran Expediter
Looks great and I to like the oversize tail lights. I made my concerns earlier about the reinforcing at the top above the door. With the majority of the weight being behind the rear wheels the weight and the flex of the box when pulling into driveways etc will cause the corners to crack. The door being single and having those type locks with the flexing may cause the door to pop open because of the small latchs. I hope this isn't the case because it all looks good. I like the floor with the skid plates.
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
But I don't speak Russian or Serbian!!! Must she still become yellow????
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
The GVW is exactly 10,000 as rated by Ford, NOT my company XLT10, LLC. The empty weight full of 40 gallons of gas was 6,180, until I decided to protect the oak floor with 10 ga. steel cargo managers/slides. With those beefy mothas in, her empty weight ballooned to 6,420 lbs. I may or may not keep them... the jury is still out. But I love the finished oak look!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
I also was required by the Feds to place a center mount high stop light at the top of the door. I did that today. While I was there, I also added turn signals up there as well. You don't notice them until they light, because they are super-bright LED strips. If you like the tail lights, I bet you'd love the upper stop/turn lights!
I chose a single rear door to reduce the build complexity and some weight. It made latching and locking stronger too. That's my story...
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
I brought the bracing concerns to my welder and he said, "You have a rigid box that has far more structural integrity the ANY semi trailer, on a super strong aluminum box frame, all mounted on Ford's steel box frame, reinforced with even more steel cross members. If those joints fail, I'll buy your truck and eat it in front of you!"
Now I don't really think he can eat much of my truck but this man has welded a zillion things, up to, and including a pulling truck powered by a jet turbine AND an ocean racing boat powered by TWO jet turbines! I think it will be OK.
Murraycroexp
Veteran Expediter
...........lol!!
westmicher
Veteran Expediter
We just took her out for a 400 mile trip this morning. Averaging 63 MPH with the air conditioning on, practicing good pedal management techniques, and following semis when practical, returned 16.6 MPG. I am very pleased and very interested what we get with a proper wind deflector installed. 
Freightdawg
Expert Expediter
It really has been interesting following your construction. It looks very well engineered!
