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Starting another bucket...

bentbaggerlen

bentbaggerlen

Member
I'm starting to build another bucket, and the wife is over joyied... Putting that aside.:lol:

I want to build something different. I want to build a bucket thats more truck then car. Most buckets take one or two shapes a turtle back or the small pick up box hung on the rear. I want a flatbed! Not a little 20" flatbed either, at least a six foot bed! Why? Well I've worked as a shop foreman in a truck equipment shop for the last 20 years, so I guess I have trucks on the brain now. I want dual stacks, dually rear wheels and side mounted tool boxes. Think Peterbuilt crossed with a T-bucket... A T-Trucket.

I live in Ct. and would like to use a kit from Total as a starting point. I'll have to stretch the frame to move the rear axle back so the bed is not hanging out in space. But if I use the Total body I have to cut off the little tool box, fill and smooth out the body. If I used a Spirit kit no extra fiberglass work, I hate working with fiber glass. But Total is less then an hour away...

I have to figure this out soon as I already picked up a donor and started tearing it down... Cutting up rusty cars is fun! :lol: Any ideas?
 
What are you using a a donor?

as far as strange goes, I keep getting told i'm off the beaten path myself, that said, there was a beautiful 28 model A towtruck at the nationals, and a local resident to my area has a 30's dumptruck(with a working boom with rope seals, and a wooden box!) Why not a T-flatbed?

So now, the flatbed can be made, the stacks can be ordered, the dualies will have to be robed and cut down(unless you can find a set for a model A(VERY RARE)) And that leaves my favorite part, the engine.

My suggestion would be to keep it simple with something a little oldschool, with few electronics. For example a olds 350 diesel from a 70s era smog vehicle would be awsome, and you might be able to get it cheap.
 
Bentbaggerlen, Total has a body without a bed. I called and asked about it a while back and it's not made by them, but they do sell it. You can't get it with their floor kit, but that wouldn't be a problem for you. You seem to have things well thought out.

I like Nailbombs thoughts on the Olds diesel for motivation. It would be very different and a welcome site in this world of SBC powered T Buckets. I say go for it.
 
The doner is a 1986 F-150 with a 302/C6/9" only 60,00 miles motor and tranny check out good, so just a few dress up parts and a little crome, may take off the EFI and back date to a carb.

Yea, the bed and frame extention will be easy, so will the stacks and heat gaurds. The dualies will be a bit more work. I have found dual wheel adaptors that would work from Ricka, and I have a few other ideas... Would love to run dualie wide whites..

I was thinking about a diesel, I work around them all the time. But I'm going to stick with gas... That and the only thing the old 350 GM diesel was good for was to keep you boat from drifting away when fishing. Now a four cylinder turbo diesel from a Volvo, hmmmm
 
Few things from 74 through the early 90's are what you would think of as stellar performers, but with a little work you too can correct GM's Mistakes, and even a oddball engine can be made to perform(and reliably).

either way, you've got a perfectly good drivetrain, and theres no reason to waste. Sounds to me like you've got your build pretty well set befor you.
 
I ordered my kit today, great platform for a starting point made a few changes and had them leave a few things out that I would not be using, such as the T-bucket bed.

I've built a few cars in the past, a pro street 73 AMC Matador running a blown 460, a Sumbeam Mainx with a V-6 and a 300 hp bug a bunch of sand rails and a few jeeps. But I'm going mild on this one. I want a driver this time.
 
COOL! Who did you go with?
 
Oh yea sorry, I went down to Total took a looked at their cars in the showroom, looked at quite a few others at shows and such and they all looked great. But...

I
 
Thanks, Mike. I should have looked back.:eek: My mind was elsewhere.:confused:
 
Sorry again... I hit enter and did not check my post.

In order to build what I want I need a body with out a pick up box, Totals are nice bodies but I would have to cut off the box, and just about rebuild the entire back of the body, and Total dose have a body with no box in the catalog, but then I would have to build an interier to fit it.

So I ordered a Spirit kit. They let me change out a few parts, delete the pick up box and axel as I already have one and just need to add the brackets to it. But I know I'll be getting a lot of parts from total as well. So I guess I'm going to build a mut. I'm told I'll see the kit in three to four weeks.
 
Bentbaggerlen, it sounds like you did good for your project. I like how the T industry is willing to bend with a few request for the "out of the box" guy. I can't wait to see how she goes together. Promises to be very interesting.
 
:lol:Speaking of "out of the box". Bentbaggerlen, I found these pics of an interesting T bucket. The owner is Bill Hemmer out of Grafton, Ohio. He is a member of the NTBA. I don't know him, but his T Bucket was on the members page. Check it out. I'm sure if you posted a thread requesting info on how he did his rearend setup, you would get some good ideas for your project.

23T_towtruck.jpg


23T_towtruck3.jpg


23T_towtruck2.jpg


I have also seen a T Bucket cement truck, but I can't remember the link. I'll keep an eye out for it. I'm sure the setup is close to this.
 
I've seen the photos of the wrecker before and it is one cool ride, my wife loves the color. I've also seen the cement mixer, but its a margareata mixer
talk about a rolling party! The owner of the mixer has other bodies that he can swap out.

Don't know yet but I may make the body dump, it would be a great way to show off the chassis. I do know that I will mount a couple of bicycle mounts in the bed. (Another hobby of ours, the wife and I just finished a cross country bike trip) I know it won't be able carry much more then a few pounds.

I'm trying to find a way to mount some west coast mirriors, that will double as wind wings...
 
bentbaggerlen, you will be impressed with the spirit body and insert. I bought a spirit kit. Could not be any happier.:dance:

thomas:)
 
thomas said:
bentbaggerlen, you will be impressed with the spirit body and insert. I bought a spirit kit. Could not be any happier.:rolleyes:

thomas:)
Click to expand...

I hope so... I'm pretty much buying sight unseen. I may have seen one finished spirit car at a show but I'm not sure. I looked a bunch of the Total cars built up and they looked great. It seems the quality is their in both. I just wanted to save myself reworking the body to take off the box. Total would have also made most of the changes to the kit that I wanted. So it came down to just how much do I hate working with fiberglass... A lot!

It should be interesting I've meet someone who is building a Total bucket right now, not to far from me. Has a side to side comparison of the two ever been done? Hmmm, Consumer Reports T-bucket issue... :dance:
 
Can anyone tell me where they got the frame for they're 27 T? I love how it still has the framehorns... I've only ever seen T's with that look built on model A frames...
 
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