That was always one of the options Mark. Will have to see how it goes once I get the fenders and hood connected and able to tilt forward. The top part of the fenders may still fold into the bottom parts. Since I don't have any instructions on this project, I'll play it by ear
I have seen tilt front ends that slide forward a little before tilting up to give more clearance for things to clear. It looks like things are going well with the project. Keep up the good work.
I looked into ways the front end could slide forward before tilting but the distance it needed to move forward first, in order to clear the entire door skin with the very bottom tip of the fender through it's arc, was extreme. Other conciderations were I didn't want to have to pin the bottom of the fenders, have a need for a second person to help pull the bottom of the fenders out to clear the doors or deal with the flexing of full fenders while tilting (after cutting the bottoms off my fenders, they were much more ridgid than before). This video of an El Camino steel tilting nose is what I'm aiming for: [nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Y-SbGBiOdc&feature=related"]Custom tilt front end - YouTube[/nomedia]
That's pretty neat. I personaly wouldn't do those electric actuator arms though. Edit: After further thought's and some coffee, I retract my statement. Just need to be cautious and aware of how they actually work.
This was one I saw in a junkyard. Lots of thought went into making this tilt front-end....as well as a lot of bondo and reinforcing shelving brackets.....NICE!!!
Not those exact ones but I work on the ones on gates for a living. An actuator is pretty much an actuator. If one has a problem and the other continues to pull/push there could be damage. Now maybe if you were to use a controll board like a gate has or something simular that has a current sensor then maybe it would be ok.. AND if I did do this I would run both through the same fuse so it would stop both if a failure occurs. I guess as long as precautions are taken..
I remember seeing that in your Maverick Heaven page long ago. I couldn't imagine trying to mold the fenders to the hood with bondo and not having them crack the first time you hit a pothole, if that is what he used all the bondo for
Good information to know, Gene. I like the idea of using a common fuse for both actuators I imagine the control board for gates reads a current loss in a failed actuator and stops the whole process so the good one doesn't rip something apart? Would one of these controls work with 12V? I'm using 2 of the Auto Loc linear actuators pictured below.
Ok, I just had some coffee lol. Did you already get those? I have not come across that particular one in the field. Do you have a link to it? Curious about the specs on it. I have never seen any actuator that was not 12v. Were you going to hard wire them without a controll board? The fuse then I suppose IS the current sense. That would be kinda scary to me. The problem with a controll board is it is designed with master and a slave connections to run them both. In that situation I would just run both through one side otherwise it will have independent fuses. As long as the total amps from both do not go over the rating of thr board circuitry. I find that 15A fuses is what generly runs the single circuit.
OK Gene, I had to get my second cup of coffee for this reply I didn't know accuators were all 12 volt, thinking that structure power was going to be 110 volt mininum that you were talking about with the gates. My original thoughts were to use a relay and a dash switch near the driver's side so I can unlatch the nose, hit the switch through the open window, but still be able to stand near the nose in case somthing happens. I've included a link to an Ebay auction from the company in Oregon that I bought the accuators from. Ignore the "Buy It Now" price as it is insane. I think I bought both my accuators for under 100 total. Now you have me very interested in this controller since I now know that it is 12V. Would something like this be way too expensive to purchase for a simple tilt nose? http://www.ebay.com/itm/Autoloc-10-...pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr
I see that there is a motor controll unit that should be used. This stuff is designed for the application so it's all good. I'll stop making waves now
No waves - good info Did you spot some info on a controller for these accuators? I looked back through the link but didn't see one.
I have no knowledge of the brand but they do have it. I tried to download instructions but then my browser closed http://www.autoloc.com/catalog/Linear-Actuators/Linear-Actuator-Controllers
There are tips and tricks to where the actuators can be or should be mounted also. Do realize that I have experience with gates not tilt hoods lol. There is still a geometry to pivoting and load forces etc.. I know that you know how to figure things out. I'm just hopeing to shed some light if I can.. The whole hood tilting is intresting.