Rockwell,
1. Man I gotta know, how much additional weight do you think that you've added to the overall GVW?
2. Are you planning on counter-acting the additional weight+loss of drivability/reduced performance with any performance enhancing modifications? (E.G.: Larger Turbo, Multiple Turbos, Compound Turbo, Turbo+Supercharger, Methanol Injection, Larger Intercooler, Steam engine, etc.)
3. Suspension wise, the 925's are fairly straight forward in design (massive leaf spring packs), are you going to do any suspension upgrades? Like air-ride, swap out the live axles for IFS+IRS?
4. Have you considered the concept of the Center of Gravity? How far forward has the additional weight of the armor moved the CG? The front suspension being pre-loaded all the time with the additional weight of the added armor will have shifted most, of the weight to the front axle. This means, blown out axle shaft bearings (eventually), and the potential for wheel bearings to take on much of the additional load support. Now, I know that alot of people are going to stand on a soap box, and go.."Look at the Navistar line of trucks.. they hang all kinds of armor off of those, this should be able to handle it."
Point to be made.. The Navistar trucks, arent welded together in someone's garage. They spent MILLIONS engineering those trucks, at taxpayers expense.. Of course those trucks like the MRAP can swing the weight around. but a modified M925 being put together via homebrewed ideology, in a garage, without serious dedicated engineering support, makes me step back a moment, and go.. "Hmmmm. What's the failure point?"
Now, I know alot of you guys will probably think I'm hammering this into the dirt, but from a Safety First stand point, and the amount of love and labor put into this.. I respect your work. ALOT. It's wicked.. I love it. I would just hate to see something horrific happen when you're out with family or in a spot where your miles from civilization.
5. Are you going to single out the rear? Keep the dual drive axles, or go single axle rear like the RG33?
All in all, some interesting questions.. just stuff I had rattling around in my head.. for instance.. Like gusseting the axle arms as they extend away from the pumpkins. That way it eliminates any sag in the lateral with the weight being added. Just some stuff to think about.
6. How far past the legal limit does the additional weight of the armor push the truck, like.. With the mods, does it now require a CDL to drive it? I ask because in Texas, the marker for the Non-CDL limit is 26,100lbs .. I think.. I could be wrong.. someone check on that for me.. I'm lazy.
