Bradley Fighting Vehicle

Today on trucks,

it's a red, white and blue special as the army takes us for a wild ride in their awesome Bradley Fighting vehicle.

Then in the shop, Stacy shows us how to smooth those bumpers on sport and street trucks.

And finally your questions get answered as we pick from the viewer mail pile.

That's all today on trucks.

Welcome to trucks, man. Do we have a cool surprise for you today in the world of off road? And you've got some really capable trucks. Got the Jeep, got the Toyota Land, Cruiser Ford had the Bronco

International Scout. But what would you say if I told you?

I think I found the ultimate off road vehicle. Something that'll handle. The biggest rocks go through the biggest mud hole, deepest river, anything. Well, you probably say that only a tank can do all that.

Well,

not exactly, but you're in the right ballpark. This

is the Bradley Fighting vehicle.

First of all, what you're seeing here is not a vehicle that was used in World War two or Korea or Vietnam. No, no, no.

The Bradley is what we use now and it's a state of the art fighting vehicle.

And we're at the training facility in Smyrna, Tennessee where they actually train soldiers to operate these things.

Now, since trucks is a show for gearheads, we're gonna take you inside and show you the nuts and bolts of one of these things.

And of course, later on, we'll take it out and show you what it's capable of. First, here's a little background on the Bradley

named in honor of World War two General Omar Bradley. This vehicle was designed to fill the void between the armored personnel carrier and a full scale battle tank.

It was well proven in Desert Storm and compiled an impressive record in any type of terrain or situation.

Do we have your attention?

All right, let's check out the engine that powers this thing.

All right, what we've got here is a 903 cubic inch cummins Turbo diesel, kicking out 500 horsepower and 1200 ft pounds of torque. You can imagine what that'd be like in a pickup and talk about the ultimate crate engine. Now, you'll notice that the radiator is mounted here on top.

It makes everything come out as one assembly. It makes a lot easier on maintenance and service. The transmission sits right

here in front of the engine and the new ones are all electronically controlled as opposed to this old system of levers and linkage.

Now, the drive axles exit right out the sides here and that puts the whole drive train engine transmission.

All right here in the front, as you can see, this whole front section is removable so everything can be pulled right out.

Now, let's check out the part you're really curious about and that's the weapons.

Ok. This is where the recruits learn about the weapon system. Now, the main weapon on a Bradley is a 25 millimeter cannon

that'll shoot up to 220 of these things on full automatic a minute.

Now, if you've never seen it, you can only imagine what kind of damage something like this will do if

this isn't enough. It's also got a rocket launcher up on the turret. It's

like a good souvenir to me.

The

first

driving. The Bradley is really pretty simple. You have a brake pedal in the center with the accelerator beside it on the right

up here is your gear selector for forward, reverse high, low ranges and for steering instead of two levers, like you might expect you have a single steering yoke inside the turret is of course where the gunner and the commander sit the

gunner over here to the left, the commander over here to the right and both have telescopic seats

so you can move in and out of the turret. Now, a couple of really cool things worth noticing in here.

All the controls for the turret rotation left and right elevation for the gun

is controlled right here with this joystick. Very similar to a video game.

Another thing worth mentioning,

it's very tight in here. I am 61 and you can see, I don't have a whole lot of room also, no matter which way you turn,

you're gonna hit metal. So a lot of bumps and bruises are very common when you're riding in a Bradley

inside the Bradley will carry about nine soldiers and that makes it a little bit bigger than the Ford Excursion, but not a lot.

And everybody enters through a big steel door in the back. Now, the sides are layered in Kevlar and that protects the soldiers from any kind of bullets or shrapnel that might make it through the hole. Then finally, you've got a fire suppression system

that quickly puts out any fires.

Now, in the past, the tank got its protection by how thick the armor plating was. Of course, that all changed when the shaped charge came out

because it was designed to blow through four or five inches of steel.

So the Bradley uses a little different technology and it's called reactive armor. This is how it works.

You got big pan

that bolt in along the sides and around the front and each one of those panels

has got an explosive charge in it.

Now, when this thing takes a shot from a Bazooka or something like that,

the armor actually explodes out away from the vehicle and that protects the people inside. I know it sounds crazy,

but it really works

well. That gives you a rare inside look at the design, the construction, the very nuts and bolts of a Bradley fighting vehicle. Now, I told you before, this could be the ultimate off road vehicle, but

I can't expect to take my word for that without seeing this thing in motion. So after the break,

I'm gonna show you what these things can do. Stay with us

after the break, Stacy's putting the pedal to the bulletproof metal as he goes for a spin in the Bradley

and to survive that later, we'll show you the custom trick of smoothing buffers.

Welcome back to trucks. Now, if you're just joining us, well, you've missed a lot because before the break we took you through the mechanicals of this 30 ton $1.6 million Bradley fighting vehicle,

but

you haven't missed the funnest part

and that's when we put this thing in motion. Yeah, we're gonna drive it and you better hold on.

Now, the first thing that most people are curious about is the track system. How rough is it? What does it feel like? Will the tracks fall off?

Well, throwing a track on a Bradley is not impossible, but it rarely ever happens due to the design of the system.

Long metal studs are built into the center of the track and they ride in deep grooves in the bogey wheels. This keeps the track from sliding off even in tight turns.

Speaking of turning, that is where the Bradley really shines

by reversing one track. It's able to turn in a zero radius with a simple turn of the steering yoke from the driver.

This makes the Bradley surprisingly agile in tight situations.

And for those of you

a

bulldozer,

we

know that they're extremely rough

because they don't have any suspension.

Bradley. On the other hand, he's got suspension on each one of its bogey wheels

that allows it to run about 50 miles an hour

without knocking the teeth out of all the passengers.

One trait that all tracked vehicles share when climbing a steep incline is the nose goes straight up in the air.

Now, on the Bradley, the driver completely loses sight of what's in front until the whole vehicle pitches forward,

which makes for a, shall we say a lively ride for the guys inside,

as you might have guessed the Bradley is awesome in the mud because nothing gets traction like a tracked vehicle. About the only way you can get one of these stuck is to either high center it

or bury it completely. Let me tell you,

there is nothing like hitting a mud hole at 30 miles an hour in a 30 ton vehicle and feeling it drift sideways.

Now, we had heard that the Bradley was fast, so

we decided to stick our foot in it.

Of course, this gave me a little bit of time to familiarize myself. With the controls and the tour,

the Bradley will run about 50 miles an hour flat out and that's with or without that rather large tree branch that we, uh, somehow picked up

and we didn't know it was there.

Driver. That's good.

Well, I hope this gives you an idea of just how amazing the Bradley Fighting vehicle really is. We'd like to thank the Tennessee National Guard for giving us the chance

to come out with a multimillion dollar vehicle and put it through the paces for you. Now, is it the ultimate off road vehicle? Well, that's for you to decide, but I'll tell you what,

I wouldn't want to mess with one.

Don't make me push this button.

All right, driver, let's move out.

So

when we come back, it's a lesson on smoothing out those bumpers while keeping some money in your pocket.

Just can't get enough of trucks. Check us out online at trucks, tv.com.

Welcome back. One of the coolest things about building up a vehicle, whether it's new or old is the fact that you can take it and personalize it and customize it to where there's nothing else like it on the road. And this is especially true in the world of trucks where you have chopping tops and suicide and doors and section and bodies. These are all things that a builder can do to really make his truck stand out

a crowd.

However, when you do a project, like chopping a top.

That's a big project. Takes a lot of time. A lot of skill.

Sometimes, a lot of money but not all customizing projects are like that.

The one I have planned for you today is very simple. Takes you just a couple hours and literally only costs about 10 bucks. You're gonna love this. It's how to smooth a bumper.

All right. The first question is why in the world would you want to smooth the bumper? Well, if you're gonna reuse the bumper on your truck, chances are it's held in place with a carriage style bolt like this,

you slide it down through the bumper and of course, the head protrudes on the outside. Now, if you cut that head off and

build up these holes, you're gonna end up with a really nice smooth bumper that's gonna look really cool once it's painted or crumbed.

The problem is these bolts actually hold the bumper to the truck. So you're gonna have to come up with some way to permanently mount these and they need to be strong.

This is how to do it.

First. Take your bolt and hack saw the head off

and make sure that you keep the square part of the bolt,

then take a grinder

and scuff up both sides of the old bumper. That way you'll have a good surface to weld to,

ok, time to weld.

I know you want this helmet, forget it. You need to make your own.

All right. To weld your studs into the bumper. Here's what you do,

set it into the hole and then tack it in place.

Now you'll notice that I'm setting the stud a little bit below the surface. That way I can come in here and make a nice pool of weld.

Then when I grind it off later on, I don't grind all the weld off and make it weaker.

All right. That ought to hold it.

Now, take a thick washer,

set it down on the stud.

Follow that

with a nut,

just put it down, finger tight.

Now, it's real important to this washer sits down flat against the bumper. You may have to bend it like we did.

Now, all you have to do is weld the washer to the bumper.

The next step is to remove the nut

and then come in here and weld the base of the bolt to the washer

and then finally finish up your welding here on the front.

All right. What we've done here is make a much stronger mounting point for this bolt by welding on this washer. Now, it does that by spreading out the load here on the head of the bolt.

It also prevents those little dimple dents that usually happen when you bolt the bumper on.

Now, once you got your welding done,

go ahead and grab the grinder

and grind off the head of this weld. Now you need to go slow and be careful here because this is where you make it smooth

and if you grind off too much,

you have to weld it back on.

Ok. Let's look at the difference here. You've got an ugly hole here. You've got a totally clean, totally smooth piece of bumper that's ready to be re chromed or painted. But check this out,

got your mounting stud all tucked up inside.

Not a trace of it here on top. This is very trick, very subtle. It makes a huge difference in the overall look of the truck. Now, the best part is this whole modification only costs the price of some nuts and bolts and washers. Of course, you need a welder and a grinder, but

this ought to show you that some of the best modifications come from here. Not here. We'll be back after this.

Stay right there because Stacy's explaining the science of fuel injection in its many forms next.

And now truck gear, parts, tools and equipment for pickups and sport utilities.

Ok. You've been working on your classic truck for a long time. You got the engine and transmission done, paint interiors finished. Now you're ready to put on some cool side mirrors to finish it off. Well, you need to go to SOCAL

speed shop because they have got these really nice polished stainless steel

swan

neck style side mirrors. Now, the swan neck design

allows you to mountain below

or above the window depending on your application

and you can get them in left or right hand side separately or fork out 100 bucks and get the pair. Either way,

you won't be disappointed

when you're putting together a hot engine for your truck. Nothing's quite as cool as multi

carbs.

And that's usually not a problem provided you're running a Chevy.

But what if you want to build a Ford? Well, Edel Brock's got you covered that way with this twofour intake for the small block Ford. Now it pulls hard from 1500 RPM all the way up to 65

and it's fairly low profile. So it'll clear most hoods. Of course, if you need carburetors and linkage, Edel Rock's got you covered there too. So you can spend time enjoying this instead of trying to piece it all together.

Most everybody knows that headers are important if you want peak performance out of your engine

and adding an H pipe to the exhaust system gives you that much more benefit.

Well, Headman headers went one step further with their X pipe kit.

Now, this thing equalizes pressure in both cylinder banks just like an H pipe, but because of the X design gives you much more flow and that equals more power on the top end.

Since this thing is universal, heck, you can make it fit just about anything.

And for 250 bucks that is money well spent

today's question, deer trucks. Would you please explain fuel injection to me.

I hear people talking about TB ITP I MP I MC I AT&T

no one seems to be able to give me a straight answer.

Just a brief explanation. In layman's terms on the differences and styles of injections

would sure make it a lot easier for me to decide what is best for my truck. Thanks, Matt.

Well, Matt, I definitely understand your confusion. Now, basically there's two types of fuel injection.

You have TB I throttle body injection

and you have MP I multi port injection. Of course, there's variations of each of those. Here's how they work.

Now with the throttle body injection, the throttle body sits right down on top of the manifold like a carburetor.

You've got two injectors that blow down through here.

Now, the air fuel mixture goes down through the runners

into the head. Now, the fact that that air fuel mixture runs through the manifold makes this what is called a wet manifold. And of course, the computer controls the injectors.

Now on a multi port, you can see it looks completely different.

It's got a fuel rail that runs down along the top.

Then you've got individual injectors, one for each port. Now these blow fuel right at the back of the valve, this gives you incredible throttle response.

Now up here, all that runs through the manifold is air. So this is known as a dry manifold. Now, as far as performance goes, the multi port is far superior to the throttle body, but it's also a lot more expensive

and it's trickier to hook up. There's a lot more pieces involved. Now, you may go to a swap meet somewhere,

come across an old hill born mechanical fuel injection. These things are awesome. They're legendary. They look cool.

Well,

they're mechanical because they don't use a computer. They use a fuel pump so they're really easy to hook up. However,

they're designed primarily for a racing application. So, unless you know how to convert these to the street,

I would definitely suggest staying away from it.

Now, Matt, I hope this gives you kind of an outline in layman's terms on how a fuel injection works.

That's gonna do it for today.

Here's what we got for you next week,

Stacy slices into project high Sierra by cutting a big old hole in the roof, but he's not crazy. It's for a sliding rag top.

Then we'll get behind the wheel of Chevy's new and very unique avalanche for a test drive.

And finally, a viewer's question about swapping transmissions going from an automatic to a stick.

That's all next week on trucks

for a VHS copy of today's show call Toll Free 1877853 7260. Show videos are just 1295 plus shipping and handling

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