5 Tons of Fun

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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby JoeP » Wed Jan 08, 2020 3:01 pm

If needed a piece of line can get you going for at least a short bit. I broke a belt on my old Alfa about 15 miles from home but just happened to have a piece of 3 strand nylon mooring line in the trunk. I made an end to end splice in it to create a loop somewhat smaller than the old belt, to account for nylon's stretch, put it on and tightened it as much as I could using a nearby branch for leverage. It got me all the way home using low rpms but was noticably worn and scorched from slipping. YMMV.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby TheOffice » Wed Jan 08, 2020 3:18 pm

Metric belts? Seriously?

When I bought Atlantis I took comfort in knowing there were lots of spare belts. Turned out none of them fit anything on the boat! Luckily I was dockside when I learned this. The pare Gates belts fit, even if they are not metric sized on my Yanmar.
“If a man must be obsessed by something,” E.B. White once wrote, “I suppose a boat is as good as anything, perhaps a bit better than most.”

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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Wed Jan 08, 2020 4:50 pm

I need to just stop being a weenie and buy the right metric belts!

Here's the link to the Grainger for all the metric belts you'll ever need. :)
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Olaf Hart » Wed Jan 08, 2020 8:45 pm

Belts, I seem to have had a run of belt issues, first the Adams had a non standard alternator on the Volvo Penta and was chewing belts and covering everything in belt dust.
I finally figured out the problem was a non standard alternator pulley, found an old VP one, and problem was fixed.
Except the standard belts are now too long, and the only one that fits comes From a Fiat 500, so they have to be ordered in from Europe!
The Yanmar 4JH in the Valiant came with a supply of standard belts, but I can’t fit them. Because it is a V drive, the front of the engine is near the aft bulkhead, and I suspect the standard ones have to be stretched onto the crank pulley with a lever, but it’s hard to access the pulley in this setup.
I finally sourced some longer belts, but they don’t last long before they are stretched to max length.
It’s wierd, never had belt problems before....
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Audrey » Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:12 am

Ever try changing out the bracket to allow more adjustment on tension?
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Thu Jan 09, 2020 8:37 am

BeauV wrote:I need to just stop being a weenie and buy the right metric belts!

Here's the link to the Grainger for all the metric belts you'll ever need. :)


I forgot the link - here it is: https://www.grainger.com/category/power ... chBar=true

OH, Grainger might ship to AUS. Or, I can buy 'em and ship them to you.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:35 am

I've been invited to participate in a "Desert Storm" Memorial Day parade in DC. They're looking for period correct vehicles.

I have a good lead on a set of troop seats to convert the 5-ton into a troop carrier. I'll load up a bunch of old vets in the back and drive in the parade.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Mon Feb 03, 2020 11:37 am

Ajax wrote:I've been invited to participate in a "Desert Storm" Memorial Day parade in DC. They're looking for period correct vehicles.

I have a good lead on a set of troop seats to convert the 5-ton into a troop carrier. I'll load up a bunch of old vets in the back and drive in the parade.


Good for you!!! It'll be fun to listen to those old Vets talk about how hard it is to get in your truck and how rough it rides!
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:05 am

I took a long, leisurely drive around town in the 5-ton today. I brought my father in law a care package of good food since he's not much of a cook.
Easy driving thanks to the very light traffic. The truck ran like a top, as smooth as you could hope for in such a lumbering beast.

Got home and performed my post-drive walk-around. Found one of the torque rods on the rear axles with a failing rubber bushing. These torque rods prevent side-to-side motion of the floating axles. The top 2 torque rods also happen to have long brake lines zip-tied to them. If the bushing fails and the end of the dog bone slips off of its pin, it WILL wipe out the brake lines and instantly destroy all braking capability for the entire truck.

So, no more driving until I replace at least those top 2 dog bones. There's nothing complex about it, just $500 and a special offset wrench and monster torque to pop the castle nuts loose. :shock:
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Fri Mar 27, 2020 6:53 am

Ajax, good for you doing the post-drive inspection. I do that with the Morgan, amazing what I find.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Jamie » Fri Mar 27, 2020 8:01 am

Ajax you still have the single circuit brake system.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ken Heaton (Salazar) » Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:06 am

OK, I'm curious now. Does the truck have any sort of old school cable operated 'Parking Brake'? Or just the single circuit hydraulic brakes?
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby LarryHoward » Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:07 am

Ajax wrote:I took a long, leisurely drive around town in the 5-ton today. I brought my father in law a care package of good food since he's not much of a cook.
Easy driving thanks to the very light traffic. The truck ran like a top, as smooth as you could hope for in such a lumbering beast.

Got home and performed my post-drive walk-around. Found one of the torque rods on the rear axles with a failing rubber bushing. These torque rods prevent side-to-side motion of the floating axles. The top 2 torque rods also happen to have long brake lines zip-tied to them. If the bushing fails and the end of the dog bone slips off of its pin, it WILL wipe out the brake lines and instantly destroy all braking capability for the entire truck.

So, no more driving until I replace at least those top 2 dog bones. There's nothing complex about it, just $500 and a special offset wrench and monster torque to pop the castle nuts loose. :shock:


Any chance to press in new bushings rather than replace the dogbone?
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:37 am

Yes, single circuit brakes only. Believe me, I am investigating some way of upgrading to a dual circuit master cylinder. Surprisingly, the 5-ton community has not yet found a good way to do this. What they HAVE done, is figure out how to go full air-brakes. An expensive and labor intensive proposition, for sure.

The M35A2 (2.5t) trucks purchased by the Air Force did have dual circuit brakes, so all the owners of Army and USMC trucks are scrounging for those master cylinders and mounting brackets so that they can upgrade their trucks.

Yes, the truck has a cable operated parking brake. It's a brake drum on the main drive shaft and it is absolutely useless for stopping that much mass. It is a "parking brake" not an "emergency brake."

On the topic of just replacing bushings- Yes I could, but they're $90 each. The new dogbone comes with a safety plate on each end that prevents the bone from slipping off the rubber bushing if it gets torn. So it's $180 plus my labor to find a shop to press out the old bushings and press in new ones or pay a little more and get a safer product that I can just slap in. On top of everything else, I might have trouble finding a shop that's open during the quarantine. One thing I still don't have, is a powerful hydraulic press to pop those suckers out.

Believe it or not, I can sell the old dog bones back to the community to recoup the extra cost.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Panope » Fri Mar 27, 2020 4:48 pm

Ajax wrote:Yes, single circuit brakes only......


I was in the far left lane of a 4 lane, one way surface street in downtown Seattle. Heavy rush hour traffic all hit the brakes. The pedal of my 66 VW bus went right to the floor with zero vehicle slowing. Extreme luck provided me with a driveway entrance (to the left) with a steep uphill approach to a large parking lot. Managed to not tip over during the initial swerve and got the thing to a stop in a regular parking spot with nothing but my under pants damaged.

Quick inspection revealed brake fluid at a rear wheel. In those days I always carried tools so a pair of vice grips quickly crimped the brake line (solid) near the affected wheel and I was on my way.

I then drove around for an irresponsibly long time with a "3 brake bus".

Eventually mustered the gumption to fix the problem. Turned out that a brake pad had worn thin enough to allow the brake cylinder piston to emerge from its cylinder. A better design would have had the brake pad wear completely (and start grinding metal on metal) prior to piston disengagement.

I was a hazzard to society back then. Been trying to do better lately.

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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:04 pm

Lol, great story! This is why I say you're in a higher plane than I am.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Olaf Hart » Fri Mar 27, 2020 5:22 pm

Panope wrote:
Ajax wrote:Yes, single circuit brakes only......


I was in the far left lane of a 4 lane, one way surface street in downtown Seattle. Heavy rush hour traffic all hit the brakes. The pedal of my 66 VW bus went right to the floor with zero vehicle slowing. Extreme luck provided me with a driveway entrance (to the left) with a steep uphill approach to a large parking lot. Managed to not tip over during the initial swerve and got the thing to a stop in a regular parking spot with nothing but my under pants damaged.

Quick inspection revealed brake fluid at a rear wheel. In those days I always carried tools so a pair of vice grips quickly crimped the brake line (solid) near the affected wheel and I was on my way.

I then drove around for an irresponsibly long time with a "3 brake bus".

Eventually mustered the gumption to fix the problem. Turned out that a brake pad had worn thin enough to allow the brake cylinder piston to emerge from its cylinder. A better design would have had the brake pad wear completely (and start grinding metal on metal) prior to piston disengagement.

I was a hazzard to society back then. Been trying to do better lately.

Steve


Those old kombis were real McGuyver mobiles, had a mate who carried around a spare engine in the back of his split screen, could replace it inside an hour with his trolley jack...

Had an old mini minor that lost a wheel in the middle of the Sydney Harbour Bridge in busy traffic.

Found out why cars had hubcaps.

They kept the wheel nuts inside the wheel, even though it was a couple of hundred yards up the bridge from the car.

I sprinted up and back to grab the wheel, pulled out the jack and had the wheel back on just as the tow truck was pulling up.

I am still amazed no one hit me...
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby kimbottles » Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:08 pm

I used to compete in the SCCA Pro Rally Series.
We drove cars fast on gravel roads with all sorts of McGiver repairs hastily performed out in the forest.

Once I was on a company camping trip up on the Cascade Mountains (we treated our Superintendents to an annual camping trip.) Lost a brake caliper when the mounting bolt let go. Wired it up to the suspension and drove it back home over the mountains on three brakes. No big deal, but the employee riding with me wasn't very comfortable.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:45 pm

My official job on dune buggy races was "navigator". I'd shout things at my pal Bob who would ignore them and drive wherever the hell he wanted to. (We ended up upside down a lot.)

But, the real reason that Bob brought me along was my ability to fix stuff. I remember holding an exhaust manifold together with hose clamps, putting a wedge in the right front suspension to hold the crushed wheel up so it wouldn't drag, rigging a gravity feed fuel system from a tank on the roof so that we could finish without fuel pump.

Those were great great GREAT days!!

Thank you for reminding me of it all.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby H B » Fri Mar 27, 2020 8:23 pm

Ajax, I almost invested in a Harbor Freight hydraulic press for about $200 for my Civic work. But I had access to my step-father's so I did not follow through. Sounds like that would be a good investment for your garage now that the PR has her she-shed.

Edit - aw...hell..they are only $130 now. my problem is space. https://www.harborfreight.com/12-ton-sh ... 33497.html
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby JoeP » Sat Mar 28, 2020 6:11 pm

I think MacGyver was the name of the chief engineer on the beetle/kombi. At 16-17 I had the use of my sister's '66 beetle in exchange for maintaining it. I was floored and doing 50 going up a hill in it once (SOP). We got to the top and my friend said 'Joe you can ease off on the throttle now'. I said "I am but we're still accelerating". We gave each other an uh-oh look so we turned the engine off and pulled over. It turns out the throttle return spring had broken near the top. I just hand bent a new hook in it and away we went. easy to diagnose, access, and fix.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby H B » Mon Mar 30, 2020 11:56 am

JoeP wrote:I think MacGyver was the name of the chief engineer on the beetle/kombi. At 16-17 I had the use of my sister's '66 beetle in exchange for maintaining it. I was floored and doing 50 going up a hill in it once (SOP). We got to the top and my friend said 'Joe you can ease off on the throttle now'. I said "I am but we're still accelerating". We gave each other an uh-oh look so we turned the engine off and pulled over. It turns out the throttle return spring had broken near the top. I just hand bent a new hook in it and away we went. easy to diagnose, access, and fix.

Them's the good 'ol days! :thumbup:
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Mon Mar 30, 2020 12:04 pm

The 5-ton throttle is nothing more than a rod attached to the pedal and a big 'ol return spring.

I was almost disappointed when I looked under the hood. I don't know what I was expecting. :lol:
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby Ajax » Sun Apr 26, 2020 9:39 am

The local high school senior class got gypped out of their graduation ceremony by the virus.

They "walked" by driving though the village in their cars, parade style, escorted by the local VFD. The residents lined up on the streets to wave and blow horns as they passed. Wife and I brought the green trucks to the road side with flags, and gave them a good blast as they passed by. Judging by the looks, everyone seemed to really enjoy it, especially the kids with jacked up pickup trucks.
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Re: 5 Tons of Fun

Postby BeauV » Sun Apr 26, 2020 12:45 pm

Great Idea!!! I just noticed, yesterday, that we have a big truck like yours parked in front of the VFW Post. I've been driving by it since the early '90s and just noticed it because I've been looking at pictures of yours. Pretty funny!
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