mattb73lt

It still amazes me when I look back at this truck when I found it to what I built out of it. I have to admit the transformation is remarkable. I spent the afternoon finishing a lot of small things. I also ordered a whole bunch of new tie down equipment for the deck. I had a lot of hand me down stuff in the other truck, but figured I'd boom up and get some new and matching chains, binders and straps. All that will get organized and put into the new storage boxes once I get them mounted. I had to reschedule my meeting with the sign painter to this Thursday. I was hoping I could get the lettering and striping done before the first show, but it'll get done in a few weeks, once we settle on what I want to do to it.

Also looking at Bethlehem, 6/8&9, Brooklyn 6/23. I'm thinking about Macungie, 6/14&15, but I'm going to need a couple of days for that and that's right at the start of my busy season.

Thanks. I enjoy shifting this one. If you're smooth on the throttle and gentle with the sticks, it'll walk right through the gears with very little clutching. Both my trucks have the same transmission, TRTL-720. The only difference in them is the B73 has a double disc and clutch brake. The big thing is being gentle and watching your RPM. Still learning and getting to know this one and what it likes.

Here’s a little NH220 Backdrop music for your auditory pleasure. My friend caught me leaving his shop this afternoon. IMG_2313.mov

I kind of copied what was there, but added better tail light assemblies that had side markers on them. This whole thing moves and is somewhat susceptible to damage depending on what you’re doing. I may change it in the future, but this is what I’m using for now.

It is hydraulic. Hydraulic motor attached to it using a chain coupling and controlled by the lever station mounted to the left rear frame.

I'm going to stick with cable. I have seen others doing recoveries with synthetic rope types, but for what I do this is probably best.

Busy week with the B73. Wednesday, reinstalled the winch and got it operational. Not the easiest install as it has to be loaded in from underneath. It fought me a little bit, but it's in. Finished some other details and added some Cummins crosses to the hood. Thursday, drove down to North Haven to have a winch cable cut and installed. The winch drum will probably take around 100'+ of cable, but they recommended staying with 60'. The shorter length will give me less trouble over time, was their opinion. That's fine, I usually use about 20" or less when loading cars. Today, ran over to Wolcott to check the alignment and had a bad day. The King pins turned out to be too loose to do an accurate job. So that stopped things pretty quick. They were inspected and determined to be serviceable and were tight when assembled, but they now had noticeable play. That's going to be a bit of a headache, but not a game stopper. They're safe, but should be redone. Now, to hunt for replacements and figure out when to do this when I can. I hate doing things a second time, but the spindles will need to come out for bushings. A little setback, but It'll get fixed. Oh, they joys of bringing an old truck back to life!!! I did find a 10% grade on the way home and needed the Jake brake to come down it. It was on and off at the top, then was needed for the last half mile. It certainly saved my brakes, but that was the longest period it was on solidly yet. I think I woke the Western side of the state up!

I always liked these trucks. Never drove any, but was stationed with an Australian Special Forces Unit and they had a whole fleet of them at Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan in 2013. I didn't have a camera, so was limited in pictures I could scrounge of their trucks. All of them had air conditioned armored cabs. Other than the radiator, they didn't look a lot like those you posted.

Great progress!! It's really coming along.

Dynamat and Lizard Skin are your friends for some soundproofing and heat reduction, once you get to that point. It's worth doing if you're going to drive and enjoy it.

When I first got it I wasn't sure how I would redo it. All green was one way, red with black fenders, green cab and fenders with red frame. But, in my minds eye, I always liked the stock look. So after a while I settled on the original all red. I was always going to polish the radiator and fuel tanks and I wanted the right mix of bright work. I picked certain things to polish, like the windshield frames, to brighten up. Added the bumper and really lucked out finding a complete set of stainless mirrors and brackets. The other thing I went back and forth about was switching to aluminum rims to finish the brightwork off. I like the Daytons but wanted the aluminum rims for this project. The B42 has them and finding the hubs is no easy task. That swap was a whole separate project. To finish it, my next headache and worry will be the lettering and pin striping. Again, I have a picture in my head of what I want and hopefully that will really make it complete.

The guy I thought was going to cut me off couldn’t get away from me fast enough!! It was crazy loud!!!! IMG_9364.mov Here’s a video of me leaving the house in October. Please excuse the hop over the curb, I had a car coming and the truck requires a second shot out of the driveway due to length. You can hear the truck echo through the neighborhood. It was only partial throttle as it wasn’t warmed up yet as I disappeared behind the neighbors house. Let me know if it doesn’t post and I’ll redo it when I get home.

My little cheat sheet until I get my RPM/speedometer set right. On the flats it just chugs right along. Not going to get close to 2100 in 5th Hi Split. I did push it once, downhill, to 1900. That was enough.

IMG_9364.mov Here’s a video of me leaving the house in October. Please excuse the hop over the curb, I had a car coming and the truck requires a second shot out of the driveway due to length. You can hear the truck echo through the neighborhood. It was only partial throttle as it wasn’t warmed up yet as I disappeared behind the neighbors house. Let me know if it doesn’t post and I’ll redo it when I get home.