Freightrain

Vlad, power assist was popular in the 60's even with cars. The drag link had a control spool in it that controlled a cylinder to help steer. The Air o Matic in trucks was similar using air. I have it on my truck, as a simplier way to add power steering without all the fabrication work. It has its downfalls, but I say better then nothing. My unit was in good shape so I hope to get many years out of it. Like this conversation, even hydraulic power steering can have problems too.

Yup. Around the center of the arm thickness, not so much at the top edge where the nut is. Yes, holding another sledge on the back side will help transmit more energy into the joint. It will hold the arm from just bouncing away from your hammer hit. You basically need to distort the hole in the arm so the tie rod taper will unlock itself and fall out.

Nice work Dave! Looks good. I remember when mine was all shiny and gold a few years ago. I try to spray it off occasionally to keep it looking better then the old grimy 673. A side note: One piece of dynamat insulation would have been a nice upgrade before you stuck the engine in. Though with the front end off you might be able to fish it behind the engine. But you might not be able to press it down very easy. It definitely took some of the noise out of my cab. I had one piece just big enough to cover up a good portion of the firewall around the engine.

Rarely do they fall off easily, unless they have been off "recently". I see the flat spot on the top edge, try deeper around the center, and work around the side that is accessible. It will come, just need to get that one lucky hit. I went through this when I swapped on the air steering parts to my truck. After 50 years, things get stuck pretty tight.

If you get a solid hit on the round part of the arm(around the stud) you don't have to hit the nut/stud. The shock on the arm will dislodge the taper. Might take a few whacks.

After spending a few hours running Dave's B61SX dump at Gerharts I'm well aware of the torture they endured daily! What a workout.

$26k to fix a block. Yowza. My guess is that included a full rebuild....but still quite pricey. Glad you have a plan put together. I wish you well and hope it comes to fruition.

Shop 2001 f150 had similar instances with tie rods. They would fall apart backing out of parking spot. Not going down the road. It happened twice!

Typical delay, especially at idle. It takes oil pressure to actuate the Pistons. Usually first hit on mine takes a few seconds longer then from then on when the system has been fully filled with oil. It will kill the engine at idle, thus the throttle and clutch switches.

Quiet, almost too quiet..... So its 12:30 pm and I get a call from Mom wondering when my sister is coming to get her(90 and lives in assisted living)? This all in the midst of watching her pull up in front of the house. Doh. I open the door and ask my sister if she forgot something. She has her hands full of a ham plate, her husband has a blank look along with my niece. I say "Mom?" The deer in the headlight looks was priceless. So needless to say we ate an hour late. The Griswalds have nothing on us for a dysfunctional family. Not everyone has a Walton family Christmas. We haven't done presents in years. Even Karen and I don't exchange.

If no one here has one, I had good luck using one of the Facebook Mack pages as a place to find a NLA Jake lash cap for my early 237. One post and a few hours later I had a fellow reply and donated one to me. Couple days later it showed up in the mailbox. Just say'n there is hope sometimes.

My one '64 galaxie had a rusty tank from years of sitting empty. I was able to run double plastic throw away filters on it for years til i was able to get it cleaned up. The first filter would get clogged up quickly and i would just replace it regularly. The second filter was a "just in case" filter. After about 5 years it was good to go. I figured it was a easy fix before I would have to pull it and go the full monty on it(which I never had to do).

You have to look at the three basics. Fuel, air and spark. Tracking down which one is failing can be tricky and time consuming if you don't have the background. I hope you get it fixed up. Nothing worse(and more costly) then a undependable large truck. Not everyone is as lucky as Rob as everytime he breaks down(aka runs out of fuel), it's in his driveway. Lol.

Fuel shut off stuck?? I heard it's better to push them back in after shutting down to keep them from sticking closed. Air starter?? Saaweet. Didn't know you had that.

The news the other day basically said...they want to impeach him so they can investigate and find evidence. Say what? I though you needed evidence to investigate and charge someone with a crime? Not charge him and then try to find evidence.

Okay, I thought maybe it was an air valve, but since it is lighted, I realize it is a push/pull lighted switch(sorry, I couldn't make it out in the picture). Since it is just a chassis now, it likely controlled something that is no longer there. With no tag on the dash, it was certainly not factory.

Not daring enough to pull it and see what happens??? Lol! Welcome aboard. Pretty serious fleet you have there.

I think the biggest drawback is the single countershaft. They won't take the torque no matter what you try to upgrade inside.

Sister bought steel wheels and snow grip tires for her mustang a few years back.

I ground the weld and removed/replaced the center pin. They a quick tack to hold new pin in. Not a big deal. I think i used needle nose vise grips to screw the spring back in. Just have to watch getting the last turn in and seated. Took a few tries. Did mine last winter.

I think those tapers are suppose to be there? It doesn't look worn but on the two edge(you can see the polished points). I welded those tips to tighten them up when in gear. It took some fine tuning to make it shift properly, but works fine. Not as much slop in handle when in a gear. The spring just kinda screws up into the cup. You see the tabs, that is what the large diameter of the spring sits on. Might take a few tries(like mine) but you should be able to roll it back up in there.

It wont pop out removing tower. I took pictures of mine. They are simple to understand once you remove tower.

I just rebuilt(tightened up) the towers in my triplex. Not much to them, just unbolt it and lift it up. The handle mounts on a pin, which is likely really worn. I welded the ball on the end of the shift arm to tighten the slop between gears. I measured the slot in the shift rail and carefully ground it to fit. Not perfect, but better.

Yup, mine is in that range depending on the ambient air temperature. I know Tom's new turbo is in the low 20 range if I recall our conversation. Little more air can make a little more power and I think his burns a bit cleaner then mine. Mine smokes like an ol 237 when starting out. More air would help eliminate that over fueling situation at lower rpm. My motor was tuned on the safe side being a fire truck engine. Thus it would barely get to 900* on a hard pull. Giving it a touch more fuel boosted that number and didn't hurt fuel mileage. I don't lug it down hard due to Triplex. Around 1500 rpm is all it likes, as it really starts to let me know if I go any lower.

I can't zoom in enough, but it almost looks like a buggy spring set up on the front axle? (mounted sideways). Could be a swivel plate on the back but doesn't seem plausible for any reason to be there. Just looks like a mount for the tank.