mattb73lt

Well, it made it's first outing to the Western Mass ATCA show at Yankee Candle in Deerfield. It was a mostly dry ride up and I stayed until about 12:30 when it was a more steady rain. Ran into several people I know but haven't seen in a long time. Some others I only know from social media I met for the first time. That's always odd to me that some one who looks like a total stranger knows a lot about you and your truck. I guess that's how we'll meet some people in the current times. Anyway, a really good time talking about the truck and how I found it and what I did to it  to bring it back. It ran great, up and back. Found it's sweet spot on the highway is about 1700 and 70 MPH. I did run a little faster, here and there, to try it out and although it'll certainly go much faster, 1950 is as I fast as turned  it and saw 78 as the fastest speed. Granted, I was empty and just wanted to test it out and get a better feel for it. I did run up a on a few trucks headed to the show that got on just ahead of me. I figured I would run with them as we were getting close to the exit for the show. Then I found the opposite end of my cruise spectrum. They were running about 60ish when they got up to speed and I found that I'd need to drop a gear to stay with them. After trying that out for a bit I headed on and chugged by them. We got to the show about 5 minutes apart. So a few more things learned about the new toy. Overall, a good day with a lot of great conversations! If it was 24 hours earlier, it would of been perfect with yesterday's weather.

These bigger boxes are going to work out great for everything!! Lined the bottoms of both boxes with some 3/4” plywood to protect them. Added the shelf to the left equipment box. Then organized all the new chains, binders and straps for the deck into Busboy bins to keep it all organized. This should keep all my stuff from getting all tangled up and a mess.

Mechohaulic, here's a front wheel with the nut covers installed and one more of the truck after I polished the new boxes. I still have to slap myself that it's mine and that I did it.

If you strike out finding the correct kit and everything else in the kit you just got will work, you could have the kingpins made at a machine shop and then heat treated. Sometimes it is the best way to get it back on the road if there are no other options.

7 hours ago, mrsmackpaul said:

They look good, but are they upside down ?

The reason I ask is every trailer or truck I have owned the lid opens down not up

Gives a hand bench to sit stuff on while searching thru the box and you don't hit your head, the light shines in there for searching about

Don't get me wrong, those are sharp looking boxes and I maybe wrong but it appears these hinge up opening 

 

Paul

It’s probably your perspective, maybe just spin your computer 180 degrees. It should look correct🤣🤣. But yes they do open to the sides. Lots of room in them. I have a shelf to add to the left one to help keep it organized.

The Merritt boxes I ordered came in last week and I spent today installing them. They’re matching 5’ long boxes, with dual doors that swing to the side. That’ll give me better access for my equipment. The left one is going to be for all my deck equipment and the right one will be just for storage and carrying stuff. I was going to order 2 DEF boxes and mount them to the headache rack. But, after installing these two I have a good 36” area on the passenger side between the storage and battery boxes. I’ll order one more box for there and that will be just for truck items (oils, tools and parts.

I met with the sign painter on Wednesday evening. She took a bunch of pictures and we exchanged some ideas. She’s going to send me some mockups in a bit. She’s about 4-5 weeks out. So, it’ll be a bit before that gets done.

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.

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

On 4/13/2024 at 9:31 AM, mechohaulic said:

another question :: what did the 73 end up with for tail/ stop lights??? last picture showed a "temporary" bracket set up . all frontal pictures show where it's going ; how did the back section end up so we can see where it went . LOL

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.

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.