fxfymn

16 minutes ago, j hancock said:

The 1920 Mack AC got a ride to the show.  

The AC had been originally built as a fire truck for Keene, NH but it had been cut apart many years ago.  It was beautifully reconstructed as a dump truck.

And the owner, Rich, told me that it once hung on the wall of a bar. He is the original owner of that gorgeous R model too.

I think the real clue is that you can get it to operate if you hand prime it and that it operates at a reduced rate before failing.That says you are not getting enough oil to the motor to prevent cavitation. I'd check the supply valve to see if it has crap in it. Or maybe worn or blocked linkage that is keeping it from fully opening?

We have a rather large black snake in our herb garden. No mice around anymore and I love to watch the wife do a track star imitation every time she weeds the garden and the snake comes out to say hello.

Any chance the supply hose is collapsing internally? Or partially plugged? bad supply valve?

Sounds to me like you are blaming the hose when you don't really know for sure if that caused the problem. Same as any other trouble shooting problem; start at the beginning and check everything without focusing on what you think is the problem.

If you have air in the system one of two things are happening; air is being introduced where it shouldn't be or you are not supplying oil at a fast enough rate to supply the system. You stated that you can manually bleed the system to the point where it will operate and then the problem returns. That pretty much rules out an air lock and sounds like a supply problem to me. 

Put peanut butter on the bait stick. Lasts forever and they have to work to get it so the trap goes off.

I have never seemed to attract mice with a trap since I have traps that will not go off for months at a time, but then one will wander in and set it off. And my experience is once they have had a nest in a place they will keep coming back no matter what you do to clean it up.

I've tried all of the commonly recommended deterrents like moth balls, dryer sheets, etc. and none of them seem to work. The only way to get rid of them is to close up every possible way they have to get in; an almost impossible task in something like a truck with holes for wiring, etc.

You really want to get pissed? Wait until you spend hours cleaning the little rascals out, leave the truck for awhile and then get covered with mouse shit when you turn on the defroster and it blows out a nest in the air duct going up to the windshield.

Have a great one.

Obviously pretty unusual to take a boat ride back here. I can't help but wonder what a DEA dog would find if it sniffed around.

I'm surprised the mice didn't chew the wiring into oblivion. That was a big plus.

I'd set a couple of traps around the rig as well since they always seem to come right back. Once something smells "mousey" they never seem to go away.

12 hours ago, Maddog13407 said:

i think they cut out the beer drinking, the staring, the imagining in your head out on the discovery channel to... least that's how most of my projects go. work 3 hours, drink a beer every hour, then 2 beers, stop workin, stare at it, 2 more beers, ah well, well get the the rest tomorrow.....

When I built my house a friend who had just finished his gave me this advice "Leave one stump so you can go sit on it and worry and drink beer. And buy a cheap skill saw, tape the switch on,  plug it in every morning so that it screams so loud you can't hear your wife complain." I already had the beer part down.

20 hours ago, BillyT said:

Most of us of a "certain age" especially farm boys were driving stick shift  farm tractors and trucks at around 10 or 11 years of age if we were tall enough to see over the steering wheel! My dad owned the local salvage yard,so one day he got in a 36 Chevy standard Tudor  too old to have any parts value, but it ran (sorta) So he cut off the front end and sent out the head for a valve job and we reassembled it I was 11 and I drove it around the property! I recently read that  only 3 percent of new drivers can drive a stick! Also I don't believe you can buy a new pickup with a stick! Sad!

I can still remember my Grandpa saying "Ok, you put your hands on the bottom of the wheel thumbs out, turn the wheel in the direction of your thumbs, and that is where the trailer will go."" That was after I got big enough to hand crank his AC B model to get it started. Probably 8 or 9.

Acetone and ATF makes a great penetrate. Using a solvent like acetone thins the lubricant enough to let it penetrate.

14 hours ago, gxbxc said:

you think the mouse keep you awake ,think 6 foot rat snake dropping onto your shoulder and crossing your body on it way to the floor, NO ONE slept in that bunker for a month

If you have snakes you don't have mice. At least snakes don't eat insulation and leave crap everywhere.

17 hours ago, RoadwayR said:

I am not convinced VW Truck will eventually take Navistar over, but I do see VW at some point divesting their truck operations.  After that, possibly a merger, creating a very strong global truck manufacturer.  Just a hunch on my part...... 

That makes a lot of sense since VW is going to be looking for cash to pay for their illegal behavior. Navistar might turn the world on its ear and try to take over VW trucks.

Congrats; sounds like exciting times!

14 hours ago, carlotpilot said:

i hope to be able to salvage the engine  but after draining about 30 gallons of water out of it today its not looking to good. back rocker cover was off and the hood funneled rain water in. came out clear & no oil

That's just EPA approved pollution free water based lubricant. You run it for a few miles and the engine ceases to emit pollution when it seizes up.

The hood mirrors are pretty ugly, but my bet is they will be replaced by cameras. And I would not be surprised that all exterior mirrors get phased out for cameras and sensors over the long term.

Design will continue to be evolutionary, not revolutionary. Trucks are tools and function will always win out over form if the builder wants to stay in business. We may all love the big square hood designs, but that is not what the fleets want and if you don't build what your customers want you won't be around long.

I hate the new fire truck designs, but they are safer and more functional than the ones I rode. Hard to argue with that.

12 minutes ago, j hancock said:

Might not be needed, several New England BMTers are in the Witness Protection Program and have to stay out of sight!

Nick named "Whitey"?

12 hours ago, David Johnson said:

Thank you fxffmn. I will get the model number tomorrow. Will it be on the plate on the body under the passenger seat?

It should be, but if it's not it should be on the front right frame horn. It will be something like 85L1001.

3 minutes ago, j hancock said:

I can probably buy some more film.....

 

 

And a wide angle lens.

1 hour ago, David Johnson said:

Thanks for the advise everyone. I will get the Model number as soon as I can. I am new to the shop and just get bits and pieces of info. I am a heavy equipment tech but have no experience with vintage Mack stuff. I learned  today that the wheel cylinders and brakes have been replaced multiple time by previous techs. 

    I finally got a chance to crawl under it and I didn't even know it had a brake booster until I was looking at it. That would make total sense if the brake booster wasn't functioning properly. 

I'm thinking we are all going on the theory that the brakes are not functioning properly now. I'm also assuming you have driven it and tested the system yourself. Letting us know what it is actually doing would be helpful. 

Not to dis your co-workers, but I'm sure they have worked on very few, if any, hydraulic brake systems that use shoes. In other words, don't take someone else's word for what has been done and what is right or wrong with it. Go back over everything methodically and don't be ashamed to get out the books and follow them if you haven't worked on these before. Or even if you have and your memory is like mine. And remember that what is on there may not be correct since someone else has been into it. If the first guy did it wrong and everyone else has just put it back the way they found it, then that may be the story.

Like all trouble shooting problems I'd look at the simple stuff first. Brake adjustment, shoes on correctly (primary and secondary in the right place), glazed drums or shoes, brake bleeding, and vacuum to the booster all come to mind.

There is a filter in the vacuum line and the vacuum line probably runs to the pump as well, so I'd make sure the booster has vacuum before you remove it. The filter is located somewhere in the line, most often under or just behind the right front seat. The booster also has a vent that needs to be open. Mr. Mud Dauber may be in town, so you should check it. If the diaphragm is bad it will most likely blow blue smoke out the pipe from the brake fluid being pulled into the intake manifold.

My experience is they can be a bitch to bleed. They need to have the booster bled as well and I have found that doing that first works out best. I ended up using a pressure tank to force fluid through the system after trying conventional bleeding for the better part of an afternoon on mine.

I'm thinking the rear wheel cylinders are no longer available, especially if it is an E model. If so, I'd be pretty suspicious of the story that they have been replaced "multiple" times and if they have then they may be the wrong wheel cylinders. If it is an E model I have the PN if you need it. If it is an L model someone on here will have it.

Are they out there yet? I thought I saw one on I-95 in CT yesterday, but with traffic I couldn't tell for sure.

I did see a few of the new Cascadias on the road. They sure look like a Hino product with the three grill bars.

The wise ass side of me says I already get my mail via a driverless system; its called e-mail.

But of all the pure electric trucks that have been touted using one for mail delivery makes the most sense.

What a great looking B.