fxfymn

Glad to hear everyone survived more or less intact.

Unfortunately some folks seem more afraid of having their generator stolen then they are of dying, hence the need to run them indoors.

22 hours ago, Jarrad said:

Anybody have a wiring diagram for this truck?  If I turn all the lights on in just the truck the breaker trips in a few minutes.  If the trailer is hooked up it will happen sooner.  Then in a few minutes it will come back on.  I don't think I have a short maybe just a bad/weak breaker.

Measure the amperage load across the breaker. Over the years stuff gets added to circuits that makes the circuit load exceed the capacity of the wiring and breaker. Don't up size the breaker unless you also increase the wire size or add an internal fire suppression system. Corrosion can also increase the amperage draw so make sure all of the connections and light receptacles are clean. 

A quicker, cleaner solution would be to convert the lights to LED's.

Scrapple was a fire house breakfast staple and the southerners quickly converted this yankee when I moved here. It is best dredged in a little flour and browned in butter.

But. I also grew up eating head cheese, aka Presylta, that my Swedish grand parents brought over from the old country. No self respecting immigrant that is scrambling to make it in the new country is going to throw out perfectly good protein just because it comes from the innards or brains of the slaughtered animal. And they don't stop eating it when success comes either. We still serve it on Christmas eve for Swedish Smorgasbord. 

On 9/16/2017 at 3:56 PM, 66dc75 said:

OK so I'm almost ready to register this thing and get an inspection sticker before the end of September when big brother and the state of Calichusetts implements the new inspection sticker regulations Oct. 1.

The new sticker machines are hooked up to live streaming cameras and an outside contractor working for the State of Ma. will be watching from a cubicle someplace making sure that a fine tooth comb is used on everything. From what I've been told no deviations from stock are allowed. all emissions stuff must be present. I want to get this truck through at least once under the existing system because I have a hard time believing the big brother representatives on the other end of the camera are actually qualified to know what they are looking at an will cause me nothing but trouble when they see a Mack body on a Chevy chassis. I hope that once it;s gone through once I'll have an easier time next year.

Today I got the toolboxes mounted, battery, cables and batt disconnect in. interior is all buttoned up. made up a temp rear light panel. and did some mockup to get measurements for the bed sides and front bumper.

 

I have a solution for the inspection issue. Give the truck to me to register in VA where inspections of antiques is not required. You will have full visitation rights and custody on alternating week ends. Better yet I'll register it in SC where no inspections of any vehicle is required.

Hope you had a good one. Here's an early Happy Birthday for next year.

17 hours ago, General Ike said:

I think I've mentioned this here before, but in Gettysburg back when I was in college, we ran a 1977 Seagrave rearmount ladder that had air assist steering.  Going through the square on the way to a job was always an adventure.  Never knew if the truck was going to turn or not.

Ours was on the most bastardized rig we had. A Seagrave tiller that had been re-powered with a 6-71, had the ladder replaced with a used one from another one of our rigs that had been hit when the original ladders beams cracked because we failed to keep the bed locks adjusted correctly, and ended up with a 2 speed rear end because it was geared so low it was being passed by old ladies pushing baby carriages. Combine the air steering with the 2 speed rear and a fill in driver and every response was an adventure.

On 9/7/2017 at 10:23 PM, hurstscrambler said:

Thanks guys, everybody has been telling me the white was a bad move.  I'm trying to match the grey trucks build as much as possible, and that truck was originally Alpine White, the grey exterior was done later.  So white it is, I admit it is brighter than I was expecting.  I'm very happy with what is happening, but I wish it was going a little faster, and costing alot less $.  Does anyone have a good source for getting pot metal emblems restored?  Andy

I don't know a bout a "good source", since they are pretty expensive, but Paul's Chrome will do an excellent job for you. http://www.paulschrome.com/

I love the 6x6 "Maxi-brake".

Not to be Capt. Obvious, but I assume you have checked the steering for any place where it might be binding. If not try jacking it up and see how it turns with the weight off.

Steering box adjusted too tight?

I do love the adventure of air assist steering. Never quite knowing when the wheels will actually turn keeps you awake while driving.

My vote is red for the boxes as well. 

15 hours ago, 1958 F.W.D. said:

It's either that or go to the next interchange which is a few more miles down the road. Standard operating procedure here. I don't have to like it but I do have to follow it. I have voiced my opinion several times and have suggested dispatching mutual aid companies coming from that direction but it is dismissed every time I bring it up. 

I'm glad you know what you are doing is wrong, but by putting that in writing you may have just screwed yourself if an accident occurs while you continue to perform the same act.

The shortened response time is just not worth the risk to members or other drivers. I'd find it pretty hard to explain to a widow why her loved one was rear ended by a tractor trailer who tried to do an emergency stop because a fire truck came out of nowhere and crossed in front of him. Do they also allow red light running and grossly exceeding the speed limits? Same church, different pew.

I'd refuse to drive or ride OIC. I would not risk my personal financial well being to support an unsafe act. When the accident occurs you will be named in the law suit, and while immunity might eventually prevail you will still have to pay a large sum to defend yourself. It's just not worth it. And that's not even considering you might be injured and out of work.

This is an example of why I stopped volunteering. The organization I belonged to just didn't get it when it came to safe operation of their vehicles so I quit.

"Everyone goes home" is not just a slogan; every one of us must back it up with action to prevent an accident.

Randy, Randy, Randy.. Using a cross over on the interstate with traffic moving in the other lane? You should know better. That's a sure formula to turn their emergency into your emergency.

I hope Mike gave you an application for ATCA. Great organization that puts on a really good show every year.

On 9/11/2017 at 3:22 PM, 41chevy said:

Our houses main section in Virginia was built in 1848, an addition doubled the size in 1929 with a living room, bakery and solarium. In 1946 a big  kitchen, pantry, laundry room, attached 3 car garage with a 6 room apartment over the garage was added in 1946.The oldest part in the most level and true. The newer the additions the less they leveled and measured. Biggest issue was a brass pipe in the wall by one of the fir places with a stick jammed in it. The stick fell out when I touched it and natural gas came out. The entire old section of gas lighting supply was intact and live. Figured it was live with gas since 1895 when it as post and tube wired (which was still used for 3rd floor lighting when we bought it.). Also had over 200 Automatic Fireman Cabon-tet balls all through the house

I imagine the house was used as a "summer retreat" by a wealthy family from Richmond, or even as a hotel for the well to do to get out of the hot city in the summer months.

We were looking for an odor of smoke in a house near the Mt. Vernon estate when we came across a fire standpipe in what appeared to be an older single family home that was right on the Potomac. Turns out the place was built as a hotel for the wealthy to take a steamer out of Washington to during the summer months, even though it was only a few miles downstream from DC.

Depending on the color and shape of the glass and the carbon-tet extinguishers can sell for upwards of $200.00 each. Most go in the $10 to $20 range or more if the original bracket is with it.

 

didnt think people were that lazy back then,,,,and im sure they probably werent....glad you got it squared away....bob

The percentage of lazy and incompetent people never changes. But, I'm pretty sure there were no building codes in the area when this was built, so no one checked to make sure the work was at least code compliant. I'm sure the sign on the plumber's truck said "Good enough is good enough."

 

Thanks,will be at both.

Make sure you register for Trucktoberfest ASAP.

 

Friend's pet pig is named Bacon!

My brother-in-law named his Breakfast and Lunch.

 

My old house isn't horrible, but it had a bad sag in the middle going into the living room area.  You would walk and feel it dip down.  Now, it has a 3/4 basement with a crawl space so there is sorta a foundation wall supporting that crawl space right under that dip area.  I was able to get a big bottle jack on the block and jack the floor til it felt straight.  A few accurately cut 4x4's made nice supports and 13 yrs later the floor is still level.

I just had vinyl siding done a few weeks ago and the guy was telling me how bowed the walls were, you could see the roof ridge difference.   Once he sided it and closed in the ridge areas it looks nice and straight.  You couldn't really tell before, but he did a nice job of keeping it looking straight when done.  Same with roof when he did it a few years back.  It dips and moves around.  You can't tell, he was able to run the shingles and hide it very well.

The house I am restoring in Charleston, SC also had a pretty substantial sag towards the middle of the house which I assumed was a rotted out girt or floor joist(s). While most of the floor joists were rotted in the house, the sag was caused when the plumbers, in 1964 when the house was built, cut a 3" hole straight down through the 3 1/2" girt for a 1 1/2" drain and just to make sure the floor failed also removed the pier that was supporting the girt as well as I guess it was just too much work to route the supply copper around the pier instead of knocking it down.

We sistered new beams and put the pier back after jacking the old beam up with hydraulic jacks. All nice and level now. We did end up replacing about 70% of the floor joists due to rot caused by a leaky A/C system that caused condensation in the crawl space.

 

This handsome rig served Revere, MA.

 

I remember seeing them in service into the 70's. 

 

ya im the same way....start out looking for orange peel and sags.....they jump right out at you....bob

My motto is "Paint for five minutes, sand and buff for 50 minutes." I wish I could get better.

 

Fxfymn, have you used Paul's chrome in the past?  I'm looking for a shop to do some emblems (pot metal) and some of the steel hood latch components for my truck.  It is a very nerve racking process to select  shop that I can't reasonably travel too, and then the process takes so long, and it seems so expensive.  It's one of those things were if you look long enough you find a bad review for every shop out there, so you can't be too sure about anyone.  I don't mind paying the price for a good job, but I would hate to waste money on a job that is not well done.  Andy

I have used Pauls in the past and I was very happy with the work they did for me. They are very pricey, but as I said they do good work. How expensive? I sent 4 "B" model hub caps that were somewhat beat up to them for a price estimate that came back at $250.00 each. Needless to say I bought new ones from Watts at $125.00 each. http://www.paulschrome.com/

I have also used Royal Silver in Norfolk, VA https://www.rschrome.com/ They did very good work as well. 

I have fire truck friends that have used shops in Philly and Ohio and both swear by them, so if those locations are closer to home for you let me know and I'll get the names for you. The shop in Philly can do very large items, so they may be the way to go for the radiator shell.

One of the main reasons it is so expensive to do a fire truck is all of the plating that is involved. I spent over $6K just on plating when I did the 52 and that was not in all that bad condition. I quickly learned that it is much less expensive to buy new stuff it was available instead of repairing and plating the existing items.

One way to lower your cost is to prep the item as much as possible yourself. The quality of plating is dictated by how well it is buffed and polished before it is plated, so if you have the time and motivation to buff the items yourself you will lower your cost considerably since most shops charge $75.00 per hour and up to buff out the pieces. 

If your shell is pitted the shop will plate the shell with copper, buff off the copper away from the pits, and keep plating-buffing until the pits are filled and they have a smooth surface to plate.

Pot metal is done with a similar process. A friend sent two "F-350" hood emblems that go on the side of his 56 Ford's hood to Pauls for an estimate.They were pitted and needed the studs repaired as well. Pauls came back at $500.00 each to do them.

Good luck.

Depending on what you start with (pitted, rusted, dented, etc.) it will run you anywhere from $1K to $2.5K to get it plated. You can send a picture to Paul's Plating in PA to get a rough estimate.