Geoff Weeks

A bit of trivia. You'll notice on the picture of the right side of the block before you painted it, another "fuel pump" mounting pad/opening that is covered by the generator mount. Early versions of this engine had either a gear drive generator on the left side (driven off the cam timing gear) or could be had with a Mag there also. Both precluded driving the fuel pump directly off the cam on that side. A pushrod was used across the block to the fuel pump mounted on the right side (behind where the generator is now). When the engine was designed, they used either of the two above ways to time the spark, so left no other provision for a distributor on the engine. When gear driven generators proved to be a problem, requiring timing to the engine when removed, and mag left no provision for battery charging. originally the oil pump drive was capped off at the upper end. It was near vertical and close into the block, so that left no room for mounting a distributor next to the block driven off the oil pump drive. The shaft had to be extended to above the valve cover to have enough room to mount the distributor, giving the BLD the distinctive high mount distributor. For a brief time in the early 50's when the block was re designed for full flow oil filter and the liners were removed so the displacement increased to 308 for the biggest engines, they added a pad near the oilpump drive gear on the cam and an opening to allow for "low mount" distributor at cam level. This was so the engine could be fitted in the low cab cabover trucks of the day. Conventional cab trucks still used the high mount distributor. I have only seen one with the low mount, and that was in pictures. When the block was re designed in the 50's the opening on the right side of the block was eliminated.

One of mine has the same GVW the other is 21500 GVW. EW on yours and my flatbed is right around 6500-7000 lbs. so 10,000 more is right there.

Vlad, unless that is unique to the Lend-lease vehicles, that truck is no larger than a K-7. The -8's and up had 10 lug wheels. -5 and down had 5 lug and -6, -7 had six lug. -7 will handle 5 tons no problem. I have done on mine. Harder to tell when they have spoke wheels, but easy when they have disk's. Also the hood isn't long enough to be an 8 or higher.

I don't know when all mfg stopped putting rear pumps in the automatics. Chry I think was around '66, I know my '65 had it. Don't know about Ford or GM, Mercedes had them way longer, may still have them IDK. You need pressure to apply the clutches/bands for it to work, no tailshaft driven pump, no turning the engine.

Really you want to remove all the 1/2 shafts, If you only remove one side, the spider gears in the diff get quite a work-out and no lube. You can chain up the front drive if you pull from the front, and just pull the 1/2 shafts in the rear drive as long as the front drive tires don't touch the road, it will be ok.

With today's gasoline cost, that would some expensive lumber! No doubt the K-7 would make the trip however.

Holmes 880 were pretty useful also.

Took me a minute to see it. A tornado came though (before I owned the place) and that tree was how close to the house it got!

I made a fixture for lifting the big cam's at near perfect balance. You installed one way if the clutch was already installed and flipped it around for if it wasn't. Single line lift makes aligning the engine to the mounts easy, a line-up bar with the engine suspended just off the mount, and you could start the bolts. same for stabbing the trans, with the single line you had more then enough movement to stab the trans. I had done both with a big fork truck, but found the overhead line method easier.

Here is a pic of both of them

My special tool

Just ran mine a bit today. 1st time this year. What it burns in gasoline makes me not drive it esp with fuel prices today. It is also my fuel caddy and I needed to pump some off road diesel out of one step tank for the tractor. Once primed it fired right off on 6 volts.

It'll hold up to anything you care to put on it. I've had 5 ton on mine between Des Moines, IA and Manhattan, IL.

Heater hoses look like they need to be moved. too close! I ran into a "heat problem" with a wiring harness I thought was far enough from the turbo/exh. It was, except when pulling a grade in the summer. Heat shield came to my rescue. I had much more space then you have there. I thought it wouldn't be a problem but I was wrong.

Paul, I would agree with that! What we don't know is how long we have left. My Aunt is 99 and sharp as a tack, and still active. My friends father worked 3rd shift until he was forced to retire at 65 and was dead before 66. Genetics has a place in it, but is not the total picture.

I can still get motivated, but the motivation is tempered by the cost to my body. I can still torque the main bearings on a 855 Cummins, but have to question if it is worth it for ME to torque the main bearings on an 855 Cummins? Last year I completely rebuilt a light tower, including a block change, stripping the old diesel and building back up. Motivation is there, but not the speed. Before that it was a Saab 900. Each project taking most of a summer to complete. When the costs out weigh the enjoyment/satisfaction of the completed job, motivation wains.

Stock R or B isn't likely to be set to "cruise at 70 mph" so unless it has been updated, you'll likely need an axle ratio change at least. Just so you are aware.

I am not sitting in a chair watching the world go by, I just got back from doing repairs at my brothers, car repair and house repair. I go to the YMCA for exercise 3 days a week, never the less, what I can still do today is vastly reduce to what I could do just 3 years ago, when I was felling trees, and rebuilding an old building. Point is you don't know what the future holds for you, I never thought I would see the decline I have. I can no longer rise from a chair without using my arms to assist me getting up. My wife, who is 8 years my senior, can do it no problem. I am writing this, not for your pity, but as a warning to those who have grand plans that they hope to do when they can retire, I hope you can, but you can't count on it. Do it while you can, if you have continued great health, you'll have great memories, while making more, if later you can not, you at least got to do it when you could, not lament that you now can't. I try and keep my hand in helping others where I can, in their projects, even if it is done from a keyboard. I still learn things every day by "keeping my hand in" even if I don't do the work myself. My mind doesn't recognize my bodies limitation, and it may kill me trying to do what my mind knew I could in the past. I have an outer CV joint boot to replace, I"ll feel great if I can get it done in one day. I don't even want to know what "book time" is on the job, it no longer applies to me.

Yeah, and the chipper is scary also.

When I had the interest, body and ability, I didn't have the time. Now I have the time, but the 1st 3 are rapidly slipping away.

May be not:

Always have, what you did with our medium gassers for so long wouldn't have been attempted with our biggest gassers, 345 in a loadstar pulling a semi OTR. Once you got our big diesels you came up with road-trains. I felt I was "pushing the limit" when I grossed 168-170k with my "normal every day cabover tractor" and didn't do it often. Different world down there.

I had air mufflers on both of mine, and it didn't bother the neighbors when I left early when living in town. Too many like for the "look at me" noise they can make rather than the job they do. Same with un muffled Jake's. I have a 1/2" snap-on air drill that will hurt your ears if the muffleing "wadding" comes out the the handle. No shop would stand for its use that loud. No one is impressed by a loud air drill, nor startled by it in a commercial shop, just annoyed. I think it does more to give the industry a "black eye" with the rest of the world than anything. With a muffler, they sound different then a electric starter but not loud. People may still look because it sounds different then they expect. I never once got a complaint or dirty looks with my trucks starting.

I guess you could say you got the shaft!

Pinion bearings and differential carrier bearing are the only ones I want to see pre-load on. Both are highly loaded when in service, and don't tolerate being too tight or too loose.