So what did you do with your truck today?

[XOLATEM]

So...there I was...

...standing in front of The Truck after an absence of...maybe two weeks...a beautiful 1985 one-ton dually dressed out with Miller, Ingersol-Rand, and an older model crane mounted on a Reading work body...sporting a work vise with a wrench clenched in its jaws... just beautiful...and Proud...

Waiting...and looking powerful, durable, and willing...

At least it is beautiful to me...my first Real Truck...

...standing there hooked up to a small trailer sporting a medium size skid steer covered with a tarp.

Beautiful...and waiting...

Waiting.... for me to perform the Starting Ritual after respectfully entering the cab and getting properly positioned for action...

This time...no battery voltage checks, no popping the hood first looking for fuel and oil and coolant leaks like I had done for the last two years...no...

The One-Ton had passed the Acid Test over the last month and logged about a thousand miles over mountains and valleys, highways and byways, steep mountain driveways and small-town wanderings in 90 degree weather to find a DMV and a Tire Shop to get a trailer bought and outfitted and finally get to The Staging Area for the... Next Phase Of My Existence....

No...things were working. I was confident that all of my checking and re-checking and agonizing over the past two years was mostly behind me and The One-Ton was ready to do anything that I asked of it.

Spare Parts were on hand...trailer wiring and light components were in tubs in the back...One-Ton is loaded with tools and fluids, drain pans, funnels, and even a floor jack and jack stands with salvaged pieces of half-inch plate for soft ground ....prepared for most any eventuality.

It wasn't all just a lark...this Thousand- Mile Shakedown...no...things were tense at times...but nothing that could not have been overcome with Thinking..and Common Sense..and Sheer Will...

There was the time that I was trying to hurry things up and the temp guage started climbing higher than I had seen it before...

Ambient was over 90 and I was trying to do 65 MPH pulling a trailer loaded with a 5000# machine...

Slow down...pull your head outta yer you-know-what...and turn on the High-Output Heat with the windows down and fan on High...

There...thats working...takes a while to get the needle to move more to the left after it kinda likes and has gotten used to that Right-Of-Center location on the Factory Guage.

Whew...

Then there was that time that One-Ton had loudly pulled a trailer loaded with 7000# of Case 430 up a hill and had to stop at a stop sign and then make a left...not knowing that The Girl had pulled up behind me close enough in the Girl Truck to polish the tailights with a stick and a rag if She felt so inclined...

How many times have I told her not to do that Crap...I don't want to be able to read every durn license plate in front of me when we are stopped in traffic...you are not going to get there any sooner and let the people behind you worry about their spacing at a stoplight...

(sigh...) city habits....

I went to let out the clutch on the hill and go left...and One-Ton protested and tried to choke out...Shooot!!...quick..!!..slide the clutch and rev 'er a$$ and get moving...!!!

I had rolled back a few feet before going forward and I found out later that She might'a finally realized that I was Right All Along....

It worked...One-Ton pulled out and we were on our way to the Highway and the Staging Area five hours drive time away and expecting traffic and the obligatory idiot drivers out there...

When you drive a stick and you know what your clutch and flywheel looks like...having seen it first hand and fondled it from the moment you lift the large pizza-box type carton to the moment you are ready to bolt it on to a freshly-machined and cleaned flywheel that you personally handed over to the machinist and instucted Him to please index, drill dowel holes and install hardened pins to add shear strength to the ARP PP bolts...when you drive a stick unit you sometimes think about your clutch...

That clutch was Fondled and Blessed when it was installed...and this was the first time I had to slide it more than Usual...

It'd be awright...it was built for this...just not too many times...

The firewall on the One-Ton was re-inforced...with the Bronco Graveyard Triple-Throwdown strengthening plate...took a while to do...hadda disassemble down to the bulkhead and fit it into place...not a perfect fit on this one...had to cut it and weld it back together to conform to the contours but it worked out great when I was done...clutch master cylinder confidence all taken care of...biggest hurdle was reading and getting my head around the instructions...but they were good, comprehensive instructions...the project went well...

Then there was that time that I had to stay wired for sound and pay attention...intense attention...to the road...for hours....because the One-Ton needed the front end aligned and the trailer was sporting a little too much tongue weight...lesson learned...

Got the front end set in short order after that and forged ahead...

Then there was that time that I was coasting down hill and It was speeding up and I could not change lanes to get out of an uneven road in-the-middle-of-constuction situation which was making the trailer and 430 fishtail precariously...

Whew...managed that one and stopped for a while at a Rest Stop to Drain a Main Vein and hear the Girl anxiously chatter about my driving...that took a while to calm down...

After all of that and more...at the Staging Area...

So...here I am in the cab...Assuming The Position for the Starting Ritual...

Neutral...left foot poised over the clutch pedal...waiting for the right moment to push...key on and a split second before the Cold Run initiate right foot throttle jab...left hand already feeling up the Glow Plug Nonsense Eliminator Button...counting the seconds...

Jab the throttle and....nothing...no resistance...just a 'pop'...and the fuel pedal hangs half-way to the floor...

***...!!!???....HHM! Gotta be a busted throttle cable...

Pop the hood...look...feel....think...yep...busted...

I have one...and...by some miracle...it is about 50 yards away...

You see...I had figured this would happen...and bought a replacement two years ago...and by some miracle...had the thing close by...

Now...right when I needed it...it is truly a miracle...

You know...there are times when I figure that I must be very fortunate and maybe even meant to do something really Good at some point in the future...the amount of times that I have been in a tight spot and maybe even In Trouble...I have managed to pull through...somehow...

And this is one of those times...or rather...the Thousand-Mile Shakedown was that time and I did not even realize it...

You see...that cable held on just long enough to get US through all of that stuff...hours and hours of intense concentration...couldn't even twist the dials on the radio...I had to change driving hands occasionally...from the cramps of death-gripping the wheel...and finally quit when I was ready and able to fix it in short order...

Good cable...you did well....thank you and I promise to take pictures of you and show the Guys...how well you did...and now you get to quietly retire...with my steadily growing Original Parts Convalescence Center.....you will have a lot of company and can share War Stories with your compatriots...

Not having to fix it on the road...at night...by flashlight...was a realization that re-enforced my belief that I must be on The Right Path....

Good Ol' Truck...Mr. One-Ton....

To be Continued...

 

[chillman88]

Emailed power master to see if rebuild parts are available, we'll see what they say. Bought the starter in September of 21 so I'm almost a year out of warranty. Really only has maybe a year of actual driving because it's sat so much in the last couple years.

They emailed me back this morning. Sounds like a good deal and I may very well buy another if this goes well. Here's what they replied to me.

We have a factory repair program, factory parts at factory cost and no labor charges.
We will be able to help you know what failed and why it has failed.

Most starter failures are due to low voltage on the ignition terminal, this is from the key switch, if you do not have at least 11 volts on the small wire when cranking the starter , you will have to chase the voltage drop all the way back to the ignition switch.

This is the main circuit and is not direct to the battery.

Please put your name, address and phone number in the box and ship to,

Powermaster Performance
1833 Downs Dr.
West Chicago, IL. 60185

 

[Old Goat]

Wow, that is some customer service.
How many companies do that?

Now we need another Gauge to monitor the
voltage on the small wire, to keep the Starter healthy.


Goat

 

[chillman88]

Wow, that is some customer service.
How many companies do that?

I'll update how it turns out.

Today I replaced that signal wire, he was probably right because the terminal broke off shortly after removing the old wire. Still no dice. Ordered another powermaster because I might as well if they're actually going to take care of me when stuff breaks. "Supposed" to be here tomorrow (Thursday).

Oh yeah, and the alternator died on Diego yesterday after work, so I ordered another one under warranty to replace it.

Not sure who I did so wrong, but I'm definitely paying penance for something this week!

 

[XOLATEM]

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Now we need another Gauge to monitor the
voltage on the small wire, to keep the Starter healthy.

This oughter do it....

 

[Jesus Freak]

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This oughter do it....

Somewhere on the forum, @Cubey has a thread and he shows a picture of his dash. It looks like an airplane with all the gauges stuck everywhere. I think it's his transmission thread, but I can't remember.

 

[XOLATEM]

Not sure who I did so wrong, but I'm definitely paying penance for something this week!

Aahh...maybe...but try not to be so tough on yourself...When I was doing transmissions...I noticed a strange phenomena....it seemed that each month we would get a few of the same kind of vehicle to fix...it is like the transmissions conspired to go bad around the same time.

Same type of unit in roughly the same type of vehicle.

One month it would be..X...and another month it would be ..Y...

It was the strangest thing...made you stop and think...

Hot weather... cooked seals and burned clutches...cold weather...parts breakage from 'rocking' and spinning and grabbing...

There is probably a good explanation for your experience...but I would not blame it on karma or bad luck...

 

[XOLATEM]

One other thing...just like Columbo...

I have noticed two things relating to component longevity...

Batteries and clutches...

My learned mantra is...

A bad clutch will cause a good transmission to go bad...so...I would not do 'carry-out' stickshift units unless I saw to it that the clutch system was ok...

And...

A bad battery will screw up most anything electrical starting with the alternator and starter, regulator and other motors...

If a battery shows 12 vdc it still may not be any good because you need 12.66 vdc to be considered fully charged.

And...just because you have 12 volts after charging does not mean that the reserve capacity is sufficient to run things properly.

Even though...as an experiment...I got 11.5 years out of a factory Ford battery...I would not do it again...in my humble opinion batteries are done after about 5 or 6 years unless you want to go through alternators.

I got more to say on that but I gotta get moving...chat later

 

[Old Goat]

One other thing...just like Columbo...

I have noticed two things relating to component longevity...

Batteries and clutches...

My learned mantra is...

A bad clutch will cause a good transmission to go bad...so...I would not do 'carry-out' stickshift units unless I saw to it that the clutch system was ok...

And...

A bad battery will screw up most anything electrical starting with the alternator and starter, regulator and other motors...

If a battery shows 12 vdc it still may not be any good because you need 12.66 vdc to be considered fully charged.

And...just because you have 12 volts after charging does not mean that the reserve capacity is sufficient to run things properly.

Even though...as an experiment...I got 11.5 years out of a factory Ford battery...I would not do it again...in my humble opinion batteries are done after about 5 or 6 years unless you want to go through alternators.

I got more to say on that but I gotta get moving...chat later

I thought I did good one time on my 82 Datsun KC Diesel, when I got
9 years out of a battery. It was my daily driver for 30 years and 450 something thousand miles.


Goat

 

[Old Goat]

I'll update how it turns out.

Today I replaced that signal wire, he was probably right because the terminal broke off shortly after removing the old wire. Still no dice. Ordered another powermaster because I might as well if they're actually going to take care of me when stuff breaks. "Supposed" to be here tomorrow (Thursday).

Oh yeah, and the alternator died on Diego yesterday after work, so I ordered another one under warranty to replace it.

Not sure who I did so wrong, but I'm definitely paying penance for something this week!

Ya know the old saying,
"If it has T-i-t-s or Tires, sooner or later it will give you problems".

Or the other one...
"If it Fly`s Floats or F#@&`$, sooner or later will cause you problems".

Several months back I was poking around on Google, and searched for Power Master 9050. I came across one for $149.00, and free shipping from
Speedway Motors. Some one ordered the wrong one, so was a return, and could not sell new. Thing wasn`t even dirty.
Sometime ya get lucky.

A 9051 is the same Starter for the Power Stoke, just remove the Spacer.


Goat

 

[XOLATEM]

I thought I did good one time on my 82 Datsun KC Diesel, when I got
9 years out of a battery. It was my daily driver for 30 years and 450 something thousand miles.

That was pretty good from a save money standpoint...do you remember the brand of battery it was...?

We could trade stories on batteries...ones we remember over the years...trends and fads come and go...sometimes a spiffy name makes a splash on the scene and later they don't hold up and others quietly soldier on...unassuming.

I used to get pretty good service out of a Diehard...but I don't trust many brands anymore...it must be the trend of offshoring.

My current opinion on batteries is just that...what I have experienced as of late....not ones that I had good luck with over the span of several decades.

On of my first experiences with trying to resurrect a bad battery was to have it blow up in my face...trashed a good insulated shirt.

Never been the same, since...

 

[Old Goat]

The Battery was a Die-Hard, I use to go in Sears for stuff all the time....
but never let them work on anything.

Now I go to Costco and buy the Interstate Batteries, group 65 for the Ford,
and last summer bought a new one for the Mercedes, That is a big one and pricey.

I never had one blow up, but read they can be a bomb when they let go.
That`s why safety Goggles is important when working on Batteries.
Don`t want Sulferic acid in your eyes. If it happens, get to running water over your eyes quickly.

At 234K miles was smokin a lil bit, and I thought it needed rebuilt.
had an old friend from Russia, excaped from there years ago during the communist take over. really knew his stuff on Diesel engines. Had contracts with the Navy doing the Grey Marine Diesels and 2cy Detroits etc...
Was a Machinist and had all the equipment at his house.

Replaced the Main, Thrust, Cam bearings, Wrist pin Bushings, new Valves, Rings, Honed out the Cylinders and threw it back together and drove it another 200 and something K Miles. One thing he said "we`re not building a race engine".

I took the Starter down to a shop in San Jose that rebuilt Starters, Alt. etc.... was a full blown rebuild shop, and did things right.
He said something like, "only thing I saw wrong, was the Bearings were a lil dry".
He probably replaced them, don`t remember on the brushes, but that starter ran till 432K miles, when it started to slow down. It was a geard Starter.
Went back to that shop to see if they had another one, only one, but direct drive. Was way bigger around than the little original one. used it toll around 480K when I lost #2 Cly.
Shop had been sold to a Vietnam guy, and some time later is was closed down.
So that ended the rebuild shops I knew of.
Along with the old time wrecking yards I wondered through as a kid. PNP bought up a lot, and closed down a bunch.

Talking to the kid at PNP yesterday, I mentioned the big price jump on parts. Door,s were $50 now $63 as I remember.
Door,s, Hoods, Bumpers and fenders were the same price.

Diesel Engine are now $650, complete or stripped down.
One I pulled Oct 2 yrs ago, was $341 out the door, but a 25% off sale.
No Alt., Starter, AC Compressor or Air Filter assy.


Goat

 

[IDIBRONCO]

I never had one blow up, but read they can be a bomb when they let go.

I've seen two batteries blow up and yes they can. Both were in those cases.

 

[Jesus Freak]

I've seen two batteries blow up and yes they can. Both were in those cases.

I was helping a guy do hay one time and we were on a JD 2640. He was driving and I was standing on the left floor board holding on to the hood and canopy when the battery exploded. I didn't get any on me but it was a big "KA-BOOM" and scared the crap out of us.

 

[captain720]

I was picking up supplies at the hard ware store and when I came out I saw a big puddle of mystery fluid under the truck, turns out that worm drive lower rad hose clamp that was new but felt “spooky” when I installed it recently let go. Had a spare in the truck and was in the road in a few minutes.