The next Project an ASMH

[WillWagner]

I am 61 this year, the BLK Hummer guy is the eldest of our clan now. His calling in life is an electrician, mine is a wrench bender. The other two are a self employed general contractor, although he has moved on from our neck o the woods to a state or 2 away, maybe 3 if you count the small part of Az you go thru to get to his house, and now is employed by the state. The other is a master of fabrication, owns his own business. He can look at something and just see what needs to be done in his head then goes and knocks it out and it is exactly what was needed. And our departed friend was also a self employed general contractor. We all have learned from each other. I am a metal guy, mess that up, weld it up and start over. I couldn't do wood to save myself. I now can do most things. I have learned how to be an electrician, when I screw up, the hummer comes and guides me through things. If I need an input on a fab project, our other brother comes into play. I have hopefully helped all the others with my skill, passion, choice in life, whatever it is, in some of their life adventures. We all have swung multiple engines, upgraded vehicles, modified jeeps, sorted out bugs in vehicles, built things, wired things, made bad azz one off contraptions, played with fire, really, those were good times! We take off for 4 days out in the desert and explore mines, old mining camps, old cabins in the middle of nowhere, We need to get on that, it has been a year since we ventured out, life is getting in the way.

People that have been around since the days of the Dirtbag gatherings would most likely remember these guys.

Funny thing, one of the guys used to live in my town, we share a name, his wife's name was the same as mine....my wife's, not my name....as is my cousin's wife's name that lives 3 miles from me. We all knew where all the girls shopped. To this day, when both of us are together and introduce ourselves, the confused look on peoples faces are priceless

The group of guys that I call my friends are truly friends, the kind of persons that one meets once in their lifetime and create a bond. They are really "brothers from another Mother". If someone needs something, we are there for one another.

Enough.

To keep things on topic with the wrecker, We have another wrecker body out in the back 40. Not an Austin Western, a newer type, the one the hydraulic tank mounted on the boom and the boom winch spool under the boom. We still need the cable end clevis for the 45k Garwood in the bed of the M62. I asked Craig to take a look at the bed to see if what we need is there. Sure enough it is!

However, it has also been pulled up into the fairlead rollers very hard.

So, still looking for the cable end as well as a filter to put on the tapered bung in the tank.

 

[BLK HMMWV]

Oh sorry back to the wrecker.
Still needs a JDAM
BH

 

[WillWagner]

CHP was funny! Wonder what the guy he pulled over thought??!!

 

[msgjd]

CHP was funny! Wonder what the guy he pulled over thought??!!

maybe he thought it was the A-Team coming to rescue him

 

[WillWagner]

OK, so it's been a bit since an update. Everything is going well, EXCEPT for finding a rear winch clevis. We are holding out to see if we can find a used one or a NOS from one of the vendors and I am hunting around in all of the parts scattered around to see if there might be one on hand.

The hydraulic tank was a bit dirty, so, over the last couple of weeks, maybe a week, time seems to blur from 1 day to the next, the tank was given a treatment of B'laster parts cleaner, elbow grease and a bit of a power wash. Today I looked inside and I don't feel good about the condition, no rust, just crap, so, I stopped at the local home improvement store on the way home and picked up a big bag of painters rags. Tomorrow I will open the drain, try to push the crap out the bottom, maybe spray some parts cleaner into the tank with an air operated sprayer I have, give it a good wipe down and see how it looks.

Since Nothing was done with the tank, I didn't take pics of the in tank filter, but I will do that when I put it in, hopefully tomorrow. I decided to work on the vent. It was/is crushed. If one looked up through the vent, all it is is an valve cover vent from an old GM engine, the vent hole at the top was blocked off. Those of you that are old know what I am talking about.

The only thing available any more is a chrome thing. I know, if it don't go, chrome it. However, this don't go...very fast, but sorry, no chrome! So I took it upon myself to try and disassemble the thing. It was assembled, so, it MUST be able to be dis-assembled, right? Turned out to be pretty easy, the metal was soft. I just used some light persuasion with a screwdriver and small channel locks to un crimp things. A bit of working with some brass/bronze drifts, a ball peen and wood and things came out OK. Gave it a cleaning and primer/paint. It will be functional!

Last thing, still looking for boom cable. I have a relative that works in the elevator industry. We chatted, he has been replacing cable for the last year in the Vegas area. After showing him pics of the cable, the strands, etc. it was decided to not use the used cable he is taking out because it is different from what is used on this. I believe this should have 6-19 with a wire rope core of the same 6-19, right lay. The stuff he is taking out is mostly metric stuff. BUT, I was walking back to the shop area from the tire area and saw wire rope spools under a trailer. Went and investigated and found it was what is needed! The outside layer is a bit discolored, but not all rust bloomed like the cable on the truck is now. It still has cosmoline, vapowrap, whatever on it. I peeled back the wrap and the cable looks like new! I think I read that the truck takes 50 feet or so for the boom. The spools have 200 feet, so, we most likely can get what is needed from one of the spools! No pics, but I will get some.

The following images are of the PVC adapter I will use to attach a suction side/in tank filter, inside the tank and the tapered spud that I THINK there is supposed to be a filter on and don't remember if I posted a pic of it, the repaired vent, a new gasket for the hyd filler and some other stuff.

OH! We wanted to do some painting on the boom that didn't get done so when the final coat goes on, it looks even. To do this, as seen in past pics, the boom was supported by a strap and overhead crane. Well, after all of the lines were on the body, I let the crane down. It stopped and held the boom in place for a week! I removed all of the rigging and the boom went down, stopping when I released the lever. So it looks like things are plumbed correct, for the boom down at least, we shall see about the other circuits in a couple of weeks!

Also did a bit of painting on the bumper marker rods, came out good, nice and bright and we masked off the new hoses to get some paint on the exposed new fittings as well as the welded on pipes to prevent rust.

I am excited, I like working on this stuff but it is getting harder to do these big projects.

 

[WillWagner]

I forgot some other little tidbits!

In one of the posts above, I showed a picture of some parts for the clutch release used by the rear winch operators area. Well, After 2 1/2 hours of my life trying to get the keyed arm back on the cross shaft, it looked as though that the arm was too close/far forward on the cross shaft. This means that when the clutch pedal is depressed in the cab, the rotopack actuator arm looked too close to the bellhousing and would contact the housing before releasing the clutch.

I got frustrated after I got it on the cross shaft and saw where it was located.

Today, I had someone get in the cab and depress the clutch. It SEEMS that the clutch releases but the rotopack arm just touches the bellhousing bolt face. I might not be able to tell if the arm is correct until we re fire the engine and see if it will go into gear with the rotopack arm installed.

For anyone out there that has an M62, don't know if 543 is the same, can you take a picture of the fixed arm on the trans cross shaft so that I can see if ours is correct or might have incorrect parts installed?

 

[WillWagner]

Today, I got the hydraulic tank cleaned out, the filter adapter installed and the filter installed. It was decided to use some pressure washer water to clean the goo from the tank and it was done last week. I let my feelings be known. Still happened. Yesterday when I went in and started the tank stuff, I did not like what I saw. Water, oil, goo, metal. It looked worse than when it was emptied. I could not, in good conscience, start to assemble anything in the tank. Yesterday, I stopped at the local improvement store and got a giant bag of painters rags on the way home.

I closed the drain, covered the PTO inlet and dumped 1/2 gallon of B'laster parts washer fluid in the tank, swished it around, tried to push it back behind the baffle, but realized the truck was tilted to the right about 3 inches. That, 1, let the water stay in the tank, 2, let all of the solvent I installed run to the pas. side of the tank. I got to use my noggin. I used the pax side, front out rigger to raise the truck up as to get the crap in the tank to run to the drivers side toward the drain. Got things swished around, opened the drain, let things drain, wiped the tank out, used an air nozzle to get back behind the baffle and blow the junk out the bottom corners. Had to do this 3 times. Was finally good with the results, no more chunks, metal shavings, goo, water, cloudy oil, nothing.

Two hours.

The PVC adapter in the following pictures, fit tight, however, I wanted to make sure things wouldn't suck around the sides, so, I used a bit of #1 permatex on the outside of the PVC, threaded the new, in than filter onto the adapter and then pushed with a bit of a twist, the adapter into the spud in the tank. This should hold the adapter in the fitting and allow the removal of the filter, if it ever happens or needs to be done, without the PVC spinning.

I installed the lid with the new gasket and refurbished oil cap/vent.

Also got to do some more light painting and fixing of things I didn't get right. One thing was the ring I made that secures the travel bars to the boom. I eyeballed when I did the thru hole that secures the ring to the boom. Missed it by THAT much. Apx 1/16 inch. Put it in position and drilled the hole where it should be.

Gave some other pieces some color. I would like to paint the lips of the wheels yellow, think UPS, but yellow the wheels showed that they were yellow on the lips, and the axle flanges, yellow, they also showed yellow under the layers. But not my decision.

Something else on this that I can not seem to find anything on, there are 2 rings bolted to the frame, midway between the axles. Anyone know what these are for?

 

[BLK HMMWV]

Maybe the rings are for stowage of some kind. What do they normally use to lower the leg on the outrigger jacks?

 

[BLK HMMWV]

I would guess something goes into those holes in the upper ring on the jack. Maybe it's a cheater bar with a pin or something that engages with the hole in the upper ring. I bet that you need something pretty long to be able to raise the truck up to level it.

 

[Guyfang]

Do the welds on the rings look like from the factor/professional? Or not so good. Maybe something shade tree?