Down off the mountain, AMA

[acme66]

We are just about done for the year running our 1984 923 commercially. She climbed 3000 vertical feet in 14 miles multiple times a day, day after day after day. Probably close to 200 miles in low range, another 4-5000 in high. Hundreds of gallons in fuel, 2 tires, a probable pending lawsuit with the State of Montana, 4 microphones, one set of stairs, a bus seat, a speaker, 4 gallons of motor oil, 3 attempts to get a leaky Rockwell to seal and all but one muffler mount on the rear dump exhaust. You want to know how the silicone one piece boots hold up, what it is like to pound in that driver's seat day after day, how the air cleaner modification works after some miles, how the tranny responds to tranny fluid long term, the worth of a block heater, what it is like changing 4 tires in 2 days and the frustration of getting beads set with only glad-hand air volume by gosh you can just ask me.

On a good week we could turn over about $1200 and only spend $400 making it, a bad week $800 spending $300 making it. Of course they had us shut down (illegally) from July 7th through Aug 12th so we were denied access to the main course and had to settle for just the appetizer and a little bit of desert. I learned that I need to learn more about promotion and that state governments will often make up their own laws simply because it can cost the average guy far to much to fight them. I figure with what we lost on the shutdown and the surprise tire thing I still broke even and I have been told that isn't to shabby for a start up business. Next year will be better.

Anyway, if you had questions feel free to ask me anything (AMA). If it about the State then message me your an email and if I think you are not a spy for they-who-must-not-be-named then I can send you the story, it is a good one but not all that different than the next empire building small time bureaucrat tale.

Ken

 

[davo727]

Cool story, not that I have the slightest what youre talking about...

 

[MtnSnow]

Congrats on a basically successful first year of a "mom & pop" business doing something you seem to enjoy.

 

[juanprado]

looking forward to more of your maintenance how to videos

All the best with regrouping for next year.

 

[shadowdd]

looking forward to more of your maintenance how to videos

All the best with regrouping for next year.

I second that!!! Good luck in your up coming years!

 

[allpredatorcalls]

How did the tranny respond to long-term use of trans fluid versus engine oil?

 

[m715mike]

Okay, I going to say it....



Let's see some pictures of that 5-ton in the mountains!

 

[jedawson1]

How did the tranny respond to long-term use of trans fluid versus engine oil?

I congratulate you on a break even first year, no easy feat. I am interested in the trans fluid results, and your comments on how the truck handled the elevation changes.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Ford Mechanic]

What type of air cleaner mod did you do, and how did it hold up?

 

[M35A2-AZ]

 

[jarhead1086]

I am looking at doing a rear exhaust and would like to know how you would do it knowing what you know now.

 

[74M35A2]

You offered, we asked, now deliver. Do you have the air filter results based upon vacuum data comparisons (not opinion based)?

 

[acme66]

Here in no particular order:

"You offered, we asked, now deliver. Do you have the air filter results based upon vacuum data comparisons (not opinion based)?" -Of course not. It has the same surface area and CFM according to the data sheet, it gathers dust over the whole surface rather than leaving a clean spot at the bottom and it didn't leak. That is good enough for me. Using the whole filter rather than most of the filter doesn't need vacuum testing to illustrate superiority.

"I am looking at doing a rear exhaust and would like to know how you would do it knowing what you know now." -Better hangers. I just grabbed some generic NAPA hangers and it tore out the rubber. I used the factory hanger at the passenger door, a rubber one just in front of the mud guard, one at each end of the muffler and one at the tip. Maybe two hangers at each point to spread the load, but I also think you need some more bendy bits. You have that flex joint under the passenger floor then another at the muffler base. I left the passenger joint where is and the other flex joint at the end of the muffler. I think another good woven flex joint just in front of the forward mud guard would help isolate the strain on the pipe and provide a break in that long 8 foot run for flexing. I ended up hanging the forward mount on the muffler with chain, wiring up the rear one and the tip to get us by. The mount in front of the mud guard held but is failing. It is like the rubber wasn’t any good. Maybe cut your own isolators from the steel belt part of a tire. I can do pictures of what it looks like now but it matches the video…just with some broken mounts. They all failed within a week of each other. I think someone had asked about how they were holding up and I said fine, then they all failed less than 2 weeks later.

“How did the tranny respond to long-term use of trans fluid versus engine oil?” –Fine. The fluid has more ‘grip’ than engine oil, that it why it smooths the shifting. Rather than slamming into gear when the pressure builds up there is a bit of grab, easing the shift point ever so slightly. Of course this friction in the clutches can build more heat, especially when the tranny is hunting for gears or shifting often. What I saw in testing held true, on the open road the temps were down about 10-15F from ‘normal’. What I found in the mountain was the temps would be up about 10-15F. Unfortunately since I never ran the truck in the mountains with motor oil I don’t know if the motor oil ‘normal’ would be the same, lower or higher. I imagine higher as it seems logical. Warnings of trany failure were not realized. It was always a decent shifter before and continues to be so. It didn’t ‘cure’ anything. Mine has this thing when accelerating and shifting up in 5 in no particular hurry where it will sometimes seem to go into, out of and into a gear, just a stumbling hesitation lasting about a second or so. It still does that, it just doesn’t slam the truck around as much. With 4000 miles on the oil now I plan to change it again with fresh fluid and do an internal/external filter change. Maybe I can cut the filters open and learn something but I put lots of hard pounding miles on it and everything works fine.

“What type of air cleaner mod did you do, and how did it hold up?” –Good. I had looked through the books and found a standard truck filter of the right length but a smaller diameter. It had the same or better surface area (longer pleats) and same CFM. I built a wire cage inside the housing to hold it centered. I did it because the housing with the standard filter covers about 20% of the filter and so when I went to change it one end was clean and it hadn’t been using that media, effectively reducing the size of the air cleaner in operation. It now uses the entire filter and has the added benefit of being cheaper and obtainable over the counter at truck stops. I think that Those Military Guys has mocked up a kit for this idea that is a drop in rather than what I did. http://www.thosemilitaryguys.com Their kit, from what I remember, is my solution presented in a more elegant way.

-Ken