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G749 preservation

m1010plowboy

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The conditions were interesting at the G749 farm when the tank and pump off Piglet finally got bought, loaded and gone. If you are bothered by insects, look away. The mosquitos weren't constantly this bad. When the wind came up a few would blow off your back.

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You can just see Piglet in the background grinning like a pig in manure in the first pic. She now knows the budget is better for more improvements. In the very least, we'll get the paint to her and preserve parts. I had time to pull plugs and roll the engine but didn't get to it today. Loading a tank and pump is hard work and millions of mosquitos taste horrible.

Now ya see it.

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Now ya don't.

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We have bigger troubles around the G749 farm then mosquitos though.....I promised the new tank owner a drive in a 6x6. When we walked over to Goose, a Robin flew out from behind the bumper. Around these parts, that means Goose gets to sit until the eggs hatch and birdies fly away. The Cat, Coyote, Fox, Badger, Wolverine or neighbours dog might have something to say about it but for now, Goose insists it's nesting time for the bird and we stay parked for the MVironment. Stupid birds.

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Another Ahab

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We have bigger troubles around the G749 farm then mosquitos though.....I promised the new tank owner a drive in a 6x6. When we walked over to Goose, a Robin flew out from behind the bumper. Around these parts, that means Goose gets to sit until the eggs hatch and birdies fly away. Stupid birds.

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Now you might be getting it all wrong, plowboy.

Birds maybe aren't the big trouble. They're just being birds. It's what they do.

Give them a little love. You'll get love back. It works that way!
 

m1010plowboy

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So I'm out in the front yard, enjoying the birds, when a sparrow flies into the tree over my head. The second I gushed with love.....the local Merlin Falcon came over the house and snatched that bird off the branch right in front of my face. Blessed with a rare sighting, thankful I'm not a Sparrow and guessing the term 'bird-brain' must have meaning.

I found a few minutes to pull plugs and get a bar on the engine of Piglet after a long soak in 30w then wd40. I moved it a quarter inch righty, an eighth inch lefty, a quarter inch righty.....then the crank bolt moved and the engine didn't. I hesitate to do more than a 4' snipe with 70lbs of fat pulling on it.......then I read a book. Tow starting an automatic looks like fun. I added that second part in-case someone wants to flat tow a deuce and keep the transmission.



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This sounds just nuts thinking that the wheels would grab the transmission, spin the fluid coupler at 20mph and rotate the engine......but I'm just the gardener.
With the box off I picture the wheels locking up and Goose dragging a skidding Piglet through the grass............will the sprague kick in?, will the weight on the front wheels turn the engine over?.....break her loose?....drag the screaming aluminum pistons down the cylinder walls ripping the borrowed metal off with the rings?

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Putting a couple of batteries in will require a lot of pre-wire work so before I commit time to electrical, I'd like that engine to spin. Has anyone out there in MV land tried this fancy tow starting procedure? Should I grab my camera?

I didn't realize how big and robust our little 302 engines were until you see them next to a 350.

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m1010plowboy

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Work smarter not harder. I like it. A guy can put an ear and eye on the engine while we're silently applying force, thank you.

Did you run engines after they were seized and jacked back to rotation with hydraulics?

The advantage of the jack would be 12000 lbs of truck sitting on the center of rotation. I'm guessing you'd back a bolt out a little bit to get a better bite.....bend it and need to replace it. I'm on it.

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For those who get to split a transmission from an engine in the future, there are 32 bolts holding it together like the wing of a DC-3. The torus/engine crank must rotate to get at the top bolts........or

I most recently read that a fella was able to split the case and get at it some from the top....so that's new......or

Another gent suggested that once the engine is determined to be seized and rotten......."Just smash the aluminum pistons off the crank rods with a sledge hammer"........and the crank will roll again. Fun stuff.
 

Another Ahab

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For those who get to split a transmission from an engine in the future, there are 32 bolts holding it together like the wing of a DC-3. The torus/engine crank must rotate to get at the top bolts........or
Is that anything like the buttons on the USN crackerjack trousers:

- In Boot Camp we were told it was (13) chances for a girl to say "No"

Except this would be 32 chances to live until a successful landing, and say "Yes".

Right, plowboy?!!
 

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M37keppy

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The engine I did that on wound up having other problems and I swapped a different 302 in it’s place. I didn’t back any bolts out but still bent some but it was a nice way to put a lot of pressure to it slowly. As far as separating a junk 302 from trany I have dropped the crankshaft out the bottom to turn it to get to the bolts. Isn’t it 30 bolts?
 

m1010plowboy

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Is that anything like the buttons on the USN crackerjack trousers:

- In Boot Camp we were told it was (13) chances for a girl to say "No"

Except this would be 32 chances to live until a successful landing, and say "Yes".

Right, plowboy?!!
Taking us right back to the Templars with that number 13 aren't we? It's interesting to see it on the trousers and hear that story. I'll bet there's more to it. .....like 11 wasn't enough and 15 were too many? I was going to say who's counting but we just lost 2 bolts because Keppy's counting. It's only 30 bolts to a successful landing. Thank you, catching that mistake saved me some time.

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I think it's worthwhile giving the jack on torus a shot. We'll know pretty quick how much resistance there is and if the truck starts to lift on the jack it's pretty certain the motor is galvanized.
 
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m1010plowboy

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We took a day off for some leisure at the G749 farm. What do any adult collectors do when they have some spare time? Practice their skills.

One jeep would go disappear in the trails.....and the rest of us would would try and find it. We call it 'disappear and find'......very skill testing. There is video so we'll get that processed one day soon.

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Goose performed flawlessly again with the opportunity to take a young mechanic and veteran for a ride. When we were out of fuel, Goose parked beside Piglet for a Birthday celebration with the 1952 Piglet turning 68 on 6 / 27. You'all wish Piglet a Happy Birthday and I'll be sure he gets the message.
Piglets little engine is going to turn over this week one way or another.

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m1010plowboy

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This went like a breeze so thanks Keppy for an easy out.

Piglet is worthy of a bath......she turns over. This might be Piglets first bath.

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Dropped the cover and grabbed a little 4 ton jack about 10" tall. It sat on top of the cross-over bar and spun up under a bolt. I thought about dropping the front drive shaft for a better angle on the outer bolts but the first effort went easy. I didn't use a handle on the jack so it started pushing the torus around with no pressure at all. It's time to clean this Piglet up so we can see where it doesn't leak.

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m1010plowboy

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Following our Covid Response and Awareness Program, visitors to the G749 farm bring a thermometer and check their temperature when they arrive.

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Already prepaired in our MOBB 4, Bio-hazard level 3 PPE, a hands on diagnosis can begin. With any indication of high temperature we evaluate all the symptoms and isolate the problem.

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We consult with all parties that may have solutions or have come in contact with the effected truck.

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Most recently we were discussing whether dogs could get covid and it turns out they can. Duke may have overheard us and Fred the Brown lab doesn't care.

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After checking everything we often find other things that are broken or break something while treating the area. In this case it was that fancy plug put in to delete the CTIS.

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While waiting for parts from the best white jeep lady a guy with a truck could have, Goose came out of the barn for a stretch...and to make it rain. The patients stay apart from each other so well you'll never catch these two together in a photo, unless they're in full gear.

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Once the patient is treated a full follow-up program is put in place and ongoing tests continued. Keepin' em' in the mirrors.

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m1010plowboy

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Hey Dash lovin' deuce drivers.
What kind of Air Pressure gauge (gage) do you have in your dash?
Who has a sending unit and wires going to the gauge instead of an air-line?

I grabbed a spare gage panel off the shelf and the air pressure gauge has wires in the back. I read the book.....wires are correct......or are they?
Piglet has an air-line poking out of her hole. .....and I have a spare electric air pressure gauge to swap with someone.

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I peak under Goose and it's air-line to gauge.....

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Same thing with the M35 gauge,......

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The TM 9-8024 page 319 says to unhook wire # 27 from male and #300 from female connector. The cool thing is Piglet was delivered in 1952 and Goose in 1956 so it's not an early/ late thing.

Piglet will need to borrow a gauge because the batteries landed in her today. After jacking around on the torus and going through all obvious electrical hazards, Piglet lit up. It sure is nice to have Goose parked right there like a live TM to see how the cables hook up. There was an odd buzz when the key went on but it was just the external fuel pump farmer Soetart put on....that is still working. Engine rolling over on batteries........done. Time for fuel and spark plugs.

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The fuel tank looks usable so we're real close to rolling Piglet over in some mud. Video at 11.

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m1010plowboy

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I had the best help from two little nephews cleaning spark plugs and making sure I didn't wreck torus bolts. I was surprised how the youngest piped up with " We better get a fire extinguisher ready", when I said we're going to hook up the fuel. It's just a procedure that happens any time a Jerry can comes out on the G749 farm.

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George the 1956 M135 from BATUS loaned an air pressure gauge to Piglet.

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We started going through the fuel lines from carb backwards. I'm glad I knew about this screen in the carb because they get hung up when you pull the line. If you don't know they're there it's easy to lose.

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Goose has 1/4" fuel line so those are the largest filters Part Stop had at the time. https://www.partstop.ca/ Terrific fellas if you need parts in Spruce Grove Ab. I borrowed a fuel line off Curly and it is a larger diameter Goose has a good supply of lawn mower filters and Piglet has a filter that was already on the shelf. Part Stop also supplied some new funky Canadian oil, brake fluid and pre-mix anti-freeze that is not cheap. Checking the bottom drain on the radiator to be sure it is closed before getting on the bumper and pouring, was plan B. I probably did the rad a favor by not checking the bottom drain valve. Jumping down when I finally heard the noise, I barley touched the tap when it popped out of the rad for the full stream effect. By the time a guy gets the spigot back in, the spray in the face is good for a cool down and the rad is partially flushed. It's the new SOP.

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It's not all fun at the G749 farm. After weeding for a while, Goose needs to earn her keep, posing and hauling kids.

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m1010plowboy

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Not a lot of time for pictures but this story needs to be preserved.

We dragged a partially filled sea-can around with an M211. A little nudge with the bumper to slide it into place and Groot the 211 showed the beast side of these trucks.

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m1010plowboy

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Ooops, We did it again, we moved a sea can and Goose jumped right in. The 1956 M135 can pull a sea can but I only did the easy work, grabbing one end and pulling it away from a hill. We were dragging the near empty can through damp sand about 300ft so I left the straight pull up to something bigger. A 5 ton M931/23A2-C10Fred came along to help and we used both trucks for final positioning.

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Not much time for picture taking but video will be coming.

no sea can on the right........

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There's a Sea can on the right. I'm sure there's a song about that.......Don't go out tonight, it's bound to take your life, there's a sea can on the right.

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Goose did some over the bank tugging for final positioning and now the crop is mad at the front wheel. She sure digs in when hooked to something heavy.

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The rest of the crop was standing and waving so I assume they were ok with the show.

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Just a spectacular day at the G749 farm with warm temps and color to soothe the soul.

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m1010plowboy

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What makes you think I'm gonna drive the beast on the ice? I'll end up getting the call from you for a recovery this winter, so I have to keep her warm and ready! Pulling the Jellybean was fun. Going up and over the hill was even funner!!!
We lost a good guy last week. Flying Tiger has passed away. He got a lot out of support from the 5 ton guys and the local MVPA club. He'd expect me to let you know. Can we paste a big American flag at half-mast on his monikor??? or something like that?


After seeing Goose the M135 on display at an airshow, Gary couldn't wait to get a truck and let kids crawl all over it. He cared about everyone around him and took care of his people.

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Our last ride together where we grabbed a little video. I apologized for the Low air buzzer in the video.......but Gary would say "If you idiots had the Low air buzzer working properly ALL your videos would start like this. Fix your buzzers!" Gone too fast too early missed already.
 
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