GAMA GOAT-New restoration questions/opinions

[natey]

I recently picked up a M561 Gama goat about 2 weeks ago now, I wasn't really sure what I was getting when I bought , it was a mess full of parts and had trees growing between it, it took all day to get it loaded on a trailer in 2 pieces. It came with a lot of extra parts enough for 2 machines, enough to fill my carport off of them. It has come a long way in the last 2 weeks I got it cleaned out, got the fuel tanks mounted and fuel system straightened out and just today got the motor running and bolted in. My first question is the motor was just sitting on the mounts until I bolted it down today I found some engine shims in a parts bucket I was given with it, does anyone happen to know the correct number of shims I'm supposed to use to prevent u joint binding? My second question is it appears as if someone stole the generator off this motor I have been trying to find one online and the best option I have found was $1,000 are there any alternatives to this or does anyone happen to have one for sale on here? And lastly before I get to invested into this project what kind of value do these have running and driving? It has come a long way in the last 2 weeks indidnt expect it to be running and moving under its own power already. Pictures include the condition I found it in 2 weeks ago to the progress I have made so far.

 

[SgtMajHarper]

Nice find and good on you for the recovery / restoration of a piece of history. I am not the Goat expert, but I am Goat owner / operator, so mostly this is just my view of the world of green machines. Gama Goats are a big pain in the butt to work on, I'm tall, out of shape (fat), and have a bunch of my own parts that don't work right either. Some parts are harder to find than others, but sources are drying up. There are some really knowledgeable members on here that can answer every question you could imagine on these machines (not me tho, I own one, drive one, can tinker on it). There are various technical manuals published on this site that can help you on your way to getting it all fixed up. My guess is that since you got it running, that's a huge step, now you need to make sure all of the many moving parts do their thing also.

To me, the value of what you have is more of what does it mean to you. Actual selling price will be determined by how bad someone wants to buy one. Lots of people will ohhhh and awww looking at it, kicking the tires and wanting to touch it or ride in it, not many want to take it home with them. I've seen a wide range in price for various green machines, some range from not bad (I have bought them), some are "you gotta be kidding me" made of gold? I don't plan on selling mine, so when I put a little more money into fixing them up, I did it so they would be as original issue as possible. running right and looking right, not for a return on my investment. I'm sure there is a break-even price of how much money, time and effort you put into if before you start losing money on a sale.

From what I have found, the price for your generator is what I have seen also. There are guys out here on this site that know guys that can rebuild an old one, someone probably has one or two sitting on a shelf they would part with if you put out a request for parts and maybe save some money. So I've just been blabbing and waiting for the guys with real knowledge of these vehicles to see your post and start joining in. We all like to hear about the progress you make and see pictures.

 

[MarkM]

Nice find. Those little 4-53 diesels are a great little motor but a little on the loud side.

Be careful with the starting fluids with the old detroit. Did you check the fuel rack before starting it for the first time? Those racks can bind up form sitting and if they do she could runaway from you.

Keep us posted.

Mark

 

[Guyfang]

Hi! I am the TM nag. Have you downloaded all the TM's from the TM forum? If so, I will go away. If not, can I help?

 

[m561gamagoat]

Is that cargo cover in decent shape? Near impossible to find those and they would be expensive. You might want to look into a rebuild of the generator. Prob cheaper! Its really a basic device (motor). Arts parts ( austin, MN) is always a potential source for stuff.

 

[natey]

The cargo cover is in pretty bad shape its kinda falling apart I'm not sure if it's fixable or not. As far as the generator it is missing completely I'm not sure of the backstory of this machine it appears like someone took everything about and never reassembled. It did include 6 sets of soft top doors which I haven't seen on to many of these goats. Today I got the transmission and drivetrain all hooked up and it actually drives under its own power fairly decent, I also got ot hooked back up to the cargo trailer which was quite the process to get it lined up correctly. The steering shaft on the trailer doesn't want to pull out either so haven't been able to get that hooked up along with it looks like someone cut the brake lines and the hoses are missing. After running the motor for about am hour today I discovered the radiotor has a pin hole looks like recent damage, so looks like I'm going to have to pull the radiotor and hopefully can get it repaired or source a new one. I think the biggest challenge is going to be figuring out the electrical system i currently just have 2 batteries hooked up with junper cables and been jumping the starter solenoid. It's looks like I need 6TL batteries for this truck if I'm correct? Which appear to be quite pricy at $250 a piece from my local parts store

 

[m561gamagoat]

Ok. I guess i misunderstood the gen part. I have reg batteries. 6 tls are pricey. Too bad about the cargo cover, near impossible to find. Prob sell the doors to pay for that m series gen! Looks like a big mess there. Ns why it was do dissassembled. Good luck sorting that mess out! Lol

 

[natey]

Thanks haha it's definitely quit the project. Came with double the parts for everything atleast, I have 8 fenders, 4 fuel tanks, 2 windshields etc. I'm sure the cover was in good shape when it was parked there too because it was decent besides spots where mice chewed huge holes through it

How well do normal batteries fit in there with the hold downs?

 

[m561gamagoat]

They wont fit with the orig hold downs and such. Just gotta adapt some hold downs bi just use bungees actually. Nt o ok ain for tls!

 

[natey]

Ok thanks, I might go that route then for the price of those 6tl batteries I hear a lot of complaints from people about them not lasting very long

 

[combat32]

That Detroit don't take a lot of juice to roll over, I also just run standard car batteries. My flavor is Duracell cause they were on sale at Sam's club. Any standard m series alternator will work, deuce, humvee, 5ton, but the pulley is hard to come by. It is unique to the goat, I have a spare pulley,

 

[natey]

That's good to know should make finding an alternator easier. I don't have the pulley either, I'm going back the guys house I bought it from this week to take one more long look around his shop to see if it's there but if not i will have to source those parts I guess.

 

[combat32]

Let me know if you can't find a pulley, I'll try to remember where I ordered mine, believe it or not it was from an aircraft parts supply place out of new York, I searched it out by nsn online, showed in stock, it was not cheap, of course I later got one for free.

If you can't find one I can let my spare go to you, I'm sure we can work out something, but if you find that alternator it would be a big bonus for you.

 

[natey]

Ok thanks i appreciate that, I will let you know. I'm going back to the guys house tomorrow, his shop is pretty big and you can barely walk through it because there is so much stuff so will be like looking for a needle in a hay stack but anything is possible lol

 

[SgtMajHarper]

Ok thanks, I might go that route then for the price of those 6tl batteries I hear a lot of complaints from people about them not lasting very long

I use regular car batteries on mine also, I also got a little piece of angle iron that I drilled a couple of holes in and used it as a cross brace on top of my batteries then just snug it down with washers and nuts. I strongly, strongly recommend that you get a couple of battery maintainers to use. It gets cold where I live and I don't start / run my trucks near as often as I should, especially in the wintertime. Every summer I would have to buy new batteries (again) because they were hard dead. Not anymore....I eventually learned from the big brain guys on here. I can go out there at any time and they all crank right up, fully charged!

 

[natey]

I use regular car batteries on mine also, I also got a little piece of angle iron that I drilled a couple of holes in and used it as a cross brace on top of my batteries then just snug it down with washers and nuts. I strongly, strongly recommend that you get a couple of battery maintainers to use. It gets cold where I live and I don't start / run my trucks near as often as I should, especially in the wintertime. Every summer I would have to buy new batteries (again) because they were hard dead. Not anymore....I eventually learned from the big brain guys on here. I can go out there at any time and they all crank right up, fully charged!

I will be making some sort of brackets to hold a pair of group 24 batteries in there I will post some pictures when I get to that, I was also thinking I'm going to buy a 24 volt solar battery maintainer and mount it to the engine cover to keep batteries maintained all the time.

 

[natey]

Today I went back to the sellers house after work to search for the missing alternator and come up with nothing, however I did end up with a box of other usuefull parts I needed and another tailgate and another pair of doors, but most importantly I found the original identification plates for the goat. I had a little daylight left after that trip so I managed to get the front fenders put back on along with the seats and center console it's slowly starting to look like something again.

 

[Gamagoat1]

Nice find. Those little 4-53 diesels are a great little motor but a little on the loud side.

Be careful with the starting fluids with the old detroit. Did you check the fuel rack before starting it for the first time? Those racks can bind up form sitting and if they do she could runaway from you.

Keep us posted.

Mark

Detroit 3-53, not 453

 

[MarkM]

Detroit 3-53, not 453

No kidding I thought they had the four cylinder. Not a lot of power from a non turbo three cylinder. Good to know.

Mark

 

[natey]

The weather has been decent around here so have been able to get some more work don't this week on the goat, starting to finally look like something, next up is fixing the engine cover up and hopefully getting that mounted this week, and then start digging into getting the brakes working I need to find hoses that connect the carrier to the tractor along with making a fuel hard lines.