Got My MEP-006A Home

[Desert Deuce]

Hi everyone,

After a long wait on the EUC, I fianlly went to French Camp (Sharpe Army Depot) to get my MEP-006a. Used the F350 for the tow home. Weighs in @ about 7000 lbs. Flipped the lunete and we were on the road. Tires needed a little air.

On the way home Theresa and I stayed in Castaic and had a chance to spend some time with Devin, djfreema. Good to see ya Devin.

Anyway, the 6TMF's were dead and wouldn't take a charge, so I pulled the Deuce up, connected the slave cable (NOS - 2 pin style) and after the pre-fireup checklist was complete, (and 6 foot ground rod was driven & connected) fliiped the switch to start. I don't think I even got a full revolution out of the engine before it fired up! This engine purrs, 6 cyl, 426 cu in, turbo charged, Allis Chalmers diesel.

The GL Auction listed this as a 1975, well, no part of it is "75". The trailer is a "67" and the generator is an "82". The engine was replaced at some point as it was manufactured in "86". It truely looks and runs like a recent rebuild. Engine almost looks polished. It does have a bent rear landing leg but, that will be easy to fix. According to the paperwork it came with, the landing leg and a broken tail light were the only problems prior to going to the DRMO. They fixed the light but not the leg. Reason for going to DRMO is listed as "excess". WOW.

I paid $3200 for it.

I was in the market for a 10KW diesel to power our well, a new 10KW would have been about $5000. 60KW is over-kill for sure, but....... what a cool piece of GREEN equipment!

 

[Desert Deuce]

A couple more shots and larger versions of the small ones.

 

[maddawg308]

Cool genset. Looks in primo condition. Wish I had a backup power source like that for when the SHTF. I only got a couple boxes of D cells and a propane lantern. With no propane.

 

[Desert Deuce]

A couple more.

 

[emmado22]

Watch out for wetstacking if you dont run much of a load on it.

 

[Desert Deuce]

Hi Emmado22,

The MEP-006A is a utility rated generator and thus has a manual throttle. In order for the Gen to make 60hz it needs to run at about 1700 rpm. Since there's no tach I'm just guessing based on sound having been around heavy equipment all my life. It makes 50hz at around 1400. Opperating temp has been 190 degrees, don't know what the EGT's look like. Turbo is working at opperating RPM.

So the only idle time I'll have on it will be warm-up & cool down time.

What I will have to be carefull of is only loading single phase windings on the generator.

Emmado22, or anyone else, is there anything I've missed here? Any tips on operation and maintenance would be great!! Thanks for the heads-up. These engines are out of production and hard to find major parts for. This one will actually see very little use campared to what it's built to do. (it is rated for continuous duty).

 

[Recovry4x4]

I had a 30KW Kohler with a 4BT and had the wet stacking problem becuase it never saw a load. At 60 KW I doubt that you will ever find something to load it. Even at 1700, which can be establised with the hertz gauge, you will still experience wet stacking unless it has a substantial load. It's a primo piece of equipment though and would look equally as good here in my yard.

 

[Desert Deuce]

Hmm, how much of a problem is wetstacking? What should I look for as problem signs? Does it happen over long term use or can it happen quickly?

Is there any way to minimize the possibility of it happening other than loading? Oh well, I'll just have to power the neighborhood or a small town every once in a while.

 

[Recovry4x4]

Hmmm, good question. My Kohler wasn't cost efficient ro residential use but I'm on a fixed income and have to watch pennies. Mine would show evidence of slobber after just an hour or 2 of use. I had rented it to a friend who ran it 8 hours a day running 3 phase pumps at a cemetery and the slobber never showed up for him so I figured it was from the constant load.

 

[emmado22]

Do a google search on wetstacking.. Here is one document I found about it. http://www.avtron.com/pdf/wp-WetStacking.PDF

 

[jasonjc]

That gen set looks cool but it does not match the duece I think you need some paint

 

[Desert Deuce]

Well ok, paint for the deuce or gen set???

Actually, I'm going to paint the deuce 4 color MERDC, Desert. The Gen set has very good paint. Although it would look good in the MERDC as well!!

45% Sand
45% Field Drab
5% Black
5% Earth Yellow

My M128A2C is 4 color MERDC now. I'll be cleaning up it's paint as it has a cool scheme.

45% Sand
45% Earth Yellow
5% Field Drab
5% Black

Take care,

 

[jasonjc]

I like the any kind of desert camo aslong as it's not the plain one color sand bla. the merdc is cool I would like to paint some of my stuff like thet but I have NO skill when it comes to that kind of thing.

 

[Armada]

Sweet generator, looks like new!