Heath's M35A2... the beginning

[Heath_h49008]

I'm trying man. Just work and school keeping me from doing anything I actually WANT to do... So instead I horde parts and get ready for the few nice days I have when they do happen.

It's always a Monday night, right?

 

[Heath_h49008]

Woot! Just won a 60 amp Vanner Voltmaster.

12 volt bus bar, here I come.

I'm buying a new front wiring harness and I need one adapter to install the muffler. Got the old Parking brake cable 1/2 off, but the retaining ear(s) on the transfer case is 1/2 gone.(Outer-half busted off long ago from the looks) I need to find a better way to retain the cable than a stack of washers.

Cleaned, lubed, and tested the wiper motors. Perfect. (My only accomplishment for the day )

Solargizer seems to have done the trick over the winter. I started her every month, but she spins like the batteries are brand new.

I was working on her Friday, but she's just sitting in too much snow and mud for me to get much done on her effectively or safely. I have some vacation time saved up, and I think I'll take it as soon as the weather breaks to start MAJOR projects like the strip-down and repaint. On the weekends and off days when it's warm and dry enough, I hope to get the little stuff done. (brake adjustments, bearing checks, muffler, wiring harness, in-cab heater install, and standard PM stuff)

I have got to adjust my schedule from what a job SHOULD take if I was working flat rate and had a shop to do it in, to what it seems to take when I'm working outside away from power, on dirt, with people around asking questions and favors.

 

[Dipstick]

I've been working on my truck all winter long wearing insulated coveralls. If it's 25 degrees or over, not raining or snowing, and I'm off from work....I'm out there. I live on the third floor of an apartment building and I have no access to electricity, so I understand your difficulties. I just cleaned my battery terminals and I usually drive my truck once or twice a week, so I don't really know how effective my solargizer is. My truck starts up pretty easily even on cold days.

I'd really like to know more about your wiper motor service. Did you actually disassemble the wiper motors to clean the inside? Do you need a gasket set to get them back together? Do springs and things attempt to shoot out if you take the end off? Any advice you could give me would be appreciated. My passenger side wiper motor is useless.

Good luck with the weather and getting to your wiring harness and other projects.

 

[Heath_h49008]

I'll try this again... I wrote out a 10 minute detailed explanation, and closed the window without hitting "post."

Anyway,

My wiper motors were both non-functional, (a) did not move in either direction, and (b) would move in one direction only.

Unit A:
I verified air supply and with no pressure, worked the lever back and forth with no problems.
I then pressed the red bypass button and tried the unit with no response.
Injected a squirt of air-tool oil into the intake port and tried again... the wiper moved to the end of it's arc and stopped locked in place.
I then disconnected the lines and fely for air movement as I worked it back and forth, no air was coming in or out of the "exhaust" port pipe.
With a my Leatherman, I wiggled the pipe out of the port and saw it was packed with mud/sand... almost like a wasp nest or termite tube. I cleaned that out and retested... no change. but when i moved it manually, I could feel air pump in and out of the exhaust port.

I filled the tube with oil and put it on at the top of the "suck" stroke to pull it into the motor... then worked it by hand for a minute.

Hooked the airline back up and gave her pressure... she moved and stopped... then "*chunk* and the red button poped back out and she moved back slowly..*chunk* and slowly started working again... all the while puking excess oil and dirt.

Unit B worked in one direction to begin with, so it was just a matter of getting the oil in there and working it manually, then hooked up. The more they ran, the better they ran.

This seems to be the standard story with these. They sit and get fouled with old lube or debris and just need a good lube and cleaning out. Hope it helps,

Heath

 

[welldigger]

Nice fix on your wiper motors. Do you have the metal or plastic ones? My buddies truck has a dead air wiper. Can't remember what kind he has. Don't know if it matters.

 

[Heath_h49008]

From the images I have seen, mine are plastic. But I didn't dismount or disassemble them. My air tool oil trick may, in fact, swell the seals excessively. So take my advice with a grain of salt. Personally, it was worth the risk. The excess oil was blowing out pretty fast, so I'm not that worried.

Here is a detailed thread on a major repair for the plastic wipers...

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/showthread.php?56882-Plastic-air-wiper-motors-repair-how-to

 

[Dipstick]

Heath, Thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed reply! I can't tell you how many times I've written a post only to have my login timeout and have to re-type it. I'm going to try your suggestions on my wiper motors. The backside of my dash is coated with sand. The driver's side seems to work 75% of the time. The passenger side not too much at all. The stock military wiper arms are a joke. They don't have enough tension to keep the wiggling wiper blade rubber against the windshield. I've got the aftermarket upgrade wiper arms on order. I will go with the 24v electric conversion if I have too. It rains and snows enough up here in N.J. making working wipers a must. I won't be able to work on it much this weekend. My family is taking me out to lunch for my 60th birthday. Thanks again for taking the time to share your experience with me! Owen

 

[Heath_h49008]

The Vanner Voltmaster arrived.

It's the 65-60M... so it has a "Monitor" output set that runs 3 grounding circuits... Equalized, High, and Low... for lamps and a 24v "Ignition" to switch on the monitor relay.

So now the question becomes, will this play well with my Solargizer? Or, should I put them both on switched circuits? Cut the Equalizer off when the truck isn't running to prevent any issues by ?... battery disconnect on the ground lead?

Anyone running both with any words of wisdom?

 

[Heath_h49008]

Well, I just ordered the turn signal wiring harness kit from Memphis. That should cover my initial problems and get me started.

I'll try to patch the rest of the harness with a layer of liquid electrical tape, and a wrapped layer of real electrical tape for protection.

Also inbound... a hand cranked torque multiplier/lug wrench. I have heard some pretty awesome things about this little bugger from the guys on here and picked a 58:1 ratio up for a song. Less than $100? It was worth the risk.

Exhaust parts are in after chasing Fed Ex around for 3 days.

I'm going to rig a battery cut-off on the ground side anyway, so it looks like I have some reading to do on how others have rigged theirs up considering I'm integrating the 12v bussbar and the solargizer. Looks like it will be a panel behind the passenger seat with the heavy cables running up and everything mounted on the back of the cab.

So the list of work to do is:

Major/Minor brake adjustment and full bleed.
Install the new parking brake cable
cut off and install the Donaldson Muffler... (Take video/audio before and after)
Pull out the rifle mount for fsearls92 and get that shipped out.
Spring oil/oil filter/fuel filter change

Edit: I forgot I have to install my EGT probe and guage.

Install/patch the wiring harness to the flasher and re-cover anything I can reach.
Pull radiator and take to the shop for refreshing ($100? How can I pass that up?)
install the in-cab heater... (I might buy a coolant filter and install it while I plumb this in... but haven't decided)
Install the battery equalizer and the battery cut-off. Add the 12v bussbar and at least 1 12v cigarette plug for accessories
Needle scale/sandblast and paint.

Pick up the new transmission and install it.

This isn't all I'm hoping to do... but it's about all I have the parts/tools to do right now. I think that might burn a few days out of a week vacation.

If anyone wants me to do a step by step with pics on anything, just tell me. I have a willing GF who can run a camera.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Turn signal harness came in. It's a bit smaller than I had thought it would be. Anyone ever installed one of these?

It has the plug I was looking for, and a wad of Packard connectors, so that's a plus if I just go the splice and patch route.

 

[Dipstick]

Hi Heath. My turn signal adapter/harness came with a connector on each end. One end screws on to the three lever switch and the other end right to the harness. That allows my front markers to be on in service drive. I still have to be in service drive for the turn signals to work. What is your new adapter supposed to do? What are you trying to accomplish with it?

 

[Heath_h49008]

Mine has 2 cannon plugs. One that screws into the flasher and one that I'm guessing hits a lighting junction box or the main harness. Aside from that it has 6 packard plugs on the end with the flasher plug and ground terminal.

 

[Heath_h49008]

Oh... and I'm trying to patch a severely damaged turn signal flasher plug. If I can bypass or replace the whole segment, I'll be in heaven. At worst, I'll cut and patch the good flasher plug into what's left of my harness.

 

[Dipstick]

Well, the flasher is a three wire unit with a small plug. You shold be able to identify the Packard connectors by their metal tag numbers comparing them to the Deuce wiring schematic created by one of our fellow members. I have it and can email it to you if you need it. It's pretty easy to find on the SS site.

 

[Dipstick]

That sounds doable. My flasher connector was full of water shorting it out.

 

[Heath_h49008]

The harness is definitely NOT plug-and-play... but I should be able to patch it with the plugs I can cut off of this one. Hacking up a brand new $50 wiring harness to get a single plug does NOT make me happy.

My exhaust pipe adapter was the wrong size.

The pass-front wheel cylinder is blown and leaking steadily.

Tested the faulty fuel sending unit/fuel gauge... it's the sending unit. I'm going to try to clean and repair the existing rheostat first... if it works I'll post a thread on how I did it.

Just realized I never bought a hub socket... and I need one to do the wheel cylinder.

One of those days...

 

[Dipstick]

I have definitely had days like that myself. Sometimes I find it's better to back off. The next day everything usually falls into place. It was that way with my new hand throttle cable the other day. Next up.....install new metal air wiper motors and civvy blades. And oh yeah, watch baseball and drink a cold one too.u

 

[Heath_h49008]

I just ordered the master cyl kit and two wheel cyl kits.

If nobody here has a gallon of DOT 5 they are willing to part with cheaper, I'll order one of those from one of the vendors.

 

[Katahdin]

I'm a little late to the party, but I think the trick to dropping down into third on the flats is to be rolling just under 25mph and 1500rpm. Watch the gauges and give it a brake if you need to. Since I've been practicing this that downshift has been going much smoother.

 

[welldigger]

I found a slight pause in neutral between gears really helps with shifting. Especially the 1st to 2nd jump.