Honoring the Proud American Gun Truck

[wadefreedomvehicles]

Thank you for your concern.
We will be sure to post as many updates as possible on here on our advance towards a full permanent museum and display for the Proud American.

 

[wadefreedomvehicles]

Update on the Proud.
We went to fire up the Proud to get it ready for show season, when we tried it would not start. Cranking fine, but nothing else. We brought in our mechanic that helps us work on Diesel vehicles, with the help of him we diagnosed that due to improper maintenance of the fuel system, over an extended period of time, had plugged up the injector pump, and potentially some injectors.
We will be raising funds to have the injection pump rebuilt at Boyce Equipment Co.
The Proud American will be in attendance at the Freedom Vehicles Military outpost, but will be towed to the event, and will not be rolling in any parades until she is fixed.
It will also be available for viewing after July 4th at the museum, by appointment.
Our goal is to have it operational by the end of July.

 

[papabear]

My little heart is broken!!

Proud American NEVER sat an entire month without at least being started up and driven around the compound to keep things "Mission Capable". She NEVER failed to cooperate.....well except one time when the filter behind the D/S steer tire clogged enroute to a parade.(We didn't remember it was there until Brandon reminded us ).

Last week at the MVPA Convention I was thinking what an @sshole I am for never taking her to one and displaying her there.

Well....I don't trust myself (and neither does my doc) to drive the transport vehicles anymore and the CAMO crew CDL drivers are no longer here so I have to rely on you younger fellers to

The story of Proud American, and the other Guntrucks needs to be kept alive and gotten out there for others.

Please do whatever you have to do to keep the story alive.

 

[wadefreedomvehicles]

Thank you Papabear, we are working on making sure the story can be told. We don't want people to forget.
We will continue to maintain the Proud American and keep her in top order.

 

[AMGeneral]

Update on the Proud.
We went to fire up the Proud to get it ready for show season, when we tried it would not start. Cranking fine, but nothing else. We brought in our mechanic that helps us work on Diesel vehicles, with the help of him we diagnosed that due to improper maintenance of the fuel system, over an extended period of time, had plugged up the injector pump, and potentially some injectors.
We will be raising funds to have the injection pump rebuilt at Boyce Equipment Co.
The Proud American will be in attendance at the Freedom Vehicles Military outpost, but will be towed to the event, and will not be rolling in any parades until she is fixed.
It will also be available for viewing after July 4th at the museum, by appointment.
Our goal is to have it operational by the end of July.

OK,I am not questioning the diagnosis of your mechanic, but, a word of advice here,

Are you 100% sure the IP is plugged, or is the control rack stuck in the "fuel off" position? The Mack does tend to do this if left sitting for extended periods.

Did you check that the supply pump on the side of the IP had not dried out and was unable to draw fuel from the tank?

Did the emergency shutoff valve get bumped accidently?, I cannot remember if that truck still had it installed.


Once again, not making any judgements here, just offering options.

 

[wadefreedomvehicles]

AMGeneral, thanks for your input. If I recall correctly we did check many of those things, as well as the first thing we checked was the fuel filters. Needless to say it looked like we had pulled the filters out of the bottom of a lake while fishing. We then proceeded to cleaning the lines which were dirty, but not as bad as the filters. We are still trying a few things, cleaning with carb cleaner before we take it to get rebuilt, we will still more than likely get the pump rebuilt, but trying to get it running enough to move under its own power.
I will make sure that we checked those other things you recommended in addition to the thing we have already done. I appreciate the suggestions.

 

[red]

OK,I am not questioning the diagnosis of your mechanic, but, a word of advice here,

Are you 100% sure the IP is plugged, or is the control rack stuck in the "fuel off" position? The Mack does tend to do this if left sitting for extended periods.

Did you check that the supply pump on the side of the IP had not dried out and was unable to draw fuel from the tank?

Did the emergency shutoff valve get bumped accidently?, I cannot remember if that truck still had it installed.


Once again, not making any judgements here, just offering options.

Fuel shutoff was the second thing I checked (check that there is fuel first), cover the easiest and cheapest things first. Moved freely and later tried it in multiple locations during starting attempts.

Removed the fuel line from the transfer pump to back flush it, then reconnect and prime it from the tank, good there.

Worked up the fuel system to the filter and whoa, there's the problem. Nasty gunk in the filter housing and some of it was preventing the filter from seating correctly, allowing gunk to bypass the filter and go directly into the injection pump/injectors. About a handfull of this I flushed out of the pump. Mud, rust, and some other hard particles are in there.





Flushed the pump out until clean fluid was coming out of its supply/return ports then reconnected them to a cleaned (up to the pump) fuel system. Reprimed, still won't start. Remove the readily accessible hard lines from the top of the pump and crank it over, no fuel coming out. Do some more cleaning and now 2,3,5,6 lines are spraying as they should. Nothing from 1 still, and 4 is not readily accessible (just takes longer to reach). tried restart again at that point with no success.

Which leaves diagnoses. That gunk is still plugging up part of the injection pump, to at least #1. And highly likely some of it made it's way into the injectors and causing problems there since the injectors have the tightest tolerances.




Valid point and I really, really wish it had been something as simple/normal as overlooking the fuel shutoff.

 

[red]

Ideal at this point is that continuing to flush the individual parts (pump, injectors, hard lines between them) will hopefully get it operational again by just doing that. Being that the truck is used for parades/shows and I know it doesn't get many miles on it, so trying to keep the repair costs as cheap as possible. But that is alot of hard gunk that got into the part of the fuel system that has extremely tight tolerances.

 

[papabear]

DAMMIT MAN!!!

I feel like coming out there for moral support (I certainly don't know much repair wise).

I'm afraid she sat too long without being run and taken out to stretch her legs....she likes that. I say that because the ONE time she had fuel issues is when we were on the way to a parade in Manchester, Georgia and her filters clogged, the filter behind the driver's tire was MUCH worse than the one in your pic and the filter on the engine wasn't much better (we had changed that one during service).

I don't remember if we ever cleaned the tank but I think we did and I know we added a little Sea Foam about every time we added diesel.

PLEASE stay on it and get her going. If necessary I'll even pay to have her shipped back here.

 

[vtdeucedriver]

OH PB I feel your pain. Nothing but fuel issues with mine so far. Had to flush the tank so now I know I am no longer contaminating my system with crap. Yet bleeding the mack is a Mother F&$*er when it comes to the MF. Now I am replacing the old aeroquip hoses one by one for reliability. I let her sit too for the divorce and now that I am getting re married next month, after that I hope to get some miles on her to work the bugs out a little more of my ole veteran.

 

[papabear]

OH PB I feel your pain. Nothing but fuel issues with mine so far. Had to flush the tank so now I know I am no longer contaminating my system with crap. Yet bleeding the mack is a Mother F&$*er when it comes to the MF. Now I am replacing the old aeroquip hoses one by one for reliability. I let her sit too for the divorce and now that I am getting re married next month, after that I hope to get some miles on her to work the bugs out a little more of my ole veteran.

I think letting them set without exercise once in a while is the worse fate any MV can have. That's why I have down sized my fleet to six vehicles and I still can't keep them all going!!

 

[red]

Good news, engine fired up again. Pleasantly surprised since I've seen just a small amount of gunk like that completely destroy newer injection systems.

 

[papabear]

Good news, engine fired up again. Pleasantly surprised since I've seen just a small amount of gunk like that completely destroy newer injection systems.

I LOVE good news!!!

As I said, she's a tough ole bird and all she needs to keep going is a little love and she loves attention.

 

[wadefreedomvehicles]

Took the Proud to a Car show today.
Salem City Car Show 2018

 

[marchplumber]

Took the Proud to a Car show today.
Salem City Car Show 2018
View attachment 737618View attachment 737619View attachment 737620View attachment 737621View attachment 737622

She roll out under her own power? Looks like a nice display. How many other vehicles were there? Did you have a "good" attendance?

Thanks for sharing with us here!

 

[marchplumber]

Sorry, redundant entry

 

[jeffhuey1n]

I have a couple questions if I may, during your displays, do you let people into the back of the Proud American? Also, can I get a close up pic of the door armor hinges? I have the steel plates for War Wagon but I’m stumped on how to mount them.
Awesome display! Definitely see some areas I can improve my truck.

 

[papabear]

I have a couple questions if I may, during your displays, do you let people into the back of the Proud American? Also, can I get a close up pic of the door armor hinges? I have the steel plates for War Wagon but I’m stumped on how to mount them.
Awesome display! Definitely see some areas I can improve my truck.

jeffhuey1n, I can't recall much about the hinges and door armor except to say they were bolted onto the actual door so they opened with the door. The armor for the doors and windshield were built by Sammy Seay (Ace of Spades Guntruck) and given to me for Proud American. He was that kind of guy.

We always let folks get in the gunbox on Proud if we had at least two people to assist. One person stayed in the cab and helped folks mount and dismount the truck and the other stayed in the gunbox and explained things and answered the million questions visitors had, also to make sure what was there stayed there and wasn't damaged by overactive kids.

Showing Proud American and telling her story, and that of other Guntruckers will always remain one of the highlights of my life.

 

[73m819]

One of the HIGHLIGHTS of my life is being allowed to get to know the PROUD, hands on, learning the story of the PROUD and why it was built, getting to know how great and good a MAN the builder is AND being able to call him a FRIEND, and also being allowed to drive the PROUD for a very short time and I STILL here from Tony after all these years about the VERY SLIGHT curb scuff of the RF tire. Those that know the PROUD, LOVE the PROUD AMERICAN.

All I can say is THANK YOU.

 

[wadefreedomvehicles]

You all are welcome.
At some events we let people enter the gunbox, it is somewhat difficult to allow people to do so with how it is currently set up.
At this particular show we allowed people to climb into the back section of the truck and look inside the gunbox.
She did make the 25 mile(one way) trip under her own power. We have added several fuel additives to help clean the system to ensure that it will last a little longer before needing rebuilt.
Thanks for your comments and we will continue to help the memory of the Proud live on and tell the story. I know she was a hit and many people were very pleased to see it and hear the story.