My M35A2 Project aka Big Betty

[Capt.Marion]

You're going to need a spare tire iron to fend the women off... you could also just bring your wife, too.

Looks good!

 

[TMNT]

I actually had a woman hang out of her car window, waving like crazy and then flash us a pretty nice rack on the way to our little party. The only problem is that "us" was me and my 11 year old son. He's starting to learn the code though, mom doesn't need to about everything that happens when we're out and about.

 

[Capt.Marion]

That story just made my weekend.

 

[TMNT]

Oh my aching head! We had a great time last night, except "last night" didn't end until "early this morning!" Great people, great music, delicious grilling, and more than enough adult beverages that included some direct from England, aged, single-barrel Scotch.

My buddy Doug, had a party at his house in honor of a new baby being on the way. His wife is from England and his in-laws were over for a visit, along with some friends/relatives from Slovakia. There was a dozen of us Southern types plus the foreigners.

We had a great time introducing them to a good old-fashioned southern cookout, complete with live southern rock music, ice and beer in an old bathtub sitting in the driveway, deuce and a half hayrides, and jokes about the folks in other states.

As usual, Betty was a star from the moment she turned in the driveway. There were 10-15 kids between the age of 1 and 13 that used Betty for hide-n-seek, playing soldier, and a convenient place to sit. The kids spent time in the pool, but when I fired Betty up for the hayride, the pool cleared in about 15 seconds! They came running and yelling, "It's truck ride time!"




I'm sure the other parents got some good photos of everyone loaded up. I was focused on getting them safely on board and then driving.

Doug plays in a couple of bar bands (Wepid and Raised On Vinyl) and members of both bands were there to do jam sessions all evening. There were some awfully good jams coming out of the garage all night.






It was an awesome time!

 

[TMNT]

Here's a short video of me running through the gears in Big Betty on Monday evening. I think she's sounds great now. My brother was trying out his new Cannon camera. The video came out pretty good and I'm impressed by the sound quality. Listen to it on some good speakers and turn it up!

Gear Jammin' - YouTube

 

[TMNT]

The fuel gauge strikes again! This time I knew I had just filled to the max fill line last weekend. The gauge was indicating a half tank and it started acting like it was starving for fuel and then going ok again. Of course I checked all the gauges and fuel was indicating a half tank. The really dumb part is that I passed 3-4 stations with diesel and I didn't stop because I was thinking I would troubleshoot it when I made it to grandma's house. Well, a mile or so from there, the engine simply died on a hill in traffic. After the traffic cleared, I coasted backwards across a curb and into a shopping center parking lot.

First thing I did was check the fuel tank. Empty! I flipped the power switch back on and of course now the gauge reads empty. I assume that jolting it across the curb shook it loose.

Called the wife and grandad is on the way with fuel. I guess now I know to manually check the fuel level by dipping the tank before I head out.

I still can't figure out how I used that much fuel. I'm thinking I probably got robbed while I was in Florida and the fuel gauge just happened to hang up at half. Live and learn.

 

[TMNT]

I just picked up 10 brand new Titan T-Hawk 900x20 tires for Big Betty. I got them at Gensco Aircraft Tires in Anniston, Alabama for $150 each.

Good guys to deal with and the tires look good. No cracks or rot at all. They have all the appearances of being brand new tires.

Meriwether Tire in Griffin, GA says they'll breakdown my wheels and mount the new tires for $35 each, but a friend of mine has talked me into doing it ourselves. He has a shop and a lot of experience with split-ring wheels. It'll be a learning (and sweating) experience for me.

 

[Heavysteven]

Action Tire in Marietta (770) 419-1670 fixed my last time. Think I paid 40 for a new flap and tube.

 

[TMNT]

I'll check that out, Steven. Do you know anything about S&H Tire in Canton? I've heard their name a couple of times, but that's all.

 

[TMNT]

I installed my remote reservoir kit and that was a piece of cake. It's really nice to be able to glance at the reservoir every time I get in the truck and know the fluid level is ok.

I also got flat repaired locally at S&H Tire and they did a good job. I removed it from the truck and just dropped it off and then picked it up the next day. In the process of remounting that tire, I rotated a couple of tires around to get the best of what's left on the front. I've still got a brand new set of Titan T-Hawks sitting in my warehouse. I want to squeeze a few more miles out of the old ones before swapping them out. S&H says they'll break them all down and mount up the new tires for $30 each. Tubes and flaps would be extra if needed. I'm still flirting with the idea of doing it myself. Swapping the tires around is a lot easier now after I've done it a few times. Proper use of a crowbar and a couple of 2x4 blocks makes a big difference.

I swapped out the driver side boot today. I've had the new zipper boots in the garage for a while but I'm just now getting around to working on it. Maybe it's the cooler temps.

Maybe it's just me and maybe it's because it was my first boot, but gad that was a frustrating swear-fest! It took me at least a couple of hours to get the inner ring on and it definitely took four hands and multiple attempts to get the outer ring on. I still need to do the passenger side and hopefully I learned a couple of tricks that will make the next one go a bit quicker.

 

[TMNT]

Michael (my 11 year old) and I decided to go into town for a bite and he wanted to take Betty instead of the FJ.

I gave him a choice between Red Lobster and Hooters. He chose Hooters. We had crab legs and salad and then decided we needed to go see The Expendables 2. Now, how cool is it for an 11 year old to come out of the theater at 11:30 with a bunch of people all pumped up from a movie like that, and climb into a Deuce and a Half for the ride home! We had people taking pictures of us with their phones and pumping their fists in the air with the old air horn request. Of course I was happy to oblige them.

That was good fun. (Good, fun movie too.)

 

[TMNT]

I swapped out the passenger side boot this morning and it went much faster than that first one yesterday. It was less than 2 hours from the time I started bringing out the tools to the time I had everything done, cleaned up and put away.

I'm glad I got that old boot off of there, as it had a 2" tear in it. I knew it was torn but I didn't realize it was that bad.

Now I just have to finish that heater install before the rally. I don't think heat will be all that critical, but having a defroster might come in real handy.

 

[TMNT]

Finally got around to finishing up the heater installation this weekend. Well, almost finished. I still have to install the 4" ducts to connect the heater core to the diverter.

The heater core seems to work just fine with no leaks and making good heat. The blower works on both high and on low.

I expected the 5 ohm resistor to get warm in the low speed circuit, but holy cow! It was running about 700 degrees F according to my IR thermometer. Now I'm worried about the wiring and anything within a few inches of it. Jeez, it gets hot!

I wired the resistor in series with the low speed 24v supply. Is that right or should it be a T-circuit to ground? I search the TM's and the forum for hours and I couldn't come up with a wiring diagram for the heater. So, I assumed that high is a direct 24V feed and that low has the 5 ohm resistor in series between the source and load.

 

[TMNT]

 

[bones1]

opcorn: This is a good post.

 

[TMNT]

Like many others, I've been working on getting ready for the Georgia Rally. I'm loaded up wth firewood and I put a 1000 pounds of sand bags in the bed directly over the rear tandems. That should improve traction on the trails. My camping gear is checked out and waiting in the garage to be loaded.

I'm putting the 10 new 9.00x20 ND tires on the truck this Tuesday. Well, I'm paying S&H tire to put them on. I simply don't have the time before the rally to do it myself.

I did get the new LED back-up lights installed. Of course that means I had to insall a fused 24 volt main line to a new 100A distribution buss. The primary fuse is an 80A marine in-line fuse about 6 inches from the connection to the battery. I ran a #10 AWG marine grade wire from the battery to the distribution block. I learned a long time ago, when your installing electrical items in a vehicle, use marine grade components. I typically buy mine from Blue Sea. I also use a lot of copper grease and No-Ox. I got tired of not having a convenient place to grab a new circuit from, so I fixed it.

I picked up the lights from Fleet Pride in Kennesaw, Ga. The lights will operate on 12V-36V and make a nice white light in a broad flood pattern. They appear to be fairly rugged, but we'll see how they hold up.

They should come in handy at Durhamtown, especially on those nighttime trail rides.

 

[TMNT]

I did get a chance to go by the MVPA show in Kennesaw on Sunday. There was some really nice trucks on display there. I picked up a 5-gal gerry can for my deuce. I kind of hated that empty can holder on the driver's step.

I also ran into Squirt Truck there. That 5-ton of is is a beautiful truck.

That off-road camping trailer looks like something I need to pull behind my FJ.

 

[walkerhunter]

Do u have a pic of how you tapped in to water system I have the pitcocks but don't know were they go?

 

[TMNT]

See if these two photos help. I can take more after this rain passes sometime tomorrow. It's pouring now.

One of the connections is just off of the thermostat housing and the other is off of the water pump housing.

I used boiler valvles to provide an "on/off" function for the hot water. The heat pouring through the heater ducts when it's 90 degrees outside needed a solution!

 

[gringeltaube]

...............I wired the resistor in series with the low speed 24v supply. Is that right or should it be a T-circuit to ground? I search the TM's and the forum for hours and I couldn't come up with a wiring diagram for the heater. So, I assumed that high is a direct 24V feed and that low has the 5 ohm resistor in series between the source and load.

That's correct! (maybe a bit late, but a response, at least...)

Extracted from Peter Bog's Wiring Schematic, below...



G.