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Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

jasonjc

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

where are you going after St.Louis?? Are you going to be any where close to NW ARK?? Maybe we can meat up some where??
 

OPCOM

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

more.. then I am back on the road to a hotel. St Louis tomorrow! Hope to meet 54reo and his wife for lunch.

Jasonc
- I could find my way close if I come down I-44 towards Tulsa. It is about 6 hours from ST Louis to there. I will PM my phone #
 

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OPCOM

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

BTW here's the nomenclature tag off the coast guard transmitter I did not get. It's the one shown about 9 pics up, the large unit with the coils inside. first letter is "L", hard to see it.
 

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OPCOM

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

Today I got to visit Brian (54reo) and Alan Congiardo. I met them at the family biz, Marcello's Italian Restaurant. Who ever said there aint no such thing as a free lunch!! I had a pizza, and let me say that was about the best pizza pie I have had in a very long time! Brian's wife is an expert chef! The store is in Chester, IL. Chester BTW is the home town of Popeye the sailor. So the signs proclaim as you drive into town. Chester is about 10 miles east of I-55. It was cool to see Brian's new 1952 REO V17A truck. Ok it is a little rough, but this is a pretty scarce truck, I am sure he will be adding to the thread about it.
 

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gimpyrobb

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

Awesome pic! Glad to hear all is well Patrick. Keep the updates rolling in.
 

OPCOM

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

Finally this brings me to the reason for being up so late. I am on the way to visit Jason (jasonc), hopefully to check out his collection of stuff.

I am currently 100 miles east of Joplin, Missouri in the outskirts of Marshfield, with a blown exhaust manifold gasket. It is leaking towards the firewall from the rearmost cylinder. Seems mainly to make alot of noise. This started when I got to the intersection of MO hwy 19 and I-44 and stopped to get fuel. When I re-started the truck, it began to make the characteristic sound, and investigation showed the problem up pretty clearly. I drove it from there to Marshfield and stopped at the Holiday Inn Express. Driving it has not appeared to harm anything and I am keeping the power as low as I can.

I -probably- have enough tools to fix it, but not sure if I can really do the job, and I have no gasket anyway. What did I say? that I wanted to have an adventure? Anyway I am going to crash now and think about how screwed I am later in the morning.
 

cranetruck

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

Joplin area of MO must have a curse on MV travelers, that's where I broke down last year, fortunately Jason lives nearby and you'll be in good hands. Keep your sense of humor Patrick, appreciate the posts.
 

OPCOM

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RE: Re: Road Trip TX -> North, SEPT 29 - OCT 14

That's right.. I recall that. Well I went out and looked at this in the light of day. I don't see any evidence of damage from driving it, such as the supposed fire of the exhaust shooting out and hitting the wiring or the firewall. Maybe it is mostly noise. At night though it's harder to be so confident. I am going to go get some 'free continental breakfast' and proceed with the day.
 

JDToumanian

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I think if it were me, I would not try to replace the leaking exhaust manifold gasket while on the road. What if a stud breaks? I would want to do that kind of work right here in my shop. Plus you'll waste a day and wreck your back. Someone will correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the only issue with driving it as-is, besides the extra noise, is the slight risk of CO poisoning from exhaust fumes getting in the cab. Be sure to keep a good flow of air.

Sounds like a great trip, love the updates!

Jon
 

OPCOM

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After looking at it, the firewall is a little sooty, but no evidence of burns or fire shooting out.. mostly it is noisy. In any case, fumes were coming in the cab, so here is how I stopped that, after trying several things. close all windows. open drivers front window to first notch. drive above 40MPH. The pressure developed in the cab from the inrushing air will keep the fumes out. This worked with a hardtop, not sure how it would work wth a soft.

So, I am headed for Memphis Equipment. I hope they will have some mercy on me and fix it. It should take them only 1 day since they are the experts. I have been told they are pretty nice and accommodating. I am in Lonoke, Arkansas, 100 miles from Memphis. I will rise and go at 0500. I imagine that little expense will make for wrapping up this show, but that's how it goes. Assuming they will help me, I'll take a bunch of pictures while I am there.

attached is a pic of JasonC , myself, and his M109. He showed me all his trucks and trailers, real nice.
 

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OPCOM

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Hwee I am in Memphis Equipment. Got in at 0730, and they are putting my truck back together. I'll have pics later but the entire rear side of the rearmost port of the exhaust manifold gasket was gone. Since everything had to be taken apart, it was a good decision to drive to Memphis and get some help. I see now that this job would have taken me two weekends to do, assuming everything was simple.

I took advantage of thise teardown to inspect the turbo. There are no signs of heating on the exhaust inlet blades, looks just fine. The pyro probe is being relocated to the pre-turbo position. The old post-turbo port will be closed with a pipe fiting, and I can always install another thermocouple and pyro meter.

I have these comments about memphis Equipment. They are helpful, and had no problems with me walking around and taking pictures. The yard is huge! (and for pete's sake why is it 85 degrees here ?) They have this cool machine that shot-blasts all parts prior tothem being painted. It is so large a person could stand inside, but you would not want to. I took lots of pictures and a couple videos, more later.. The quoted price of $80/Hr for labor is not out of line, especially considering the level of specific expertise.

I looked at the miles so far..

dallas TX
little rock AR
memphis TN
evansville IN
dayton OH
lima OH
elkhart IN
chicago IL
chester, IL
1716 miles
joplin MO
centerton AR
memphis TN
746

1716
0746
-------
2462 miles so far.. how about I check out bass pro shops this evening ?? haha.. Looks like they are about done with my truck.
 

OPCOM

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she purs like a tiger.. will be observing the pyro in its new location. turns out i have the old style headgaskets but the OM there said that they are ok if not abused and he considers 8lbs boost to be reasonable especially if there is no diesel smoke at WOT. so, on the road.. gonna head in the general direction of texarkana.
 

Recovry4x4

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Lets see, 2462 (miles) divided by 10 (MPG estimate)= 246 gallons of fuel. 246 times $3.00= $738. Yeah, deuce trips are getting more expensive! My tractor got less than 7MPG pulling ADRs semi trailer to S Fla. Fortunately the feller who bought it was paying for the juice.
 

lstmate

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Sorry to read

of the demise of your head gasket. Sure glad to hear you made it to Memphis equipment and they were able to help you out. I had help planned for you not of Cincy had you needed it but you were in the wrong place when you needed help.

I too am enjoying reading of your adventures...... Thank you agian for coming by to see our little ship.....
 

OPCOM

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Recovry4x4 said:
Lets see, 2462 (miles) divided by 10 (MPG estimate)= 246 gallons of fuel. 246 times $3.00= $738. Yeah, deuce trips are getting more expensive! My tractor got less than 7MPG pulling ADRs semi trailer to S Fla. Fortunately the feller who bought it was paying for the juice.
add 453 miles from Memphis to Home (Yay! I'm home!!), 2915 miles. I get 8.8 MPG and did indeed pay $3/gal. once outside of TX/AR area.. 331 gallons, $993 in fuel !! ow! plus three gallons of additive for $65, 4gallon of oil due to the oil leak $6, the little trip to Memphis Equipment - about $750. don't get me started on motels and camping .. 10 days for about $500 total.

$933
$65
$6
$750
$500
-------------
$ 2314 . . maybe I should go on a cruise next time..

757 pictures = $3.05 / picture
1.93 GB = $1.19 / megabyte

I realize I could have camped out more (saving maybe half the $500), and the breakdown was not expected. But the point I make by including them is that one just should not go off on a trip like this unprepared for trouble. Tools are not enough. This is why the friends and contacts on this BBS are so important. Sometimes even that is not enough. Sure I could have worked on it at Jason's place, and I'd still be there, working outdoors, with it tore apart because the parts would have just arrived today Tuesday. Furthermore, other items were needed once it was tore apart. There is always that. I watched them work on it at Memphis. There was -alot- of stuff that had to come off to get at the exhaust manifold gaskets.. In worst case of a more sinister breakdown, it, all 20,000 LBS of laden deuce, might have had to be towed on a trailer either to someone's place or to a repair depot. I am not complaining, I had a great time and met some real fine folks. I would not have had it any other way.

While the thing was apart, I had Memphis drill and tap the exhaust manifold for the pyro. They did it easily. The max attainable readings are 1050 degrees at 8 LBS boost going up a steep hill starting at 55MPH (about 2450RPM with 11.00x20's) The guys at memphis told me that whistler turbochargers are more trouble prone. That is interesting.

Now that i am home, there is a leak that seems to be oil coming from the bottom of the turbo. it was not there before the turbo was removed and reinstalled. I think it may be the gasket between the oil outlet and the oil return pipe. I did not watch everything they did but when I called them, I was told that gasket had not been replaced (it was not in the bill). In a day or so I will clean off the engine and run it to see exactly where the oil is coming from. There was no kind of leak of that size before. Unfortunately I was >150 miles from Memphis before noticing it. It likely was not leaking there at Memphis or they would have seen it. They checked everything well. I am overall very happy with their workmanship. This is just an annoyance (I hope).

Now about pics, I was really limited on bandwidth so i posted only a few here. I have a couple hundred from Memphis. (not to mention Grobans and Fair Radio and the LST). Maybe tomorrow I will post them on the bunker of doom.

I left memphis this morning at 0800. I just got home, making an average speed to 45 MPH.

I regret I got to Red River at 4:45 and they were leaving. I spoke with the owner, and he said they do not do much retail trade, I get the idea mainly he prefers to be a supplier to retailers and other larger entities. I get the idea he prefers large customers only. He did say that anyone who needed something was welcome to stop by or call. That would be for us hobbyists I imagine. It was late, I did not ask to take pics but I told him about the mission, to take pics at all the surplus places, mentioning Clark and Memphis.

Ok well it is late, and I am going to go to sleep. My cats miss me! how about that? people say cats don't care, but mine know me and I know them.

Thanks for all the good wishes and support!
 

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54reo

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Patrick,

Glad to hear that you made it home safe! To bad you had the mechanical problems; but at least you got to see Memphis Equipment. Just part of the adventure. (I'm trying to be positive!)

It seems that when we put actual dollars to how much something costs, it can be easy to second guess or wonder if we did the right thing. I'm sure that you will look back on these trips of yours as some of the best times. Not only have you had a wonderful and interesting journey, you have lived the dream that so many of us can never do. Whether we don't have the time, money, or guts/courage, some of us will never be able to do something like this. Because of you and this thread, we can follow along with you.

I thank you, Patrick, for the trip and way you went out of your way to meet us. Your visit had our little town talking for a day or two! If you are ever in the area again, know that you are welcome anytime.

It was great meeting you!

Brian and Family
 

OPCOM

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Brian,

Thanks for your comments, the pleasure was truly mine. If I had the luxury, I would spend my time driving the less traveled roads and visiting smalltown America. A person could spend a lifetime doing that. It is in those places where (IMHO) we find the people, culture, and other things that make America great. In those places, you find the true evidence that America still exists.

As for the cost, it was managed by planning. By no means am I wealthy, but I saved throughout the year for this so that I had enough to get it home in the worst case.

Looking back on this, I believe the exhaust leak may have been there to a small degree since shortly after I had the truck. If anyone remembers such obscure things, I had posted about a strange noise that would come and go 3-4 years ago. I've even had the rocker cover off looking for that little ticking noise. It's gone now!
 
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