well... shes dead.

[Mudstone]

So against my better judgement i was driving to my g/f's little spa retreat place after she guilted me. I felt a weird vibration for the last few days and didnt want to put on the miles or travel far from home. Well an hour in... clank clank both gen lights come on. I say ok and continue to attemp to limp it to somewhere... no power steering. Great. Ok i can do this. Then overheat light comes on. Its only 2 exits... maybe?... well i decided after one to pull off on the side of I95. Coolant is vacated. All belts are shredded. Reservoir cap is gone. I donno what happened and the truck was towed to a local heavy deisel shop. Any ideas? All pulleys spin freeley. Engine was strong right untill i turned it off. Both alternator pulleys are wobbly now. I have no clue. The tow guy was really cool and their deisel techs will be looking at her in the am. I dont know if i can keep throwing money at the truck so 3 or so mos in... i may have to resume my role as a non owner and leach the site for a while. Updates to follow and any input fron the "gods" wouldf be greatly appreciated.

 

[hndrsonj]

Sounds like you just threw a belt which knocked off the resevoir cap, then you kept driving it causing other problems due to no coolant circulation (hopefully there's no major engine damage from driving it). As for the alternator pullys loose, that's probably what caused you to throw the belt.

 

[Ken_86gt]

Well, the simple answer is that you over heated the truck when the belt that runs the water pump broke. You should have pulled over as soon as the belts broke - it is not safe to drive without power steering and also the brakes. Then the truck might been repairable with new belts if you stopped right away. Since you took it to a shop for repairs you will have to wait and see if it only needs new belts and anti-freeze. Good luck

 

[doghead]

I wonder if your harmonic balancer has come apart/off.

 

[saddamsnightmare]

March 17th, 2010.


Mudstone, old man:

Time to look for a green beer, boyo! It never pays to push a truck when the fan belt goes, especially not a diesel. Lets hope you're only out the belts and the coolant cap, otherwise you might want to invest in something simpler, like a 20 speed bicycle. Just because it's Army, doesn't mean it's a tank, The second something goes wrong is the time to figure out how to get it off the road instantly and save the machine. ANY vehicle, civillian or military, will eat you alive if you don't do the preventative maintenance and treat it with respect. My trucks are babied, because they are so much older then what's around them, they cost money to maintain, and more if I try to run them into the ground, which I won't.
You might well be advised to check the hoses too, as they may have gotten hit by a belt or steam scalded....

Good luck,

Cheers,

Kyle F. McGrogan

 

[4bogginchevys]

I hope you took it to a reputable shop....if not than i'll be the first to say: that'll be 1789.08

 

[DUG]

I wonder if your harmonic balancer has come apart/off.

Could be the vibration he's been feeling. Or maybe one of the alt bearings went bad and left unattended caused the other to go. Both left unrepaired caused the blets to get tossed, taking off the cap and then she just overheated. Pretty much what Jim said, but with DHs balancer idea tossed in.

 

[Mudstone]

I didnt really continue far... once the overheat light went on i pulled over after maybe a quarter mile. Engine was strong untill i stopped so i dont think there is any engine damage at this point. I wasnt doing anything to push the truck other than drive it when i knew something wasnt right. Actually... now that i think of it the voltmeter was running a bit low. Im wondering if maybe the belt was slightly loose and everything just blew up after it slipped off. Upon further pondering of the events... i am thinking power steering pump and now 2 alternators. I really think she will be salvageable. Now hopefully repair can be complete before rausch creek in 2 weeks and maybe before next week cuz im supposed to get some body work done. Im a little more optimistic now that ive come down off the initial heart break.

 

[Cucvnut]

she's not dead ! she is wounded ! you can rebuild her better stronger and faster, you have the technology !

 

[bowtiecrazy]

i had the same thing happen to me put the belts on her and try their about 60.00 bucks(thats about what i paid). i did have a vibration to i found a missing bolt on one alt bracket tighten everything up a little better but i would start lookin for a good starter/alt rebuilder because if they have'nt went yet its probably time. i got all three done for under 300.00 sounds like a sewing machine i am no pro but this site is great i have not found any bad advice yet(keepin mind the common sense behind the question)

 

[Milbikes]

Sounds like you could be back on the road without too much hassle and expense. If you sell it, you will miss it, and if you get another, you will have to go through fixing all the bugs on that one.... At least with your truck, you know what you have. Proceed with calmness.....no rash actions! Don't sell it.... I am too close to where you are, and I am out of room. H.

 

[m38inmaine]

I had belts come off 3 times and it can be quite interesting. First time only the outer belt came off but when it did it grabbed the front brakeline and ripped it off. Second time , different cucv, it wrapped around the fan clutch and ripped the bearing out of it. Third time was on a recovery from VA to ME, just left builder77's house and the belt broke it just fell off and I managed to drive back to his house ok. Good luck with the repair.

 

[datsunaholic]

Likely only one belt failed, but it took the other belt out when it did. Problem is it's hard to tell which one went first if it tore both up. If both alternators have wobbly pulleys, the bearings are probably shot... that's a common symptom of having the belts too tight. But I'd also check the alignment of all the pulleys.

On one of my non-MV trucks the power steering belt came off when the idler pulley siezed. That would have been OK, a little Datsun doesn't need power steering, but the belt knocked the alternator belt off (which happens to also run the water pump) so that was that. By the time I got to the shoulder, the temp was in the red, and that was less than 20 seconds.

 

[Warren Lovell]

My M1009 had 2 bolts break on the power steering pump mount, which shredded one belt. It slapped around the engine compartment untill I stopped and found it took out the other belt too. I lost power steering as well.

The belts were not even a year old. BUT - I had bought two pair of belts and had the spares in my Blazer. I limped it back with the new belts, but they still got damaged by the off angled PS pump.

So, always carry extra belts, hoses, and actually "preflight" your truck. It only takes a few minutes - that could save you hours on the side of the road.

 

[Mudstone]

Ok update is as follows. Gey says hes throwing on new belts to road test it and he "knows how hot it got cuz there was grease everywhere". I dont know what that means. I just really hope she isnt fried. I would love to builder her batter faster and stronger... just the money issue.

 

[dittle]

Hope you get good news on the truck.

Its got the 6.2 Chevy diesel, not the best diesel in the first place to be trying to up power. Kind of like the MF, it was designed for A, not worth the effort to go to B or C as you'll end up blowing it up.

 

[Mudstone]

SHE LIVES. Gen 1 was a little too far back and needed a few washers to make the belt run straight. That belt blew off tearing up the rest of them and causing the downward spiral. But new belts and coolant and 400$ including the tow and all is well. Looks like rausch is back on and next week she gets her welding done. Thanks guys for all the info. Showing up to the shop semi knowledgeable helped a bit.

 

[dittle]

Good news Mud

 

[Mudstone]

thank you all for the info as well as the good wishes!

 

[croftonaviation]

Glad you got her going. It's always the little things that cause problems.