Thanks Tim! You had your batteries stolen? I had to develop my mechanical touch. Some days I'd be making adjustments on pressure controls or micro-switches and on others I'd be chipping away in the steam drum of an HP boiler or punching tubes in a condenser. It's kind of amazing I'm not better at welding given all that.
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What did you do to your deuce this week?
- Thread starter Seth_O
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That made it much more difficult to figure out what cable went where. I finally had to do what I should have done - and followed each wire to the other end. That and some good advise helped me get the connections right "without letting the smoke out" of my truck.
Thievery happened in broad daylight. About 10:30 in the morning after all of us were at work and inside making noise. I was disappointed that it happened to put it nicely. Might actually be better that nobody caught him in the act. Took less than ten minutes according to the security camera footage. The vehicle that he loaded them in had no license plate on it and a hoodie hides a face pretty well.
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That's crazy it happened in broad daylight. Takes a lot more nerve than I've got. What's he going to do with them power his electric toothbrush? Probably just try to scrap them for cash. That had to hurt. Those mil-spec batteries are expensive. I'm sorry it happened to you.
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Indeed. I figure he may have gotten $10 each at the scrap yard because they were the big square batteries. $40 just isn't worth getting shot in my opinion. We didn't have this sort of trouble until we got a light rail stop. You can look at the CMPD (Police) crime maps and see what looks like a shotgun blast of red dots (crimes) around every station. I won't make any comments about that because it is a waste of bits here and my patience otherwise.
Thanks for the kind words Owen... It was a bummer for sure.
fleetmech
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There is a tool, called a 'grease fitting revitalizer' IIRC that might help you with the hardened grease. Its a plunger and barrel that you fill with light oil that clips on to a grease fitting. A couple whacks with a hammer and the plunger pushes the oil in through the hardened grease and opens a passage to get things moving. Its not perfect, but it comes in handy from time to time. Personally, I would pick out as much as you can/ care to by hand, then use light oil, then go with a high pressure grease gun.
Thanks fleetmech! I think I'll follow your advice. Clean it out with a small screwdriver. Shoot it with some WD-40 or PB Blaster and let soak with the fitting back in. I think the movement of driving it with the light oil in there will help free it up too. I'll look into the GFR tool if that fails. I have some 90 degree Zerks on my truck. I wouldn't want to whack them. The little 90 degree part that screws into the main body of the fitting have threads that are miniscule. I have internalized all of the thoughts from you, cattlerepairman, and Mullany on the subject and will proceed accordingly. Thank you again for your time and advice!
I drove Brutus to inspection today. The mechanics at Diesel Express know me and Brutus sailed right through. I was wearing my coveralls since it was frigid this morning. It was a neat drive. I had a group of lineman who were working on power lines give me thumbs up and waves as I drove by. I had a contractor at a gas station ask me questions about Brutus. He even snapped a picture of Brutus for his "Pops". At a four way stop I waved about ten cars and suvs past so they wouldn't have to do 45 mph behind me. Brutus drove great. Like he missed being on the road. A good Deuce day all in all.
fleetmech
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Your welcome! Ive used that tool on some clog prone Bobcat bucket fittings and it has worked well. Im pretty sure I filled mine with non aerosol wd-40. I just checked, Amazon has them, called Grease Joint Rejuvenators. ( I was close lol!)
As one of the other guys mentioned, shifting or removing the weight from the joint can sometimes help too.
Sure. I can imagine a bucket pin getting all messed up boring into dirt, mud, and rock all day long. I'm going to go with the WD-40. I'm also going to look up that tool on Amazon! Thanks fleetmech!
This is for fleetmech. I checked out the Grease Rejuvenator on Amazon. Boy, that's a pretty darned neat tool. I may even be able to afford one this month. I also have a 1952 Dodge p/u in my garage that has the dried grease problem big time. I could use it on both. I wonder what "light oil" is? It will probably tell me in the instructions. Thanks again fleetmech!
fleetmech
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I used bulk (non aerosol) WD-40
![[thumbzup]](https://www.steelsoldiers.com/images/smilies/icon_smile_thumzup.gif "Thumbs Up [thumbzup]"){kind=icon}
Okay. I bet old-fashioned 3 in 1 oil would work too if I can find some. I remember a half white half red can from years ago. It was thin like sewing machine oil if memory serves. I think the Grease Rejuvenator is going to have to wait until next month. Today, after 30 years of trying to locate a new rear leaf spring for my 1952 Dodge p/u, I finally found one. NOS and the only one he had left. $300 shipped. Ouch!
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Hey, but you found one... THAT is a heck of an accomplishment especially for a 1952 truck. I am torn on the price. Seems high, but what do I really know about parts for a '52 Dodge truck? Not much and when you consider that he had it and the shipping will end up being a third of the cost, well maybe it isn't awful. Except for the wallet. My wallet screams every time I talk about getting a new (to me) truck.
That Grease Rejuvenator is a pretty neat tool. We have some older Heidelberg presses here at the printshop. There are colored dots all over the machines at oil spots. Red is Daily. There is a palm sized oil gun for fittings that look like Zerks - but are smooth. Nothing latches on them. Just the socket on the oiler. It is a heavy weight special made oil that we use. You pump the oil gun withpalm of your hand and it feeds a measured squirt of oil. A couple of these machines are coming up on a hundred years old so the oiling process must work well.
Until I saw the Grease Rejuvenator, I always wondered why it wasn't grease in the fittings for these presses. Guess oiling daily is better than grease monthly or quarterly (or never). AND that might explain how a hundred year old machine is still running like a clock...
So Owen, now that I have babbled aimlessly about something not related to big green trucks: Happy projecting on your Dodge when the spring arrives!
Hi Tim. Well that wasn't aimless babbling at all. They also used to use brass grease cups a long time ago. They were brass cups that screwed into a bearing journal like a Zerk. The had a brass screw on cap. You removed the cap. Put some grease in. Replaced the cap just a thread or two. Then, periodically, you would screw the cap in a turn and it would push grease in to the bearing or bushing. Oil works well as a bearing lubricant. In fact, the massive propeller shaft journal bearings on Navy ships are splash lubricated by oil. I know because I used to take bearing temperature readings on them.
Well, your points do relate to Green machines in the sense of future parts availability. Dodge trucks and parts disappeared from boneyards decades ago. The truck salvage yard in NJ I used to go to years ago was forced by the DEP or EPA to get rid of all of it's old trucks and parts. They had a lot of cool heavy trucks from the 50s and 60s. You can build a complete '56 Ford or '55 Chevy truck from parts catalogs due to popular demand. There are ZERO parts available on the aftermarket for '50s Dodge trucks. Today was the culmination of a long and frustrating search. The same thing could happen to M35A2 body parts in the not too distant future. I would caution my fellow soldiers to get all of the Deuce body parts they might ever need now. In ten years they could very well dry up.
Well, your points do relate to Green machines in the sense of future parts availability. Dodge trucks and parts disappeared from boneyards decades ago. The truck salvage yard in NJ I used to go to years ago was forced by the DEP or EPA to get rid of all of it's old trucks and parts. They had a lot of cool heavy trucks from the 50s and 60s. You can build a complete '56 Ford or '55 Chevy truck from parts catalogs due to popular demand. There are ZERO parts available on the aftermarket for '50s Dodge trucks. Today was the culmination of a long and frustrating search. The same thing could happen to M35A2 body parts in the not too distant future. I would caution my fellow soldiers to get all of the Deuce body parts they might ever need now. In ten years they could very well dry up.
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Wow Owen! I didn't even think about those grease cups. There are 4 of them on the smallest press. They get a quarter turn daily and refilled monthly. Paper is a NASTY thing. It makes a lot of dust but oddly enough I have never had a grease cup stop pushing grease.
It has been about 20 years ago, but there was a Chevrolet dealer in the upper part of South Carolina. The owner passed away and for whatever reason, the dealership inventory was auctioned off. In a building on the back corner of the lot - they found brand new 55,56, and 57 Chevy hoods and fenders and doors and lights. All new in the crate. I didn't need any of the parts but it was so amazing that I just had to go to the sale.
It really is amazing and sad how parts for trucks and cars just slowly dries up. And with government help, sometimes it happens sooner than it should. The only respectable Recycle Yard around here has been investigated several times by the EPA. Every time somebody who works there gets fired, the EPA shows up with a clipboard and a complaint. The owner has spent $50,000 to $100,000 every time that happened. And then he goes to court in an attempt to get back the money that they caused him to spend to prove he wasn't guilty. That idea of innocent until proven guilty holds no water when it comes to the EPA!
Exactly Tim! The notion of innocence until proven guilty disappeared from our society a long time ago. Money is power and agencies like the EPA, under the guise of environmental stewardship, use their hammer to beat junk yard owners into the ground. They don't want automotive salvage yards to exist and they don't care about guys like us with MVs either. The heck with the little guy. They want you driving an electric car. Like hell! The courts are no help either. That's why I'm buying new M35 fenders this Spring. Don't forget the cool looking clear glass oilers with brass end caps. They usually had a neat brass wingnut on top. They also dripped a predetermined amount of oil into a bushing. You could just look at the glass to see if you needed to add oil. At Bell Telephone we had Westinghouse 400 Hz MG sets from the '30s that used them. They ran like tops.
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Owen,
You hit the nail on the head! It's sad but true. We are definitely moving in the direction of socialism because nobody wants to work any more. They would rather stick their hand out - and wait for the government to solve their problems.
Tim
Yup. I feel bad for the people who get fired and for the owner who loses thousands of dollars to defend himself. The EPA and the Court collect the fines and the lawyers on both sides who never fail to get their cut. Then after all of the cars and trucks are crushed and melted down, they'll put up a solar farm on the guys property.......after he sells it to a developer at a loss.
m715mike
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It’s always worth mentioning. Great to hear that your truck is on the road and you are enjoying trouble free trips!! Keep it up!