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What have you done to your 5 ton this week?

jcollings

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
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Location
Jupiter/FL
My truck has about 22,000 on it it was supposed to be a red river job but the motor was not rebuilt by Red River you don't see any tags on the motor like they might have gone into the motor and did anything usually there's a plate on the side of the block describing like what main clearances were.
I'm in Florida so 16° would be bone-chilling cold for myself😃
 

162tcat

Active member
710
46
28
Location
Washington
Only 15k/725hrs if the gauges and engine are original. Temps have only gotten to 16 at the lowest so far so I doubt that temps are the culprit. No idea about factory or reman on the motor. All I know is that Jeff (CSM Davis) said it was a Red River Rebuild when I stopped by his place to get the cargo bed.

buffalo, this whole fiasco started when I had a fuel knock and a destroyed turbo a couple months ago.
I've had a few NHC250's that Red River butchered but never had any issues with the 8.3. They only seems to mess with the top end from my experience. If anything more then that is needed they seem to replace the engine. That leads to plenty of other issues like not tightening flywheel bolts.... In your case, you'll probably be fine after you get the top-end issue taken care of. Just check for the other RRAD issues, mostly loose bolts and front axle actuator piston installed backwards. I would check all the wheel bearings while you're at it too.

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Mos68x

Active member
826
33
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Location
Seligman,AZ
My truck has about 22,000 on it it was supposed to be a red river job but the motor was not rebuilt by Red River you don't see any tags on the motor like they might have gone into the motor and did anything usually there's a plate on the side of the block describing like what main clearances were.
I'm in Florida so 16° would be bone-chilling cold for myself
I haven’t seen any tags on the motor yet, but to me that doesn’t mean much. Yeah I don’t like it when it’s below 40 lol
 

Mos68x

Active member
826
33
28
Location
Seligman,AZ
I've had a few NHC250's that Red River butchered but never had any issues with the 8.3. They only seems to mess with the top end from my experience. If anything more then that is needed they seem to replace the engine. That leads to plenty of other issues like not tightening flywheel bolts.... In your case, you'll probably be fine after you get the top-end issue taken care of. Just check for the other RRAD issues, mostly loose bolts and front axle actuator piston installed backwards. I would check all the wheel bearings while you're at it too.

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I’m hoping that this only a top end issue, but with my luck I better check the oil at least. I did manage to get one drum off while I was changing the tires, but that was purely by luck and not because I was trying to. When I replace the front boots I’ll take the time to inspect everything up front, the rears I’ll do at another time or right after.
 

Elijah95

Certified Rookie
1,239
1,184
113
Location
Georgia
Picked up a hardtop finally, screw those $2000 prices for one! Needs TLC, but zero rust! Going to rework the sheet metal,

Looking for rear lower gasket where it meets the cab, and window gaskets, as well as a j hook. Anyone?
 

simp5782

Feo, Fuerte y Formal
Supporting Vendor
12,118
9,351
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Location
Mason, TN
Picked up a hardtop finally, screw those $2000 prices for one! Needs TLC, but zero rust! Going to rework the sheet metal,

Looking for rear lower gasket where it meets the cab, and window gaskets, as well as a j hook. Anyone?
Take a turn buckle hook and bend it to make it work.

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BenRoberts

Certified insane
1,367
208
63
Location
southwest/ohio
Changed out a diaphram on the farthest rear brake chamber that was leaking bad. The Napa diaphrams work good. As Wes mentioned in another post longer bolts for the clamps will make the job easier. I fought the original ones in but will use longer ones on the next chamber
 

sandcobra164

Well-known member
2,999
289
83
Location
Leesburg, GA
Put a pair of Exide 6TAGM batteries in mine. Should be comparable to a Hawker, got them from a local recycling company that gets take outs from the base. One has a shipped date Dec 2014 and the other Feb 2017. Both passed a load test and had an open circuit voltage of 12.6 volts. I went ahead and charged them up before installing. Not bad for $80. My old batteries didn't make it past the cold snap we had here. They got to the point that if the engine didn't start in about 10 rotations, they would give up.
 

sandcobra164

Well-known member
2,999
289
83
Location
Leesburg, GA
Might need to get a pre-luber system for the oiling system. I think the starter spun the engine above idle speed when I started it up! It's only 50 out but it settled into a "cold" 500 rpm idle in neutral. Drove it around the block to warm everything up and it idled at it's normal 650 rpm idle in neutral. It started almost as fast as my old M35A2!
 

74M35A2

Well-known member
4,145
326
83
Location
Livonia, MI
Your alternator will actually thank you more than anything else. It can now top off the batteries quickly, and then chug along nice and cool while supplying only the 6 amps or so needed to run the engine. Old batteries continuously suck on an alternator as they never fully recharge, and this causes the alternator to always be under load, and never get a break. This situation worsens at idle, because the cooling fan is centrifugal. This means the air movement increases exponentially with rotational speed. At idle, the airflow is very very low, yet the load is still on the alternator, so that is when it will run the hottest.
 

sandcobra164

Well-known member
2,999
289
83
Location
Leesburg, GA
I guess my alternator will be much happier. I had to get "jumped off" to make it to the GA Rally in the 3rd week of October. The alternator charged the batteries up sufficiently that it didn't have to be jumped off again that weekend. After that, I installed a 24V solargizer panel from pulsetech. When I pulled the old batteries, they measured 12.4 and 12.5 OCV but that's marginal at best when trying to turn over 14 liters of awesomeness!!! They were mismatched batteries anyhow. One had 775 CCA, the other had 680 CCA. Now I have 1225 CCA. Since it never gets really cold down here, I think I'm good. After I shut the engine off last night, the volt meter barely moved to the left instead of the usual drop to just before the yellow.
 

TechnoWeenie

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
1,653
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113
Location
Nova Laboratories, WA
Your alternator will actually thank you more than anything else. It can now top off the batteries quickly, and then chug along nice and cool while supplying only the 6 amps or so needed to run the engine. Old batteries continuously suck on an alternator as they never fully recharge, and this causes the alternator to always be under load, and never get a break. This situation worsens at idle, because the cooling fan is centrifugal. This means the air movement increases exponentially with rotational speed. At idle, the airflow is very very low, yet the load is still on the alternator, so that is when it will run the hottest.
AFAIK, on an NHC250, The only thing needing power, once running, is the fuel shutoff solenoid, which can be turned open manually if need be. That should be less than an amp...
 

caleb0613

New member
5
0
1
Location
Pawhuska, OK
I just finished my interior work and ac and heat in my m818 it's finally air tight and has awesome stereo system in it. I also got the dual 8in stacks put on.
 

fuzzytoaster

Well-known member
Steel Soldiers Supporter
4,290
3,103
113
Location
Fort Worth, Texas
Wes dropped this "green gal" off about 3 weeks ago and I've been working on her over my lunch breaks. New fuel lines, new lift pump, remounted all tires, etc.. waiting on a replacement cab cover and some other minor parts. She's very clean looking like a late 2010 rustproofing. Some of the MWO tags are dated 04-10. I've put in new batteries and added some oil treatment to loosen the engine up. She now starts and runs like a champ, it took about 10 hours of idling time and she shaped up. Next tasks are to deal with the stuck parking brake buzzer and reactivate the CTIS. It's clear who ever had this truck last was not military (came from a state dept). An odd problem I'm going to have it matching the exact paint shade as it's not dark as new CARC green but much better than any old CARC I see. Thanks again Wes!
 

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simp5782

Feo, Fuerte y Formal
Supporting Vendor
12,118
9,351
113
Location
Mason, TN
Left Memphis on January 18th. Got home the evening of the 2nd. Logged nearly 9,500 miles in that span. Was a long two weeks. Had an exhaust clamp issue that i fixed. Started having an oil leak from the head gasket it appears but it is intermittent. Had a loose connection on my alternator cable causing a spiking issue and a loose coolant hose clamp. Other than that she ran like a champ. She ran 3 trips from northern VA down to Albany and back. Then as far out as Fargo and back down. I left Hagerstown, MD about 2pm on Saturday and I was in Fargo at 1pm Monday to drop off. The temps were colder so i left her running. She ran continuously from 2pm Saturday until 5pm on Thursday. She did surprisingly well. Had to use my heater alot and even my air conditioning at some points. She had a headwind all the way west and coming back down mostly. Averaged around 6mpg loaded with 1600s. So imagine how much diesel I went thru. It killed my top end OD but did well in direct (15th)

Of course everyone likes pictures. As far as idle/burn time. At 8 hours idle she used about a gallon/hr.

On the one dozer pic she looks to be squatting pretty bad. I was actually parked in the middle of a low spot so it looks bad.

Did get home last night and this morning got the Wabco air dryer installed along with the measurements for the HEMTT case and I got some hydraulic cylinder mounts made up for my trailer ramps.
 

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