What have you done to your CUCV today/lately - Part 2

[gottaluvit]

Dude... Read the manual. It's #8 below.

View attachment 629637View attachment 629636

If you click on the highlighted word "manual" above, it's a link to the manual, which you can bookmark, download, print, etc. The highlighting tells you it's a link.

There are 5 basic CUCV manuals. The -10 tells you how to operate it. The -20 tells you basic maintenance. The -30 is more advanced maintenance. The -20P and -30P manuals are parts used at the 20 and 30 level.

Folks will respond with much more enthusiasm if you read the manuals and do a search before asking questions.

Gotta admit I only read it when there is an issue. Mine dont light on startup, so it must be disconnected, the bulb burnt out, or the sensor absent since the previous owner put a screw on filter in.

 

[AECS]

If it has a screw on filter it most likely has been disconnected.

 

[cucvrus]

Big RED got a rebuilt steering gear box today along with all new steering linkage and the front differential gear oil was changed. I think that it is a time thing with CUCV parts. Because I noticed things happen one after another the same parts begin to fail on different CUCV's close behind each other. After all new springs,new shock absorbers, new tires, power steering pump,steering gear and all new steering linkage it drives like a new CUCV. It should everything was gone over. All the wheel bearings have been repacked and the gear oil changed. It was less expensive then a replacement truck.
$1300. for all 4 leaf springs
$ 200. 4 new shock absorbers
$ 60. steering stabilizer
$900. 4 new tires mounted and balanced
$350. Re-manufactured steering gear
$ 75. Energy suspension motor mounts
Much less expensive then a $4000. truck that would need most of these parts anyway. I drove it in to the GM dealer for PA state inspection last week and they said it needed a right and left tie rod end. And during the service they told me the gear oil was tan and the steering box was leaking. It failed inspection. That was what prompted me to do all the steering repairs. I drove it 200 miles today on I 81 and it drove so nice I could hardly imagine not doing this to a few other vehicles I own. It works. And less then the cost of vehicle replacement. I bought all the parts with the exception of the leaf springs at Autozone. This is the 3rd steering box I replaced on different CUCV's in the past 2 months. All were leaking at the input shaft. At $150. and warranted for life I don't think I could fix them for that. As far as I looked the seal is not easy to replace. Not $150. easy. I always have a core gear box so that avoids the $90. core charge. This is all east parts to replace. the leaf springs not so easy if you have frozen bushing bolts and no torch. Good luck on any projects and have a great day.

 

[rustystud]

View attachment 629754Big RED got a rebuilt steering gear box today along with all new steering linkage and the front differential gear oil was changed. View attachment 629755I think that it is a time thing with CUCV parts. Because I noticed things happen one after another the same parts begin to fail on different CUCV's close behind each other.

That happens with Fleet vehicles all the time. One bus will have a water pump go out then the whole fleet looses their pumps. Considering all the parts are bought at the same time by the manufacturer and then put on the vehicles, if the vehicles run the same amount of time then the parts fail at the same time also. I always new it was going to be bad when a new fleet came in and the first thing that happened was the rear differential went out on the first bus. Can you say mandatory overtime ! I always hated "mandatory" overtime. "So you say you had tickets to the game ? Too BAD ! Get to work !"

 

[glaser06]

Turbo almost completed today.

Also, figured out why so many Chevy cabs rust out in the corners.... The strip caulk used to seal the body seams shrinks and cracks, allowing moisture to collect in the cab corners. Second pic is me fixing this issue.
Never seen a write-up on this before, is there any interest in one?

Sent from atop the porcelain throne.

 

[Lizard Dog]

https://youtu.be/bIliVx-96Q4

Added digital voltmeters to monitor the batteries. At startup the bottom one displays the 24V voltage available for the starting system. Not critical, just for the look and for fun. The gauges were a few bucks each off Amazon.

 

[Another Ahab]

I always new it was going to be bad when a new fleet came in and the first thing that happened was the rear differential went out on the first bus. Can you say mandatory overtime ! I always hated "mandatory" overtime. "So you say you had tickets to the game ? Too BAD ! Get to work !"

I hear you. As a general contractor I had an owner (Intelsat, a big satellite consortium) with what I guess was money-to-burn and wanted an accelerated delivery for a project. Asked us to go to overtime across the board, all trades. The carpenters were the first to fry (project was in D.C., and back then your Union carpenters travelled out of the Shenandoah Valley into town and back out every day in carpools). Yeah, sure the money was good, and on paper the idea all sounded do-able but a week of that and they were all burned out (exhausted; no time for family or the farm). Production on the project dropped hard. Owner thought throwing money at a problem was all it took to solve it. People got in the way of that equation. That was a big lesson learned.

 

[riggermedic]

took my M1009 to flagstaff camping and 4-wheeling. fell back in love despite the current heatwave. got her up to over 85 on the freeway and she loved it (stock with 31's) around 2950 rpm cruzed 75-80 without a problem. I was always afraid to push past 65 mph but she did great. also got to play in 4 high and even low for a while.

 

[rustystud]

I hear you. As a general contractor I had an owner (Intelsat, a big satellite consortium) with what I guess was money-to-burn and wanted an accelerated delivery for a project. Asked us to go to overtime across the board, all trades. The carpenters were the first to fry (project was in D.C., and back then your Union carpenters travelled out of the Shenandoah Valley into town and back out every day in carpools). Yeah, sure the money was good, and on paper the idea all sounded do-able but a week of that and they were all burned out (exhausted; no time for family or the farm). Production on the project dropped hard. Owner thought throwing money at a problem was all it took to solve it. People got in the way of that equation. That was a big lesson learned.

I know that feeling well ! At work Mandatory overtime is 12 hour days 6 days a week. A guy can do that for about 2 weeks then you just crash ! As I got older I could only do it for about a week before I would get really sick. I once saw our Forman walk into a concrete post face on ! He was so out of it ! The department would provide food and lots of donuts and Coca-Cola and coffee but that will only keep you going for so long before the body says no more.
Some of the single guys would bring their trucks and campers and camp-out in the parking lot or just sleep in their cars. I was married so I had to drive home (45min) and drive in again in the morning (1hr) .
So I only got about 5 hours of sleep when this happened.

 

[rustystud]

Turbo almost completed today.

Also, figured out why so many Chevy cabs rust out in the corners.... The strip caulk used to seal the body seams shrinks and cracks, allowing moisture to collect in the cab corners. Second pic is me fixing this issue.
Never seen a write-up on this before, is there any interest in one?

Sent from atop the porcelain throne.

I just removed all the rust and painted it real good and then used foam sealer to fill up the pocket. Has worked well for the last 15 years.

 

[glaser06]

I just removed all the rust and painted it real good and then used foam sealer to fill up the pocket. Has worked well for the last 15 years.

Expanding foam like what you use to seal up a house?

Sent from atop the porcelain throne.

 

[cucvrus]

You need to see a Dr. If all you do is sit on a porcelain throne. Expanding foam is like adding a wet rag or sponge to the cab. it is a rust haven with any expandable foam.

 

[PJL]

Quick and Dirty Starter overhaul.

While fixing the water in fuel issue last week I noticed that the starter body was loose. Today I had a few free hours and decided to pull it off and go through it. Here is what I found. The upper bolt on the bracket had been bottomed out into the block, but the bracket was not tight. Over the years it elongated the holes and the starter loosened up. The 2 long bolts were loose and the small bolts on the strap from the solenoid were also loose. It was obvious that the armature had been rubbing on the field coils and getting hot as ****. We cleaned it, greased the bone dry bushings and bendix. Put it back in. Now it spins so fast the engine fires off immediately. I'm very confident I've pretty much solved the hard start issues. I did have a helper and we pulled off the front U-Joints on the front axle driveshaft to gain access. Pretty straight forward actually. Whole job took about 2 hours once I backed out the standing around and BS'ing time.

 

[Another Ahab]

Quick and Dirty Starter overhaul. It was obvious that the armature had been rubbing on the field coils and getting hot as ****. We cleaned it, greased the bone dry bushings and bendix. Put it back in. Now it spins so fast the engine fires off immediately. I'm very confident I've pretty much solved the hard start issues. I did have a helper and we pulled off the front U-Joints on the front axle driveshaft to gain access. Pretty straight forward actually. Whole job took about 2 hours once I backed out the standing around and BS'ing time.

But the standing around and BS are kind of the grease that keeps it all together.

 

[PJL]

Well there was also the 30 minute hunt for the single 15 mm socket. Must be a popular size. I founds gobs of 14's and 16's.

 

[Another Ahab]

Well there was also the 30 minute hunt for the single 15 mm socket. Must be a popular size. I founds gobs of 14's and 16's.

Come on, you know how it works. You found nothing but 14's and 16's:

- That's because it was the 15mm that you NEEDED.
Of course. That's only natural.

 

[glaser06]

You need to see a Dr. If all you do is sit on a porcelain throne. Expanding foam is like adding a wet rag or sponge to the cab. it is a rust haven with any expandable foam.

Yeah it's a serious problem

That's what I thought, open cell foam like that isn't good at keeping water in /out of anything (works exactly like a sponge). Now a closed cell foam (like the high density stuff they use under houses) would work great. It would both seal out water and deaden sound.

Sent from atop the porcelain throne.

 

[PJL]

Come on, you know how it works. You found nothing but 14's and 16's:

- That's because it was the 15mm that you NEEDED.
Of course. That's only natural.

Exactly, and if I wanted the 16's they would be gone.

 

[Kaiser67M715]

Yeah it's a serious problem

That's what I thought, open cell foam like that isn't good at keeping water in /out of anything (works exactly like a sponge). Now a closed cell foam (like the high density stuff they use under houses) would work great. It would both seal out water and deaden sound.

Sent from atop the porcelain throne.

yes and no, while closed cell would repel water, if any got between it and the metal, presto- rust, this was/is a pretty big deal with 70's VW Beetles, even out west they rust out around the rear window, BECAUSE the foam would hold the water against the metal(someone actually experimented and found the foam would not absorb the water), typically it would only collect the water if a window seal went bad, but I figure the same concept would occur here, although probably not noticeable for about 20-25 years depending on location

 

[rustystud]

yes and no, while closed cell would repel water, if any got between it and the metal, presto- rust, this was/is a pretty big deal with 70's VW Beetles, even out west they rust out around the rear window, BECAUSE the foam would hold the water against the metal(someone actually experimented and found the foam would not absorb the water), typically it would only collect the water if a window seal went bad, but I figure the same concept would occur here, although probably not noticeable for about 20-25 years depending on location

I got my idea from the MAN buses. They used square tube frames and closed cell expanding foam in them to keep out water and prevent rust. There idea worked great. So I cleaned my cab pockets and after using a good primer laid down a few coats of "Herculiner" . Then I added the expanding foam. I haven't had any rust issues in 20 years now.