We’re here working on the truck, and just going about normal Minnesota summer life.
I found a rubber worm and was able to get a good scream out of the kids with it.
We were wandering around downtown North St. Paul, and popped into a junk/antique store where Lowe found these wheels. Yes, someone was selling the wheels from a broken toy truck, and by some strange miracle my boy had discovered them and had “an idea that I can build with them.” The next day we created this. It’s a lawnmower/ice cream truck/roving restaurant.
An afternoon at the Minnesota Zoo with aunts and cousins.
These two are always teaming up to beat me. I was supposed to be the policeman here, but clearly they have no respect for the law.
Measuring for curtains. That hole in the ceiling is from the original owner. If it were my kids they’d be dead now.
I brought the truck in the other day for new springs and shocks on the rear end. They also did an overhaul of the brakes.
On the way home the truck stalled. Then stalled again. And again, and again. I limped along for a while before the problem finally occurred to me. I crawled underneath the truck and found this—a fuel filter so caked with rust mud that no fuel could get through. When I installed the new-used tank on the drivers side, I cleaned it out the best I could, but clearly my best wasn’t good enough. This filter probably hadn’t been changed in decades anyway. When taking it off, first the bolt broke, and then the metal arm holding it on. Fortunately, for some reason, the truck had a spare fuel pump and accompanying fuel filter attached, so within a couple minutes I was back on the road.
I’ve got lots of filters now.
In addition to the stalling, the clutch got worse and worse until I could no longer get it in gear if the engine was running. I managed to get it in second gear and drive home like that. After getting it home and having a look around it was pretty clear that either the clutch master cylinder or slave cylinder had crapped out. Both of them were clearly original and needing replacing. I was able to find them online right away and a couple days later get to work.
The most difficult part was bending the tubing. Ali’s dad and I were utterly shocked when we got it exactly right on the first try. Even more shocking, after bleeding the system, was how incredible the clutch felt. The truck slips so smoothly into every gear now. Not sure, but it seems my joy over this could only be felt by me, judging by the reactions of Ali and the kids. I think you need to have the bloody knuckles to get any excitement out of basic auto maintenance.
The springs brought the rear end up 2 inches giving the truck a beefier and more level stance.
They added two leafs, and new shocks. Definitely feels firm. Only problem now is a loud clunk it is making that I have yet to track down the source of.
Off to the roller derby.
There could only be one person that Lowe could be on the phone with.
35 Comments on “MN Miscellany”
Maybe the clunk is the exhaust pipe hitting the shock? Good to take care of all these problems before hitting the road. Go Google.
I already moved the pipe over.
I found the problem. The bolt holding one of the shocks on is stripped and isn’t tight. That should take care of it I think.
KInda “shocking” that the suspension folks left a stripped out bolt in there….!
Agreed. I’m not really pleased with them, as there is no way they couldn’t have known.
The stance looks good on the new springs. Too bad no one in the fam will high-five you for your clutch work. lol
Is Lowe talking to Grammy?
Yes always (and only) to Grammy.
Pat, I don’t read every post, but I’ve been reading for 10 years now.
What was the impetus to sell the RV and go with the travelall? Seems tight for a family of four.
https://www.bumfuzzle.com/going-international/
Replace the U joints on the driveshaft, those are a weak spot in the drivetrain
Did my father-in-law put you up to this? He goes on and on about U joints.
We spent an extra two days in Colorado Springs in 1991 having u joints replaced on our 1957 Buick. We were on a cross country trip to Hershey that year! Just do it!
Two days in Colorado Springs doesn’t sound so bad.
It’s not that I don’t want to do it, it’s that there is a list of things to do, and that isn’t at the top right now. You can’t replace everything before you hit the road. At some point you just have to go.
If you refurb the driveline, don’t waste your money on anything but Spicers.
Definitely one of those jobs that’ll be a whole lot easier to do in the driveway than down the road somewhere.
Excellent taste in trucks. You chose well. A trick I learned for cleaning rust and welding scale from the interior of tanks is to put about three liters of 3/4 ” gravel in them and shake it from side to side while rotating the tank to different different positions. Adding beer and music to the exercise greatly improves the results.
+1 to that method, I did that with an Aluminum Diesel tank from my sailboat that had untold weirdness growing in it.
Standing tall. Looking great.
How long are you going to be in town?
Two weeks from today!
The fuel tanks on my 72 Winnebago would contribute rust to clog the fuel filter. I added a fuel pressure gauge under the dash, so I could see the progress of the clogging; most obvious on upgrades. Sometimes it took 1000 miles, but could clog up in 40 miles of rough pavement. I also gave the vehicle a new mechanical fuel pump every ten years.
Even with the fuel filter, I imagine some very fine silt will eventually turn up in the carburetor float bowl.
Here’s a digital high five to you and Ali’s Dad for nailing the clutch repair!
Quick and easy tank cleaning..fill with muractic acid the stuff they put in pools..50/50 water to acid..let sit for x minutes( any where for 30 minutes to an hour) depending on the rust amount. works best if the tank is out and you can look in the access port and/or turn the tank so all sides get the full treatment…dump/pump out and put gas in right away to avoid flash rust..or if out a little diesel or oil to coat the sides while waiting to re install. Vinegar works too but takes at least 24 hours or more. To test your mix before yoiu put it in the tank take a rusty bolt put in your mix and see how fast it removes the rust. If you don’t get it clean you will fighting it for ever..You might also consider sealing the tank after you clean it..I like POR15. http://www.por15.com/Rust-Preventive-Coating_c_11.html
PS what happened to the Minn. Twins post???
Regarding your cooling system:
If you have a clutchfan you may go about replacing the clutch part (cheap and easy to do) as those will cause the fan to not turn at the proper speed for cooling. If it is just a fan bolted on the water pump pulley disregard (unless it looks like cheap plastic).
The other thing I have seen in the old IH engines is the impeller blades in the waterpump just become pitted with rust causing cavitation and very poor cooling. Water pump would fix that.
And last, once you start your adventure you’ll know more, is if the radiator is just not working. It is getting hard to find a proper radiator shop nowdays, but if you could, it would be easy and cheap for them to chemically clean out your radiator which would clean out all the little passages. Some of those shops even went as far as to remove the sides of the radiator and rod them out and put it all back together. Worse case, a new aluminum radiator would solve most big v8 cooling issues but cost quite a bit of money 🙁
I can’t wait to see you guys get outfitted and ready for the road and finally hit it! Also, I’m curious to see what spares and tools you take along as that is always interesting.
Pat is an expert on fan clutches 🙂
https://www.bumfuzzle.com/february-2011/ (scroll down to 09-Feb-2011 8:55 PM)
Can help but think you’re going for the Sturgill Simpson look. If you can sing like him too, I’ll be real impressed.
“Family”…That’s what it’s all about! What an “Inspiration” it is for me to read about your travels + adventures. Thank you all for sharing your lives with me! I appreciate *y’all. (*Born + raised in Texas)
I love your truck (and your posts), but it does dawn on me that regardless of what you have owned (boats, buses, etc.) you have spent a lot of time fixing them? You did say you wanted to travel the Yungas road didn’t you? Check your truck out good before hand, Pat.
Was that bear real, and was Lowe going to kiss it? 🙂
I don’t know anybody that travels like we do that doesn’t spend a lot of time fixing things, whether in an old boat, a new boat, an old car, or a new car. The new cars break down less, but tend to take waaaay longer to repair. These simple old vehicles can almost always get running again with a little common sense and bailing wire.
Second to changing the universal joints. Also get about 4 extra. They don’t take up much room and can be changed on the side of the road. Better than just sitting.
It’s not that I don’t want to change them, it’s that I don’t have time to change out every single thing on the truck before we go. Sometimes you just have to pull away and hope for the best.
Here is an awsome trailer you need to pull.
https://www.facebook.com/993430750770562/videos/994153737364930/
We briefly considered one of these, but we really, really want to travel light. When we pull into Bogota, or Buenos Aires, or wherever, we just want to be able to pull into a parking spot, lock the doors, and go. Small, small, small, is the name of the game on this adventure.
As always…..all kinds of advice!!!!lol!!! Marilyn
Finished the Red Sea journey, Phuket to Turkey. It was biblical…thanks for the inspiration years ago.