Back in Black

33" Dunlop Mud Rovers on flat black spokes. I think these will work, though I might eventually paint the rims.

A Glut of Rubber

OK, so I must be obsessed or something. Well, no, not really. That cut in the sidewall of one of my 32s has been bothering me, so I've been on the look out for a new set of tires, or at least two to swap.

Well, the other day I noticed a set of 33" Dunlop Mud Rovers on wagon wheels on CL. Thought about it. Thought about it some more. Finally emailed the guy last night and he still had them. Went to look at them tonight and wouldn't you know it, they followed me home and are now on Hanky.

Yes, this probably puts the 35" debate to rest. Will probably look to move them on to someone who can use them, or possibly trade for ??? These suckers are worth about $1200 new, but I won't be asking anywhere near that...

Will post pics tomorrow when it's light.

If They Don't Want It, Is it Stealing?

So there is this small utility trailer abandoned on Rt 175 at Tamar Dr., like a mile and a half from my house. Been there for like a month. When I first saw it, the tongue was leaning up against it, like it had broken off.  After it sitting there for three weeks, I finally stopped to check it out. Not bad. Lots of surface rust, but solid. New wheels. All the wiring and the tongue is gone. But, it's just a straight tongue that bolts on. Easy fix. So, I'm thinking I can just take this thing home and fix it. Check the MVA site to see what kind of hoops they would  put me through to tag a salvaged trailer. Lots if I don't have a title. So I figure I ought to call the Police to see what they say. Nope, can't just take it, even if it's been sitting there forever. They have to run a VIN check (good luck finding one). If they can't find one or the owner doesn't claim it after they run a check, they tow it away and auction it off somewhere, some time. The duty officer even said that it would be a whole lot easier if I just took it, but can't let me. Bah. Phooey.

Decisions, Decisions

These new wheels won't fit on the rear passenger side as-is, but since I've already trimmed a section out of the driver's quarter, I figured I'll put them on that side to see how they look with the truck sitting on it's weight. Pretty damned good.

Then, since I can't drive it around with 3 35s and a 32, I put the rest of the 32s back on. For comparison, here's how it looks:

Mind you, the rear does sag just a bit, but is clear that there will need to be more than just a little trimming to make these bad boys fit. Given that I planned on cutting off the ds quarter anyway, doesn't seem like I have a lot to lose. Might have to put those add-a-leaf's I have on the rear to kick it up another inch or so.

I still have to repair the floor and mid mount on the driver's side, so I have some time to think about what I really want to do.  SOA, 4.09 sounds pretty good. :-)

Free Like a Baby, not a Beer

So, like I said, these bargain tires I got are gonna cost me a fair bit more if I'm going to be able to use them. Tried putting them on today just for kicks to see how they would look just sitting still. Fronts fit great and look really good. The rears are, well, tight. I jacked from the bumper, so even with the axle unsprung, there was only about 1/2" clearance between the tire and the front edge of the quarter. If I lowered it, it would have pinched the tire. Looks pretty cool though. It actually looks like it would interfere even with a significant amount of additional lift. Check out the pics. The last one is the 32" tire next to the new 35". By the way, the front tires are Dick Cepek MTS and the rears are BFG Mud Terrains. The look darned near new, but are definitely used a bit.

Now I've gone and done it.

Just couldn't resist these wheels/tires. 35" and cheap on eBay. Picking them up tomorrow. Now I wonder how much it will cost me to lift Hanky enough to be able to run them. I don't think the 6" I have now is enough. We'll see tomorrow!

Scoutco Products. Mustang Style rocker stripes

OK, thinkin' about this stripe for Hanky. The paint that I have for it is about this color too (hopefully it is still good after sitting on the shelf for um, like 10 years.).

Scoutco Products. Mustang Style rocker stripes

Workin' Down Under

Whoo hoo! Got the Aussie in this weekend. Started on Friday and with Brian's help, it wasn't too bad. In about 4 hours, we got it out, the Aussie pieces installed and the carrier back in. On Sunday I put the axles back in, tested it and took it for a short spin. Seems to work perfectly. Can't wait to test it off road!

Cool, man.

The preponderance of evidence pointed to a thermostat malfuntion as the cause of my ruptured hose, boil over problem at Pinelands. So, yesterday I set about testing it. Pulled it out and did the kitchen pot method, along side a new one and sure enough, the old one didn't budge. There you have it. New one is now installed and we should be good to go.

Also gave Hanky a bath, since the rain washed most of the mud off anyway. Anyone have a good way to turn my now-gray tire sidewalls back to black?

A New JL IH Truck is coming

Pay attention kiddees, a new IH pickup is on the way from Johnny Lightning.

More details on the JL blog.

Forever and a Day

Man, it's been a long time since I've posted. You probably were wondering where I went. Or not. It's been one of those summers. One that hasn't involved a lot of time with the trucks. Made it to Carlisle this year, Didn't make Nats or Hershey, but did make Pinelands. Oh, I did manage to swap the doors, finish welding the driver's side firewall and front floor. Took a rattle can to the top and windshield frame just prior to Pinelands, so it's all basic black now. Well basic black and mud. Here are some pics to catch you up:

Cross one off, add another

Had some time to kill today while the masses perused my wares at our neighborhood yard sale today, so I took the opportunity to rebuild the thermoquad. Made a run down to Harbor freight last night to pick up some soda. Used that to clean up the carb and it worked great. Clean as a whistle, buttoned back up and on the Scout. works great. Need to do a little fine tuning on it and general tune up stuff. timed it to 8* and took it for a run. Not bad, but isn't giving quite the power I would expect. Worlds better than it was though.

Of course, with the good comes the bad. Not only is the steering box leaking like a seive, the alternator seems to be going and I spotted what looks like oils seeping from the crank in front.

One of these days I'll just be able to drive and enjoy.

A Truck Named Spot

I think I recently said "It's nice having a Scout that doesn't leak all over for once." No knock on wood. No salt over the shoulder. No rabbit's foot or four leaf clover in my pocket. My bad, 'cuz now Hanky is leaking PS fluid all over my driveway. Add it to the list

On the plus side, I got a rebuild kit for the thermoquad. Took the carb off and cracked it open. It is amazingly clean in side. There is a little sediment in there, which I think is my problem. I'm tempted just to clean it out and put it back together to see how it does. The other half of my brain says go ahead and rebuild it while it's apart. Of course, that logic led me to replace the bushing and seal in my last transmission and you saw what that got me.

The Devastation

Squirrels suck.

Doing What Trucks Do

Just to see if I have all the bugs worked out with both the engine and transmission, I decided to use Hanky on a little mission this weekend (OK, that and the radiator for Heavy D is still at the shop). On Saturday I took Hanky for a ride over to a Rebuilding Together job site. We were working on the townhouse of a really mother and daughter daughter (Dad wasn't home). While other folks were working on paint, electrical and plumbing inside, I was tasked with leading the demolition of the shed out back and general clean up of the back yard. It didn't take more than a few whacks to topple the thing it was rotted so bad. It probably took longer to load the debris up in the truck.

Hanky handled the load admirably. Nary a hiccup when I pulled away. Although, I must say that with 620 lbs. of wood in the bad, the steering does get a little flighty. How do I know it was 620# you ask? Well, I had to pay to dump it at the county landfill. 5020 going in, 4400 coming out = $20.15. And that's without a top, back seat, spare tire or jack. Fully dressed, I'm putting Hanky at about 4600+. Not light trucks, these Scouts.

All Flushed

While the tranny seemed to shift fine, this trans hasn't been a daily driver for some time, so I flushed the fluid and put in a new filter. Now it shifts really well. No, I didn't bother to adjust the bands. Didn't feel it needed it. After driving it after the flush, I still don't think it needs it.

Just a little bit of sludge in the bottom of the pan, nothing that wasn't expected. Judging by the gasket, this was the first time that the pan was dropped.

It's kinda nice not having Hanky mark its territory on my concrete driveway when I park it outside.

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Alan dropped off the 'new' transmission and t-case yesterday and after a brief sojourn to Three Brothers, the organ transplant got underway. With a lot of help from my trusty assistant Igor (er, Brian), we got it under the truck and lined up before he had to make a hasty retreat to go celebrate his wife's new job (congrats Kathy!).

The hard part was done, so all I needed to do was hook everything up. The front hard line was a b**** to get on. Took at least 20 minutes to get the threads started. Ugh. Also had to swap off the shifter cable that was on the trans (it was stuck solid).

Once all in and buttoned up, I took it for a run a block down to Brian's place. Runs like a champ, but really wasn't far enough to tell how it performs. Checked the fluid and it's a pint low and looks like there is a little bit of water in there, so I'll need to flush it out. This morning, I took it for a run to the beer store and it shifted nice and smooth. No signs of any leakage (hallelujah!).

We might just have a winner here! Can't wait to get the top back off and cruise topless.

p.s. while waiting for Alan to make the delivery, I started cutting what I though was a credit card area of rust under the gas pedal. Well, you know how that goes. It'll need to be twice that size by the time I get it all out.

Out with the Old, In With the New - redux

Pulled the transmission and transfer case today in anticipation of a 'new' one arriving from Alan. Pulled the converted to see if it was obvious from where this one was leaking. It wasn't. I don't know where it's leaking. Must be from the input shaft seal, but the thing looks perfect. Whatever.

Note to self. Place the tranny jack as far aft as possible when moving both the trans and t-case. It got a wee bit tipsy on the way out. But I got it down and out from under the truck without having to separate the two. A little creative tilt and spin to get that shifter lever cleared is all it took. Now it's a giant paper weight in the middle of my garage floor.

I'm thinking that while it's out, I should put in that dual exhaust and take the sawzall to a couple of rusty spots. It will be a lot easier now while I have extra clearance.

Left or Right?

Here's a question for ya: should I wrench with the left hand that has torn ligaments or with the right, which has severe tendonitis in the elbow?

That's right - BOTH! No pain, no gain.

Got in to the garage tonight and undid everything that's bolding the tranny and transfer case in the truck, save for the bellhousing and crossmember. If I can escape the office early, I'll see about dropping them out in anticipation of hooking up with Alan this weekend so I can put the 'new' one back in.

Keeping all my sore fingers crossed that I won't F&%$ this one up.

Good Days and Bad Days

This weekend was decidedly two of the latter. Well, it started out well enough. Bill D and I made a jaunt out to Crazy Ray's to see what's what. I scored a radiator for Heavy D and Bill scored a washer bottle, a speedo out of an old wreck and a dome light for his Saturn. Then back to Bill's place to install my spare starter in Peer Pressure. Voila, that did the trick and she started right up. Bill's problem solved.

Then the tide turned. Hanky dripped a little trans fluid at Bill's place and at Duesenbergs when we went to lunch. But when I got home the whole bottom of the truck was covered in trans fluid. It was dripping from EVERYWHERE. Ugh. So, the only thing that I think it could be is the input shaft seal. The one that I just changed and had given me so many headaches. I must have f***ed it up after all. OK, so trans has to come back out again. Deal with it.

Bright and early this morning, I put the 'new' radiator in Heavy D, filled it up and...

... it leaks. #)($#&%)*$%&$%$*$%*^!!!!!!

But, always hopeful, I'm thinking tha maybe, just maybe that water (yes, only water) is left over from having hosed off the engine bay before fiting it up (yeah, I know, why did I decide to hose off the engine bay before I tested this read? Hey, I was confident). So anyway, I let it sit a while, go hear my brother sing some opera, whip up a pot of chili, then go back out to fire it up. Hmmm, idling nicely and no sign of a leak. Might be lucky. Maybe it's just not hot enough yet, so I do for a 4 mile loop around the neighborhood. It's running good, sounding nice... until I get about half way. Something isn't right. Look at the temp guage and it's climbing fast towards 250.   %&$@$&%&!!!

Get it to a place where I can pull over and stop and already I can see it's leaking. Pop the hood and see it's thrown the fan belt - again! What the f***? OK, it wasn't the mandatory two belts, but that one belt was as tight as I could get it. Of course, I didn't put any tools in the truck, so I couldn't get it back on. So I waited until the temp dropped back down below 190 and limped it home. When I get there I walk around front and can see clearly one of the leaks, shooting right out through the grill.

So, I'm back to 0 Internationals that are road worthy. Time to take my original radiator to the shop and just have a pro fix it.

Then some time this week I'll start unbuttoning Hanky's transmission.

Frustration is setting in...

When it rains, it pours

Well, in this case, when the sun shines, it pours. Hanky has had a bit of a trans drip ever since I put it back together. Today, Brian H and I went to look at a 79 Scout. I noticed that it left a little puddle in the driveway there, did the same when we stopped at my nephew's movie shoot on the way back. Then when I got home, I looked under the truck and it was pouring out. grabbed a drip pan that I happened to have handy (doesn't every Scout owner) and slid it under to catch the deluge. This isn't a drip, it's a pour and I can see my trail leading back towards Brian's house. This ain't good. Looks like I am going to have to pull that tranny again. Maybe I'll just put in my spare for the moment and hope that is one is good. That new tranny jack might get a good workout this weekend.

What a royal pain. I'm getting tired of chasing leaks in a trans and tranfser case that didn't leak a drop before I took them out.

Oh, and I still need to fix the radiator in Heavy D.

Can't Live Without Water

OK, so I think that I fixed the leaky transfer case. Seems I forgot to put one of the bolts back in. Doh! Yeah, how did I manage to do that?

Anyway, took it for a ride to the bank over the weekend and when I get home I see that I'm leaving a trail of water wherever I go. Seems that the water pump didn't survive the 2 year hiatus as well as the rest of the engine. Good thin I have spares. Took the opportunity to wire brush and repaint the pulleys, since I needed to swap them anyway. Now hanky is tightened back up. The only drip now is a little drip from the transmission (why did I listen when the BP intelligencia said replace the input seal?). I think I can live with it.

It's still a bit finicky. I might need to put a kit in that carb after all. At least it's out of the garage now.

Drip Drip

After driving it on fumes to fill it up with gas (who knew you could put 18.8 gallons in an 18 gallon tank) and having it perform horribly, I decided maybe I should check the timing. It was about 4* advanced. Set it back to ~10* and it seems much happier.

Also put on the tailgate hinge pin that Alan borrowed (thanks Alan and Cami!). Now almost all of it's panels are back on. All that's left is the flywheel cover. But, woudn't you know it, that's exactly where a leak is dripping. So help me, if it's that inut shaft seal that's leaking, I'm going to have a fit (that thing gave me a fit putting it in). The transfer case is still leaking. Mostly because I haven't done anything about it. I did crawl under there to look and it does seem like it's coming from the gasket, so off it needs to come. I knew I should have put in new valve cover gaskets while I was regasketing everything else on that engine. definitely needs to be done now. Might need to redo the pan gasket too. I had to cut my own (was in a rush, don't ask).

In lieu of actually working on the truck on Sunday, Brian H and I decided to make a run over to Crazy Ray's in Hanky. Here's a tip: Get there early on nice days. There was a line out the door when we left. Didn't find any hydroboosts (for heavy D), but I did pick up a set of seat belts from a Suburban that look like they will fit better than the Ranger belts I have in there now. They had a PT Cruiser with a nice set of seats too. Tempting, but I didn't get them.

It was nice to ride in the Scout again. I do need to get those doors aligned a little better, though.

Closer to Home

Well, kids, I think that we're in the final stretch - close to getting Hanky back on the road. Well, technically I guess you could say we crossed that hurdle yesterday. Brian H stopped by to help again and we the radiator out of Big Red (since it's bad anyway) and took the new belts and but them on Hanky. Also found the right size for the A/C pump and put that one on and tightened down the pump.

Pulled it out of the garage for the first time under it's own power and it felt so good, we put the fenders, grill and hood on and took it for a spin around the block sans doors, top and windshield.

The wind was cold enough to blow tears out of my eyes (or maybe it was the dust), but it was cool. Gonna have to work on that carb though. Didn't like being given the gas and we pretty much idled around the block, but then when I did get it to take some gas, the throttle stuck near full open. Managed to turn around and get it back to the driveway without crushing anything. Tinkered with it a bit and got it to idle nicely again, but will have to give it some more attention.

We put it back in the garage so it wouldn't get sunburn. You have to ease into sun exposure you know.

Today I welded up the rust hole in the windshield frame and put that on. Dropped the top back on and bolted it to the windshield frame. Tip to all those who replace windshield frames, make sure you bolt it to the top before you tighten down the windshield frame bolts, then tighten the adjusting bolt, then the two on the inner/firewall side.

Also reattached the emergency brake and dimmer switch to the floor.

Wow, when you write it out, it doesn't sound like I did much, but I spent a good 8 hours in the garage this weekend. I think that I spent half that time looking for tools that were scattered about.

Would You Like Some Water?

BH came over to get some help with his u-joints yesterday. We knocked them out in about a half an hour.

Then we turned our attention to Hanky. On saturday I had spent about 4 hours in the garage, putting in the passenger side inner, the radiator, header panel and cutting, grinding and treating the rust in the replacement windshield frame. Sunday, BH and I put in the heater unit and plumbed it, the water bottle, the radiator overflow bottle, ran the headlight wires...

Then we decided to fire it up. With a little spritz of ether, it fired right up. Sounds pretty darned good. Need to tune the carb a little, but it doesn't sound like it needs a rebuild, lucky me (fingers crossed). However, when we filled the radiator with water, the water pump started leaking. Looks like from the bearing. Never fear, I have a few more laying around.

...and this is why I now fill with water first. I can always drain half of it out and replace with antifreeze once I'm certain it doesn't leak. Besides, water cools better than antifreeze, you just can't let it, well, freeze.

Speaking Too Soon

Did I say the radiator looked like it survived the trip? Yeah, well when I filled it with juice it promptly puked it back out from not one, not two, but three places in the core. Now, whether this happened in transit or I was sold a defective radiator, I'll never know. Caveat Emptor. Back to square one. Might just have to take the original radiator up to Courtney's Radiator to have him fix it right.

After that disappointment, I turned my attention back to Hanky. I got the passenger side inner fender hung with a little persuasion. Also cut some metal to scab into the firewall/floor seam on the passenger side. Once that is done, I can put the other inner back on.

The only other bodywork to do is to clean up the windshield frame and the grill and put it all back together. Then I'm ready to roll.

Well almost. I still need to get a tailgate hinge pin from Allan to replace the one that I gave him to go with the tailgate he sold.

...and I need to trace and fix that leak from the transfer case. Something tells me I am going to have to put it apart again.

Out With the Old, In With the New

The 'new' radiator for Heavy D arrived via the FedEx map today. Despite the FRAGILE marks on the box, they beat it up pretty good. Looks like the rad held up though. We'll find out when I put it in this weekend!

Filling the Void in Your Inner... Fender

Did some more trimming and welding yesterday. Not getting any better at it. The grinder is my best friend these days. But, I think that the welds are strong. I'm not going for beauty anyway. I cut out the rusty bits of the flange between the firewall and the floor on the engine side. I simply butt-welded the panels together on the driver's side where I cut out the flange. The passenger side will have to wait until I can move the Scout and get to that side (or until it's a warm enough day to work with the garage door open).

I also cut out the rust (well, what parts I felt like cutting out anyway) and welded in new metal in the inner fender. It was rusted out towards the front of the battery tray. Came out pretty decent. I'l be spraying over it with undercoating anyway, so it doesn't have to look pretty. Going to go do that now and hopefully be able to hang it before I go to bed.