Thread: Things that eat up your day

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I "resurrected" an old farm truck so I would have a snow plow available. We've owned this for more years than I can remember but it was loaned out to a neighbor who has been using it to haul wood from the backside of his and our property.

I think he last ran it some 4 or 5 years ago and he left it out in the woods. I asked if he was done with it and he said sure, it's just sitting there. So with the help of his son we drug it back to my shop. And I've been scaring off various rodents since.

I tossed a battery in and poured some gas down the carb, took a few minutes of cranking but it lit off and ran a minute 'til the gas ran out.

I had to take the wheels off ( front anyway) and got the brakes apart, took some heat to get the bleeders to open, and I "re-directed' the brake line to the rear - it now goes to one front wheel cylinder, and the other side of the master goes to the other wheel cylinder. Honed the cylinders clean and re-assembled the brakes and bled the air out.

For some reason the neighbors cut a lot of wiring ( could've just pulled the fuses!) so I did some cleaning up of the interior and wanted to get the heater working amongst other things. But first I got the plow remounted and had to fix some of the connections, here's a couple pics.

And of course there's all sorts of "little" things, like windows that worked... and then didn't, but needed to! LOL.
So after I got the plow working again. I moved onto the heater. The hoses get hot but the fan wouldn't run.. so I proceeded to tear it apart. only to discover more rodents of various sizes. and once they were evicted / exterminated ( NO.. I didn't call Seth!) but after the cleanout I discovered the bottom of the heater box is just gone. Plan B time. On to getting some lights to work. Of course the wires had been cut away.. and testing shows the switch doesn't work.. SO I replaced some wires and used a simple toggle switch to turn on/off the low beams, which is fine for my needs. HMmm how about some wipers.??? Oh yeah, more missing wires and testing showed? Yep, you're right the motor won't run and the switch won't work..Grrrr... Okay, Plan "C" after 2 days of trying to get the motor to run, I actually cut away the winding mounts and repaired one side of the winding then reassembled, it "kinda" runs but has no power so... Plan C, rev.A? And I noticed the carb is always dripping, it's a single bore holley and I removed it and cleaned it up, there was a pile of blue glue ( silicone sealant) all squishy and floating in the carb bowl, and it has/had been so overtightened the body is actually bent. I actually had a single barrel holley from "something" but I don't remember where I got it! So I figure what the heck, we'll swap it. then I discover it's a lot smaller in the main bore and the flange bolt pattern.. No problem, stuff it in the mill and move the bolt holes right???

Here's a pic or two..

SO after searching / finding a tree for the holiday, the wife and I cut it down and got it setup in the house this morning. She does the trimming, I stay out of her way!!

Back to the shop and got the carb re-installed but I don't have a bowl gasket but a friend had heard what I was up to and had a wiper motor out of a late model GM which he gave to me! So I'll need to do some McGuyver type work and hitch'em together.

And I had told Mark that I'd give him and his dad a hand on the pickup, I think its the third time I've disassembled this pickup! - so here's a pic of that. Where do the days go?

I've got nothing nice to say about your neighbor.

Yeah, it's ok. it's a woods truck after all.. If I wasn't going to run down the lane with it, I wouldn't bother fixin' any of it.
But plowing' snow can get messy, so I'd like the heater and wipers / headlights to work.

When you're dragging trees, you don't need brakes. And usually you're in first or second gear with the transfer case in 4 wheel low. So again, brakes aren't needed - just shut off the ignition. If you hit a tree.. oh well! Most of the small ones (~3", you just run over anyway.) they're pretty flexible and spring back up behind you. But I didn't plan on spending my time with it... and some money.. who knows, maybe I'll get ambitious and add some metal so I can say it's got a floor! rotflmao!

Originally Posted by 34_40

who knows, maybe I'll get ambitious and add some metal so I can say it's got a floor! rotflmao!

Add metal?
I'd say that is getting ambitious!
Haven't you got some plywood offcuts lying around in your shed?
And some nails?
If you still want to get ambitious with ply you could use screws.

I see a full blown restoration starting to brew here; resistance is futile.......

The old IH doesn't look to terrible for something been used and abused it's entire life. Nice to see you putting in the work and getting some more use out of it. I'm glad you guys will be getting all of the white stuff so I don't have to shovel it.

Originally Posted by falconvan

I see a full blown restoration starting to brew here; resistance is futile.......

Have you been talking to my wife??? She's saying the same thing.. Heck, I've got 76 dollars already invested and it's only left the shop once for a quick ride!

Originally Posted by johnboy

Add metal?
I'd say that is getting ambitious!
Haven't you got some plywood offcuts lying around in your shed?
And some nails?
If you still want to get ambitious with ply you could use screws.

Plywood!! I hadn't even considered it! It could have a floor just like the Model A! Thanks JB!

Originally Posted by 40FordDeluxe

The old IH doesn't look to terrible for something been used and abused it's entire life. Nice to see you putting in the work and getting some more use out of it. I'm glad you guys will be getting all of the white stuff so I don't have to shovel it.

The old Binder has been a tough truck all the time we've owned it. My uncle like to tell the story of how it carried home from the quarry a load of crushed stone, it ran off the scales at almost 13 thousand pounds! On single tires!!

Good thing no-one wanted to stop in front of him.

I figured if the motor puts up to much of a fight I'll ship it over to ya' for some compression ignition power.

Originally Posted by 34_40

Have you been talking to my wife??? She's saying the same thing.. Heck, I've got 76 dollars already invested and it's only left the shop once for a quick ride!

Originally Posted by 34_40

I figured if the motor puts up to much of a fight I'll ship it over to ya' for some compression ignition power.

Shoot, $76? You got off cheap!!!!!

On the swap, I can get you fixed right up!

Originally Posted by 34_40

( no.. I didn't call seth!:lol :lol::lol::lol:

.

:lol::lol::lol:

I haven't kept up to date with the farm truck so here's a quick one.

1. located / purchased / installed a carb kit and now the ol' girl can actually make some power.

2. After more than a few weekend hours I've got the wipers working again. The GM motor was to large so I gave up on that, "acquired" a Crown Vic motor while Mark wasn't looking. and whipped up an adapter to mount the motor to the body plate, then had to make a couple more adapters to fit the arms to the drive shafts and finally got the wipers going.

3. And just tonite I got the heater box back in and the beast makes warm air again. I can't tell you how much dirt / nest material ( now I know where all the seat material went!) and just crap I had to remove, even up into the cowl inlet.

So now I just have to replace the kinked bypass hose.. another "gift from the crown vic".. I wonder when Mark will notice?

Originally Posted by firebird77clone

I've got nothing nice to say about your neighbor.

There are givers and there are takers.
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