1929/1930 REO FireTruck Help needed

[Guest JTL]

Hello all,

I am looking for some help in a repair to the water pump for my Volunteer Fire Dept's 1929 REO Fire Truck. I am working on the truck engine water pump. I have a bearing for the upper end, but am in need of some info for the 2 shaft seals for the bearing at the top. They appear to be the same outer size diameter, but the inner seal diameter is where I need some help. Can anyone help with a part number or seal inner diameter for both top seals. I had the local bearing/seal shop mic the shaft and they still could not fine a seal that will fit.

My next question is for help on the packing nut to seal the pump end with the packing. Our is cracked all the way through and is out of round from removal. Can anyone help with a part # or someplace what I can get a packing nut. We have looked at machining our own, but it is cost prohibitive at this point. I have found the packing and the shaft and the impeller are in pretty good shape at this point.

Thank you for all you help in getting our truck back running for parades.

JT

[Guest noncompos]

You didn't mention whether you were a member of the Reo club; if not, it'd be a good place to start.

You'll need to definitely ID your engine, especially if its a larger vehicle with twin ignition; if so, it could well be a Cont, Herc or Wauk engine, not unusual in fire trucks. If you're not absolutely sure it's a Reo engine, AND which one, look for a tag (usually a metal plate 3"x4" or so attached to the side of the block, often painted over or covered in crud).

If a Reo, the club should have the info you need, both re' the pump seals and the packing nut. (I would think the packing nuts would come in a limited number of sizes/threads??) If another make engine, you'll need to check with obsolete parts suppliers for that engine.

Have you priced rebuilding by the professional water pump rebuilders??

You might also post this on the Reo forum here in case some Reo owners don't follow this forum.

If someone else's engine you might also post on the fire truck sites. Good luck.

[Guest JTL]

Noncompos,

Good evening and thank you for the reply. I will track down further info from the Dept. From the info I could gather they believe it to be a Diamler engine, but I will go andf look at it myself. I was given the parts to fix as in my previous career I was a pump mechanic.

For the packing nut I had thought from that far back it would be a standard pipe thread plug but that did not pan out when I checked the treads with a gauge. They are 16 threads per inch and not a pipe thread from what I and the local fastener shop can tell.

I have a part number on the body of the pump and have been trying to track this down as well as locating the REO Museum. I will look for the REO club on the site. As I just joined I am still new to navigating the site at this point and am trying to do this between my regular job, my military job as well as Fire Dept time.

Thank you for the help and direction you have provided. I will look for any other info on the engine and then post on the site and the REO site as well.

Regards:

JT

[Guest noncompos]

A Daimler engine would be very unusual...very, very unusual...unless ir was originally an exported model fitted with a Euro engine and later returned back to the US, which would seem unusual in itself...

Dying of curiosity now; do post what it turns out to be.

Oh: were you thinking of Diamond T?? They didn't build engines, used stock industrials (Buda, Cont, Herc, Wauk etc).

[Guest JTL]

Noncompos,

Ok I finally got to visit the engine for the 1929 REO Fire Truck. It appears that the engine is by Diamond and is an inline 6 cyl. The water pump runs off a pulley on the front of the engine.

Any idea of places to source parts for this engine for the pump seals and packing nut or a place to get dimensions to have the nut machined. I have spent hours on the net looking but may not have the contacts you have.

Thanks again for all the help.

JT

[Guest noncompos]

We're not any closer here...

A "Diamond" engine...do you mean there's a diamond shaped symbol embossed on the engine (Int'l Harvester produced various "diamond" engines--red diamond, blue diamond, etc--, but I don't know if they used a diamond symbol cast into the block or head in 1929)...if it's an Int'l engine (lots of these old units had engines swapped for later engines when parts for the original became NLA) oldihc.org would be the place to start...

Does something somewhere say "Diamond T', or Diamond anything (on an ID tag on the engine or bodywork, stamped/cast into block or head, anywhere)??

I still think the Reo Club itself is your best source of info; if they're not replying (clubs often have a limited number of people answering tech questions) can you post a pic of the engine for visual ID by people here and/or any stamped/embossed (cast on) numbers or letters from the engine??

I don't know if Reo made their own water pumps, nor Int'n'l; Diamond T would've probably used whaterever came on the engine, altho Reo could well've used a higher capacity water pump, since fire truck engines often ran for long periods at fires and needed higher capacity cooling to keep the engine cool.

Is there anyone at the truck location I could email direct for this info, to save your time and effort going back and forth?? With sympathy, Bud