Guest ottothecar Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 (edited) Hello everyone, My name is Adam and I live in Northern VA. My good friend Kevin and I have been working together to bring a 1922 Autocar Model H back to life. We have no knowledge of the truck's history beyond roughly 50 years but know it was used by the previous owners as a tractor-esque log skidder. It was found and acquired by us roughly 20 years ago in an estate sale of sorts and has been sitting and buried in his barn until a few days ago. Specs are as follows: - Believed to be a 1922 - Model is 27H - Build number 40818 - Engine number 41269, 4 cylinder most likely original but had to have been rebuilt at least once over its lifetime - Solid rubber tires on wood spoke wheels - PTO-driven winch We first started looking into fixing it close to a year ago and have been dragging out feet, but did remove the magneto and sent it to Mainely Magneto for a rebuild. Re-installed the new magneto but didn't install new plugs/wires. Cranked it over a couple times and felt good compression but didn't have the time to do extra work. This past Friday we finally got around to the plugs and wires, worked a simple gas tank up, and cranked it over. We knew compression was good from looking at it previously but didn't expect it to begin coughing as quickly as it did. Once we hear one cough we poured some gasoline into the head directly (fuel tank/line setup we had was a bit sketchy and figured the carb had to be gummed up), and it came to life! Quite the rush. All that said, here's our "to-do" list... - Driver's side wheels are seized, need to remove them and likely free up/replace the bearings. Re-spoke the wheels. - We removed the carburetor, need to rebuild it and clean it up - We removed the factory gas tank and plan to either sand blast it and repair it or replace it altogether - Remove as much as we can from the frame, sand blast it - Probably removing the winch altogether and building a pressure-treated wood flatbed setup - Fabricate an engine cover and heat shield - Re-core the radiator And I'm sure there will be much more! To lead things off, I have a couple of questions I was hoping you guys could answer: - Where should I be posting my Autocar threads on this site? Looked through the main forum page but want to be sure before I start posting my pre-war questions. - Am I on the wrong site altogether? This thing is definitely an antique, but if there is a better website with more information i would prefer to be there (no offense to AACA, of course). - Parts-wise I have no idea where to begin. Gaskets? Seals? Any ideas? Or am I in the realm of cutting my own now? Have access to a laser machine and can cut mm-precise gaskets but would prefer to just buy them if I can. - Anyone know of an Autocar community or group of old codgers that have information on these vehicles? Would really like to learn some more about this vehicle. I am going to try and embed some pictures and a firing video. If it doesn't work I will post some pictures in following comments. I appreciate everyone's help in advance and look forward to continuing posts on here. Cheers! First solid video of it running. Pardon the language and questionable quality. Edited October 16, 2016 by ottothecar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 We restored a virtually identical 1928 Autocar back in the 1990s. It repaid our work by badly breaking my right arm. Was your truck sitting in Northern Maryland or maybe Delaware when you bought it? If so I remember the truck. Top speed with those solid tires is about 20 mph. Great fun to drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TerryB Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Other sites you might find useful are the ATCA (antique truck club of America) and the Antique Truck Historical Society. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Wow! That's some project! have fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Surprisingly Autocar was a still using acetylene headlights and hand cranks as late as 1928. Electric start was an option so I suppose electric lights were availbe as well. Ours had neither. Be very careful if you hand crank it. That wrap around bumper puts you in a very dangerous position when you crank it. Trust me, 2 operations and 3 days in hospital and a 12" scar is no fun. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Surprisingly Autocar was a still using ac etylene headlights and hand cranks as late as 1928. Electric start was an option so I suppose electric lights were availbe as well. Ours had neither. Be very careful if you hand crank it. That wrap around bumper puts you in a very dangerous position when you crank it. Trust me, 2 operations and 3 days in hospital and a 12" scar is no fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 As I remember the gas pedal is actually between the clutch and brake pedals. Very unusual. The truck we restored lives in a museum in York, PA if you need one to look at. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 8 minutes ago, Restorer32 said: As I remember the gas pedal is actually between the clutch and brake pedals. Very unusual. The truck we restored lives in a museum in York, PA if you need one to look at. We were aware of the pedal setup--traced each of the connecting rods to the different functions and determined the steering wheel controls setup as well. Kevin was actually the one to retrieve the truck in the first place so I will have to ask him where he found it. I want to say it was MD though. I know he said it had been sitting under a pine tree for at least a decade when he came across it. Ring a bell? It was in the hands of a woman who had a grandfather that used to use it on their farm for moving logs. Once he passed away they had no use for it, and it sat. We'll keep watching out for the hand crank kick-back but unfortunately that sort of is what it is. Cranking at the right angle and avoiding the bumper is key. I'll have to keep up with you since it sounds like you have some experience with these. Did you watch the firing video? How do you think it sounds? Any thoughts on parts? What was the extent of your restoration? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Ours was a total frame up restoration to show standards. We showed it in Aaca competition once. It received a First Junior Award in about '92 and was nominated for a National Award. Hardest part of restoring the truck was dealing with the sheer weight of the individual components. I will try to post a pic tomorrow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinmass Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 WW I has a bunch of Autocars in use. Here are a few photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
padgett Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Have often wondered about the hand crank issue (had a 1955 MGA that had one). AFAIR I used a doubled leather belt to pull up only and avoided any rapped knuckles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bud Tierney Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 I poured gas into ones that's been sitting that long and fired them up, back when I had more enthusiasm than foresight...it's obvious the gods love you... That said, ATCA is a small site, not much traffic, but you need all the help you can get; ATHS and justoldtrucks are heavily into more modern stuff, but they're all good people (and free).. Another site is the Antq Auto/Trk forum on smokstak, also free... I thought there was an Autocar website as such, but Google just brought up waycool.com/autocar, a facebook page and a couple other club references; join them all; you never know where the advice/help you need will come from... Autocar produced such a blizzard of models I have very few listing in the early 20s, but it appears some Hs, including 27H, could originally have had either their "H" engine, 4" bore, or "Y", 41/4 bore...the only thing truck owners like more than comparing engines is swapping them, so you may or may not have the original. You'll need autocar people to ID it and find parts sources... I don't have any engine parts catalogs that go that far back to show the b/s of those two engines or whether they shared parts with other Autocar engines... Autocar was one of the premier makes, which id good as there were many built...it's not like you were trying to resurrect a . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 15 hours ago, Restorer32 said: Ours was a total frame up restoration to show standards. We showed it in Aaca competition once. It received a First Junior Award in about '92 and was nominated for a National Award. Hardest part of restoring the truck was dealing with the sheer weight of the individual components. I will try to post a pic tomorrow. I would be interested in seeing it and hearing more about it...may take a trip up to the York museum soon as we go off-roading at Rausch Creek fairly often. What is the name of the museum? 10 hours ago, mike6024 said: Have no idea how that could be hand cranked safely with that frame member out front in the way. Knocking on wood, it has yet to give us any serious injuries. Kevin's arm got a little tired and may have bumped the frame once or twice, my palm is a little sore from gripping it like I did. As I said, the danger is definitely there but we seemed to be able to mitigate it if we had stable footing, reached at it from directly in front and directly above, and paid attention. 7 hours ago, Bud Tierney said: I poured gas into ones that's been sitting that long and fired them up, back when I had more enthusiasm than foresight...it's obvious the gods love you... That said, ATCA is a small site, not much traffic, but you need all the help you can get; ATHS and justoldtrucks are heavily into more modern stuff, but they're all good people (and free).. Another site is the Antq Auto/Trk forum on smokstak, also free... I thought there was an Autocar website as such, but Google just brought up waycool.com/autocar, a facebook page and a couple other club references; join them all; you never know where the advice/help you need will come from... Autocar produced such a blizzard of models I have very few listing in the early 20s, but it appears some Hs, including 27H, could originally have had either their "H" engine, 4" bore, or "Y", 41/4 bore...the only thing truck owners like more than comparing engines is swapping them, so you may or may not have the original. You'll need autocar people to ID it and find parts sources... I don't have any engine parts catalogs that go that far back to show the b/s of those two engines or whether they shared parts with other Autocar engines... Autocar was one of the premier makes, which id good as there were many built...it's not like you were trying to resurrect a . We definitely lucked out with it firing up as smoothly as it did. When we first turned it over (really just to see if the engine was free at all) it felt somewhat strong but we were far more encouraged once we removed a couple spark plugs and felt the strong compression that it had. It needed some love (along with fresh gasoline poured directly into the head) but it was a hell of a thing to hear it cough and fire. Obviously there isn't much to these old engines so once the magneto was done, new plugs/wires were installed, and new gas was in it it was bound to produce some sort of combustion. This is another video of it running a few minutes later. We didn't start it anymore after this, didn't want to push our luck. We saw a little smoke from the opening of the radiator cap and were initially worried about the head gasket being shot, but it didn't smell like anything suspect so we've chalked it up to residual dust and whatever is in the radiator itself for now. The Yamaha tank is being used as our temporary gas tank. I've attempted to reach out to the Waykool/Friends of Autocar guys but I haven't heard anything back. They seem to be some real old codgers who probably know their stuff but likely don't spend much time on the internet anymore. Would love to speak with them, though. I'll try and reach out to ATCA and the like and see what happens. Like I said above I took note of the engine number off of the frame tag (not an easy task...see photo below) but wasn't sure if it would do much good given the sheer age of the truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) On that tag you can barely make out: - Model - Number (i.e. build number) - Engine number - Weight - Towable weight (or load) - Can't remember this line - Maximum speed The right tag is a LOT harder to decipher because the lines of text are only a couple millimeters tall. They look to be all patent numbers for Autocar going back to 1899ish so I don't think they're too important for us right now. Luckily everything is embossed so once we find a way to carefully remove it we can work more on clearing it up to the point where we can read it better. Edited October 17, 2016 by ottothecar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Ours was a 3 ton model from 1928. We drove it in several parades. Great fun to drive. No idea what your plans are for the truck but it originally had a C cab which was mostly wood and could easily be reproduced. Biggest expense was the hard rubber tires. Ours had 36x12 tires on the rear. The entire wiring harness consists of 1 wire running from the mag to a shut off switch under the seat. Other than spark plug wires that's it. Does yours have a center mounted Brown-Lipp trans? I had started ours many many, times and I know how to crank an engine safely. Then it sat in a museum for several years. The museum asked me to move it. When I started it somehow the crank continued around and hit my arm, cleanly breaking the larger bone about 4" above my wrist. There was no back fire. I think the grease on that long crank had congealed and wouldn't allow the crank to release. After that we installed a starter, which was apparently an option since there was provision for it on the bell housing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Restorer32 said: Ours was a 3 ton model from 1928. We drove it in several parades. Great fun to drive. No idea what your plans are for the truck but it originally had a C cab which was mostly wood and could easily be reproduced. Biggest expense was the hard rubber tires. Ours had 36x12 tires on the rear. The entire wiring harness consists of 1 wire running from the mag to a shut off switch under the seat. Other than spark plug wires that's it. Does yours have a center mounted Brown-Lipp trans? I had started ours many many, times and I know how to crank an engine safely. Then it sat in a museum for several years. The museum asked me to move it. When I started it somehow the crank continued around and hit my arm, cleanly breaking the larger bone about 4" above my wrist. There was no back fire. I think the grease on that long crank had congealed and wouldn't allow the crank to release. After that we installed a starter, which was apparently an option since there was provision for it on the bell housing. So yours would have been a Model K, correct? I believe those were the 3 ton models with the extra-long wheelbase. The solid rubber tires currently installed on these wheels are 34x6. Who did you purchase your tires from? The trans is center-mounted but I wasn't able to find a manufacturer or number or it. It needs some cleaning but it's got to be embossed on there somewhere. Was Brown-Lipp the only manufacturer of the Autocar transmissions? Weren't these two speeds? Looking at the carb it's stamped with an M-2 and the bowl says Stromgberg Motor Devices Co. Guessing that's the carb manufacturer? A quick Googling looks like they used to produce carbs. Edited October 17, 2016 by ottothecar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbking Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 A couple of things: (1) Stromberg was a manufacturer of carburetors, and (opinion) one of the top 3. The M series carburetors were excellent carburetors for the day. Be careful if you purchase a "parts" carburetor, as the M-2 has several different internal venturii for use on different size engines (in fact, Autocar used several different M-2 carburetors). (2) I have never cranked an Autocar; however, I have cranked lots of tractors, import cars, etc. I was taught at a very early age NEVER to wrap my thumb around the handle!!!! Have never had an issue because of this; and probably old enough my cranking days are finished. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Akstraw Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Thanks for sharing the video. I think it sounds great! Regarding one of your questions, I would recommend that you contact Olsen's Gaskets; he has an amazing offering of new and NOS gaskets. If he can't offer you a new or NOS set, he can make what you need from the old ones. He can also make felt seals. Good luck! Andrew Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 We bought our gaskets from Olsons. The truck we did is in the Agricultural and Industrial Museum in York. Google York County History for details . I would post a pic but our wall pic is still packed away with our Hershey display. Coincidentally my Son, who actually owns the business now, is a long time Rausch Creek member. We restored the truck we did for Pfaltzgraff Pottery. They had a small fleet of Autocars back in the day. They were all bright yellow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 14 minutes ago, Akstraw said: Thanks for sharing the video. I think it sounds great! Regarding one of your questions, I would recommend that you contact Olsen's Gaskets; he has an amazing offering of new and NOS gaskets. If he can't offer you a new or NOS set, he can make what you need from the old ones. He can also make felt seals. Good luck! Andrew Thanks Andrew, I'll add that to my growing list of notes. 40 minutes ago, carbking said: A couple of things: (1) Stromberg was a manufacturer of carburetors, and (opinion) one of the top 3. The M series carburetors were excellent carburetors for the day. Be careful if you purchase a "parts" carburetor, as the M-2 has several different internal venturii for use on different size engines (in fact, Autocar used several different M-2 carburetors). (2) I have never cranked an Autocar; however, I have cranked lots of tractors, import cars, etc. I was taught at a very early age NEVER to wrap my thumb around the handle!!!! Have never had an issue because of this; and probably old enough my cranking days are finished. Jon. And Jon, thanks again for your info. Very worthwhile 10 minute phone call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 6 minutes ago, Restorer32 said: We bought our gaskets from Olsons. The truck we did is in the Agricultural and Industrial Museum in York. Google York County History for details . I would post a pic but our wall pic is still packed away with our Hershey display. Coincidentally my Son, who actually owns the business now, is a long time Rausch Creek member. We restored the truck we did for Pfaltzgraff Pottery. They had a small fleet of Autocars back in the day. They were all bright yellow. Glad to hear, it sounds like Olson's has what we're looking for. I will have to give them a call. Did they have new-old stock gaskets for your project? Or did they custom-cut them individually? Would you happen to remember what sort of parts they were able to provide you with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PennDutch1 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 This is the Autocar that my father (Restorer32) is referring to. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Then as now no one made hard rubber tires as big as what we needed for the rear. It would take a while to detail how we finally managed to get new 36x12 tires made, The size for the front was readily available though expensive. You should have no problem finding someone to make and mount new tires. My memory is a bit shaky regarding our restoration. We finished it 20+ years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 There you go. My Son found a pic on his computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1928 Serial number 1. If I can find our file on the restoration I may be able to tell you where we found the info regarding serial and production numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carbking Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Found that some time ago I had made .pdf files of the Stromberg type M instructions. 13.5 megabytes, so don't want to post here, but if you post your email address (or call me with it) I will email you the .pdf of the Stromberg M. Jon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Google Overman Cushion Tire Co. manufacturers of hard rubber tires for antique vehicles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 It's all slowly coming back to me. If your engine is the same as ours, and it appears to be, it has large roller main bearings front and rear, No center main. A bit noisy but roller bearings hold up well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 51 minutes ago, carbking said: Found that some time ago I had made .pdf files of the Stromberg type M instructions. 13.5 megabytes, so don't want to post here, but if you post your email address (or call me with it) I will email you the .pdf of the Stromberg M. Jon. Wow! This is a lot of great information guys. That 1928 looks pretty dead-on to how ours may have looked from the factory. Jon, you can email to adacla724@gmail.com. Looking forward to reading up on that carb. Thank you! I will give Overman Cushion a call. Our front tires are 34 x 6 but I don't have a note on the rear size. Based on the pictures they look like they could be 34 or 36 by 10 or 12. Restorer, were those rough the proportion of your tires? We will continue to try and do digging on the engine. I wonder if Olson's would have a better guess as to exactly what engine we are working with, given the year. I remember reading that they initially started with two cylinders in the early 'teens and I believe they switched to a 4 cylinder motor around 1920, and later moving to a six. I don't believe the six came out until the 30s so I am guessing our '22 and your '28 had the same four cylinder. My only question would be regarding the earlier post with the 4" vs. 4-1/4" bore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 1 hour ago, Restorer32 said: Then as now no one made hard rubber tires as big as what we needed for the rear. It would take a while to detail how we finally managed to get new 36x12 tires made, The size for the front was readily available though expensive. You should have no problem finding someone to make and mount new tires. My memory is a bit shaky regarding our restoration. We finished it 20+ years ago. Also, are the wheels in that picture wooden? If you were in the mid-Atlantic region when restoring it I'm wondering if you remember where you went to have the wheels re-spoked/re-finished? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 We are in the York, PA area. Our spokes were solid and usable as it. The tires are vulcanized to the rims and then pressed onto the wheels. Even with a large 100 ton press we were unable to push the rims off the wheels. Luckily we were able to have new rubber vulcanized to our rims without removing them from the wheels. Vulcanization is done at 350 degrees so not hot enough to damage the wood .We then taped up the wood spokes and sandblasted the rims. I then gave 4 employees each a wheel to fill and sand, It took 4 guys 2 weeks to smooth the rims and spokes so we could paint them. The rears are 36x12. Yours don't appear to be that big. I remember that one of the wheels fell over and it took 2 guys grunting to stand it up. Happily the Pfaltzgraff co placed no restrictions on us as to cost so we were able to do the truck as it should have been done. We spent a considerable amount of time getting the exact color that was originally on their trucks. We sprayed 7 different yellows before we got the exact shade that the oldest member of the family remembered the trucks being. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F&J Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 It's unusual to see wood spokes on a 1928 big truck. But Autocar seemed to go their own way on quite a few things back then. I had an employer take me on a "junk hunt" about 30 years ago in SE Connecticut. One thing I recall that day was an early smaller Autocar with a wooden frame. It was in the deep woods, and I think it was fairly complete. We went to so many towns and back roads, that I don't know where it was. He had passed away in 92 or so, so I'd never find it if it's still there. .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Restorer32 said: We are in the York, PA area. Our spokes were solid and usable as it. The tires are vulcanized to the rims and then pressed onto the wheels. Even with a large 100 ton press we were unable to push the rims off the wheels. Luckily we were able to have new rubber vulcanized to our rims without removing them from the wheels. Vulcanization is done at 350 degrees so not hot enough to damage the wood .We then taped up the wood spokes and sandblasted the rims. I then gave 4 employees each a wheel to fill and sand, It took 4 guys 2 weeks to smooth the rims and spokes so we could paint them. The rears are 36x12. Yours don't appear to be that big. I remember that one of the wheels fell over and it took 2 guys grunting to stand it up. Happily the Pfaltzgraff co placed no restrictions on us as to cost so we were able to do the truck as it should have been done. We spent a considerable amount of time getting the exact color that was originally on their trucks. We sprayed 7 different yellows before we got the exact shade that the oldest member of the family remembered the trucks being. Holy cow. I'm not sure if we're going to be able to use the current wheel/tire setup. The wheels don't necessarily look to be rotted but there are at least 2-3 spokes on each that are missing some chunks of wood. The driver's side rear wheel is actually seized--we're hoping it's the brake shoes just being stuck. Before we go tearing into it, is there a special way to remove the wheels? From the pic below it looks like we need to remove that outer cap of seven nuts--does this reveal another cap below it? On another note--it looks like I for some reason lost the ability to add new replies or quote previous comments (aside from this one, which it is allowing me to edit.). Any ideas? Edited October 17, 2016 by ottothecar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Probably the brake shoes are seized. My memory is foggy but I believe if you remove the outer cap you will find that it pulls off and the axle shaft comes with it. Then you will find a large lock nut that you remove to pull the wheel. You will be surprised by how heavy those wheels are. The transmission is a three speed. We have literally dozens and dozens of pics of our truck in various states of disassembly and reassembly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest PennDutch1 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) Edited October 17, 2016 by PennDutch1 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Restorer32 Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Our truck was used hard. The 3/4" spring shackle bolts were very badly worn. Several had worn from 3/4" to as small in diameter as a pencil! Takes a lot of miles and heavy loads to wear that badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 (edited) 2 hours ago, Restorer32 said: Our truck was used hard. The 3/4" spring shackle bolts were very badly worn. Several had worn from 3/4" to as small in diameter as a pencil! Takes a lot of miles and heavy loads to wear that badly. Finally got my access back! As I said we suspected/hoped it was the brake shoes. We probably won't pull the wheel off until this weekend but I will update with our findings. A couple other questions that come to mind... - Radiator caps. Anyone know of any that will fit snugly? Right now we're using an empty glass bottle turned upside-down. - Oil. Recommendations for weight and viscosity? - What sort of antifreeze (if it was even called that) was used in the cooling system? If they didn't have antifreeze back in the '20s, what did they use? Water diluted with grain alcohol? - Fuel? We used brand new 87 octane to start it up the first few times but suspected we may need a lead additive of some sort given the age. What should we be using? PennDutch, a huge thanks to you and your father for these pictures. Invaluable! Can't find things like this anywhere else on the internet right now. 3 hours ago, F&J said: It's unusual to see wood spokes on a 1928 big truck. But Autocar seemed to go their own way on quite a few things back then. I had an employer take me on a "junk hunt" about 30 years ago in SE Connecticut. One thing I recall that day was an early smaller Autocar with a wooden frame. It was in the deep woods, and I think it was fairly complete. We went to so many towns and back roads, that I don't know where it was. He had passed away in 92 or so, so I'd never find it if it's still there. .. From what it sounds like these are some pretty heavy-duty wheels. We used out New Holland skid steer to lift up the rear end and pull it out of the barn and it definitely gave it a work out. This was not a light machine by any means. Edited October 17, 2016 by ottothecar (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ottothecar Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 On 10/16/2016 at 5:00 PM, Restorer32 said: We restored a virtually identical 1928 Autocar back in the 1990s. It repaid our work by badly breaking my right arm. Was your truck sitting in Northern Maryland or maybe Delaware when you bought it? If so I remember the truck. Top speed with those solid tires is about 20 mph. Great fun to drive. In response to this, we came across it in Howard County, MD off of route 40 near or just inside the Baltimore County line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArticiferTom Posted October 17, 2016 Share Posted October 17, 2016 Do not used todays ethanol gas ,your carb gaskets or any rubber may suffer soon . Use non-ethanol ,does not need leaded .Leaded fuel is product of 60's I believe . Octane would be nice if lower but regular non-E is 91 . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted October 18, 2016 Share Posted October 18, 2016 Engine oil. Change to a 5 or 10W-30 or 40. After some running, change again (when it gets a bit dirty). The engine will probably be pretty dirty inside. You probably should remove and clean out the sump too; the old oils were prone to turning to sludge. The 5 or 10W refers to the oil's behaviour during warmup and the 30 or 40 part describes its behaviour when warm. I would guess it was designed to run on about S.A.E. 30 oil. The value of tetra-ethyl lead was discovered during WWI and it was widely introduced during the '20s. Its value in protecting valve seats was realised later. Gasoline (benzine it was called back then in some places, including this country) was in the range of 40 to 60 octane in the '20s. I agree with Tom. Use lowest octane non-ethanol for the time being. (Ethanol gasoline was first used in the US in 1923.) Later, when you have replaced anything rubber in the fuel system, you might use ethanol-gasoline, but it sounds like it doesn't keep much longer than 6 months so don't store much in the tank. Antifreeze: use ethylene glycol with anti-corrosion additives. Not the long-life stuff. Change two to three yearly because it breaks down with time and heating cycles and forms acids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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