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35 minutes ago, TexRiv_63 said:

Poor Pegasus, he's been through hell!

I found Pegasus lying beside a Dodge Dart in a farmer's field. It had been rolled up into a ball by a bulldozer. The farmer said I could have it, so I took it home. I donned a couple of pairs of safety goggles and started straightening it. That old porcelain was flying EVERYWHERE! I could only get it to flatten so far and started looking for a place it would fit. As you can see by the photo, the place I put it is the absolute perfect spot for it. Like the spot on the wall was made for the horse. Now, everyone who sees it asks me if I want to sell it. I wish I had taken a photo of it rolled up in a ball before I straightened it.

Edited by keiser31 (see edit history)
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12 minutes ago, mike6024 said:

Must be redwood siding, otherwise it'd be rotted. My garage looks like that on the south side.

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Put some of this oil finish on it, or linseed oil, before painting.

The bottom boards ARE rotted, so we will be replacing the bad ones. I am sure our paint job will outlast my honey and me.

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On 9/12/2021 at 12:04 PM, keiser31 said:

I found Pegasus lying beside a Dodge Dart in a farmer's field. It had been rolled up into a ball by a bulldozer. The farmer said I could have it, so I took it home. I donned a couple of pairs of safety goggles and started straightening it. That old porcelain was flying EVERYWHERE! I could only get it to flatten so far and started looking for a place it would fit. As you can see by the photo, the place I put it is the absolute perfect spot for it. Like the spot on the wall was made for the horse. Now, everyone who sees it asks me if I want to sell it. I wish I had taken a photo of it rolled up in a ball before I straightened it.

I'd like to meet that bulldozer driver in a dark alley...

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Well...that looks intimidating. What was the bearing material? It looks as if it was Babbitt but that shaft has to have way too much pressure on it unless it was a very hard alloy. I think taking it apart will be exciting but I hope you have help!

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44 minutes ago, JV Puleo said:

Well...that looks intimidating. What was the bearing material? It looks as if it was Babbitt but that shaft has to have way too much pressure on it unless it was a very hard alloy. I think taking it apart will be exciting but I hope you have help!

I was actually surprised that it was babbitt. I thought for sure I would find a bronze bushing. The babbitt bushings are actually split and are inserts which will make life easier. The top half is located via pins. Unfortunately we have the same problem on the other front sprocket so we have four bushings to deal with. I priced out bearing bronze..... about $1,700.00 worth with a huge chunk of that ending up as swarth.

 

From the looks of things this issue began way, way back in time. With the sprockets all out of align, they run out of time with the track and hang-up on the sides of the slots which explains the rough riding qualities of the old beast.

 

On a good note... it will give us a chance to free-up the gibs and dovetail slides the sprocket yokes ride on. When traveling over rough ground or rocks etc. the yokes are supposed to slide back and forth giving more flex to the track - they have not slid back and forth for a very, very long time. A large spring working through bell cranks is supposed to keep tension on the tracks so they are somewhat self adjusting.

 

Here is the parts diagram. This is for an earlier version that used oil wells for lubrication.

 

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.... and of course the phone number to the factory doesn't work anymore... sigh.....

 

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Edited by Terry Harper (see edit history)
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I'm thinking thats on the museum's Lombard dump truck?

 

First thought: sometime in the possibly distant past someone got a tad over-enthusiastic tightening the tracks and sometime later forgot where the grease gun was stowed.

 

Just saw Terry's update with the cuts of the assembly.

 

I was going to suggest looking at the other sprocket bearings but Terry beat me to it.

 

The price of the bronze bearing stock may be the reason the babbit bearing is there.

 

I'd call around to the heavy equipment shops locally, thats not a really large bearing in heavy machinery world and there may be a bearing on the shelf you could modify in your shop.

 

Keep us posted, Terry.

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They look like they are very thick bearings. Can you do something with a steel sleeve to hold a big bronze bushing? How long are they?

I'll puzzle over it and see if I can think of a cheaper way.

 

Take a look at American Sleeve Bearing. I'm thinking in terms of a steel liner to press into the frame with a bronze liner. This is on their "specials" list...

 

https://asbbearings.com/collections/discounted-second/products/cb4854-64-s

 

 

Edited by JV Puleo (see edit history)
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1 minute ago, JV Puleo said:

They look like they are very thick bearings. Can you do something with a steel sleeve to hold a big bronze bushing? How long are they?

I'll puzzle over it and see if I can think of a cheaper way.

Hello Joe, yes, they are thick! Thank goodness otherwise the shafts would have worn into the caps. Length is 5 inches. The trust bearings are the cast iron caps themselves which have been damaged to a certain extent.

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This past week I spent whatever free time I could muster up, tearing down spare Mopar parts. Someone locally tore down a ‘37 Desoto Sedan, and a ‘37 Dodge sedan. He’s building a hot-rod. From engine back to drums. From steering wheel forward to drums.  All points in between. Parts were offered to me. 
 

I tore everything down to scavenge what I thought I could use. Lots of little giblets. Big stuff too. 2 3rd members. Leaf springs. Steering gear box. & shaft.  Tranny. What I decided not to store will go to the scrap steel recycler this week.  
 

I’m starting to worry about the  trusses in my attic. Plenty of parts up there!

 

 

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47 minutes ago, Jeff Perkins / Mn said:

Howinell do you get that big stuff UP there!!


Disassembly. Larger leftover unwanted parts are shown in the pic, inside my enclosed trailer. I’ll be taking those parts to the steel recycler soon. Smaller manageable parts head up to the attic. 

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In June this year I bought a 1956 Chevrolet panel truck body on a rolling chassis with no drive train save the rear end. The bodywork was completed by the owner and is very is solid with a straight chassis and good king pins and steering. I got the chassis parts back from the sand blaster two days ago - I had them paint the frame and front axle and they did a great job. I have been dealing with a real backlog issue with shops to paint the body - good ones are 18-24 months out. A member of our local Buick club who runs a reforestation shop specializing in Buicks expects to be able to work the body into his schedule in January, so I hope to finish the project by the end of April 2022. The completed chassis (including power train) should be done in the next three weeks.

 

In mid-June my wife and I drove to NYC to pick up the truck - condition as advertised and we enjoyed meeting Frank, the former owner. Prior to sending payment I had asked Hemmings to refer me to an inspector/evaluator and got the name of Steve Linden. After I engaged Steve I did a search and he came up on a Jay Leno's Garage You Tube episode as a subject matter expert on how to buy a collector car. He happened to live just 5 miles from where the truck was located and was a true professional to do business with. He gave me his report and a strong endorsement of the truck. This was one of the most enjoyable trips my wife and I have taken - we stopped in the Chicago area on the way back home to pick up up an engine & transmission for the panel truck - a 235 six and Hydramatic that was pulled from a 1955 second series pick up . That owner (Dan, another excellent individual) is restoring the pick up and installed a 350 with a blower and Turbo 400.

 

This panel truck now has my wife interested in the hobby and we plan to use it for trips and camping.

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At the present time, I am recovering from a 10 minute job that took about an hour... changing the license plate light unit. Sheesh, I'm getting old or my Studebaker is getting mean and tough !  My bride is currently sewing a tan covering on top of the black convertible top "boot" thingy that hides the top on her Mustang. Reason ? The interior's tan, why shouldn't the cover match ? Girl logic I suppose, but I do agree.  We have also installed a back up camera on her car which only took 2 days. Hey, there was a wire to splice, three plug in things, and 2 screws to install... superman I ain't, but it's frustrating being old and slow sometimes, lol...  Oh yeah, the breakers in the Studebaker pop'd a few times last Saturday, and a puff of smoke with an "OH S@$$#@#%" smell came from somewhere, so today's search found a loose "hot" wire dangling that used to go to something that isn't  there anymore. (I think it was to the old "anti-creep" switch) Win for me, didn't even have to use a fire extinguisher or call the insurance company, ha !

 

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Working on two "car related" items right now beside the honey-dos. Karen's "new" 07 Mustang "needs" some racing stripes, so I am experimenting with butcher paper and striping tape.  There are a LOT of Mustang rental convertibles here in Hawaii, and my gal wants to stand out, ha !  One friend has "NO-RNTL" as his license plate on his Mustang, lol.   My other job is chasing a couple of mysterious noises in the tranny/ flywheel area ( I think ) and some breakers popping randomly in my 55 Studebaker. I've been tracing some of the wires, looking  for broken or open ends, and scratching my noggin, and I'm going to by-pass the amp meter as another try, but if that's not it, when it catches on fire I'll know about where to look if I can't isolate this soon. As for the "tranny area" noises, they seem to be noticeable at 1st start and for a minute in reverse, or when accelerating rather suddenly turning left ! This one has me baffled, but I'm going to check the flex plate to torque converter bolts 1st.....Bummer.... Any advise will be much appreciated !   Oh, and remember, always save your old rolls of butcher paper, ha ha !

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We striped up her last one too, but didn't bring it to Hawaii when we moved here in 2010...she's been watching for another one ever since, but of course here it had to be a convertible. Here's a pic of the 1st one we did.... this was when we still lived in AL.  (except I'm an East Tennessee boy originally, so I claim I "served time" in Alabama, ha ha !)

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I stripe nearly every performance car I get. Current ride is this:

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Everywhere I looked, I saw old guys in red Corvettes. I had to stand out, I'm not old yet..

And current project is FINALLY working on my long awaited shop. It's way too small, not near as equipped as I would like, but after 20+ years of waiting and shade tree-ing, it looks like heaven to me..1811008407_newshop.jpg.55fbcda58b4f32d97178a4b833964de6.jpg

I've got to try to get it wired and insulated before cold weather hits so I can get back to the '52 Chevy 3100 resto...

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Updates on the Packard 733.  
 

with it running reasonably well off of an auxiliary tank gravity feed into the carb. ......

 

I have drained the tank, maybe 5 gallons of a 9.5 on the “stink scale”.   I have liberally drenched the bolts holding the tank up, and the fuel line and gauge sending connections with PB blaster. My plan is to let that sit overnight and wrestle the thing out tomorrow morning.  The exhaust looks like it will complicate things a bit, but I will rely on my 30 years experience of extracting teeth to extract the tank.  Even though it is empty, I’ll snug up a floor Jack under it till all connections are loose then ease it down.  After that, it is off to a friends recommended radiator repair shop. They have redone several tanks and radiators for his similar era Packards and he is pleased with them.  While the tank is being done, it is time to really get educated about this Stewart Vacuum Tank.  

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Don, you are thinking the same thing I am.  I will check it out and be Very careful when I take the Vacuum tank apart to not be to heavy handed and evaluate everything.

 

So I dropped the tank this morning.  Not a bad job, although I've decided I hate my bifocals even more lying on my back.

 

Low and behold here is what I find.....I think back to what the previous owner told me about his mechanic struggling to get fuel to the carburetor.  He told me some disorganized story about the car would die going around turns, was hit or miss with fuel problems, the "baffles in the tank were likely the problem", the vacuum tank didn't work properly...........The previous owner was a nice guy and I think honest, but had little to no mechanical skills.  He paid thousands of dollars to some guy he thought could help him.  That guy installed a 5 gallon gas can in the luggage trunk, ran a fuel line to an electric fuel pump, bypassed the vacuum tank and ran that into the carb.  

 

There may still be other issues and perhaps the vacuum tank needs reubuilt or at a minimum servicing/sorting, but the car runs well after having the carb cleaned and clean fuel gravity fed to it.  There is no way you'd see this cracked fuel line from the sending unit without dropping the tank.  I suppose you could have blown air back in to the tank down the line and listened for bubbles in the tank, but maybe they didn't do that or there was enough force of air to make some bubbling sounds.  

 

So glad I dropped the tank, for multiple reasons.  heading to get it cleaned at Mike's Radiator shop in Mokena Il.  Recommended by another Packard guy.  I need a new sending unit as well.  I look forward to seeing what I have in the vacuum tank evaluation.  I feel like I am getting closer to having her on the road operating as she was designed.   "One Thing At A Time"..... I'll keep you posted with updates.   

 

 

 

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I decided that I needed a new hitch for my truck since the one I have now is one of those adjustable aluminum ones. It's been a good hitch with no towing issues, but I didn't really like how loose it always fit in the receiver and moved around.  After spending time surfing the web world and seeing the extremely high prices for a good built adjustable hitch I decided I will just build my own.  I bought the ball assembly from Amazing-zon  and looked over my steel rack and I found a nice thick wall piece of square tube that will work nicely.  I have it soaking in some Evap-o-rust and once it's been de-rusted and sand blasted then it will have a meeting with the Bridgeport.  I will have to visit the local steel yard and find me a nice piece of 2.5" square tube and some 5/8" solid stainless steel rod.  Will update as I go.

 

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This morning I finished-up the shop drawings for the new sprocket shaft bushings for the museum's 1928 Lombard Model T dump truck. I am a firm believer in having proper drawings to work from before any work is started - especially If the work is going to be done by someone else who may have different experience or ideas. Its sort of like a carpenter framing up window and door openings. Almost Invariably, for the headers, they will want to use "two two by tens" regardless of span or loads and in fact often regardless of what the drawings specified! And when you confront them they almost invariably claim "well... I have always done it that way."  so to avoid that... I create shop drawings.

 

So what could be simpler than a bushing  - the design intent is that they locate and support a rotating shaft - right? In order for that shaft to rotate freely it needs to have clearance between the shaft and the bushing. (duh) 😁 In this case we need a Running/sliding (RC) fit. The degree of clearance is dependent on the application. Is it under heavy load? Is it high RPM or low RPM? Do we need a precision fit or not? In this case its moderate RPM with a heavy load (track and sprocket weight, plus force applied through the tracks when under load) We do not need a precision fit but we do not want a lot of slop either so we are using a RC6 fit which, given the shaft diameter, works out to .0035" clearance. Since there is no such thing as the perfect part (and to keep our machinist sane) we have to specify tolerances both for the bushing and the shaft. In this case the minimum inside diameter (I.D.) of is 3.00" the maximum I.D. is 3.0035" for the bushing and Max. diameter of 2.997" and min. of 2.9948" diameter for the shaft.

 

In our case we hope to use the existing shafts which, after nearly 100 years of use and abuse will have worn to varying diameters. To cover this we include a note on the drawing stating that the shafts diameters need to be measured and the bushing I.D. adjusted accordingly. We also specify in the note the least material condition (LMC) for the shaft and the maximum material condition (MMC) If the shaft diameters fall inside the tolerance (LMC - MMC) for the shaft than all is well and our job is simplified. If not than we have to size the ID of the bushing to fit the out of tolerance shaft. We go through a similar process with the holes for the locating dowels. Only this time when we refer to "Machinery's Handbook" we use a location fit. (LC) We want the bushing to have minimal rotational movement but we don't want an interference fit. We go through the same exercise with the bushing length.

 

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There are a few things that we do not know and won't know until we take the beast apart such as the location of the dowel holes so that is marked as needing to be verified before fabrication. If all this seems long winded its just the teacher in me rising to the surface. As my students like to call it "A Mr. Harper talk-A-thon." 

 

So... the plan for fixing the beast. Fortunately for our bank account Paul has over 500 lbs of scrap C90500 bearing bronze. In addition, another volunteer - Peter, has a foundry. So... Paul is donating the bronze and Peter will cast-up some bushing blanks that we can turn into new bushings. We will also replace the rear inside bushings. However, I believe these are one piece and are keyed into the differential housing. We won't know until we pull it apart. The rear sprocket shafts are splined and should, magic word... should slide out easily. Hopefully we should be good to go for another 100 years.

 

On one hand I hate the idea of taking all this mess apart because I know its going to be dirty, heavy, work. But on the other hand thier is a part of me that can't wait to get started.

 

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Edited by Terry Harper (see edit history)
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I need a new fuel sending unit for a 1930 Packard 733. I called max Merritt and their out of stock and the supplier they had for them has retired. They don’t have a great source at this time to provide them. They did suggest checking with KM life company?  Any feedback or advice on a source?  Potentially I could send mine to be rebuilt.

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Not car related but last week while visiting family I took a side trip to the Cowpens National Battlefield site in South Carolina. It was interesting walking in the footsteps of my great, great, great, great, Grandfather William Harper. He was born in South Carolina and fought as a Loyalist with the British Legion at Cowpens and the Siege of Savannah. By the end of the war he had apparently joined the King's American Dragoons and mustered out as a Private  in St. John, New Brunswick. Given a King's Grant of 5 acres on the St. John River near Fredericton, New Brunswick, he died in 1850. His grave is in the Old Burial Ground in Fredericton.

 

A view looking along Green River Road from the initial British and Loyalist positions towards the milita and Continental positions. is about a close as I could get to experiencing his view that morning of January 17, 1781. It was a wonderful day and I had the place pretty much to myself. Unfortunately the visitor center was closed.

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His grave marker in Fredericton New Brunswick which lists the battles he fought in.

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I cleaned up the hitch metal with some Vapo-rust and it came out like new after a day of soaking.  I then put the material on the mill and squared off the ends and got to drilling the holes.  With the holes all finished and de-burred I have to cut the upper part off and clean it up.  I will pick up the rest of the material tomorrow and get it knocked out.

 

 

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18 hours ago, John Bloom said:

I need a new fuel sending unit for a 1930 Packard 733. I called max Merritt and their out of stock and the supplier they had for them has retired. They don’t have a great source at this time to provide them. They did suggest checking with KM life company?  Any feedback or advice on a source?  Potentially I could send mine to be rebuilt.

KM Lifestyle rebuilt the one for our Pierce-Arrow. Excellent job.

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16 hours ago, Terry Harper said:

Not car related but last week while visiting family I took a side trip to the Cowpens National Battlefield site in South Carolina. It was interesting walking in the footsteps of my great, great, great, great, Grandfather William Harper. He was born in South Carolina and fought as a Loyalist with the British Legion at Cowpens and the Siege of Savannah. By the end of the war he had apparently joined the King's American Dragoons and mustered out as a Private  in St. John, New Brunswick. Given a King's Grant of 5 acres on the St. John River near Fredericton, New Brunswick, he died in 1850. His grave is in the Old Burial Ground in Fredericton.

 

A view looking along Green River Road from the initial British and Loyalist positions towards the milita and Continental positions. is about a close as I could get to experiencing his view that morning of January 17, 1781. It was a wonderful day and I had the place pretty much to myself. Unfortunately the visitor center was closed.

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His grave marker in Fredericton New Brunswick which lists the battles he fought in.

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Amazing to see the battlefield where two armies marched in wide straight lines to a point where they were close enough to see each other's faces, then fired single shot guns that took a long time to reload, and continued to stand in those lines without running away. Wow.

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On 9/20/2021 at 4:25 PM, Model56s said:

In June this year I bought a 1956 Chevrolet panel truck body on a rolling chassis with no drive train save the rear end. The bodywork was completed by the owner and is very is solid with a straight chassis and good king pins and steering. I got the chassis parts back from the sand blaster two days ago - I had them paint the frame and front axle and they did a great job. I have been dealing with a real backlog issue with shops to paint the body - good ones are 18-24 months out. A member of our local Buick club who runs a reforestation shop specializing in Buicks expects to be able to work the body into his schedule in January, so I hope to finish the project by the end of April 2022. The completed chassis (including power train) should be done in the next three weeks.

 

In mid-June my wife and I drove to NYC to pick up the truck - condition as advertised and we enjoyed meeting Frank, the former owner. Prior to sending payment I had asked Hemmings to refer me to an inspector/evaluator and got the name of Steve Linden. After I engaged Steve I did a search and he came up on a Jay Leno's Garage You Tube episode as a subject matter expert on how to buy a collector car. He happened to live just 5 miles from where the truck was located and was a true professional to do business with. He gave me his report and a strong endorsement of the truck. This was one of the most enjoyable trips my wife and I have taken - we stopped in the Chicago area on the way back home to pick up up an engine & transmission for the panel truck - a 235 six and Hydramatic that was pulled from a 1955 second series pick up . That owner (Dan, another excellent individual) is restoring the pick up and installed a 350 with a blower and Turbo 400.

 

This panel truck now has my wife interested in the hobby and we plan to use it for trips and camping.

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Awesome truck!!

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More work on the hitch today.  Just have to cut some gusset pieces and finish it up.  Then some paint and clear and ready to tow.  I figured up I will have $80 plus time in it.  I don't mind the time part since that's the fun of it and it will be a lot better than something made in India, China or some other far off land with sub par materials.

 

 

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