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Jim, I've had my truck for over 30 years and I've restored it twice now. It's not done. They are never done. They are like Barbie Dolls; you get to try to collect all the accessories.
They are a lot of fun. The one thing they will never do is go fast. You just have to get used to 40 to 50 miles an hour tops. They will however go right up a mountain at 25 miles an hour all day long and be very happy.
Meeting other people in the area is always enjoyable because you always learn a lot. Some times you swap parts or learn a "trick" for fixing something. Sometimes you get to see new "accessories" you never knew existed. You don't need to drive the truck when meeting other owners; sometimes you do, sometimes you don't.
The condition of your truck when you acquired it is nothing more than a point of interest. All of these trucks are acquired at different points in their existence; some beaten to death some mostly restored; it's always just a starting point for each owner. It is similar to purchase price; it's really not relevant. It's not what you paid for the truck; it's what you put into it. Over time, the purchase price will look smaller and smaller.
As long as you can get used to going slow, the truck will be a lot of fun. I hope you and your family enjoy it.
52 M-42
New owner with question..
Moderators: Cal_Gary, T. Highway, Monkey Man, robi
Re: New owner with question..
Fixed the Carb today.
I had a day with nothing going on and was getting tired of the acceleration bog. Doing some reading on this over at DPW forum the consensus seems that there are two pump plungers. A bigger one and a smaller one. The smaller one is the one you want but the bigger one is what is shipping with carb rebuild kits. I had a spare carb so I pulled the plunger out of the spare, gritted my teeth and started pulling the carb off the truck. What a finicky nightmare it is to get a carb off one of these things. How can something that's supposed to be, pre-smog simple be so bloody complicated? Why all the hard plumed vacuum lines? Were they selling vacuum or something? And why would anyone place an idle jet screw on top of a mounting nut? This was my first time in one of these things and over and over I'm sayin' "What were they thinking?"
Anyhow I figured out how to pull the carb off, the PO had painted everything OD but mis installed the bowl gasket so its been leaking for, years? Most of the paint was coming off, dirty, ect etc. Opening the carb, the bottom of the float bowl was coated in sludge, looked like mud. I can't understand how this thing ran at all. So, what started as a plunger swap, ended up a complete rebuild from carb to air filter.
And the plungers? The original seemed to be stuck in the carb top. When I got it dislodged and checked, it was bigger than than the one from the other carb. And it looked a bit worse for wear. So I crossed my fingers and swapped in the smaller one.
They always go together easier then they come apart. I put a dot of gear oil on all of the threads of everything. It seems to help on old worn threads. Fired up the motor and hey, it worked! The Bog is gone!
I'm not sure what fixed it. Cleaning out the sludge? Fixing the bowl gasket (re-pressed flat)? Better plunger? Lighter plunger? Whatever, it works now and I'm all happy!
-jim lee
I had a day with nothing going on and was getting tired of the acceleration bog. Doing some reading on this over at DPW forum the consensus seems that there are two pump plungers. A bigger one and a smaller one. The smaller one is the one you want but the bigger one is what is shipping with carb rebuild kits. I had a spare carb so I pulled the plunger out of the spare, gritted my teeth and started pulling the carb off the truck. What a finicky nightmare it is to get a carb off one of these things. How can something that's supposed to be, pre-smog simple be so bloody complicated? Why all the hard plumed vacuum lines? Were they selling vacuum or something? And why would anyone place an idle jet screw on top of a mounting nut? This was my first time in one of these things and over and over I'm sayin' "What were they thinking?"
Anyhow I figured out how to pull the carb off, the PO had painted everything OD but mis installed the bowl gasket so its been leaking for, years? Most of the paint was coming off, dirty, ect etc. Opening the carb, the bottom of the float bowl was coated in sludge, looked like mud. I can't understand how this thing ran at all. So, what started as a plunger swap, ended up a complete rebuild from carb to air filter.
And the plungers? The original seemed to be stuck in the carb top. When I got it dislodged and checked, it was bigger than than the one from the other carb. And it looked a bit worse for wear. So I crossed my fingers and swapped in the smaller one.
They always go together easier then they come apart. I put a dot of gear oil on all of the threads of everything. It seems to help on old worn threads. Fired up the motor and hey, it worked! The Bog is gone!
I'm not sure what fixed it. Cleaning out the sludge? Fixing the bowl gasket (re-pressed flat)? Better plunger? Lighter plunger? Whatever, it works now and I'm all happy!
-jim lee
Carryall WC53 Blog : https://www.eskimo.com/~jimlee/Home/Car ... _Blog.html
Re: New owner with question..
the hard lines are ventilation for the distributer, brake master cilynder and fuel tank. the bog was possibly something as simple as a pice of sand, etc in one of the jets. good to hear she is running well again. put a filter inline from your fuel tank to the carb now!
Carb complexity
These trucks were built to be waterproof for fording. You can drive one of these trucks (properly maintained) when it is completely submerged if you have to. It will be a lot of work when you get back onto dry land, but the truck will do it. That is why there are so many hard lines. Also, being an industrial engine (unbalanced) they are governed by vacuum. Vacuum is free (remember this is 1940's technology) so there is a lot of what appears to be "pointless complexity". It is not. It was required to meet the military performance specifications. We (current civilian owners) don't have the same requirements as the 1950's military (we seldom ford our vehicles); we want to go fast, have efficient heaters, listen to a great stereo in a quiet passenger compartment, and push a button to roll down windows.
These trucks are so "overbuilt" that they will run with lots of major maintenance problems. My truck ran for years with a broken main shaft (broken into 2 pieces) in the transmission that I never knew about because it ran just fine. We only discovered it when I rebuilt the truck and tore down the transmission.
So, yes a lot of the bits and pieces on these trucks are overly complicated, but consider when they were built and what the original owner required. It'll start to make a little more sense.
BTW, I have the carb manual. I'm located a little ways south of you. If you need / want to borrow it PM me. I also recall seeing one on eBay for $19 I believe.
52 M-42
These trucks are so "overbuilt" that they will run with lots of major maintenance problems. My truck ran for years with a broken main shaft (broken into 2 pieces) in the transmission that I never knew about because it ran just fine. We only discovered it when I rebuilt the truck and tore down the transmission.
So, yes a lot of the bits and pieces on these trucks are overly complicated, but consider when they were built and what the original owner required. It'll start to make a little more sense.
BTW, I have the carb manual. I'm located a little ways south of you. If you need / want to borrow it PM me. I also recall seeing one on eBay for $19 I believe.
52 M-42