Beverly Hillbillies

Vehicles and items that do not fall into the general M151 categories

Moderators: rickf, raymond, Mr. Recovery

Post Reply
User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » November 9th, 2019, 11:00 pm

The truck is back from getting a new windshield and, with it glued in, my formerly all-weather cab is now dry as a bone. We even had two days of rain to test it out. Dry....like the Sahara. The former owner chased what he thought was a roof leak for years and he never found it. Why? Because he was looking in the wrong place which is the same thing he had been doing when he was looking for the fuel leak... which turned out to be a transmission cooler line. :oops: There's a lesson in there somewhere.

Hit the ground runnin' today. Yesterday I stopped at the local Auto Zone (I prefer O'Reilly's but local construction has made it nearly impossible to get there) to see what they stocked for replacement filters for my 7.3L PowerStroke. The truck is new to me and I wasn't sure what I would actually find once I got in there. When I removed my filter element this morning I found what Auto Zone had on hand was a perfect match. So, I went over and grabbed one and OH BOY! what a difference in performance. Like, 10% more gittyup! Evidently, this needed to be done. :P

I'm still dealing with water in the fuel tank owing chiefly to the fact that the truck sat for so long (a length of time which is measured in years) but the water separator is doing a really good job of grabbing what comes up and I'm doing a really good job of purging it. Soon we'll be popping the bed off to replace the fuel filler necks (the rear one leaks) both of which are as old as the truck (23 years old...almost an antique!). So while we're in there the tanks will get pumped out, fully drained and inspected. With that done, I will run it a bit and then put another new filter done to catch whatever I stirred up. That should put me back on level ground where fuel is concerned. That big diesel asks for very little...just a good flow of air, clean, unrestricted fuel, and regular oil changes.

This is my first diesel...ever. With age and mysterious aches and pains creeping up on me I have made efforts to gather the equipment I think I will need to stay active in the hobby and that includes a strong-pulling truck. But, because what I am doing is hobby related, paying a ton of money for that truck was not what I would call 'good business' so I grabbed this when it became available and I'm working through its little problems, none of which have been terribly bad, or terribly expensive. Fortunately for me, this truck never had to work for a living. All the previous owners wanted this big truck solely for use as a Cowboy Cadillac. So maybe, acquiring this truck was a very good decision. We shall see.

Cheers,
TJ

acudanut

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by acudanut » November 12th, 2019, 4:35 pm

Remember never to crank, until the wait to start light goes off. !! Let the glow plugs and controller do their jobs. !!

User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » November 12th, 2019, 8:52 pm

Yup. Got that drill down pat. Got to try the block heater last night. Dipped down into the mid twenties overnight. I came out in the morning to find ice on one side of the truck. So, to see just what good a block heater would do, I fired it up and oh boy, that truck really fired right up! Hoo! That made me happy!

User avatar
Surveyor
Terminal
Posts: 1092
Joined: November 13th, 2015, 3:56 pm
Location: Cajun Country

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by Surveyor » November 12th, 2019, 9:02 pm

Depending on area, one of the first things you may learn when not using a truck stop is that no matter how big the filling station is, every single gas pump will be open except for the dual gas/diesel one(s) which will of course be occupied by gas guzzlers. :roll:

My last company one was a 250.... was a great truck. We put over 200,000 on it before they sold it. Was still going strong.

Image
Last edited by Surveyor on November 12th, 2019, 9:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
1960 M151 Run #1
"There is one nut on a M151 that is very difficult to remove....." - K8icu
"She ain't a Cadillac and she ain't a Rolls, But there ain't nothin' wrong with the radio" - Aaron Tippin
Image

User avatar
rickf
General
General
Posts: 19738
Joined: November 26th, 2007, 1:28 pm
Location: Pemberton, NJ.

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by rickf » November 12th, 2019, 9:05 pm

The early powerstrokes had a strange wiring setup for the glow plugs and injectors. If you look at the valve covers where they meet the intake manifold you will see two plugs going into the gasket on either side. That is the power for the injectors and the glow plugs. Now when you think about the fact that the glow plugs can draw 10-15 amps each through those 18 ga. wires and those tiny plugs you will see where the problem lies. The plugs eventually heat up and burn and eventually the glow circuit will short to the injector circuit. 99% of the time this results in the four injectors on that bank shutting down as a precaution to prevent burning out the injector driver module. They make replacement plugs, valve cover gaskets and under valve cover harness's to replace all of that stuff. These trucks will start in extremely low temps without the block heater as long as the glow plugs are working correctly. Which they usually are not. The block heater will normally take about an hour bare minimum to get any heat in the block. That is 1250 lbs of steel your are trying to warm up there, along with 12 quarts of oil and five gallons of antifreeze. When I was plowing I would just plug it in when I got home. It is an 1100 watt heater though so when it is on it is power hungry.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » November 12th, 2019, 11:33 pm

Odd that you should mention that. I just watched a youtube video of that exact problem being resolved by replacing a burned out gasket-wiring harness combo. Of course, the big tip off is having half the engine suddenly not running. :lol:

acudanut

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by acudanut » November 13th, 2019, 3:20 pm

My 7.3 takes about 3 1/2 gallons of oil. It's a 100.00 oil change doing it myself. :shock:

User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » November 13th, 2019, 4:45 pm

Not good. Where's the leak?

acudanut

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by acudanut » November 14th, 2019, 1:52 pm

Ooops, I meant 2 1/2 gallons. No leaks. I think all P/S's, 97's through 2003 all had wires run inside the valve covers.
I only plug mine in when I need it and the temp is under 20 degrees.
Last edited by acudanut on November 15th, 2019, 3:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

User avatar
rickf
General
General
Posts: 19738
Joined: November 26th, 2007, 1:28 pm
Location: Pemberton, NJ.

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by rickf » November 14th, 2019, 7:05 pm

I would plug mine in when i had to get up to plow but once at work there was nowhere to plug in so whenever I got done, which could be 10, 12, 24 hours later it had to start on it's own. You want to be sure those glow plugs are going to work. AND you have two really good batteries. There were several time I was asking it to start in below zero weather after sitting all night. It didn't like it but it never let me down. The starter did finally go but it happened in the middle of summer thankfully.
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

Elvis Presley
Master Sergeant
Master Sergeant
Posts: 377
Joined: October 28th, 2009, 10:37 am
Location: Ypsilanti Michigan

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by Elvis Presley » December 8th, 2019, 11:38 pm

Never seen a Burma class C !!
1966 M151A1 ___All matching '44 M1 Garand
1951 H&R M1 Garland__1966 Fairlane GTA
1973 Torino wagon_____1942 03A3 - Unissued
1939 Unissued 1903____1944 M1 Inland Carbine
1966 M-16____________1943 1911A1
1918 Model 1917 .45 Revolver
1943 M1 Quality Hardware Carbine
1967 Saginaw 1919A6
1943 Saginaw 1919A4
1952 M1C and M1D Garands
KD8QEQ

User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » January 26th, 2020, 1:39 pm

Another chapter in the Beverly Hillbillies comes to a close. Now, the true story of the slat grill can be told.

Image

This one started with the sudden appearance of a slat grill Willys in a nearby town called Bandera. It was 'farm fresh' ..having been pulled from a barn and brought home by a fellow who had no intention of doing anything with it (except for maybe using it as yard art). But, he was savvy enough to know that an old jeep as complete as this might have more value than just being kept as yard art. He put the word went out on Facebook Marketplace (I don't do social media) and a friend picked up on it and told me about it. I knew immediately that it was worth following up on and three days later I had closed the deal.

Image

One of the more interesting aspects of this story was where the jeep was when I purchased it. The fellow selling the jeep had acquired a down-on-its-luck property that was a conglomeration of long-term RV park and a now defunct Frontier Town - sort of a low budget wild west theme park (on a small scale) where cowboy action shooters and their dramatic recreations of high noon shootouts might take place. As you might imagine, this place was quite a sight to behold. Except you might not imagine a tame buck deer knocking around the place looking for a handout, or an abandoned Gazelle project car waiting patiently for another chance at life, Wurlitzer juke boxes, or the odd collection of Porsche powered trikes, long dead motor homes, old trucks and tractors, a matched set of horses grazing here and there and several honest-to-God buggies, carriages and buckboards (to which the horses belonged) and mannequins dressed up as cowpokes and seated at a picnic bench, playing the same hand of cards.... forever. The whole place was ideally suited for a Twilight Zone episode. In the middle of all this weirdness sat a forlorn little slat grill.

Image

We made the deal on a handshake just before Christmas and closed the deal just two days after. In that short interim, I managed to make room for 'just one more' (which seems to be the underlying theme of my life) and afterwards, I got it home and squeezed it in. As I did here, I made a few oblique comments on g503 and was immediately set upon by several people who showed interest in the the slat grill. One fellow in particular stood out from the crowd and he was very serious about the possibility that I might entertain an offer on the jeep. He knew a lot about them and with his inquiries, directed me to look at some very specific things. What we determined was this jeep had undergone a government rebuild and was a conglomeration of a lot of other jeeps - MB and Ford, and all early production. A government rebuild is a legitimate jeep but to some folks, doesn't quite meet the standard they're looking for. Happily, this fellow had a very realistic attitude. He had what this jeep needed to become a through-and-through slat grill or rather, I had what he needed.

Image

Most of you who are reading this know how this business goes. It starts with becoming aware of a MV, realizing its worth, acquiring it though you had no real designs on having it but doing the right thing by keeping it from the Bubbas of the world, getting it home, contemplating how much easier your life would have been if you had only started collecting stamps and then giving full consideration to seeking professional help, learning more about your new acquisition than you ever cared to, estimating its true value and potential, crowing a bit about it on the forums, considering whether or not you want to keep it (and why) and then either selling it or putting it in the motor pool lineup for future attention. I went through this whole litany in less than a week and I gave it some very serious thought.

Image

Chiefly, my thoughts were on the matter of actually owning a slat grill jeep because owning a "rare" MV, inasmuch as a mass-produced vehicle can be rare, is really only a matter of degrees. They only made 28,505 slat grills (or some such number) from Nov 1941-March 1942 which I acknowledge is a legitimate subgroup of the 700,000 odd jeeps that were produced. Then I heard from some people who wanted to say that my find was even more rare because a smaller subset of those in very early production jeeps were made with glove boxes at the tail end of that run. Arguably then, if you are willing to follow that way of thinking, jeeps made on odd days and jeeps made on even days are equally as prolific, but jeeps made on every third day are far more rare than the previous even-odd subset. Now, I'm a realist. In the matter of what is "rare", that is really based solely upon your particular view of the world and how you prefer to slice it up. I will say this... slat grills are deliciously wonky with their toothy grins.

Image

Where ownership of slat grills was concerned, rare or otherwise, I concluded that I had officially checked the 'slat grill ownership box' and with that accomplished...why keep something such as this to myself? These are defining moments. I concluded that first and foremost, I'm a half track guy. Not a jeep guy...not a M151 guy....I'm a half track guy. That is where my true passion lies (though I freely admit I am too easily distracted) ...and having another jeep around here really wasn't doing me any good.

Image

So I entered into negotiations with that one fellow who was showing exceptional interest in the truck. And, I did the honorable thing. I didn't make my having the slat grill any more public than I already had (hence my being rather tight-lipped about it here on the 838, beyond discussing it privately with muttguru). And so, this fella and I discussed everything BUT price and we came to a very equitable agreement because in actuality, the exchange was a perfect fit. To illustrate, his slat grill project had two split (combat) rims. Mine had three. Call me crazy, but I take that as a sign.

Image
Image
Image

The slat grill has sold and gone to its new owner. Its disposition will be very much a cooperative effort between us and as a very happy bonus, he and I will be looking out for one another's MV wants and needs in the future. You cannot put a price on that. There is still much to do but this particular slat grill is on its way to far greater glory than it would ever have achieved with me and I am happy to report that my 42 GPW project will soon be a bit further along than it had been.

Cheers,
TJ
Last edited by m3a1 on April 24th, 2020, 11:33 am, edited 4 times in total.

User avatar
rickf
General
General
Posts: 19738
Joined: November 26th, 2007, 1:28 pm
Location: Pemberton, NJ.

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by rickf » January 26th, 2020, 3:43 pm

So.................. Basically what he is saying is that his "portly" butt won't fit in it and his son sure as hell ain't gonna fit in it so it had to go. :twisted: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: Now, Lets back up three paragraphs to the Porsche powered trikes................ Um, and......................?
1964 M151A1
1984 M1008
1967 M416
04/1952 M100
12/1952 M100- Departed
AN/TSQ-114A Trailblazer- Gone

Hambone
Brigadier General
Brigadier General
Posts: 2495
Joined: October 1st, 2010, 12:19 am
Location: El Dorado, Arkansas

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by Hambone » January 26th, 2020, 4:44 pm

I didn't realize you had a GPW, just dumped a couple of 6/42 script bodies and a pile of F marked stuff, may have had something you could have used, I had come to the realization that I would never build one. Decided it would be best to return it to the GPW world, one guy bought everything I had, hopefully he will pass one what he doesn't use. I need to do some downsizing myself. :roll:

User avatar
m3a1
Lt. General
Lt. General
Posts: 4027
Joined: August 7th, 2014, 6:36 pm

Re: Beverly Hillbillies

Unread post by m3a1 » January 26th, 2020, 8:51 pm

I'm pretty close to having all the necessary bits for a complete rolling chassis & driveline. Not going to break ground on the project till I'm sure it'll be a reasonably complete roller. Mobility is key around here....and that's all I'm going to say about that. :lol:

Post Reply