Freightrain

Ya, the anticipation is really building up now. I just want it done!! 😆.

Thanks. Took some hard head beating to come up with that. So simple it took me a long time.... 😆. They don't swivel but no real need, I can just jerk it a bit and it will aim right out the door. The casters were a loaner from a friend so I didn't complain. I was telling him last week at lunch about what I was doing and he says " I have new set of them at the shop, I will go get them.

We're rollin now! Good enough to roll it out into the driveway so it can be lifted by friends crane. The plates sticking forward will hold chains going up to spreader bar and will get the chains ahead of the firewall. The front will have chains hooked to the front motor mount trunion using eyelets. Yea, it will be in the way of setting it down in the truck but will deal with jacking it up slightly and removing nuts and eyelets at that point. It's hard coming up with a way to hook onto anything up front. Besides using a strap around the crank/pulleys. I can't fudge it too much as it has to be able to be used the day the crane is here. Can't find out afterwards that I don't have a way to pick it up. I didn't want to have to remove anything off the motor like I did with pulling the 237.

I got some Sheaffer oil for my Triplex. Go back to my build and I have it posted.

I asked the shop I got this from and he explained it to me why not to make a phony 18 spd. I could have had him do the bearing upgrade for me then but I don't have any real reason to need splits on the low side.

18913a. Go big or go home. I was looking for a 12513 but this came up reasonably priced local to me. Plus it is a real double over. Geoff, I did just rotate the body over 180* by the four bolts of the housing. I don't think I can clock it downward. Steering box was my first concern.

I didn't take mine below 1500. Maybe 1400 if I was easing off the throttle before downshifting.

I couldn't take the green paint on the transmission so it is now black. Much better! I checked clutch brake adjustment and clutch height was setting really close already. To help with building the linkage I used a bar on the clutch fork arm and measured 23* of travel from freeplay to clutch brake application. I can use that information to work on the new linkage and make sure I have enough travel in everything. I received my cooler block off plate and have it installed. I also re clocked the air starter. The inlet was on the bottom because it was on lower passenger side on 237. Now it is flipped on the drivers side. I didn't like the exhaust on the top so I pulled it off the engine and rotated the body 180*. Now if it drools it won't make a mess. Also, WTF, you have to remove the rear oil filter to get a starter changed out on these engine. PITA. I liked my passenger side starter. Yesterday I took 1/2 day vacation so I could go buy some material at steel supplier to make up the lifting cradle. I will be working on that this weekend so I can make plans to get motor set in the truck. I finally got the correct steering knuckle parts, so I welded the old holes shut, painted and installed the steering box. I was playing hell trying to hold this heavy bastard and start the bolts. I gave up and turned the front bolt into a stud. Now I could slip it in the hole and start the nut and then stand on the out of frame and wiggle the other bolts in the holes. The joint comes up right about the same spot as the original column did in the floor. I started measuring the old input shaft on the old box to see where I need to cut and start to fab up everything. Should go relatively smooth. 😆

My 237 worked well with Triplex. It could pull down, but seemed better with tighter splits available. Granted I am not pulling 80k lbs. My 300+ had a 5 spd behind it. I know the transmission was original to the truck but not sure the engine was. I bet it was a dog with only 5 gears.

Late to the party.... Congrats on new job. Hope it brings you happiness. I want to change jobs after 40 yrs here but I will loose a bunch of perks that I don't want to loose, yet.

I looked online and it basically looks like the same basic set up as a car transmission has. Cone shaped engagement. It is the friction material that makes or breaks the engagement depending on what fluid is used. Just like I mentioned in the post above. They use material that works well with lighter fluids today compared to the 60-70s. Newer car transmissions can't use thick gear lube due to small roller bearings and the clearances they work with. The old loose fittings gears allowed thick gear oil. This falls in the same kind of category.

Just my .02 worth of knowledge and synchros (in car transmissions). The old brass blocker rings worked better with mineral oil. Synthetic was too slippery and it would rake gears. Most new automotive transmissions use a version of ATF and with fiber blocker rings it shifts fine. I don't know what Eaton uses for synchros today? I think the old boxes were brass when it used mineral oil. I agree with not mixing fluids. I take that as using 1/2 syn and 1/2 mineral persay. Topping it off with one while it still has something else in it. Mine is very dry right now so there would not be any "mixing" of fluids

I thought I saw specs that say it was okay to use. I also understand that changing now would likely not be a good idea. But, the fact that this transmission was never shifted would alter that fact slightly. The discs are still permeated with synthetic oil. So I guess I will change my bucket out.

Wonderful. Guess I will return this bucket and get synthetic. Ugh. I hate paying for that crap.

No.

Thanks for that!

Remove the AN fittings and the plate has o rings to seal it? I don't think it would be good to dead head the pump? Or does the plate allow bypass?

Some progress today: And then.... Tadaaaa. I picked up a 5 gal pail of 50w gear oil for the transmission. I need to plug off the cooler fittings before filling as I don't know if that won't just puke everything back out. I am going to just loop the two lines for current operation. I don't think I need a cooler. Maybe I will look into a small alum cooler and mount on the frame down in the air just for the shitzandgiggles of it. I received the steering column yoke and.....it was packaged wrong and is not correct. The eBay seller promptly refunded my money. I got lucky and found one in a truck parts warehouse in Tn and should see it early next week. Once that fits, I can get box mounted and work towards getting it connected to the column. I am feeling good today.

Not sure how old of truck you are looking at but the old two stick 6 spd is popular. Real deep under 1st for crawling but a decent OD.

Left handed? Really? Wonder why?

They make left handed taps in all sizes(std and metric). My work uses them A LOT due to what we make. If you run into issues, let me know as it may be something I have here at work you can use. They do make left hand heli coils so fixing stripped threads shouldn't be a problem.

New push button on dash and I rebuilt the air valve in the tank when I installed the system 8-9? years ago. I have the old steam valve but local friend says don't use it. He runs air start on his Freightliner FLD and helped me get mine dialed in. Works great.

Great project. I see a hand brake in the cab picture so no spring brakes. It does have front brake reduction control. Unique design and I have never seen one like that. Looks adjustable unlike later design that is preset with a toggle valve on the dash for On and Off. I would bet that is aftermarket and installed by the owner. Air start? Cool. I put that in my truck. I would guess you have the lever control under the seat? They are leaky and not good for long periods. I have a later air control valve design and it holds 100# for 7 months during winter storage. That old steam valve likely barely makes it 24 hrs before draining the tank. The cut and pinched brass lines must be a factory thing? I have a few lines like that on my truck.

I have boost and pyro. Tonight's fabri-cobble. Jake brackets. Since finding real ones would be hens teeth I just took a few hours to come up with this. Looks like it will work fine. Had to fab up 237 also but this pump works backwards compared to 237 so I had to reverse it. Now I can wire it up and test it. New clutch. Was going with organic but for a "few dollars more" I can add 300 ft lb of capabilities. Why? Just because. It was what was in it when I took it apart. I was able to find yokes for steering column(I hope they are right). Will get them in a few days and I can start on steering column. I will bring Miller 211 mig home from work so I can fill in extra holes in frame where I removed original steering box. I have a big Miller but can't fit it in front of truck in my little stall so the 120/240 machine at work will be easy to work with.

Absolutely agree. I can't wait to kick it in the ass. Even though I am not heavy I am not afraid to make smoke!