Geoff Weeks

My understanding from previous posts is: he removed all the wiring before working on the cab, so telling by the ammeter will not work. Modern gen regulators are universal. Original regulators will work fine on reverse polarity but the point contact make up was optimized for one polarity to give the longest life. Not something a Hobby truck will ever even notice. Without the original to go on, it is unlikely to matter and negative ground is universal today. If he needed to change, it is as simple as re-polarizing the generator and swapping the battery cables. It is the generator, not the regulator that needs to be polarized, but that is easiest done at the regulator terminals. Regulator doesn't require any change to run "reversed". Some early Western Star and Autocar's use gauges that are positive ground only and can not be made to work (at least easily) on neg ground. Transistor radios will be harmed on reverse polarity. Alternators with one pole grounded to the case will be damaged if hooked up reverse.

Connect the chosen polarity battery to the frame of the truck. with the rest of the batteries hooked up, go to the regulator, jump the battery terminal (B) on the regulator to the armature (A) for a second or two, and that is it. You have polarized the generator and it should start charging the correct way for the way the batteries are hooked.

Looks like it is wired for neg ground, but I can't say for sure. Once again, look to the alternator (if there is one) or the voltage regulator for a generator (they are sometimes marked as to polarity). If not marked, and there are no electronics, then chose one polarity and run with it. Neg ground makes the most sense today.

That is a very good way to approach the problem. If the drums are worn but not terrible, a re-lined set of shoes will outlast your lifetime if you aren't stopping 80K lbs on a daily biases. Don't let perfection prevent good enough. Talk to some heavy truck parts houses and find one that will either re-line or send your shoes out for re-line. Last time I did that it was a week + or- for them to be ready for pick-up. Being a hobby truck you can wait that long.

Start by assessing the drums, if they are serviceable and you can get the casting number off them, it will help looking for parts. If the drums are trash, and an odd size, then it is going to be a struggle to find what will bolt in place and work.

As long as the shoes themselves are not damaged, having new linings installed on the old shoes is likely the best solution.

I know the pain you are feeling, and you have my sympathy. Those that have never had a close relationship with another animal can't understand the pain losing one can be. I had to put one down, and I had another die "natural", and the pain and loss is no different. Only thing is with the first you know it is coming and is a relief for the animal. Either way it is the loss of a family member. I allowed myself to grieve and then when the time was right, took another into my heart and home. Peace be with you and your family at this hard time.

A bit of trivia. You'll notice on the picture of the right side of the block before you painted it, another "fuel pump" mounting pad/opening that is covered by the generator mount. Early versions of this engine had either a gear drive generator on the left side (driven off the cam timing gear) or could be had with a Mag there also. Both precluded driving the fuel pump directly off the cam on that side. A pushrod was used across the block to the fuel pump mounted on the right side (behind where the generator is now). When the engine was designed, they used either of the two above ways to time the spark, so left no other provision for a distributor on the engine. When gear driven generators proved to be a problem, requiring timing to the engine when removed, and mag left no provision for battery charging. originally the oil pump drive was capped off at the upper end. It was near vertical and close into the block, so that left no room for mounting a distributor next to the block driven off the oil pump drive. The shaft had to be extended to above the valve cover to have enough room to mount the distributor, giving the BLD the distinctive high mount distributor. For a brief time in the early 50's when the block was re designed for full flow oil filter and the liners were removed so the displacement increased to 308 for the biggest engines, they added a pad near the oilpump drive gear on the cam and an opening to allow for "low mount" distributor at cam level. This was so the engine could be fitted in the low cab cabover trucks of the day. Conventional cab trucks still used the high mount distributor. I have only seen one with the low mount, and that was in pictures. When the block was re designed in the 50's the opening on the right side of the block was eliminated.

One of mine has the same GVW the other is 21500 GVW. EW on yours and my flatbed is right around 6500-7000 lbs. so 10,000 more is right there.

Vlad, unless that is unique to the Lend-lease vehicles, that truck is no larger than a K-7. The -8's and up had 10 lug wheels. -5 and down had 5 lug and -6, -7 had six lug. -7 will handle 5 tons no problem. I have done on mine. Harder to tell when they have spoke wheels, but easy when they have disk's. Also the hood isn't long enough to be an 8 or higher.

I don't know when all mfg stopped putting rear pumps in the automatics. Chry I think was around '66, I know my '65 had it. Don't know about Ford or GM, Mercedes had them way longer, may still have them IDK. You need pressure to apply the clutches/bands for it to work, no tailshaft driven pump, no turning the engine.

Really you want to remove all the 1/2 shafts, If you only remove one side, the spider gears in the diff get quite a work-out and no lube. You can chain up the front drive if you pull from the front, and just pull the 1/2 shafts in the rear drive as long as the front drive tires don't touch the road, it will be ok.

With today's gasoline cost, that would some expensive lumber! No doubt the K-7 would make the trip however.

Holmes 880 were pretty useful also.

Took me a minute to see it. A tornado came though (before I owned the place) and that tree was how close to the house it got!