Geoff Weeks

Thought it was a KW, could be a Pete, mostly seen pics from the rear/tank end.

There was a British truck that used the same system, I don't remember which make, and someone thought "I'd really like more gears" and fitted a Roadranger only to find he had 13 spds in reverse and only 2 going forward!

roll this around your mind a bit: The British bus manual transmissions the output was on the counter-shaft, or the counter-shaft was behind the clutch shaft depending on how you look at it. This made the output "backwards" from the engine rotation! So the diff turned backwards but because there were spur gear final reduction between the diff and the axle shafts, the rotation was reversed once again. Diff was mounted below the axle shafts to keep the floor flat on the lower deck. Really would mess with your mind trying to figure out what was doing what-where!

Given that somebody had been in there before (by the block oil to the bearing) I wouldn't trust anything. If I am the first inside since build, most times the same shims can go back and be correct. A local gear shop I used (past tense) was sending re-bearing pinions with 0 pre-load on the bearings! fortunately I saved the old spacer. They claimed I didn't know what I was talking about, and pre-load would burn out the bearings!

Mechanical Cat's were the worse, they returned very little fuel, Cummins and Detroit 2strokes returned a lot more. I had a problem with my non-draw side not transfering fuel to the draw side. At 1st I thought it was a frozen transfer hose, it was low and might collect moisture, but it turned out the tank breather would ice over and hold vacuum on that side. Open the filler to a large sucking sound and it started to equalize. I never owned anything without the cross-over, so that tells you hold old my equipment was.

As long as the fuel is warm, and the engine working under a load, a diesel does great in the cold. Spark ign engines need the mixture matched for the air density, a diesel doesn't. Well, at least not on the increased density end of the scale.

My 9670 have those coolant loops in the tank, but they are too slow to save you if the truck was shut off for any time. IIRC Arctic Fox was the brand name. I ran Tube and Shell heat exchangers before the filter. Used an air controlled coolant valve on them, so they remained off when the truck engine was running unless needed, opened when engine was shut down and air bled off, so cycled often to prevent sticking. With the combustion heater and/or electric block heater the exchanger had warm (if not hot) coolant right at engine start.

I didn't idle unless the overnight temp was below -25F (ran a combustion heater). Was running in true -35F temps, didn't warm to -25F until about 3pm. Duel 150 gal tanks have a lot of surface area, if snow and ice are clinging to the tank, it is a sure sign the fuel is below freezing! My fathers whole family was from Maine, we have roots going way back up there. That said, it rarely gets as cold as it can in Montana and North Dakota. Nothing stopping the polar winds from plunging south over the high plains of Central US and Canada.

Most of the sites that aren't forums, in other words, refiners and farm suppliers suggest, icing of fuel becomes evident between 30-20 degF. #2 starts clouding below 15 deg F. Clouding can be combated by mixing with #1, but at a loss of energy per gal. Pure #1 starts to cloud below -30F

Here are two links that somewhat discuss cloud point, one from a fuel refiner, the other from the state of Colorado, both mention wax as the cause not moisture: https://ops.colorado.gov/sites/ops/files/2021-01/diesel_analysis_and_specifications.pdf https://www.cenex.com/expert-advice-and-insights/cold-weather-diesel-problems

If your talking true "jell" where it is below the pour point, then no I have not seen that either, although I do know some running north of the 48th parallel that have. If it truly jelled than the fuel pump will not move jell, but it will move clouded fuel, where the paraffin has started to precipitate out. What I am talking about is not ice, it is wax or a waxy substance that will plug a fuel filter. Any water will form ice when the temp drops below freezing, water and fuel don't combine to lower the freeze point of water. Water in the fuel is a problem at any temperature, not just below freezing.

I was working at a construction equipment rental house, we had our own above ground fuel storage tank, We ordered "winterized" fuel, was supposed to be mixed #1 and #2 to cloud free to -25 or so. Makes for a long day running around sorting out equipment with plugged filters! When the sales person showed up trying to tell me it was "ice" I dipped a tank on a piece of equipment that had sat in the yard overnight, and you could see the "fish eggs". No,it can't be water, that would have frozen and would be at the bottom of the tank. Duetz's did fairly well once you got them started, the fuel filter is on the same casting as the oil filter, and that transferred enough heat to the fuel filter. They were fairly hard to get going, however. Measured shot ether systems were our solution.

Cold enough and the waxy components in diesel start to solidify. Looks and feels like "fish eggs" Water will turn to ice and be hard. You'll not solve a water problem with heat. I've had bulk fuel people say the same, but when you can strip it off a filter element and feel the waxyness, it isn't moisture. They say that to shift the blame on the person storing the fuel. So I guess we are talking about the difference between "cloud point" and solidifying. If you had enough water in a fuel filter to plug it, apply enough heat to melt it the slug of water would blow tips off injectors. True "gelling" is when the fuel in the tank all turns to "jello" but cloud point is when the waxy components start to drop out and stick together. JC I heard enough of people say what you do, but have never heard them explain why fuel at 20 deg doesn't have this "ice" they claim but does when the fuel is at -20! Fuel and water don't mix! True gelled fuel is below the pour point, and that is rare, but in popular using of the term "gelling" is anytime the fuel is below the cloud point. It is hysterical listening to a fuel distributor try and explain why his "ice" only shows up 52 deg below the freezing point of water!

Heat exchangers for heating fuel have always been around, while they may have not been common. I have an antique engine heater from the 20's? 30?'s. Motorola and Stewart-Warner have made combustion heaters since the 30's and 40's at least. Hot Box coolant heaters used to be a thing. The solutions have been around since trucks started switching from gas power to diesel. What has changed is the J-I-T "got to be there" nature of trucking. Gelling has been known about since before diesel trucks. The willing to properly address the problem and pay the price to do so has always been the weak point that brings down the "system". Running in -35F in rural Mt, and being one of 2 trucks on a lonely stretch of of road, vapor trails running 1/2 mile or more behind the truck, you get to value the time and money spent on being prepared. The other truck had Alaska plates! All others didn't try or didn't make it far from the truckstop.

my take is: If I am going to put my life on the line going out in the real cold, I am going to properly outfit the truck. Never gelled even running at -35F Warm fuel doesn't gel. I had driver controlled, coolant type, fuel heater that I could turn on or off on the fly. I had an electric block heater for cold starts I had an Espar coolant heater for heat while parked overnight on the road. I would never trust my life to an additive. I have pumped "slushy" diesel (diesel that came out of the pump already starting to gel) into my tank and driven on, Would you do that with additives? It costs money to properly outfit a truck, but the money is paid back in spades not paying for a tow.

I just realized I mis-read the 1st post, It isn't the hub that is cracked, but the bearing race. Knock out the race and inspect where the bearing goes. Get a new set of bearings, or at least an outer race, and see if it will press firmly into the hub. If so, you are good to go, if not you can look to replace the hub or have it built up and re-machined to hold the bearing. Building up and re-machining will cost a few bucks, but everything you have can be re-used. New hub means new drum and may be new wheels. If your lucky it will hold a new race and can go back together.

https://graphicvillage.org/meritor/pb2006.pdf Another catalog. You aren't likely to find inboard drum hubs, but have a good chance of finding out board.

They are on spokes, but not so sure about Disk. The next thing you need to know is the bolt circle for the axle studs and count and the diameter of the studs. 7" B/C and 5/8" dia studs 8 count are common, but 3/4" and other sizes are used. 580 outer bearing cone space a little over 4" apart are common on the spindle if in the range I mentioned. If it falls into the common hub, then you could replace with outboard drums and common hubs. https://www.webbwheel.com/online_catalog_hubdetail.php?hn=26431--MLT

Ok, start with the bearing numbers, both inner and outer cup and cone. Get the seal bore and part where the seal rides diameters. Unless it has a real odd bearing spacing or brake spider placement, I suspect a newer outboard drum type hub could be fit. My guess is it will be a typical 20K/40K hub. Hub used on 20K single or 40K tandem axles. If you can get the aprox bearing spacing that will also be helpful. I am assuming std 16.5x 7 rear shoes?

A big part of the problem is in the news biz it is far better to be 1st and wrong on a "scoop" than to be 2nd or 3rd and correct. Leads to no fact checking and false stories being taken as true.

Peak fire season used to be 8 months of the year, from about may to late sept or oct. If you have to repair a res, when would you do it? in summer? no, you do it in the statistical low point, unfortunately fire season is now 12 months of the year out there. You don't want to do it in late "winter" when the snow melt is starting, that's when you want it completed to start re-filling! Late Dec-early Jan is the time to do it. It just happens this time it was an unlucky time. Anytime you close it and there is a fire, people are going to yammer about incompetent leadership, just as they will if it is not maintained. You can't have it both ways. They had 70 MPH winds, try firefighting in half that (35 mph) and see how well you do! expecting buried waterlines and hydrants to be able to maintain full pressure when being drawn on all across the system (because of wide spread fire) is not reasonable, but boy it makes a nifty sound bite to say "dry hydrants" to the masses and getting them yammering. No muni water system can supply enough to quell a large scale fire like that. Then add in "lost" structures that will all be "leaking" (gushing) from their water hook ups. Folks, this is a national and natural disaster, lets come together and at least feel for the people if you can't or will not help. Fighting an urban wildfire is a whole different ball game than a rural one where you can set fire breaks and keep it contained (or at least try to) and not lose 1000's of structures and lives. The Fire in Lahina Hi (sp?) was bad also for the same reasons High wind and urban area. The terrain around LA makes it easy for fires to accelerate and hard to fight. Lahina was at least mostly flat. questioning how and why they started is fair game, but as of yet there is little to no time to spend on getting that info,

Then how do you explain away a 1948 KW watertruck being on Cal-fire payroll?

Unless someone can provide proof, not just someone talking in to a phone, I say total and complete BS! I personally know someone who is a contractor for CalFire with a 1948 Kw watertruck with twin sticks. Firetrucks are exempt period!

If you look at pictures of the real old days, you'll see many lic plates on one truck. Then came the "bingo stamp" plate that had places for state issued stickers for each state. So you no longer need full size plates for each state, just that states "bingo stamp" Today (I think, been out of it for a coupla years) Alaska is the only state or province that is not part of IRP, so trucks going to Alaska will have two lic plates, one from their home state and one from Alaska. You can travel between the US and Canada under IRP plates. There are other requirements, but registration wise the IRP is valid in both countries.

I found Iowa fairly easy to work with. They, at least, separate out the "commercial" interstate stuff to one center in the middle of the state. You can do it all "on line" and are willing to help if you call them on the phone. In state stuff at the county courthouse is a different story, many times I know more then they do, and when I run into a conflict suggest that "we be safe and check with Ankeny", more than a few times they had to concede I was correct after calling the state truck center. On the downside, you had to register your truck for the maximum weight, and couldn't just "permit" the extra weight when you needed to move over legal. Michigan was the same. It meant I had to carry 160,001lb on my plate all the time in those two states. Any move over that weight would incur more tax, but were considered super loads.