Geoff Weeks

I wasn't always that heavy, that was in the day before small digital cameras, so I don't have many pictures from back then. Also it was just a days work for me, now I wish I had documented all the loads I moved. There used to be a site on the net where a Swiss trucker's friends posted all his loads after he died. He had pictures of loads going all over, the middle east, North Africa and even one trip to Pakistan via the Kiber Pass, all in the K100 KW with Detroit! Changing cyl pack in the desert! I used to spend hours looking through them, but I don't think they are still on the .net. I have changed computers many times since then and don't have the address stored anywhere😮‍💨

If you are blowing boost out of the drier, that is one problem, it will show with the turbo spooled. If however it will blow a lot out of the drier at idle, then it is the check valve between the drier and wet tank. System builds until purge, then the wet tank blows back through the drier. Causes rapid cycling. There should be a check in the outlet of the drier. Without knowing how and when it is blowing out the drier, and type of drier I can't help more. To tell the truth, I am not up on any driers newer than the AD-9. Most driers have a large discharge of air when the valve opens and then a diminishing amount as the purge volume is discharged, picking up the moisture trapped in the drier on its way out. AD-4 and AD-9's had a rubber "check valve" on the top of the element that allowed free flow in the forward direction. There is a much smaller hole in the top that the reverse air has to pass though, so purge is slower. Often these checks will break off and dump the entire purge air all at once. AD-9's were prone to the threaded base wearing and the element, loosening and flopping around inside (doing no good at all)

Crane beam 135' and steam sterilizer (168K gross)

Some pic's from my heavy haul days. 20 cyl EMD powered generator with switch gear in house. GW around 170,000 (truck, trailer, and load). Pulled with a 400 Cummins, 13 spd through a 14" organic clutch.

No problem, I can understand not wanting to do it yourself. I did and have the bad back, aches and pains to prove it. Yea, sounds like the same place. They are known, I haven't used them (being in the mid-west) but know people that swear by them. I had three boxes for two trucks, so would exchange them when one needed work. After close to 2 M miles the original box wouldn't hold an input seal and had to be sent off for machining and a sleeve. I put pitman bushings in one, it wasn't hard but wouldn't look forward to doing it either! I had one (1983) that was built for Ryder's rental fleet, so have no idea how many million miles it had on it when I sold it a year or so ago. I do know I wouldn't hesitate to drive it anywhere, one reliable truck. I know it wore out one Cummins block, already had salvage sleeves in it for 2 of the liners, and needs a full set put in it. I swapped in a newer engine and still have the original sitting in my barn.

Ok, I will freely admit I don't know your system. However, oil pumping is not rocket science. Before makeing a replacement of the compressor, look at the whole air system. A new compressor on a leaky system that is compressing all the time, is going to put you right back where you are now in short order. Take the truck out for a steady run on the freeway. watch when the compressor unloads, the needle on the gauge should climb until it unloads and the drier purges. when that happens time until it happens again. On the freeway, where you are not using your brakes the time between cycles should be at least TEN MINUTES, I hear trucks with the unloader popping off ever few seconds. My 30 year old truck would do 45 minutes (air ride truck and trailer), That was a tight system, most will not do that well. I looked at 15-30 minutes as "good enough". I had air start, so made sure the air system was in good shape. 10 minutes is the minimum I would accept. You can't test sitting still, all valves for brakes etc must be in "driving position" and the compressor at speed. Replacing the compressor (the source of the oil) without addressing the cause of the oil will be disappointing. A Windex bottle with soapy water and spray down air lines and valves will show where the leaks are. Address the leaks 1st, then check inlet and outlet piping (no restriction on the inlet is as important as on the outlet). Since this is a newer truck, this shouldn't be a problem, but some older systems fitted with older air driers (AD-2, AD-4) with the compressor inlet connected to the engine intake manifold on a turbo'd engine will pass air and oil when the purge valve is open, and require an "econ valve" between the compressor and drier to prevent this. Without it, boost passes right through the compressors valves and out the purge at the drier. Newer driers all have turbo cut-off valves in the drier to prevent this.

It doesn't really matter. The local hose shop switched to Gates, I'm not a great fan of, but had no trouble with the hose, it was more the range of fittings, that were a problem after the switch. Just want something rated for diesel, with a wire braid so it can't collapse.

Might depend on the flasher, some of the new electronic ones might care. Volt meter will not care unless it is grounded through the case. The problem I remember was the temp and oil pressure gauges wanted to read backwards and swapping the wires wouldn't solve that. Others Like my K's couldn't care less, either polarity is fine. If I'm not mistaken it was on a Autocar gauge that there was a problem.

I can understand that. If you are just going after slop in the bushings or external leaks (the power steering works) than you don't have to do all the little disassembly shown in the manual, just pull the big chunks to get at what you need to repair. I did the input shaft with the box in the truck, pitman bushing require it out, so you can get at both sides.

Depends on what it needs. If the shop pulls it and sends it out regardless of the problem it will be in that range or a bit more. If you take it apart and put new bearings and/or seals and bushings and the shaft seal surface is ok, it can be 1/10th that. I did some of my boxes more than once, When a new seal wouldn't correct the leak because of shaft wear, it was time for the big rebuild. They are big and heavy, but aside from getting the gears timed right, not too technical. There are a couple dots on the two gears to get it timed on center. I think that manual I posted a while back may have the procedure in it. If you just need to take some slop out of the pitman shaft IIRC it rides in a bushing with a seal at the outer end. You have to pull it all apart to get to it, but I did one of mine and it lasted. You will not know until you have it apart. Just keep track of the input shaft orientation with the inner big piston, IIRC it is a triple helix ( can go in 3 ways). If you get it wrong the steering wheel will be off when in the straight forward position. If you don't want to do it, I would recommend Straight Line Steering in bay area Calif. Give them a call and see what they would charge to go through it. Hardest part is getting the pitman arm off, There are 3 methods that the secure them, again covered in the manual. It is amazing how something that compact can be so heavy and awkward to handle.

Those look like horn relay or buzzer Buzzer often only has two terminals. One word of caution on changing polarity. SOME but not all Gauges will not work on reverse polarity, others will not care. I have run into it in Autocar stuff. As to the rust issue, most rusting is between the truck and the surrounding air and in that case polarity of the electrical system has no effect. Both my old IHC's are + ground, but I have no feeling one is better than other. If you want to go adding stuff, the world is mostly - ground. There are solutions to have + ground and still use - ground stuff. Whether you want to take the risk that you will not forget and plug in something modern or you want to convert, is up to you. I use modern "electro-mechanical" 12 volt flasher on a 6 volt + ground truck without problems ( have to open and stretch the return spring on the relay, that was all that was required to use on 6 volt) and reverse the power in and out wires the other way around.

Yeah that is good news. There is a high pressure seal at the input shaft that can wear the shaft. If it leaks bad from the input shaft it might need that shaft machined/repaired. Last time I had to have that done to a box it cost me a grand. The good news is it can be repaired, the bad news is it is not cheap. I have found them to be a good box. I had three of them. Let me be clear, many times you can just re-seal and/or replace bushings and bearing and put back together. If the input shaft is badly worn where the seal rides, that is when it runs into money.

That would make your life a lot easier than if it is 39 box.

Could it be 392? That would be nice as parts are available the last time I needed some. It would be a high pressure box. Sometimes the casting numbers are hard to read when they get some age on them. Might have to take a wire brush to it to be sure.

Naw, price per killawatt will remain steady, the "distribution, infrastructure" and a zillion other charges will be tacked on to your bill to double or triple it, but the power company will say they haven't raised your electric rate! I'm old enough to remember there was just one charge on your electric or phone bill, it was for services used. Today, there are 6 or more lines on the bill beyond what you actually used in electric

May be some day electric cars will be a significant portion of the grid load, not today, but all household loads have been rising steadily. House I grew up in had 60 amp mains, electric stove/oven and my dad's 50 amp welder run off that. Today 200 amp mains are the norm, and that is before electric cars, which can be set to charge in off peak hours and need no more than an electric stove. 300 amp service to residential use is becoming more common. The only area of slight decrease is power used for lighting purposes. Crypto " mining" uses huge amounts of power for no tangible gain.

If it is Detroit powered, it need the return to the tank submerged in fuel. Tanks for other engine may just have the return dump in the top, a Detroit needs in under the fuel (it will back siphon air when not running if return is above fuel level.)

Also check you are using the correct fuel filter for the application, and any sealing washers/ O rings that come with the filter are used.

Coupla ideas. I had a truck that had a problem, it turned out the Strato-flex line from the tank to the pump had leaks, wouldn't leak fuel but would suck air into the fuel. When it finely got bad enough the truck would start to run like a clogged fuel filter. So if your suction line hasn't been changed in years, that is something to try. I also added a check valve at the tank. It is important not to increase the restriction in the suction line, I used a "swinging disk" style check as they have very low restriction in the forward direction. God, I miss Glenn Akers, he was a wiz on stuff like this.

Just to be clear: The big cast hub/spoke piece will need to be changed, whether you re use the bearing & races is up to you, the drum will have to un bolted and bolted onto the new hub and a new wheel seal will be needed. If you are thinking you can just put a 24.5 rim on the spoke hub you have now, no you can't.

Also, back in the day when spokes ruled, there were differing drums for 5 and 6 spokes, but now they are combined into one drum that is drilled to fit both configurations. I mention this because if you look in older books, you may find two drums listed depending on how many spokes.

Yes, the "24.5" hub will take the same brake drum. The hub (tech call spoke wheel) has to be the right one for the spindle. It will be called a 22" wheel. Spoke wheels were made in 20" 22" and 24" sizes. (just to confuse you a 20" wheel takes either a 20" tube type or 22.5" tubeless rim, a 22" wheel takes a 22" tube type or 24.5" tubeless rim) 24" wheel take 24" tube type rim. Brakes are determined by the axle capacity and most often remain the same regardless of which wheel is used. Seams like a lot of money for "looks" only, but that is my prejudice.

Many cars today require a ramp truck, just the way things, are regardless of how they are powered Ever work on a car hauler? not much room under them either. Many more electrics than Tesla. Musk and Tesla are gimmicky, while there is some good there in innovation, there are plenty of less gimmicky electrics that are solid performers. Ever spent any seat time in an electric? I have. You might surprise yourself if you can get over your prejudice of the power source. I know one guy who spent his life as, as he puts it "a dealer shop whore" working on high end imports (Saab, Jag etc) and racing Saabs. Has a '16 Chevy Bolt and loves it. "Only thing I have had to replace on the car is wiper blades and wiper fluid".

There is one listed as a Lester 4151 on ebay but it is a 4150 and only a two hole mount.

The main stud through the case is where the two winding split off, I often find one field has broke loose from the stud. It is caused by people trying to get the nut off the cable, and twisting the whole stud. The winding bar stock is soldered to the stud. There is also a wire between the two "hot" brushes that can degrade. Stud kits, brushes and even rear covers are available both aftermarket and NOS. The same starter with a different nose cone and/ or drive was used on a lot of tractors and other vehicles. so parts are not really a problem.