Ham’s 48 - Waking Up from Hibernation
After the Holiday Parade last November, the truck made one more road trip and then it was time to go into hibernation. When I unrolled the big silver truck cover, I saw a puddle of stuff under the truck.
Now, the truck is normally housebroken, so that shouldn’t be there. I did the usual scientific analysis; wiped some on my finger and tasted it. It had that sweet anti-freeze taste so I figured “water leak”.
Awhhh pooh - is it a drain petcock leak, a hose leak - water pump? All sorts of possibilities came to mind. I popped the hood and there was water around the thermostat housing. That’s good news, at the worst it’s three bolts and a gasket and it can wait until spring (it was a cold raw day and I didn’t want to get into it then). We’ll put it on the Deferred Maintenance project list for next Spring. I covered the truck and put it to bed for the winter.
By last week we had enough warm days to make me realize that Spring really was going to happen, so I decided that it was time to rouse the truck from its’ winter nap. I peeled back the cover to the windshield and opened the hood. There wasn’t any coolant around the thermostat. I decided to try the easiest possible solution to the problem and checked the clamp that holds the top radiator hose to the thermostat housing.
To my surprise and delight, the clamp screw took a couple of turns with almost no effort - it had loosened (or the hose had taken a bit of a set). With that done, It was time to see if the beast would wake up. I grabbed the can of starting fluid - it was empty. Well, we’ll just have to do this the old fashioned way. I got in, flashed the headlights (OK - battery is good) and began my start-up procedure.
Choke out (mixture full rich); ignition, OFF. Then I hit the push-in starter and turned the engine over. The familiar ”rump, rump, rummp..." started as the engine turned over for the first time in four months. I let it go through four full engine revolutions (12-“rumppphs”) to get some fuel flowing then I turned on the ignition.
The ammeter wiggles - points are opening and closing, and I slowly close the choke - it normally fires at about 2/3 open. Nothing happened the first time. “Rummp, rump” ..so I repeat the choke cycle again. This time at about 2/3 open it splutters but doesn’t catch. “Rummp, rump ..”; OK, one more try. This time at 2/3 open it splutters, misses a couple of times and decided to run! It runs rough for a few revolutions, settles down and everything starts to come to life.
The oil pressure starts to crawl up the gauge (it’s that Stewart-Warner gauge and it is agonizingly slow when its cold), the ammeter is pegged at full charge and the fuel gauge starts upscale. It’s alive! I let it run until the thermostat opened and I checked for the water leak - everything was dry. I declared a minor victory and called it a day.
The next day was a nice day so I decided it was time to get out on the road. I backed out in the driveway, gave it a standing brake check then a slow rolling brake check and I made a short run just to see what was going to happen. As usual the first quarter mile was brutal from the out-of-sync flat spots on the tires from sitting all winter. All the gauges came up to where they should be and I came back to the driveway and made an quick under hood check and walk-around for leaks - all OK.
So - let’s take a quick road trip. It takes about five miles for all of the gear lubricants to warm up but once that happened, she wanted to run. I found that I was cruising at about an indicated 42 MPH a couple of times - and no tail winds! I went down Emanuel Road to Hoagland Road, across to Franke Road. I went back west on Maples Road and about 20 miles later, I was back home.
When you cruise in an old Jeep, you see and smell things you miss at air-conditioned 70 MPH. Farmers were plowing and you can smell the freshly turned earth. Guys were out mowing and you can smell freshly cut grass. People wave at you as you go by and give you thumbs up as they pass you - and there is always some guy in a hurry that might give you finger up as he blasts by you because he wants to go 70 to your 40 … turkey. And, on occasion there are road hazards - the vulture who decides that he can launch across the road before you get to where he was having lunch at the Raccoon diner.
And as always on an old Jeep, you find the next project. The driver door handle has a loose screw - the threads in the handle are wallowed out - and the door handle rattles. I guess I’d better find a fix for that before the handle comes off in my hand some day.
Now, it’s time to give it a good bath and get ready for the first show and tell at the end of the month!
