Ham’s 48 - Waking Up from Hibernation

[LarrBeard]

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!

[bmorgil]

Awesome Larry! The 48' is back on the road! I will be taking peeJ out this week myself. I cant wait for the first show.

[test1328]

Thanks for the write-up Larry! Great description of the sights and sounds of starting and driving an old Jeep.

[56willys]

Yes, sir! Spring is truly upon us! We had Dads 49 ford out a couple times in the last week or so. And my Grandpa was talking about getting the corvette out of storage. Now if only flossy was together...

Glad to hear the 48 is running good and ready for another season. I love it when a leak ends up being a simple fix, like tightening a screw.

[gmwillys]

Hamm is out again for another ice cream season.

The Heep is down right now. I pulled the starter and generator to get them cleaned up and bearings put in the generator. I haven't had time to mess with them, so I sent them out to a professional. Hopefully I'll get them back in a couple of weeks.

[LarrBeard]

Probably a good idea. One of the almost lost skills is finding a shop that knows how to undercut the slots in a commutator and then true it up.

[bmorgil]

It cant be.... The Heep is never down!

[gmwillys]

It's only down in spirit. I have a spare starter and a generator that can be used in a pinch, but neither are direct replacements. The generator is clocked different on the front mount, and requires a longer upper bracket. The starter is a refurbished one, but it requires a solenoid or a momentary switch to work. I'm not giving up the floor actuator. Starter and generator/alternator rebuilders are going the way of radiator repair people and the Dodo birds. This guy is very independent. He only works a couple hours a day, a few days a week. He stays covered up in work.

[bmorgil]

The main criteria for me was to find a Willys that still had the floor actuator. I wouldn't give that up for all the tea in china!

It is getting very hard to find the shops we were so used to in the 50's 60' and 70's. Modern methods and "replace it" technology has lead to a different way. No longer do you diagnose and repair the component. The process of identify the location and replace all potential causes is the new way. Components are becoming less and less rebuilt, and more and more replaced. You go to the dealer, pay a large fee to hook up a diagnostic terminal, and the machine says replace this. If that doesn't work the trouble begins. This is when the Technician says, I need an expert!

[gmwillys]

I'm having to relearn on how to troubleshoot electrical since transferring to our new production branch. All the electrical has gone to a can bus system. In my opinion, we have overcomplicating a combat platform just to eliminate a manual power distribution rotary switches. I'm old school, but there are too many non moving parts that all have to communicate for a vehicle to run at full potential. Any leg or component failure, and you are stuck in a potential life threatening position.

Starter and generator repair is a pretty interesting process. I follow a guy on YouTube that restores vintage Caterpillar and farm tractors. He goes by Squatch 253. He is very meticulous about his work. He posted a how to video a couple months back about using a commutator cutter and armature lathe. We didn't have the fancy lathe, but we did have a growler.