Ham's 48 - Starting Another Summer

[LarrBeard]

Spring has sprung, the grass has riz. I wonder where, the old truck is?

Well, one day last week after the bride and I cut the grass for the first time, I had the notion to wake up the ’48. I peeled off the cover and it had done a pretty good job over the winter - the bird and spider poop was on the outside, not on the finish of the truck - just a few spider houses here and there underneath.

The truck was last started in January before we left for Florida so I had a concern that getting it awakened might be a task. I did a quick battery check (lights, fan motor) and it looked like I had a good battery so I decided to try to start it without any goose juice for an assist.

Ignition OFF; choke FULL RICH, clutch IN; now crank it.

The first four cylinders were slow to turn over, but by the time she got to the second full revolution, the cranking speed came up a bit. I let it crank for about four full revolutions, then I turned the ignition ON. I let it crank another couple of full revolutions (keep in mind you can count every cylinder) and I started juking the choke ( a technical term Jeep owners understand). After a couple of cylinders I was rewarded with a splutter as a little gas got back to the carburetor.

It was still cranking good, so I just kept on crankin’ and jukin’.

Another splutter, a burst of a start, it died, crank a bit more and then it burst into full throated life. Ah yes, the smell of rich exhaust over the aroma of freshly cut grass! I let it run a bit - it wasn’t missing or running rough, so I eased it out of the car barn and took a very short spin down the road. It appeared to warm up pretty quickly for no more than I had driven, so I opened the hood, carefully removed the radiator cap and verified that things looked clean and green. After a minute or so, the coolant gave a wheeze - I suspect the Milodon thermostat had hung up a bit. I restarted it and the temperature came right down to the 0 in 160; exactly where it should run.

I went to the house, got my drivers license, told the bride I was taking a ride and off I went. I made about a 15 mile circuit around the county back roads. It was a VERY windy day and depending if you were going upwind or downwind there is a difference in how you ride in a truck with a cross section like a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. If you get the wind just right, with both windows down, there is a resonance that really gets your attention!

But, it ran very well - every gauge was exactly where it should have been - even the ammeter showed the battery had topped off after the expended cranking period.

As it turned out - that was the last nice day for a Jeep ride - pure blind luck overcomes skill, cunning and forethought once again. Now there are several Oh-by-the-way jobs that need to be done as well as give it a good pimping (primping?)up to get ready for summer.

[gmwillys]

Let the ice cream getting season commence for Ham's '48!

[bmorgil]

It has to get warmer and stop raining soon, spring has sprung! I am ready for the "ice cream run"!

[gmwillys]

I took the top off of the '91 a couple o weeks ago, so the girls wanted to go for a Jeep run last Friday since we were all off for Good Friday. We went through the National Forest and hopped out at one of the swimming creeks s the girls could splash about. Being that it is a mountain creek, it was still pretty cool, so they lasted about an hour before being ready to head for the barn.

[LarrBeard]

"they lasted about an hour"

Yeah. we would have lasted about five minutes.

[gmwillys]

That's why I sat on the pier and watched for snakes or other woodland critters. The water was probably no more than 65 degrees, so I wasn't going in unless I had to.

[bmorgil]

I would have turned blue in 60 seconds.