Old WC's never die - they just move on! :-)

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

I picked up the "new" trailer yesterday. It need's now some "TLC" but is running very well on the Autobahn. So the transportation problem for the Dodge seems to be solved and I have a brand new project for the upcoming winter...

See:



Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

today I started worked on the "new" trailer (nick-named by my colleagues now as "the aircraft carrier" because of it's sheer size).

The bad news: all six wheels (7 with spare-wheel) are in a veryvery rotten condition, two of them so badly that even sandblasting would not make sense and only two tires are still road legal. Not a real surprise, but minimizing my repair-budget...
So I spent hours at ebay, and ordered in the end 2 used complete wheels + 2 new tires. And in addition a new tongue as well (=safety first because it's a 3.5 tons trailer that has been 17 years in use - or abuse...).

So tomorrow I'm bringing 5 of the old tires to the tire-shop to get the "old rubber" off and the rims then to Fritz' sandblasting Co. (he own's a WC63) for "re-vitalization" - and cost cutting.

The good news: my colleague Ecki is fixing the mount for the HD jack with it's wheel that had been added very "semi-professional" by the previous owner.

- So the new Dodge trailer project is on a good way.

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[beepbeep]

Nice looking trailer Joakim......I like your colleagues sense of humour, 'the aircraft carrier' is just perfect How's about getting some 'USS Enterprise' decals made for it

Chris

[Skyrookie]

And a steam powered catapult on it

[beepbeep]

And a steam powered catapult on it

[12th Air Force]

@beepbeep: NCC-1701-A or one of the later types?

[12th Air Force]

Hi guy's,

I love your sense of humor too. *haha* The Dodge catapult sounds like an interesting idea!
Steam might be a problem, but maybe I can get some sureplus booster rockets for a better acceleration of the Dodge on the German Autobahn?

I remember that McGyver was once trapped in the Garage of a military camp and tried to escape. All he had in there was an old ex. MOD Land Rover - but without the engine - and some Sidewinder-something AA missiles... Guess what his solution was???

Otherwise I had a pretty nice Tuesday - except of the fact that my carburettor problem is not solved....

I had today guests from the States today and at first we visited my Garage and then we drove some km to my "preferred petrol station".
Today we had 19° C, sun all day long - the perfect day for driving around in the Dodge.

The sad thing: the rep.-kit for the Zenith carb. did not solve the problem of the "choking engine" at high speed. That problem occures now not only from time to time as in the beginning - now it appears permanently from about 60 km/h on to max.

- And on Friday the beast has to run like a clock because of the convoy tour to the USMVC Camp... *damned!*

So I have to call Jeepest in France tomorrow and to ask them if they have a refurbished carb. in stock (it's listed but might be sold out)...
If so I have to jump into the car and have to drive 350 km to their shop to pick it up and then all the way back home again.... *tsss*
- Hopefully that will solve the problem.

If not, is something with the fuel pump not okay and I have to start with plan b (electrical fuel pump replacement).
So the old battlehorse is keeping me busy on the final mile before our MV season end's with the Camp on next weekend.

To be continued...

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

PS: Poor parcel Co. fellow... the "avalanche" of parcels with spares for the rebuilt of the "USS Enterprise" aircraft - ähm - Dodge carrier trailer has started...

PPS: To be honest - actually I'm the first time really glad to be unemployed, because otherwise I could not handle all of that.
As allways: you have to see the good in the bad...

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

due to the "wonders of internet shopping" the plan with the refurbished carb. from France did not work out: two Zenith carb. types on the HP - but both out of stock. Or to say it with my Grand-Dad's words: you can only sell what you have in stock...
- So true - even after 94 years!

So this was the end of plan A to solve the problem from the carb. side....

Plan b is, to solve it from the fuel supply side. In fact occured the problem of the choking engine at first, when I changed the "setup" from the cracked original petrol tank to a repro-one with a smaller fuel pipe diametre. When I bought the tank I did not recognize it, but in fact is the original pipe diameter something at about 9 mm and the repro-part from Belgium has only about 6 mm. - A silly mistake with consequences...

In addition I switched at that time from a mechanical pump to an electrical one, that my Dodge Brother Vario has in use in his WC54 Ambo.
- Without any problems, but in combination with the original tank and the larger pipe diameter...

So I had from the very beginning the repro tank fuel pipe as the suspicious part in focus, that is causing the problem.
My opinion is, that the smaller pipe diameter is causing a lack of fuel at full throttle. So as soon as the "fuel bowl" in the carb is empty at full speed the "choking" is starting. Just because the fuel consumption is higher than the amount of fuel that is coming thru the smaller pipe from the repro-tank.

So the new idea of mine is typical German: "pump up the volume" (that's from a 1990ies block buster song) and to rise the fuel pressure via adding a stronger fuel-pump or an additional second one.

The actual electrical fuel pump is sitting in the engine bay (dry and warm) and is linked to the hose after the original fuel filtre.
And yes: Normally you would position an electrical fuel pump directly behind the fuel tank, but there you have humidity and dirt and the risk of ripped off wire or hose in case of off-road driving etc. etc.

So the new plan to solve the problem is an additional electrical fuel pump, that is located directly after the fuel tank (as it should be).
This one (no. 1) has to "suck" the fuel directly from the tank at the max. psi pressure and the second pump located after ther original filtre is giving the additional boost to the fuel pressure for the "final mile" around the hot engine to the carb.
That second one has a valve for regulating the fuel pressure in addition and to prevent the carb. from overflow if the fiel pressure is too high at low speed.

That's the plan / theory - and tomorrow I will install the additional pump, that I bought today.
So (hopefully) that new setup is finished tomorrow afternoon and I can do some test-driving with it on the Autobahn....
...with positive results.

To be continued...

Joakim

[beepbeep]

Hope it works

[12th Air Force]

Hi Chris,

the additional fuel pump + cable-salad is installed, 50 cm of useless fuel hose and adaptors eliminated as well as the useless original fuel filtre that is now disconnected.

The first test in the Garage was promising: the beast is starting now directly (as my old 6V WC52 did).

In the fuel filtre of the first pump you can see now approx. 40-50 % more fuel when it is running.
Tomorrow the final test on the Autobahn - today it was too late to do so.

Then packing down all stuff for the USMVC Camp and up and away to the last MV Event of the year in our area.

Keep 'em Rolling and have a relaxed weekend,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

to make a long story short: the additional fuel pump was the solution.
The beast is now running up the hills and long distances on the motorway at full speed again without any sign's of "choking".
The fuel consumption might be slightly higher - but that's the "price of performance" I would say.

The end of the "OD season" with the USMVC Koblenz Camp near Bad Kreuznach last weekend was great: we had up to 19° C and sunshine on Friday and Saturday so that I got a slight sunburn during the convoy driving on Saturday to the famous "Rotenfels" cliff at the river Nahe (nearby Bad Kreuznach).





The Dodge was running like a clock - even up the steep backside of the 200 m. high Rotenfels with a winding small forrest road and 4 passengers in the back. - Brave old Battlehorse!







Overall we had more than 22 MV in place and the first time more WW2 MV than post war types.
Most MV have been Willy's and M151, in addition: REO, Chevy workshop truck, Humvee, Munga, Unimog and even a nice Corvette.

















After "hanging around" with the nice USMVC folk's since nearly a year I decided to join the Club and signed in on last weekend.
The USMVC is in fact one of the oldest MV owners Clubs in Germany that was founded back in 1982 and the only one that is focussed on ex. US Army MV only (details see USMVC homepage: http://www.usmvc-koblenz.de/).

The USMVC Koblenz was in addition the original organizer of the largest annual MV Event in Germany - the Schmidtenhöhe MV Event - from 2001 to 2008, when a group of former members decided to establish an own Club that is open to all types of MV. Since then the "separatist's" are organizing this annual Event, that is today dominated by ex. Bundeswehr MV and off-road enthusiast's (about 60% of all approx. 400-450 in place).

But to be honest: I feel more comfortable with the smaller and family-like USMVC Event(s) that representates more the MV collectors and is focussed on US Army MV only - with a large group of WW2 types.
- A combination that is "one of a kind" in this size in Germany. Last but not least are most members coming from an area at Rhein and Main, about 150 km max. from my hometown. Another important point for my decision to join this MV Club after having been the last 18 years a "lone wolf" without any ties to a Club (after having been 12 years a member in a Mini Cooper and a Land Rover Series Club before).
Oh yes - and the USMVC has a NCO Club...



Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[beepbeep]

Looks like you had a great weekend Joakim.....the views from the Rotenfels are fabulous!! Glad to hear you got your truck sorted as well

Chris.

[12th Air Force]

Looks like you had a great weekend Joakim.....the views from the Rotenfels are fabulous!! Glad to hear you got your truck sorted as well

Chris.

Hi Chris,

to be honest: I knewed the Rotenfels up to now only by name, but never have been there before.
It's an outstanding place and from the top you have a phantastic view over the river Nahe valley.
Very impressive.

The vine tasting at the camp was nice and Florian bought the next day some boxes of vine at the vineyard.
-Greetings from him to you and Dan! He is still talking about Tanks in Town 2014!
Actually he is interested in buying the amphibious Ford Jeep GPA (Seep) or the copy GAZ 46 MAV...

CU at Ciney,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

all stuff from the last MV Camp is dry again and back on it's place, so it's time to switch to my winter project: the "new" trailer for the transport of my Dodge.

As mentioned before it need's after 17 years of heavy use now some "TLC" and I have nearly finished all orders of the spares for the "basic trailer kit" to get it "refreshed". So actually our Garage look's more a bit like "Warehouse 13"...



In addition my buddy Fritz has sandblsted 5 of the rims that will get a new coating this week.
Here you can see the change from "wrecks to riches":



So today I started at the front end and exchanged the rotten and worn out tongue of the aircraft carrier:
Before....



and after:



So the next step is the inspection of the brakes and the respay of the brake drums.
To be continued...

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim

[12th Air Force]

Hello Folk's,

yesterday I started to wonder about a missing part at the hand brake lever of the trailer and showed the photos today my "preferred trailer specialist" - a very old backyard Co., very chaotic - but with everything (REALLY EVERYTHING!) in stock that you need for trailers and caravans.

So one look at the hand brake photo from the specialist and after 2 min. he showed me the complete thing in an old ALKO parts catalogue.
- A gas lifter is missing!
The good news: the part is still available directly from the manufacturer.
The bad news: it will cost me EUR 89,- *OUTCHHHH!*

Well, if you say "A" you have to say "B" too - so I ordered that lousy part and can pick it up in two day's.

After that "slight shock" I started to exchange all the side marker lights of the trailer to get some "positive vibrations" out of that. Only 3 of 8 did work "thank's to consequent contact parking" of the previous owner.



But the remaining ones have been "old School style" with 5W bulbs. Far from beeing "up to date". I had a look at eBay and several caravan catalogues - but those lights are some aftermarket stuff and the amount of drilled holes indicated that it was the 3rd generation of different designs that has been in use throughout the years...

So I ordered new LED ones with a design that would fit to the existing holes. But then I had to learn today that only two positions had the correct holes for the LED's - all other six not. At the D.I.Y. store I tried to get stainless steel screws for fitting the LED's, but actually they are switching several departments from one place to another so that I only could get zinc coated ones. *tsss*
- Oh yes, today ist the 13.10. - and this seems not to be my lucky day...

So I spent 3 hours with drilling new holes and the replacement of the old junk. So all 8 LED sidemarker lights are in place and tomorrow I want to add two position lights in the front end before I start to connect them all to the existing "cable-salad" as we say over here in old Germany.

I want to speed up the trailer repairs a bit, because winter is coming closer now day by day: last night we had in the deeper areas the first frost and I added today some anti-freeze to my SUV's water. So the SUV is prepared, but it's no fun to work in a cold Garage on the floor, even with a large piece of cardboard under my back. *brrrrrrrrrrrrrr*
But better in every case than in a open driveway as others. Just to be a bit positive.

Good point: I had a look at the structure of the bed of the trailer and it seems that the replacement of the rotten wooden panels with punched sheet metal will be no problem. The idea is to have a strip on the left and right side instead of the old overall plattform design. So the additional space in the middle will be perfect for storing the ramps. But that's the final part of the job.

Tomorrow I have planned to finish the work on the electrical components and then to have a first look at the condition of the brake shoes, brake drums and the wheel bearings. Esp. the bearings and the oil seals of them should be replaced after 17 years. I think that's another grave for some pennies - to be continued...

Keep 'em Rolling,

Joakim