Keeping old stuff going

[caveman]

I have come to realize that when I buy a boat, truck, and other stuff it is usually a long-time commitment.  After sawing a few cypress logs this morning JMoore and I decided to work on the 1986 Evinrude outboard on the skiff I've had since I was 16 years old.  This is the third used engine I've had on it but it has had a fuel related issue for quite some time.  Granted, I have not run the boat but a few days a year for the past several years.  There was a time when it was in the water at least 100 days a year.  Anyway, a friend of ours had some old new stock needles and seats for the carbs.  After a little tweaking on the needle valve, and reinstalling, the engine ran well on the muffs.  I doubt it will get run in the lake tomorrow but maybe Thursday.  Tomorrow I'll be fishing in my friend's boat.

A week or so ago I was backing my '68 Bronco out of the shop and one of the original brake lines burst and the pedal went to the floor.  I ordered some new ones and surprisingly they were easy to replace and Wild Horses even sent enough fittings to adapt to the master cylinder.


While hauling logs a week ago I heard my rear brakes on my 2000 F-350 grinding.  The pads were past worn.  I picked some up and replaced them that night.  
My daughter drives our '96 Jeep Cherokee.  It began to run poorly and had a bad exhaust leak.  A couple of evenings the week before Christmas I spent replacing the header.  That is a job for people with smaller hands and longer arms than mine.  The bolts that hold the intake/exhaust on are challenging.  It is running much better after a new exhaust and a throttle position sensor but it is still occasionally missing and backfiring.

 

 

I am not a mechanic but DanG, when you have a bunch of old junk, it will take some effort to keep it going.  Still on the to do list:
Replace the mufflers on the '74 Bronco
Replace the battery, solenoid and probably alternator on the'77.
Replace the fuel tank in Pop's '89 F-150
Carburetor diaphragms in the '68 and '77.

I envy those of you who are mechanically talented. 

[Andries]

I'd say that you're doing well with the mechanical world Kyle - your hands on training is paying off. 👍 
It takes a dedicated soul to keep that "fleet" running smoothly.

[moodnacreek]

Keeping old stuff going has been my life, it's all I know. I had a '49 dodge truck when I was 60, we where the same age. My son delivered fire wood with it and he can shift gears. The flat bed dump on the '71 f350 is off that truck and that's the fourth truck it's been on. My over the road truck is a '91 f350 pu diesel stick. No slush boxes here.  And the new pu is a '92 ranger 4 cyl. 5 speed. I don't know about this one, it has a computer.

[SawyerTed]

The 1962 Farmall 140 and the 1974 Massey Ferguson 135 both pitch periodic tantrums and require focused attention to get them going. The Farmall wants spark plug wires and a battery with some regularity. For some reason it also wants the timing reset about twice a year no matter what.  

The Massey decides to get a kink in the 3 point hitch lift linkage about 3 or 4 times  a year.  

In comparison the 2010 Kubota just needs the regular maintenance items - filters and fluids, grease etc.  What kind of fun is that?  :D

[chet]

Two 1948 tractors,  a 1962 dozer, 1963 backhoe/loader, 1976 dump truck, 2000 sawmill, and lots of old chain saws. The hardest thing ta keep running was built in 1954, ME.  :(

[WV Sawmiller]

Cavey,

  I hear there is a bad winter storm headed for Fla. I think you need to load up your tool chest and come up to WV for a few weeks. I promise I can find plenty of projects to keep you from getting bored.  :D

[caveman]

Howard, I was just thinking a few minutes ago while walking in from the shop (my shower is out there) that I would love to go to WV. Some hills and cool weather would be good for my attitude. Unfortunately, it is tough for me to get too far away from home these days.  I actually like helping folks work on their stuff but I absolutely detest repairing things that I depend on.  If I'm working on a project, I don't mind that at all.   You mentioned a tool chest- I need a bigger one.  

[Don P]

I used to get more joy out of wrenching. I think there was a sense of accomplishment and pride in it. The bloom is kinda off that rose  :D. A pile of logs sitting and we're 2nd full day in on trying to reattach the lift arm knuckles on the skidsteer where I ripped one off and cracked the other. Last thing I did today was walk under one of my freshly ground gussets. I was already getting threadbare up top, I think all the solar screening got scraped off. That's gonna add to my sense of accomplishment  :D

[Andries]

Ouch Don , sounds painful, but there's a thin consolation in that you can hide it under a ball cap. 🧢
Please, no MM accident photos, please. We believe you

[barbender]

Caveman, keeping older stuff running, you are a mechanic. You don't have to like it or be good at it😊

[caveman]

When we were picking up the outboard carburetor parts from an older friend yesterday, who is a very good mechanic, high school dropout and two-time retiree, I mentioned that if I had to rely on my mechanical ability to make a living that I'd likely starve to death.  I do like the old iron though.

[gspren]

@SawyerTed , I had a Farmall 140 for about 12 years and it was reliable, probably changed plugs once. It had a 6' belly mower and got alot of hours in the summer but then sat all winter. Every spring it would start up but sputter a bunch till I dumped in a can of dry gas to get the winters accumulation of condensation out. Wife always called it my "lopsided" tractor.

[Tom King]

I don't claim to be a mechanic either, but when comparing the cost of what a pro will charge for a given job, my time ends up being worth $150 an hour.  And that is not even considering the time spent on a phone, or taking something somewhere else.

It helps a Lot to have a shop that I can leave something sitting in until I'm finished with it.  Some days the best thing to do is walk away.  But when I do that, it always goes smoothly the next day.

[hedgerow]

I have always done all my own work on the farm. My equipment years ranges from a 1928 D JD to a 2021 Kubota MX-6000. I do find that I am getting old enough I just don't take on restoration projects any more. Most of my main farm equipment is 20 years or older. Pickups are around 10 years old. 

[mike_belben]

my scalp is permanently multi-colored from all the potato peeler scrapings. when youre bald it seems like your head is bleeding once a week.

that cherokee is coil on plug right?  my 98 had 4 cats and i wont fool with that year again.  the coil on plug is unfortunate because you cant put on a timing light or replace just one wire.

if youve got an OBD2 scan tool with live data that is the place to invest your time, looking for cylinder misfires and 02 trim outta wack.  google is your friend there.

i have pulled that fuel injector rail and fired mine into the air to be sure all injectors were shooting a correct stream before.  slightly cracked heads are common on cherokee and itll run pretty well until the crack gets bad.  youll see it in the coolant oil goo mix in one particular spot i cant remember.. almost a decade ago.  but again google cherokee cracked head.

[jb616]

a couple ways to find the missing cylinder is one, to spritz a little water on the exhaust manifold at each cylinder to see which one is "colder", or two use an IR thermometer to find the colder culprit.  If there is not a code, it is probably an injector. 

[SawyerTed]

@SawyerTed , I had a Farmall 140 for about 12 years and it was reliable, probably changed plugs once. It had a 6' belly mower and got alot of hours in the summer but then sat all winter. Every spring it would start up but sputter a bunch till I dumped in a can of dry gas to get the winters accumulation of condensation out. Wife always called it my "lopsided" tractor.

Our Farmall 140 was purchased in the 1970s secondhand and was used regularly to raise tobacco.  My FIL used it to make lists to plant the tobacco and to cultivate the tobacco through the season.  Then it pulled "slides"/trailers where we put the tobacco when we were priming/picking the leaves.  It also has cultivated garden for 50 plus years.  
My FIL turned it over when the brake linkage broke and he couldn't stop the tractor while cultivating tobacco.  The tractor went off a steep bank, rolled over, landed on its tires and was still running.  He jumped clear.  My wife was 8 or 9 at the time.  She was riding on the cultivator arm on the back.  She would jump off and uncover plants.  He told her to jump off and she saw the whole episode. Of course it scared her.  She doesn't care for the Farmall 140 because it "almost killed my daddy."  I understand how she feels but it is too good a tractor not to use for what it is good for. 
He had the tractor repaired well enough to use it until I started taking care of it in the mid 1990s.  I've restored it once just before my FIL died and it is due for another complete restoration.  Parts are harder and harder to find.
I still use it to list and cultivate our garden, plant some corn and move trailers around.  But since it is 59 years old, it requires that attention to keep it running.  It has been used heavily but still runs strong.   
The Massey Ferguson 135 usually keeps the rotary cutter on it so I can keep the fringes of the fields around the house mowed.  I did plow the garden this year with it.  The two bottom turning plow just works better on the MF 135 than the Kubota.  The MF 135 is a workhorse for its size and I use it to move trailers as well.  My FIL used it to plow 8 to 10 acres for tobacco and about as much for feed corn.

[caveman]

that cherokee is coil on plug right?  my 98 had 4 cats and i wont fool with that year again.  the coil on plug is unfortunate because you cant put on a timing light or replace just one wire.

if youve got an OBD2 scan tool with live data that is the place to invest your time, looking for cylinder misfires and 02 trim outta wack.  google is your friend there.

i have pulled that fuel injector rail and fired mine into the air to be sure all injectors were shooting a correct stream before.  slightly cracked heads are common on cherokee and itll run pretty well until the crack gets bad.  youll see it in the coolant oil goo mix in one particular spot i cant remember.. almost a decade ago.  but again google cherokee cracked head.

Thanks, Mike.  The 4.0 in the Jeep has a coil, distributor and individual plug wires.  The Google folks say the crack usually occurs between cylinders three and four.  I hope we got lucky and it is not cracked.  I shined a light into through the fill hole in the valve cover and did not see any coolant.  The check engine light did come on yesterday so maybe the OBD2 reader will pick something up, it would not the other day when the check engine light was not on.
The perplexing thing is that it will run great and then it will balk and backfire under 2000 rpm.  Then, when driving it like a rental vehicle (enthusiastic use of the throttle), it runs great, sometimes for 20 miles or more and then it may run poorly again.  I suspect it is still running too rich at times.  Both O2 sensors were replaced, the idle air control and the throttle position sensor.
JMoore keeps his OB2 scanner in his truck so we can take a look at it when he comes over tomorrow.

[Resonator]

The market for old Bronco's is hot now from what I've heard.

[caveman]

I always wanted one.  I had been hounding an old man friend of mine for years about selling me the first one I bought.  He decided to call me right after my first daughter was born in 1995.  There were some unanticipated expenses getting her into this world, so I was really shy on money.  I ended up trading him $900 and three cows for the '68 (170 in six, three on the tree, am radio, vacuum wipers, and 58,000 miles).  It was uncut and I wanted one to drive with bigger tires and a v-8 that I was not afraid of beating on a little. 

The 74 was purchased a few years later.  The floor was so bad that I'd lose things that dropped to the floor on the road.  After it serving as a daily driver for a few years I decided to repair the body and paint it, add disc brakes up front, add power steering, switch out the three speed for a np-435/np 205 (4speed w/ granny), swapped in a '69 351W, added a lift, Warn 8274 winch, roll cage, mini spool, used swampers, homemade bumpers, rocker panel rock skis, etc.  

The '73 (brown) was my uncle's but my dad ended up buying it from him.  It is quite quick with a 302, 4 barrel, headers, no top and 4.10 gears.  It also has an auto and disc brakes.

 The topless '77 is owned by my dad and me and was always intended to be a trail rig (we installed a clutch, changed out the three speed for the one out of my '74, made new floors, built the cage and bumpers, made the ss rocker panel covers 11ga., it still needs gears and lockers), the other '77 is pretty nice and it belongs to my dad (302, ps,pb, disc, ac, auto, carpet, Ranger package).  I have a couple of extra bodies, frame and axles among other parts I've acquired over the years.  My friends sometimes whistle the Sanford and Sons tune when they come over and I remind my girls and their husbands that all of my junk will be their problem one day.

 

[newoodguy78]

That's a dandy collection 👍

[aigheadish]

Those are beautiful @caveman !

[rusticretreater]

My wife asked why I keep my 2000 Dakota PU.  You're always working on it, she said.   Uh, its paid for, insurance is low, property tax is low.  I explained that I could spend thousands a year fixing it and still not match the price of a new truck.

I was an ASE Certified Tech for many years and its a hard life and at the time the pay wasn't all that great so I gave it up.  My back also gave it up.  The skills have become more valuable though.  As a previous poster said "I'm paying myself $150 an hour".  I don't trust any garage(because I know the EDITED BY ADMIN that happens in them) so they get tire work, alignments and inspections and that's all.

The other thing is that when there is something that would cost a bunch of money, I can usually buy the tools needed to do the job plus the parts and it still ends up costing less than if I paid for it to be done.  A great way to expand the tool collection.  The next time the work is needed, its even cheaper.

The real fun coming up with the Dakota is the frame needs work.  Dodge made a two piece frame for the rear to allow them to make different length beds and cab configurations.  The frame rusts real bad where it is bolted together.  The last inspection the guy said don't bring it in next year looking like that.  So I have to R&R the bed, remove the gas tank and start cutting and welding.  I will probably find a bunch of other stuff that I need to do when the bed is off.  Another adventure!

My Kubota tractor is getting to the point where things are starting to happen too.  Right now its the shut off solenoid that's not working.  I have to open the hood and manually move the fuel shutoff lever to stop the engine. $100 for the quality solenoid.  And so it goes...

[moodnacreek]

I don't think many of those original bronco's survived except in dry states. When they where current I worked in a body shop and they would come in rolled over. I used to wonder why. One day driving my scout 80 on a snow covered road, on a curve and in 4x4 I found out. When you take the turn too fast in 4x4, drifting with the front wheels cut and regain traction the front axel will flip you. I was lucky but I went up on 2 wheels. The shorter and higher the vehicle the worse this is. It is really just a question of knowing how to drive your 4x4.

[SwingOak]

I have way too much equipment, and almost all of it is fairly old. I'm still driving a Chevy Silverado K2500 HD Duramax I bought new in 2002. It has 325,000 miles on it. Just put a new transmission in it, because $7500 for a trans and radiator/trans cooler replacement was still cheaper than 70 grand on a new one. Plus, there aren't any out there...

All my farm equipment is old, although I did buy a new 2021 model year cab tractor last year. At least it's not the type that needs muffler fluid. It has only gone through the regen cycle once, and that was while I was using it to rake hay.