R Cubed

Evening, I had this on my GMC truck, most important is the king pin bearing you must have these in good condition and the correct pre-load on them to give the correct drag when trying to move them, also as previously mentioned all the other steering bushes must be as tight as possible with NO play in them, also check the steering box for correct adjustment so as above you have the correct drag in the box to give the correct loading on the steering, see workshop manual or find out from somewhere what it should be.

Hope this helps it sorted out my truck so it does work..

R Cubed

R

 

This may sound like a stupid question but..........why have you a Meteor engine in your garage? :schocked:

 

I just had to ask!

 

Hi Jack, well I don't know really, I sort of just saw it and bought it :dunno:

( hasn't every one got a strange bit of kit in there garage then ) but I do have it and want to get round to sorting it out, maybe to take to shows to run up :-D

That is awesome!

 

Would it fit into a Jimmy? Would get to the shows a lot quicker :whistle:

 

You would need to make the bonnet looooonger as the Meteor is about 7 feet in length, although probably not much different in weight to the GMC 270 engine as this is all cast iron and the Meteor is all alloy but still weighs 11 cwt :-o

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h211/R_Cubed/DSC02323.jpg[/img]

I have tish tucked away in the garage at home, I had this running a few years ago and at a fast-ish idle, ran it for 40 mins and used 5 Galls of petrol :shake: :shake: :shake:

But you know the sound it makes is so sweeeeeet. :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

R Cubed

Sorry posted tooo quickly, what about some pics of this thing might jogg some memories.

What about trying a explosive demolition company for any spares they might use or might be able to give some advice where to go.... :shake:

R Cubed

Found this a while ago not a Merlin but a Meteor out of a Tank, like mine I've got in the garage :whistle: :whistle: :schocked:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngKykC2cpU0

The above link is to youtube.

Just the sort of neighbour you want on a Sunday morning, I cant think of a better way to be woken up !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R Cubed

Well next installment, get a tyre lever and get it in the slot, waggle it about a bit and hey presto off comes the drop rim. Now the next bit is to get the inside bead of the tyre off the wheel. :? :?

hmmmmm not sure about this stay tuned.....

R Cubed

Yes thanks for all the advice, I am aware how to time it but have a problem at the moment that I cant move the distributor :dunno: even with all the bolts out, I can live with this at the moment but will investigate later, might need a new distributor if I have to smash it to get it to move !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I thought the timing marks were on the flywheel represented by a ball in a hole to mark TDC or is it 5 deg BTDC ? I will also look in to this.

Seems to be getting better can easily get 35 MPH I recon it could be bad fuel, will get some BP stuff soon and try it from there..

R Cubed

dont think I have any vac leaks as I have carried out a vacuum test and with engine hot at idle I am getting 20 inches Hg and a hard rev drops to nearly 0 then rises to 20 again decellaration after hard rev give 24 inches of Hg. No fluctuation of needle at idle either, the govenor use to rattle a bit at tickover and now you mention it I have not heard it for a while, will look at that tomorrow, thanks for jogging the memory about it..

On the subject of fuel do you prefer a particular garage, BP, Shell etc.

R Cubed

Ok thanks for all the replies, no brake bind, front axle not engaged, tap removed when I replaced all lines ( two less joints to leak !! ) tyre pressure a bit low on fronts but 45psi is what it has always been. Must be me but would be nice to here from other Jimmy owners of how their trucks perform..

R Cubed

I am stupid, well so many friends say, but am I getting parranoid, my GMC 352 seems to be sluggish to get to 45MPH can any one give me some idear's of how long it takes to get to 45MPH from a stand still but under normal acceleration and flat roads, or say from 20 to 45, it just seems the throttle pedal is on the floor all the time to get it up there eventually, I dont know if the engine is down on power or is it that I have not driven it for such a long time.. Just a warning dont use the truck speedo mine is 5 to 10 MPH slower than Tom Tom says :dunno:

Feedback eagerly awaited

R Cubed

Cheers for that, John.

trip to B&Q looming, i feel................. :roll:

 

I have just done our ordinary civy tent with the above mentioned stuff from B+Q £9.80 per Gall can, I have used it in the past as well, prviously had problems applying it, but this time got it sussed, use a parraffin gun as per Machine Mart, very low air pressure and high flow rate and give good soaking, our civy frame tent is 20x10x6 feet approx thin cotton material and had not been proofed for about 8 years and used 3 galls of above :schocked: but now wont leak, the more you can get to soak in the better.

With reference to preserving canvas the most important thing I have learnt is not to leave bird poo on it, this seems to be very nasty and on my good canvas rear body, on the top has created some holes you can now get your finger through, so get it scrubbed off as soon as you can.

R Cubed

Hi all, just a quick question thought it was time to change the spark plugs in the 352 and wondered what other people use ? what make and type etc.

R Cubed

Looks like we might be taking our GMC 352, about 180 miles each way, but I have to do a bit of working out of finances, but what are these trucks for if you dont enjoy driving them and showing them, paint them all up keep them under cover do all the repairs and then moan about the cost of fuel, bite the bullet, fill her up and go to the show..and enjoy the moment it will be rearly good.................. see you all there......

R Cubed about to burn £300 fuel !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Mike for the words of wisdom about how to re-inflate the tyres, is there an art to removing the drop rim as there is surpose to be some thin bits on the rim to allow it to slide over the main part of the wheel ? do you know anything about this ?

R Cubed

Well these are the old bearings, notice the pitting on the outer part.

Also the rollers on the other part of the bearing are not so good either.

Here are the two bits together.

Well I have just picked up the new ones nice and shiny but a bit dear.

Well you cant have it all ways.

So now I can get on and fit them and shim up to get the correct pre-load on them, I have got a shim kit, genuine NOS still in its very well wrapped packing with part number on it.

HYLOMAR UNIVERSAL BLUE from Hermitite, I have used this on lots of things but not fuel although they say its good on all fuels.

R Cubed

Could be brake linings gripping on drums if there is something wrong inside, retaining springs broken or very rusty drums worth a look just to see if everything is ok and in place.

R Cubed

I have heard some strange things about the Silicone brake fluid in as much as it is surpose to be thicker, and can prevent things retracting as they should do once the pedal has been released. I too have done lots to the braking system on my CCKW352 and have gone with DOT4 and had no problems at all, good luck.

R Cubed

My truck is now getting to the stage where I need some new tyres, OH NO bar grips or another type !!!! No, sorry all it has to be bar grips, that is what they came with, so that is what it is going to get, but 10 though, agh thats lots of money :-o :-o :-o :-o :cry: :cry:

The thing is I have heard some scary things about trying to strip the rims down to change tyres, has anyone out there done it or can explain how it is done.....

R Cubed wanting to stay alive......

I have fitted the new bronze bushes and a new liped oil seal inplace of the old cork one in to the box and as they say the assembly is the reverse procedure of disassembly, well the only problem I had was the insertion of the geared cross shaft, you MUST get the geared block which is on the steering shaft in the centre position ie: turn steering wheel to end stop and count turns to other end stop then go back half way, which gives you the half way point, otherwise you get more steering one way than the other :-o :-o

You adjust the large screw adjuster at the end of the box first, to get the correct load on the steering wheel, 1 to 1 1/2 pounds pull to keep the steering wheel in motion, measured and the outside rim of wheel.

Then the small screw on the side of the box to mesh the gears together so as not to get any binding throughout the travel of the steering wheel from far left to far right. recheck pull now should be 2 to 2 1/2 pounds pull to keep the wheel in motion.

Once this is all done ensure all nuts, bolts ect are tight and the side bolts on the box wired up with lock wire, and dont forget to fill the box with oil to the fill plug, dont use Hypoid oil as this will eat those nice new bronze bushes, I used Morris ST 90 as with all diffs and gearbox and transfer box.

R Cubed

When you say you have striped the carb, have you had all the jets and the emulsion tube out ? these normally are the things to get blocked up with either water or a bit of muck, make sure all the drillings are clean and clear, what about the fuel pump, is it working properly ?

R Cubed

Aghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Inches and mm Aghhhhhhhhh which is which ;-) !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ;-)

Ok so it all should be in inches, thats great, am aware about AF being across flats and also that the head does not relate to the bolt diameter, thanks for making the mud a bit clearer.

R Cubed

An interesting point, you say about it not being metric so what sizes did they use, I have found metric to be a better fit on some bits. If not metric why was the Howitzers barrel 105mm !!!!!!!!!! Not being awkward but am very interested in the correct nuts and bolts that would have been used when building these sorts of trucks ??

R Cubed

Right then, main centre hub nuts, the ones which holds all the wheel bearings on and also the lock nut which are under the hub drive flange are 83 mm across flats going by my vernier, sorry to be the bringer of bad news but reacon its the next box spanner up from the one you have :-D

R Cubed