StudeM15A-20: June 2011

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Chassis and Seat Box ID Tags

Top is the seat box tag, bottom is (was) the chassis tag

Cherry Picker from Harbor Freight

Stude Ready

Cherry Picker fits trunk

Box #1

Box #2

Assembled, ready to go

Folded up waiting for the big day...

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Time to remove front sheet metal to remove the engine. There is like a million bolts holding it all together. If I remove the front as a unit it be just a few bolts but it would take 4+ folks to lift the entire front and I wanted to refresh all the bolts anyway.

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Hitchcock was not good to Studes...

A beautiful M5 up in flames (damn birds!)

Friday, June 24, 2011

Cars II

I saw Cars II today and I can now appreciate Tow-Mater. He would not let anyone take out any of his dents, they represent history and experiences. I already have decided that this truck will be a "rescue" "not a restoration". The difference is about $40,000.00 and shiny paint. I now have a way to preserve the patina, I first sand the rust very lightly to get it smooth. I then clean the surface with a cleaner such as Murphy's soap and finally I give it a good coat and buff with Johnson's paste wax. Sounds crazy?

Tow-Mater

Engine Re-manufacture

Next up is to send the engine off to MA for a "re-manufacture". Here is their web site:

http://jandm-machine.com/

These guys know what they are doing. This engine will be better than is was when new! I got to package it onto a pallet that will be enclosed by 5/8" plywood. I don't think the truck could make it to Lowes and back so I will have to rent a truck for the lumber. Here is a pic of typical packaging:

Basically, I'll have to purchase a cherry picker from Harbor Freight to pull the engine. Plan is to remove all the front sheet metal, fenders, grill, radiator, and hood. I will also remove the drive line and tranny... Not sure when I'll do this, will have to be out of town in the later half of July, hopefully I can get it shipped before then.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Rear End Done

Bought a dial indicator set and measured the pinion to ring gear lash and overall lash. Add a 0.025" shim under the inner pinion bearing to move the pinion gear toward the ring gear. Differential side bearing did not have any shims and I could not measure any play in the differential side bearings. I also added shims under the differential side gear thrust washers.

Differential run out = 0.003" (spec = 0;005")
Pinion gear shim = 0.025"
Differential play = not perceptible (spec is 0.008" pre-load)
Differential drag = small (no spec)
Pinion to ring gear lash = 0.015" (at 2" from pinion center = 0.03") (spec = 0.006" - 0.012")
Pinion to axle hub = 0.0515" (at 2" from pinion center = 0.13") (no spec)
Added shims under differential side gear thrust washers = 0.025"

I'm calling this this "adjusted". It now has all new bearings except for the pinion pilot bearing and wheel bearings. There is no doubt that the pinion and ring gears are very worn. I could not get an ideal contact pattern on the ring gear. The pattern is very large covering most of the ring gear tooth. It appears that the dome shape of the teeth is flattened. This is a problem if the differential will be under a lot of load for ant length of time. This is because the pinion is contacting the ring gear teeth on the edge...