My BIG M925A2 Project Truck Is Home

[jimbo*]

Chris, I was poking around on Joe Czarnik's( or however he spells his name), and he has some NOS brake actuators for the M939's.
Just an FYI

 

[steelsoldiers]

Thanks Jimbo. I actually emailed Joe about them, but they are for the rear axles only. The fronts are slightly different. He has the rear relay valves too if I need one of those. Hopefully I won't! I am going to do some more air system work tomorrow. Hopefully I'll post up with some good news.

 

[Chuck]

Nice! Thanks Adam. I saw one similar to that going down the highway near here. It had a big crew-cab International 4x4 pulling it.

Odds are actually decent they were heading for Ft. Pickett. Were they headed up 460, or 58? There's a big lake out there in the middle of the firing range that the Navy borrows for target practice with their patrol boats. I was up there doing bridge inspections a few years ago and you could hear the 50's and 30's on the patrol boat over the hill. Pretty interesting.

Impressive project you've taken on! That kind of thing is the sort of "save" you can be proud of. I'd love to get a peek sometime if I'm not stuck under one of my own (much smaller) current projects. Where is this magical place full of trucks where you have it stashed? I'm pretty new to the board, and don't have a green truck yet.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Odds are actually decent they were heading for Ft. Pickett. Were they headed up 460, or 58? There's a big lake out there in the middle of the firing range that the Navy borrows for target practice with their patrol boats. I was up there doing bridge inspections a few years ago and you could hear the 50's and 30's on the patrol boat over the hill. Pretty interesting.

Impressive project you've taken on! That kind of thing is the sort of "save" you can be proud of. I'd love to get a peek sometime if I'm not stuck under one of my own (much smaller) current projects. Where is this magical place full of trucks where you have it stashed? I'm pretty new to the board, and don't have a green truck yet.

Ah, that makes sense. I have seen them coming and going on 58 near Franklin so they were probably coming back from Pickett.

The truck is at John Winslow's MV Sales in Halifax, NC. Here it is on the map: Your web browser and the Maps site are incompatible

You should definitely come down and check it out sometime.

 

[Chuck]

Nice. When are you headed down that way next? Might volunteer to lend a hand for a couple hours just for an excuse to check the place out, if I'm free that day.

 

[steelsoldiers]

I actually went down yesterday, Chuck. I probably won't go back for another couple of weeks. I will PM you when I do.

Yesterday was a really nasty day of work. It was blowing wind, cold, and misty for most of the day.

I had a lot of stuff to get done. My main priority was the air system and the cooling system. I brought another sack of fittings with me from the ACE store to connect the last of the air lines. I also brought my rebuilt brake actuator and parts to rebuild the other one.

I pulled the brake wedges from the backing plates to check their condition. They were thoroughly greased at their last service, so thankfully there was little rust. The driver's side wedge had a broken return spring though. I have sourced new wedges from a truck and trailer place so I'll get those before next time. I also found brand new actuators for $60 a pop from a company who is providing axles for the 939A2-series rebuild program. I decided to wait until next time to install the front brake cans since I wanted to replace the wedges.

Next, I replaced the front limiting valve. It had been bashed against the oil pan and a fitting was broken off along with the mounting tab. Thankfully I had a new one in my big box of parts that I had picked up on eBay a year ago. I had to find an adapter on a parts truck and a line to replace one that was kinked. Then, I transferred the fittings to the new valve and got it hooked up. I'll mount it on the bracket next time.

After that I hooked up a couple of lines to the wet tank. One supplied the expeller valve on the air dryer and the other one went off into the unknown.

With the air system done, I went to work on a leaky fitting on the PS ram. Turns out the fitting was bent and cross-threaded! I ended up swapping out the whole ram since the threads in the ram were messed up! Arrgghhh!!

After that, I fired up the truck to check the air system. The dang thing wouldn't build any air pressure again. All of the air is still dumping out of one of the rear relay valves! Next time, I will take all of the lines off of the relay valves, blow them out with compressed air, and lube them. Hopefully that will do the trick.

Finally, I dumped the nasty, rusty water out of the cooling system to replace it with 50/50 since the temps are dipping into the 40's. That made a huge mess, which is why I did it last. It took forever to fill it back up since the only access to fill is through the overflow tank and it only has a 3/8" line going to the radiator. Good design AMG!

I'll post some pics once I get off the road tonight. What an epic project this has been!

 

[Westech]

you know I don't think I have said this yet.... What a junker!

 

[steelsoldiers]

Don't be a junker hater Westy!

Here's the pics as promised. They show the newly connected air lines, the bent/broken front limiting valve assembly, the new front limiting valve, and the shredded PS ram fitting.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Two more...

 

[cranetruck]

I'll say it again, a heck of a project Chris! I have been meaning to get pictures of the parts M925 down in Mt Airy, but then again, you don't appear to have much trouble finding what you need.
The truck in Mt Airy is in pieces, with that big engine on the ground, PTO sitting on top of the transmission getting corroded, a real shame actually. Compared to my 5-tonner, it should be in its own class, more like 7 ton...

 

[steelsoldiers]

I'll say it again, a heck of a project Chris! I have been meaning to get pictures of the parts M925 down in Mt Airy, but then again, you don't appear to have much trouble finding what you need.
The truck in Mt Airy is in pieces, with that big engine on the ground, PTO sitting on top of the transmission getting corroded, a real shame actually. Compared to my 5-tonner, it should be in its own class, more like 7 ton...

It sure is! It's a rusty, crusty, greasy, diamond-in-the-rough! Just when I think I am making some headway, I find 14 other things that need done. I have to-do lists for my to-do lists! It can be a little frustrating when I go down with the intention of doing 3 or 4 projects only to find that 3 or 4 more need done in order to do the others. I'm hanging in there though. My wife, not so much. She keeps asking when it will be fit enough to drive home. I honestly tell her that I don't know yet.

I forgot to mention one other victory from Sunday. I wanted to install the t-case linkage before I installed the air valve that engages the front axle automatically in low-range, but the pivot point was rusted solid. I had to use a combination of a torch and a BFH to get it moving. Next time, I will take my drill to drill and tap the pivot for a grease fitting as suggested in PS Mag. I'll pump it full of grease and then keep working it until it moves easily.

Have I mentioned I hate salt corrosion??

 

[Chuck]

You're a brave soul to have been out in that nasty muck this weekend. I couldn't quite bring myself to crawl out under any of my projects in the rain, so I ended up working on in-the-house projects instead. Good to hear you were able to make some progress.

 

[Oldvw2]

Now that the bees are mostly gone maybe you can reclaim the nearby connex for Winter work! We had it going on last year with a kero heater or LP torpedo running in it.

 

[steelsoldiers]

Now that the bees are mostly gone maybe you can reclaim the nearby connex for Winter work! We had it going on last year with a kero heater or LP torpedo running in it.

That's a good plan. Too bad the door fell of the closest one. May have to move into the next one back. I can't believe we've been wrenching on this thing for a year now.

 

[Cucvnut]

nice build man i wanna see this thing completed !!!

 

[steelsoldiers]

nice build man i wanna see this thing completed !!!

Thanks. I am hoping to knock a few things out on Sunday. A work session report will be posted with pics of course!

 

[Csm Davis]

I have two new softtops if you need one or both pm me. If you already have one sorry. love the truck wish I had one.

 

[steelsoldiers]

So, what kind of (in)sane person gets up at 5:30 am on their day off in 30 degree weather to drive an hour to a salvage yard where he will work on a giant, rusty, heap of a MV all day????

That's me!! I am hoping to get the air brakes, t-case shift linkage, and throttle linkage all working today. Yes folks, that means I could actually move the truck a little IF all goes well. I'll let you know tonight!!

 

[cranetruck]

Sounds like me, Chris, except twenty years ago, I'd be building a log home or putting together some oddball electronic device at all hours.....now I'm a fair weather man, only working on my MV toys when it's nice and warm out and they are parked just yards away from the front door.....of the house I built 20 years ago......

There is one positive thing about working on something 50 miles from home, no distractions, there is only one thing to do, get that 5-tonner moving.

Looking forward to your progress report and have a great day, should be nice this weekend, though!

 

[WillWagner]

Did it move??!!