My xm211 got put to work

[Ashley P]

My xm211 has a small block chevy, 4 speed manual, vaccum booster, and hoist from a 70s GM "2 ton" grain truck. The truck has been a back-back burner project that's only been driven around the fields once every several months. That changed this summer.

I rebuilt most wheel cylinders to get some brakes. What a job. I did that to prepare for use during an excavation project. The excavator was to load a tri axle dump truck and while that truck was away the Duece and a grain truck would take up the slack. I thought I wouldn't be hauling very much. Well, the tri axle had to take a longer route and I ended up running the Duece hard and fast, across a creek and through the woods making trips as fast as possible. The truck worked and worked well. The operator put 3 buckets on me (he estimated 34 or 3500 lbs per bucket), and if he loaded me at the rear it dumped fine. Once he had the load spread forward and a backhoe had to unload me.

Oh, did I mention that it was 90 couple degrees and the floorboards were about 200?? No pain, no gain...right?

But the truck did what it was asked and finally earned it's keep.

 

[m1010plowboy]

That's a truck we'd like to see more of. Sounds like we should put a go pro on her nose to take video. Can you post detailed pics of the small block install? It obviously worked so thanks for posting the story.

 

[gentrysgarage]

Very Cool!!!

 

[hendersond]

I'm feeling the extreme need for pictures!
Truck, engine trans...

 

[USMC 00-08]

Yes...pictures please. That sounds neat!

 

[dmetalmiki]

Some pictures would have rounded up the story. and I Can not fathom this sentence at all, (humor me and translate)
"Oh, did I mention that it was 90 couple degrees and the floorboards were about 200?? No pain, no gain...right?"

 

[Ashley P]

[/QUOTE]

The temperature that day was over 90 degrees fahrenheit. The engine heat from the radiator and exhuast made the cab of the truck very hot. But with the windows tippped up I cooled off a little when I drove.


Sorry guys, no pics. I'm old school....no cell phone on my hip. It's not a pretty truck, and only has a sbc under the hood...surely everyone has seen plenty of them.

I hauled a few loads today, it reminded me of one thing. The sound of the engine when hauling reminds me of a dyno pull. An exhuast gasket is blown on one manifold, and when I start hualing I'm going downhill, engine braking in 1st gear at about 3000 rpm. As I start up the hill I roll into the throttle and the engine gets LOUD but only maintains the same 3000 rpm.

 

[USMC 00-08]

Nope. Not with the engine/transmission configuration you have.

 

[Ashley P]

My combo has as weak link, it's not quite geared low enough for taking off when loaded, at least not anything other than hard and flat ground. I suppose the original trans had a high and low range. A few times the excavator loaded me in soft ground and I strained the clutch more than I wanted to and couldn't pull out of my tracks (the truck had settled when loaded, the operator noticed and gently gave me a push). So if someone were to consider putting this combination in a truck I'd advise considering some way of gearing down lower. Either a transmission with more (and lower) gears, or another gearbox (planetary style maybe) added to the transmission.

 

[hendersond]

It is an interesting combination. Do I understand you have a Vacuum Booster for the brakes?
On your shift knob is it L-1-2-3 or 1-2-3-4?
My pack up plan for transmission failure is Chevy/AT. I will never haul a load. Maybe climb a logging road though.

 

[Ashley P]

Yes, I have a vacuum booster, most likely from an early 70s GM "2 ton" (what we call 'em 'round here) grain truck. I ASSUME the trans came from a grain truck, and I have no idea if there are numbers on the shift knob or not. I'm familiar with a 68 chevy C50 grain truck, my trans "feels" the same. The C50 has 6.50 rear gears that split shift, and you need that low range to take off when loaded. That's what my truck is missing...a very low gear. Driving my truck is like driving a grain truck without splitting gears....a large RPM change during a gear change. It's no big deal now that both the dirt I'm hauling AND the ground I'm driving on are dried out...light to haul and hard surface to drive on.

Regarding the vacuum booster from a grain truck. It's fed fluid from a master cylinder from a late 60s GM car with 4 wheel drums, I teed both outputs together to go to the booster. (I'd like to one day run TWO boosters and have seperate sytems for redundancy/safety.) And those grain trucks only have 2 axles (8 wheel cylinders) vs a deuce with 3 axles (12 wheel cylinders). My truck was missing some brake parts an I robbed from the middle axle to fix the rear, so I'm only using 4 wheels (8 wheel cylinders) for brakes. Disregarding a leak, when it's got fluid it stops well. I'd advise anyone thinking of putting one of those boosters/master cylinders on a duece to be cautious that the system might not have enough volume to actuate all 12 wheel cylinders correctly.

 

[hendersond]

Thanks for the feedback on the vacuum booster. Worth knowing. Thank you for sharing.