So I was just looking for a Chevy Pickup...

[JakeM211]

Again thanks for all the info. The pedal would come back but the internals in the cylinder were jammed. Sorry for the confusion. That cylinder you show looks almost identical just that little rounded silver tin piece is different than what I had in mine though I see no reason the cylinder wouldn't work fine as a unit. The cylinder I ordered worked great and I could tell right away the spring was much stiffer in it than the original. Bled the air pack and all wheel cylinders then hooked up an air chuck to one of the tanks and aired up the tires to a more road-worthy PSI. I have one inner duel that has a bad leak at the valve stem so it wouldn't stay up but I have 3 other fully inflated tires so it's fine right? Checked tranny oil and started moving.
This is where things don't go as well as I had hoped. The transmission has that wonderful problem these trucks seem to develop of having high range act like a parking brake. When shifting into high you can feel it give a little jerk like it wants to move but it's stuck tight. Low range works great and shifts through all gears and reverse. Without many other options and not wanting to pay another month or longer of storage fees we made the decision to slowly make our way home with the wounded beast.
I went around the storage lot a few times and she ran pretty well. Has a bit of a miss at times but nothing terrible for something that has been neglected for several years. Pulled out of the gate and got halfway to the gas station and she putters out and gave a few coughs when I tried to start it.. So I get out and look in the tank. The tilt in the road had taken the 8 gallons of gas I had in her and drained it all the way to the right lol. Sooo I had to go buy a new can as I had forgotten to throw them back in the car before I left home and stick 5 more gallons in and she fired back up lol.
Got her to the gas station and as soon as I jumped out I had 2 guys swarming me asking all about the truck lol. Gassed it up and off we took at around
10 Mph. It was a long slow drive but as we passed houses along the road anyone who was outside was waving and yelling with at least 1 salute. Even had a Sherriff and a city cop go the other way with big smiles on their faces as I made my way down the side of the road.
After 3 hours we got home and parked and my son, his friends, and his boss, who were out for his birthday party all had to come climb on the big green jungle gym.
I changed out the oil in the motor and transmission yesterday and checked the distributor. Looks like it has all new parts in that but whoever put it together lost a couple of screws and didn't get the top of the gasket lined up so it let a bit of moisture in. I cleaned things up in there and she idles and generally runs better though she has some hesitation when you first hit the gas and wants to cough. Pump the gas in a few quick bursts and she revs right up and drives.
Got home today and checked the oil bath and found the oil looking almost new with a couple of acorn shells floating around in it. Replaced it and got it all hooked back up before it started raining on my head.

So back to the main problem. I see one thread where they say the rear band gets stuck from sitting too long and to try getting the truck moving and then shift into high in an attempt to break it free. I tried but again high range is a good parking brake. In another thread, they say " If the transmission works properly in one range (high or low) but the truck will not move in the other range, the wavey release spring in the reduction unit has broken. This is a very common failure." I have started looking through TM's but either I have missed seeing anything about this part or just have not found the right section yet. Can anyone point me to the right picture? I'm confident if I can just see what I need to tear into I could get her fixed but I'm not going to just start pulling a tranny apart willy-nilly looking for the broken bit lol.
Anyway here's a pic of her with her new herd mate (The Bird is getting a new power steering pump this week).

Oh and I almost forgot. It looks as though something was welded to the back 2/3rds of the bed from the two long weld beads on each side that have been ground down. Hoist or something maybe? But that might explain why the bed itself is in such good condition. It just wasn't being used as a normal bed I think.

 

[NDT]

How fast were you going when you did the "shift to high" trick? When it lets loose it will be a deafening bang. Removing and taking the transmission apart to fix this is no fun.

 

[m1010plowboy]

That's just awesome.......the museum piece is home.

TM 9-8024 page 163....pdf pt.1.... is a trouble trans section. They claim Z, e or h to be the issues to check. That section covers a lot of solutions with the most difficult decision.............. report to ordnance maintenance personnel. I tried, the OMP guys don't answer their phone anymore.

More M135 TM's

The 9-8024 in 4 parts.

www.steelsoldiers.com

The best scenario is when moving the gear selector to high range the linkage isn't pushing the lever far enough......that's e, ....Manual Linkage. Watching the linkage move to high range then putting a hand on it to see if it will travel farther is a quick start. We found that after stiffening up loose pins and linkage, shift selection got better.

Z and H don't sound as fun being the reduction unit control valve or linkage.

 

[JakeM211]

How fast were you going when you did the "shift to high" trick? When it lets loose it will be a deafening bang. Removing and taking the transmission apart to fix this is no fun.

Well unfortunately the speedo is one of the few things that isn't working just right at low speed (that and the fuel guage) sooo guessing 10 or 15. About as fast as I wanted to push low range judging by how the engine sounded. I took it out on the highway again tonight and gave it another couple of tries and did manage to leave some nice little duel rubber marks along the way No joy on the high range, however getting the engine up to some higher RPMs seemed to help it a bunch. When I got back home she was idling just as smoothly as you could ask for and I also noticed that she was shifting much smoother through the low-range gears and not trying to give me whiplash on the first couple of gear changes this time around. I'll keep working with her and see if I get lucky.
On a side note, it got dark enough to check all the lights and every one of them works from the dash lighting and the high-low beam indicator to the blackout light.
The truck is in damn fine condition if I can lick this transmission issue.

 

[NDT]

Maybe try this, drive the truck up against an immovable object like a tree, put in high range, engine a little over idle, and crawl under the truck and beat on the reduction unit with a sledgehammer. If you get killed doing this, sorry in advance.

 

[JakeM211]

Thank you for the link Plowboy. I'll play with the links next and see if I get that lucky.

And NDT you just gave me the biggest laugh I've had all day! " If you get killed doing this, sorry in advance. " That one is gold, my friend.

 

[m1010plowboy]

That truck is in such nice shape it needs to be out pickin up'. There may still be NOS trans stuff in a crate up here if it's needed. I'll meet you in Lethbridge for a steak and ginger ale. Keeping premium trucks rolling is a noble goal. I still wonder if this fella here at Precision Transmission wouldn't love an old hydromatic to put together on his show. He seems to source parts and fix anything just like the M133CDN owner that rebuilt his hydromatic, not too far from you. Rebuilds can still be done. https://www.youtube.com/@PrecisionTransmission

When you get a chance, could you put that truck in a pose position and snap more pics, please. Front, quarters, sides, rear,.....close up pics of any markings. I'm almost embarrassed to ask for pictures of your box but it might tell us more of a story. If it was welded while still in service, someone may recognize the pattern. Canada went nuts utilizing the G749 but the U.S. wanted to shift gears. Why a 1950's American deuce didn't get beat to smithereens is a bit puzzling.



An interesting number to see would be the serial number. The 1952 models were into the low 5 digits already. If your truck is later than 1952, the serial number should tell us how many units were punched out by the time your truck was built. I saw 40,000+ in one article Butch posted years ago and there's a data-base here to compare truck numbers. https://www.steelsoldiers.com/threads/g749-vin-military-registration-database.134364/

 

[m1010plowboy]

It snowed so I'm thinking out-loud today. Do you see any heat indicators around the Reduction Unit?

Over here on Jatonka is some more trans trouble shooting info....... http://www.jatonkam35s.com/jatonkaM135-211sTMdownloadpage.htm

It's 9-8025-2 down at the bottom. The descriptions are more thorough and troubleshooting goes a little deeper. There is a ton of work that can be done with the transmission in the truck and that TM will help.

Flat towing these trucks has created a few negative stories. I have pics of a transmission attached to a blown motor. We made some assumptions if the engine is blown the trans may still be goin'. After the towing stories from Mattech and others of boiling, exploding oil and burnt smelling transmissions upon arrival, I grabbed some pics. It looks like this reduction unit took some heat at some time so just wondering if your transmission paint might indicate if she got hot.
The oil in this trans was almost particle free with no smell of burning. Let's hope you have the same luck.



For those G749 transmission guru's...... is burnt paint around the reduction unit something common? Does towing cause this?

The control valve on the transmission side was the piece guru GW had apart lots. The galleries can get plugged up so it's worth a look into.

 

[JakeM211]

Thanks for all the interest and helpful suggestions guys. I really appreciate it. Now onto the news. IT FINALLY BROKE FREE!!!!!!!!!!
I was tinkering on it after work tonight and checking out the linkages but could find nothing wrong. Everything is super tight and shows no signs of wear that I can see. So I put the floor back in and started shifting her around and noticed that if I backed her up in low and then shifted to high it started to move forward just a bit before stopping. Got me thinking that maybe my attempts to break it loose last night might have done some good. So I ran her down the highway in low (being passed by a pickup with a kid waving his little arm off at me out the back window) to a less used road and after the second try, she gave a little pop and started driving normally.
Don't think the carb is acting just right but she shifted through all the gears pretty smoothly. Feels kinda boggy in high and I just have a feeling it should be showing a bit more spunk than she does in that gear but at this moment I'm not going to complain about it as right now other than not having it registered I could drive her to town safely and at normal speeds.

I will absolutely get you some more pictures. For now, the serial number is 30867 Date of delivery is 3-54 Contract number is DA-20-018-D-11943 Numbers painted on the truck are 41222213 with HQ 85 on the right rear bumper and 42-2 over I-108 on the left bumper at least it looks like 108 its a bit rusty. And there are several places where TP 45 is painted on it.

 

[NDT]

Whoo- hoo! What great news! I knew you’d get it loose.

 

[NDT]

Looks like 42 nd Infantry Division (New York National Guard), 2nd Battalion, 108th Infantry Regiment, Headquarters company, 85th truck assigned to company. Very storied history to this day. TP45 is of course tire pressure.

 

[NDT]

As far as “boggy”, the 302 doesn’t have a lot of azz under 2500 rpm. You can force high rpm shifts by using “hilly”. The 302 is ok with 3400 rpm all day, she’s screaming but that’s how uncle ran her back in the day.

 

[USMC 00-08]

IT FINALLY BROKE FREE!!!!!!!!!!

That's great!! Really neat to see your progress.

Kind of sounds like you might need a new accelerator pump in that carburetor. You might also open the transmission cooler and see if it is sludged up. That has always been the case on every truck I have checked. Maybe you'll be lucky and the previous owner already cleaned it out.

The boggy feeling in high could be a dead cylinder. What is the compression like?

 

[JakeM211]

OK so progress. I got home from work last night and pulled and disassembled the carb. Cleaned it all out and she is running much better. The accelerator pump shows a bit of age but is still nice and flexible, the diaphragm in the governor is even still in good shape and the needle valves finally have some response when you turn them. Before the clean out I found the valves almost backed all the way out. I'm not sure how I didn't lose them driving down the road. It used to hesitate and pop and sputter when accelerating but now I can get out of the drive and pull out of stop signs with a nice smooth acceleration. Shifts are nice at 10, 20, and 30 Mph (though a bit of a delay going to 3rd) but I can't get much over 40 unless I'm heading downhill. Also, it seems to run better with the choke closed down just a bit so it still feels like she's not getting the gas it should. Pretty good flow from the pump (don't know how much pressure it's pumping out ) but it could be the old thing is getting tired.?.?
Picked up a 24V turn signal switch and relay today and the lights and brake switch should be here next week so I won't feel like some state cop is going to nail me on my little test runs up and down the road here. Once I get that done I'll get that one flat duel fixed and I should be able to get her into the DMV even the way she's driving now but would like a little more out of her for the highway.

And yes I need to locate my compression tester.
Oh, and I did pull the water plug on the transmission last week and got just a little sludge but within a few seconds it was pretty clear (for old antifreeze). Threw me off a bit seeing a water drain plug on the bottom of the tranny though I figured that out pretty quickly. This is the oldest thing I've ever worked on other than the 1946 Euclid haul truck at work.

 

[NDT]

On mine, until the gear cases are hot, I can't get full governed speed either. The cold viscous gear oil sucks up a lot of power.

 

[JakeM211]

On mine, until the gear cases are hot, I can't get full governed speed either. The cold viscous gear oil sucks up a lot of power.

Could be but I'm still suspicious of the carb. Most of the old rubber parts in there are pretty checked if not disintegrating.
What speed does yours want to run at before things are hot? Mine is sitting at 35 or 6 until I hit a level or downhill grade then to about 40 and 45 on those and then hard to keep it at 40 if I hit ANY kind of incline. Maybe we shall see once I get her a bit more road-legal and can take her on a longer drive to town.

 

[NDT]

Probably the first 15 minutes of driving the top speed is around 40. Yeah grades will kill your speed, welcome to 1950's power to weight ratios. You are probably right though, carb ignition timing etc has to be pretty close to perfect to get the raging 130 hp.

 

[cucvmule]

Glad you are making excellent progress on your pickup. Having prior mechanical experience helps bigley on anything that has been sitting a spell or old, like when things were simple.

The carburetor may need to be cleaned several times before you can get all the passages clean. I always use fine copper wire to open clogged passages. And you may have to wire the passage a few times to get out all the contamination. What is good is you have gained some control over the air bleed. Again replacing the fuel filter may be a good idea in case that may be why it could be starving for fuel at higher speed, RPM. Whenever I hear of carburetor popping or backfire that tells me there is a lean condition or the valves are not fully seating.

And for a few test drives check for excessive heat in your axle hubs in case you have a shoe that is dragging. You can check drums but I ware a glove just in case it is HOT.

Just giving a couple of idle thoughts. But from what I can tell is you have been down some of these dusty roads before.

And you are having fun while you are doing it. Its fun working on old iron that can be understood short of computer controlled, censored, overloaded, cooking hot power units.

Enjoy

And as far as horses are concerned, smile.

 

[JakeM211]

Thanks for the tips cucvmule. And yes I have a good basic grasp on mechanical things. Did my first engine swap when I was 16 around 1994 I think. The second one for the Trans Am I bought at 18. I've pretty much done all my own and, it seems everyone else's mechanical work throughout my life though now that I've hit that ripe-old 46 I find that I'm more ready to just work on "MY" things and for the most part send folks to a good mechanic for anything to complex. The biggest issues I have are when it comes to systems I'm not familiar with such as some of the things on this old beast that just seem strange compared to anything from the 70's and up.
And yes I know 46 isn't that old but you try telling that to my arthritic back with no lower disks and the eyes that just now decided they need glasses lol.

Today I replaced the little 2.5 inch bypass hose that was leaking antifreeze and then took her for a longer test drive. Went a few miles down the road, up and down some little hills and she was pretty weak. Stopped and played with the fuel mix and she did better getting to 40 and 45 and over 50 down a hill (sure feels like you are hauling ass) but she was sputtering at the stop sign. Repeated this several times and have it now getting to 45 on the flat pretty well and the motor sounds pretty nice right there. High rpm but not screaming and she's got a nice smooth idle now. I have always liked my older vehicles because you can hear what they are doing. People nowadays just don't understand why you would want to hear what the vehicle is doing sigh...
Stopped by my old boss Brian's place on the way back to show off and he had the same thing to say as far as speed went, 45 maybe 50 and I'm totally fine with that if that is how they ran back in the day, I think that right now it needs to be tuned up just a bit to get a hair more pep out of it so it will get to that 45 or 50 a bit quicker. It's just the way it "feels" to me when driving.
I guess back in the day they had a few of these trucks converted to haul beats out of the fields around here. Brian said one of them started leaking gear oil pretty bad so they put 85-140 in it to slow the leak and it took forever to get it moving in the winter lol. He's a 74-year-old farmer by the way. One of those guys that can fix anything with a bit of wire and some gum.

After today's run, I'm even more confident that the majority of it's issue is the carb and general tuning. It is running well enough however that I feel good about driving it into Ontario for registration once I get the lights wired up. They should be here tomorrow.

 

[1944mb]

I would agree with usmc. Have a 211 that put a 302 from a fire truck in it. Starts up, purrs like a kitten. Really you never know if was low compression. I could squeeze about 40-45 out of it. I used a cylinder leakage tester(you hook it to shop air and the other end goes in the spark plug hole and it had a gauge to let you know how much the cylinders leak.) it still amazes me how well it runs, but on the road its like stepping on a turd. USMC has a 135 that gets much above 40-45. I spent a bunch of time adjusting the carb and transmission adjustments. In the end it was just worn out