Making a faster fossil, or how I ruined my winter.

Well damn

Little cutting wheel work later...

It is absolutely disturbing to see how little there is to these condo sleeper units. They are moulded plastic and cardboard inside, with a light aluminum extruded frame, and a pop can aluminum skin that is bonded on. I could peel it off with my fingers. So pro tip for all you super truckers, stay out of the top bunk while travelling.

I listed the truck for parts and have sold the doors and an AC fitting. I hope to recover enough to pay for some of the power expenses.

Been picking away at cutting the truck up.

Last weekend a guy came and took the axles away. He helped me for half a day pulling things apart and we had a good time. he is restoring an old Cabover, and he showed up in this cool old Loadstar to haul them away. Note the jerry can on the deck because he cannot take the 392 with a double pumper Holley more than two hours without running out of fuel. He figures around 5 mpg....

Change from under the carpet. Two toonies and two or three loonies so at least 6 bucks.

Oh [groan]...that's a LOT of yellow wire!

In reply to ClemSparks :

Isn't that crazy? They are numbered but I know from experience the numbers will be faded into a blur on many of them.

ClemSparks said:

Oh [groan]...that's a LOT of yellow wire!

The western star we got at the house has a open recall for no numbers on the all yellow harness

Turns out if you cut enough Freightliner away there is a nice engine stand underneath.

And for anyone wondering how much wiring in a class 8 truck, there is this much.

I find this a little strange, or poorly engineered perhaps. If it worked then fine, but it is going to cost me a repair. 

See the problem? This is a truck that is designed to gross 140,000 pounds, and it has an aluminum bellhousing, for a hint. 

Absolutely beautiful!  I imagine it will be quite the change over and cant wait to see it?  Did you run the engine and trans before you swapped it? Or did I miss that? Awesome!

It was driven two hours to my house and I also went for a short drive to be sure nothing was going to go bang after all this work. It ran well with no smoke and no blowby, and the oil sample came back clean, but with some diesel in the oil. Not sure what that is about. 

Oh no, did you crack the bell housing when the trans support departed? If so check the input shaft and clutch carefully before reassembly.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

There are no transmission supports. The transmission and aluminum bellhousing are hung off the two rear engine mounts. I presume this is why the bellhousing is cracked. Seems like a transmission mount would have been a good idea.

I know a great aluminum welder locally who could probably sort that out for you.

In reply to ShawnG :

Thank you. You are in Langley I think? I actually have a friend with a fab shop so I am good. If it gets into milling and realignment I am inclined to leave it, as the Fossil will no longer require prodigious applications of torque against weigh. 

Not me but the guy who does it for us. I doubt it would need milling.

If it were me, in the application you have, I'd be inclined to just stop drill the end of the crack and monitor it.

I like the idea of supporting the weight of the trans, but seeing how much torque flex the chassis of a big rig has I also see a reason not to! The coach is not going to flex that much, so a support of some type seems a good idea.

In reply to TurnerX19 :

Actually the fossil's frame is spaghetti. I regularly crack the passenger windshield when I extend the hydraulic jacks because of frame twist. There are stiffeners around the front engine mount and the one you see above the transmission on the truck that I intend to swap over, or else build my own.

bearmtnmartin said:

 

Turns out if you cut enough Freightliner away there is a nice engine stand underneath.

And for anyone wondering how much wiring in a class 8 truck, there is this much.

I find this a little strange, or poorly engineered perhaps. If it worked then fine, but it is going to cost me a repair. 

 

See the problem? This is a truck that is designed to gross 140,000 pounds, and it has an aluminum bellhousing, for a hint. 

I'm awaiting the "plug and play" of this into the nose of the BBird.....carry on,,,just wow!!!

759NRNG (Forum Partidario) said:

bearmtnmartin said:

 

Turns out if you cut enough Freightliner away there is a nice engine stand underneath.

And for anyone wondering how much wiring in a class 8 truck, there is this much.

I find this a little strange, or poorly engineered perhaps. If it worked then fine, but it is going to cost me a repair. 

 

See the problem? This is a truck that is designed to gross 140,000 pounds, and it has an aluminum bellhousing, for a hint. 

I'm awaiting the "plug and play" of this into the nose of the BBird.....carry on,,,just wow!!!

Plug and play.... Perhaps not!

Dropped the pan and had a peek.

Did not expect that level of awesome on an old beater. Pulled a rod and a main and they are on the high side of new tolerance.

The trUck had two issues I know about which combined to take it off the road. It had bad dilution of the oil with fuel....

I guess I found that problem.

And it also had a serious oil leak, and I am pretty sure I have traced that to the rocker box above the head. But I am replacing every seal and gasket anyway so hopefully. That goes away.

Tomorrow is clean the block and top end and put things back together day.

You have some courage for taking on a project of this scale. I will be watching this one. 

Sometimes I miss working on big ole diesels.  Not all the time, but some of the time.

"Old Beater".....Not really, someone made a living with this and understood the reality of down time.

TurnerX19 said:

"Old Beater".....Not really, someone made a living with this and understood the reality of down time.

Well....

They were so busy they had no time for Filter changes you mean?

I sure wish we were closer!!! My kinda project! Although that Cat v8 with a Allison AT is a (relatively) small engine. I mean a couple of them have ended up in pick-up trucks! Replacing it with that big 6  / 13 spd. Is kinda like putting a big bloc chevy in a chevette! 'Course that's been done as well. 

To avoid that kinda project, and since very few of the cooler non "stick and staple " motor homes are slide out friendly, we found an old Kingsly coach built on a FLD 120. Only has the Cat C10 350 HP and 995 tg tune with a 4 speed Allison slush box.  So it's a pig getting up to speed, but pulls in the South over to Nebraska hills fine. Does need either more engine, or more transmission. A 4000 series Allison's6 speeds would prolly do the job. Little light for a 50k lb. rig, but I'd be willing to try, since it's a low stress environment. I mates has a fresh C12 on the shelf at township I could get for pennies, but the c10 runs like a Swiss watch, so I'd hate to do it.

bearmtnmartin said

it is absolutely disturbing to see how little there is to these condo sleeper units. They are moulded plastic and cardboard inside, with a light aluminum extruded frame, and a pop can aluminum skin that is bonded on. I could peel it off with my fingers. So pro tip for all you super truckers, stay out of the top bunk while travelling

Amen to THAT brother!!!

That being said, I've done it, cause I trusted my mate, and I figured if we wrecked, I'd be dead in the lower bunk as well! And he was not going up there with me driving!!! I'm not known for the best attention span..,

How is this supposed to fit again?

This one is off a Kenworth T800 as the freightliner radiator came right out to the headlights. I would rather not modify the front or at least not alter the look so I will try to jam this one in.