The Time Machine

[Dallas Landers]

Love the story about atv trail. Adventures with them is what is so enjoyable to me. Glad to hear you are having fun with your TT. Keep us posted.

[Scott_Conger]

enjoying reading about you enjoying your truck - seeing your picture, we could be twins

[BUSHMIKE]

Earning its keep……Getting lots of “thumbs up” and horn blows from the logging trucks I run into on the FS roads. Big smiles on their faces. What a great improvement in ride with 500#’s on the bed. This pick-up and drop-off will be another 50 mile round trip 2x. What a hoot!

[BUSHMIKE]

85 miles later and the return trip today. Running flawlessly.

[A Whiteman]

What a great improvement in ride with 500#’s on the bed

That is so true. I have taken to carrying loads on old car runs just because it improves the ride

[BUSHMIKE]

Today, I turned down the center section of my NOS LEMPCO axles for the TT. I ended up tearing the rear end apart to check things out before the upcoming Fall Color Tour. Im glad I did. The sleeves, bearings and axles were shot. I could lift each axle 1/8” with the weight of the truck/wheels off! I found (2) excellent bearings and one good sleeve in (5) complete axles. Thanx to this forum, I was able to locate (2) NOS LEMPCO replacement axles and a good useable sleeve. I designed and turned up (2) glands to adapt modern double lip seals to the inner axle seal….the seals next to the differential. The top axle is a stock Ford, the middle is the modified LEMPCO, and the lower an unturned LEMPCO. I designed the gland to be a light press fit where the stock Ford seal was. The axle has to be loaded full length thru the lip seal and dictated that I smooth up the rough forged center section. Ill turn up the 2nd LEMPCO later today and start reassembly.

[speedytinc]

Nice work.
You do what you gotta do to keep this old stuff on the road.

[Scott_Conger]

Mike

I'm with John on this...Good for you!!

so refreshing to read about someone dealing with the adversity of a vehicle for which few good parts exist, then not just making due, but excelling at the effort. My hat's off to you for not just kicking over a bucket of bolts or the wife's cat, and pouting. Such a refreshing post! Something I'm frankly coming to expect from you. Keep it up.

[TXGOAT2]

For ride and traction improvement, an old 40 gallon gas water heater tank can be converted to a period-looking water tank. Strip off the jacket and insulation, patch any leaks, and build a wooden or light steel skid for it. The tank + 40 gallons of water would weigh about 400 lbs, and a simple wooden or steel skid would add about 100 lbs.
Draining the tank would get rid of most of the weight without the need to remove the tank. A whiskey barrel would be nice, if they can be had.

[Dallas Landers]

Nice work Mike. Great idea.

[Kaiser]

Life surely is not meant to be that much fun, or is it ?
Great times, thank you for sharing.

[BUSHMIKE]

Last evening I started final assembly of the rebuilt TT axle. If all goes well, I hope to have the axle ready to roll back under the truck this afternoon.

[jiminbartow]

A true Rip Van Winkle time capsule. Be sure to avoid driving on salted roads in the winter and keep it garaged. Probably spent its’ life driving unsalted country back roads. Great find! Drive carefully. Jim Patrick

[BUSHMIKE]

Todays project was making press fit bushings for TT PN# 1064, brake expander ajdustment collar. I had previously turned the expander shafts down to .625” to remover 1/16” or more of eccentric wear. I bushed the axle housings to match with SAE660 bronze bushings with .001” clearance. Reducing the diameter of the adjuster shafts dictated bushing the collar bore down to .625” as well. My goal is a TIGHT set of TT brakes with dry hubs…..time will tell. I enjoy going thru a slapped out loose old assembly and tightening wear points back to factory spec or BETTER. Ill start at the axle and work forward as assembly progresses. I wont bore anyone with machining set-up details but feel free to ask if you have a question.

[Duey_C]

Mike, I'm afraid you wouldn't bore us with your work to keep The Time Machine ticking.
Gosh, that internal view from Tuesday looks like a surreal and dream-like photo.
Bronze. Thrust bearings. Hyatts. Ahhh.

[BUSHMIKE]

Ready to roll the rebuilt axle back under the Time Machine. Boy did that trick of using the fan mount bolt screwed into the bottom u-joint access hole ever work slick. It gets screwed in and then the head of the bolt set on a steel anvil/backer while peening one side of the u-joint pin. Rotate the u-joint 180deg and turn the bolt in again until it touches the just peened head to peen the second side. Tomorrow, Ill make some 4” long headless bolts to act as guides for aligning the ball assembly as it slides forward. With any luck, I should be making a test drive in the next couple of days.

[BUSHMIKE]

Yee Haw….back in the trucking business! I finished final assembly on the Time Machine yesterday. Boy is it nice to have dry hubs and a working e-brake. With my new lip seals in the axle, lets hope it stays dry. I took the truck on a 15 mile shakedown cruise. The only issue was a mag post that went bad as troubleshooting proved today. Most of the nasty vibration went away with the ballcap, u-joint, driveshaft and axle rebuild over the last several weeks. It sure feels good to be driving it again….I was having withdrawls! Now with everything quieted down a new vibration presented itself. It proved to be the cowl vent vibrating. A roadside stick wedged in there took care of it nicely. Next plan of attack is a slow leak on a rear tire.

[ClaytonPaddison]

I really love this thread. I've been following along as I have exactly the same truck just about, yet not near as nice and original.



Same truck in 1994:


I plan a few upgrades like a Warford and a set of high speed gears so I can actually get some speed out of her. I also plan to use it as a shop truck and put her back to work. I will be reading over the rear axle rebuild posts again, before I dig into mine.

[BUSHMIKE]

We had a great time on our 2024 Fall color tour this year. 8 vehicles this year. Color was not peaked yet. 115 miles roundtrip.