The Green Grendel

[campfire]

I have never owned a 6.2 but my B.I.L has had and still has a bunch of 6.2 and 6.5 Trucks all sittin in death row!

I'll take a pic for ya. Give me a day or two.

pictures, @max 02?

 

[max 02]

pictures, @max 02?

Impatient much!

Hang on....

 

[GWeakland620]

We aren't required to wait. It's not in the rule book.

 

[max 02]

A couple different angles.... most are 6.5 one 6.2

 

[GWeakland620]

So awesomer!

 

[82355]

Any NV4500's?

Martin

 

[max 02]

Any NV4500's?

Martin

The one with the hood up is a 93 nv4500 one ton dually 4x4 6.5

 

[campfire]

We aren't required to wait. It's not in the rule book.

 

[campfire]

Wow. I did a double take at the one 6.2 rig. It looks a lot like mine. The bumper bar and grill style match, and that picture makes it look like a color match, too (though the lighting may be playing tricks). Given the thick snow cover, it looks exactly like mine does under that much snow. Alas, I have only rarely used mine in the salty season, so I can't find any comparable pictures to offer up.

 

[max 02]

That 6.2 is actually a green.... not any factory colour.

 

[campfire]

That 6.2 is actually a green.... not any factory colour.

I was wondering as much. Suffice it to say that your green, underneath a layer of frost and snow, looks a lot like my blue, underneath a similar layer of frost and snow.

 

[max 02]

It does! Haha.

 

[campfire]

40 consecutive posts of derailments...definitely a record for my threads.

I don't have much news on the build. Got my bell housing bolts installed. Turns out they get a lot tighter when the threads don't strip.

Been working on this instead:

 

[campfire]

No updates, aside from us finally getting snow. And now we're getting single-digit temperatures, so outside work is slowing down.

I have ordered the clutch, though, so I should be able to install the tranny once it gets here. And the weather warms up again.

 

[campfire]

Oh, and the 4-banger went back together smoothly. Backup DD is ready for action.

 

[GWeakland620]

At least there is forward momentum overall.

 

[campfire]

At least there is forward momentum overall.

It's really weird. Since the backup project appears to have gone smoothly, I have 4 working vehicles at the same time (with 2 drivers). The Grendel is close enough to being roadworthy that I may soon have 5. I have no possible use for that many spare vehicles. Indeed, I only insure 2 or 3 at a time, so the rest can't be run on the road anyway. I'm not inclined to keep them all, but having thought through each one individually, I'm not convinced that I'd benefit a whole lot from getting rid of any one of them. Except for clearing out the driveway, haha.

Probably the driveway-clearing urge will win out eventually. It's weird that dead machines don't bother me, but having multiple running backup vehicles seems like a waste of space. I must have a problem with liking old iron a little too much.

 

[GWeakland620]

You are in welcome company here sir...

 

[campfire]

Went out to the barn tonight to experiment with cold weather starting. Temperature was 9*F (fairly steady). Barn has several large (truck-sized) openings in it, so inside temp should be the same 9*F. Suburban has been sitting since late-summer, and has only one battery hooked up. Glow plugs were replaced a few thousand miles ago.

Walked out, cycled the plugs, cranked it over kinda slowly and did not quite start before running the one battery down. I put my 6 amp charger on it and turned to the Blazer sitting next to it. 24V starter, with both batteries working, cranked the engine over rather effortlessly (quite a difference). But I was not able to start it, after much fiddling, as the glow plug system ceased working recently. Relay stopped clicking. I jumped the relay, and still got no plugs. I manually connected the relay lugs and found that the plugs seemed to be working. But I couldn't hold the jumper and crank at the same time (), so I was not able to get it started. I did wind up wiring it on and cranking, and it almost started, but whatever plugs I had burned out rather quickly. I guess they weren't Duraterms. I now have ~95 Ohms across the glow plug circuit (where I should have very close to zero). I could have a broken wire (haven't checked yet), but it did seem to be working for a bit. And now it's completely gone. This is pretty much how my initial troubleshooting went with Big Blue. It's kinda nice to have nearly identical drivetrains in these rigs. I decided not to dig further into it tonight due to the temps.

Then I went back to the Suburban, cycled the plugs, cranked it over, and it fired right up. Not as quickly as summer time, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out. And it made for a pretty nice smoke shot:



I'm pretty sure the CUCV would have fired up too, if I had gotten the plugs working. It was still cranking quickly when I stopped (but it clearly was not firing). And I think the Suburban would have fired up on the first try if it had had the second battery installed.

But either way, this is still the coldest that I've started these trucks without block heaters. I think Big Blue now has more broken plugs than working ones. It just barely started at 25*F last time I tried. Time for new plugs on both rigs.

So that's the update for tonight. Always nice to get out and play with the iron. Even when the temperatures plunge.

 

[campfire]

And I have a tracking number for the clutch!