New World Datsuns...

So I have had this heat issue for a while now(month?), I flushed out the radiator and nothing improved, I replaced the thermostat with a 160 degree and nothing changed, it is fine around the city, but when I get on the freeway the temps start rising until it get very close to pegging out at overheated, I had a 3 core radiator gone thru last week, they said the flow was fine and it should work for my truck

Today my over flow reservoir was looking a lot like a steam generator, steam was squirting out the little pin hole in the top, I grabbed a gallon bottle of water and poured it over the radiator and it stopped looking like an old time locomotive exhaust stack, it had not lost that much coolant, it cooled it enough to not be overheated, but the thermostat was still wide open, I revved the engine and looked at the lower radiator hose, it did not appear to be collapsing, I grabbed it and felt the spring inside the hose, but it did not go all the way to the top where it connects to the engine, I revved it and looked at the hose where the spring stopped and I watched it collapse, this is one of them things that "it will never happen to me", well it has happened to me, the engine was just too hot to be messing around with it so I took my shower and came to the library for the first time since I think Monday, I have been working hard every day and just did not feel like going any where after getting home.

Now I have a spruced up radiator that I do not need, I really do not understand why this hose collapse issue just abruptly started, I had never had an issue before, I told the radiator guys that I had stuck a garden hose in this radiator on the bench and it flowed just fine, I had not had the radiator out before the issue, I was thinking about cutting the hose back to where the spring ends and installing it that way as there is plenty of hose to work with, I will let you all know what I do.

Weird.

Replace the radiator cap. Bet that'll fix it.

Well I was wrong, at least partially, it overheated yet again, I believe that the first trip when I went and bought that firewood up in Toutle WA it was the radiator hose collapsing, I used lake water to refill the radiator, now that I know to cool the radiator before releasing the radiator cap I loose very little coolant, if I just loosen the cap coolant goes everywhere like it did at that lake, I believe I might have put some lake debris in the radiator although I was trying to be very careful not to do that, the aluminum radiator coolant channels are so narrow that they appear to plug up easily, I looked in an the fin holes on the top near the cap and it did not look good, I have not decided yet if I am going to try and clean it out myself or just take it in and see if they can clean it out.

The coolant holes in the radiator they checked/cleaned out and repaired for me are a lot larger, I drove it this morning with that radiator without any issues, the needle did not get even half way up(to the middle), I did not have a lot of choice where to get water that day.

The issue with overheating is over with, now I need to figure out how to clean that aluminum radiator out, I read that Vinegar in it was good for that, 4 hours and rinse it out, but do not get it in the block, I will likely buy a couple gallons tomorrow or Friday and see if it works, if it goes in clean and comes out brown or some other color it might have worked, it will cost almost $200.00 to have the radiator shop do it if they will even touch it, so I will give it a shot first.

I believe that the lower radiator hose was collapsing at freeway speeds making it run very hot, enough to lose coolant when I released the radiator cap, then using lake water to fill it up was not likely a good idea.

Sometimes you just have to do what you can and fix it right later. Hopefully you got it figured out now.

I mentioned this truck in my 521 KC thread, I lifted it up to figure out if I needed new rear e-brake cables, I thought they were seized, but when I pulled on the cables on both sides I could here the shoes move inside the brake drums, so they were not the issue, my issue is when I pull the brake lever it gets tight immediately, it does not get harder to pull the farther it gets pulled, this is why I thought the cables had seized and why it did not really hold the truck well.

I looked at the adjustment and it was near the end of the threads on the shaft, I could not loosen it much at all, I removed the lock nut holding the adjustment nut/assembly and I turned the adjustment out all the way to the end of the thread, got in the truck and pulled on the lever and it came out a little farther and did not stop abruptly like it did before, I thought it felt better, but when I dropped the truck down I do not think it held the truck any better, I will live with it for a while and decide if it needs more work, the adjustment nut would not turn until I used vice grips to hold the cable shaft end when turning the adjustment nut, it was kinda hard to turn, so I believe it does not need a lock nut.

While the truck was up I decided to figure out a way to operate the dump bed from inside the truck, normally I get out and reach under the bed and push a lever down that raises/lowers the bed, going up is not that big of a deal, but lowering it I have to make sure my head/shoulder is out of the way, I have to get out anyway to remove the rear board that keeps stuff from falling out, but lowering it from inside the truck will my it more safe, and raising it from inside the truck will make it safer also, this dump bed sat for years and it now has rust pits inside the hydraulic tubes, I honed them out until they were smooth inside and they do not leak much except when it is very cold outside, they even were modified to use a much wider/thicker seal, originally they used O-rings but now they used a square seal that is at least a 1/4" wide, so it seals even when over the rust pits inside the sleeve, but just the same I really do not want it catastrophically failing while my arm is right there, being inside the cab is safer.

So I made a swivel arm, basically I welded an arm to a large bolt for inside the cab right next to my right knee, then I made another arm that barely clears the inside tunnel high point, I bent the arm into a flattened "S" shape so it would barely clear the transmission housing as I mounted the whole thing on the side of the driver side tunnel, I made a plate with a sleeve going straight thru the plate sideways, I mounted the plate as straight up/down as I could, it was a pain making that inside arm, I shaped the arm, then welded a nut to the arm on the outside, the inside had to be smooth where it rests on the sleeve, then I installed the inside arm, there was not much room so I had to have the threads of the bolt barely show, then start the arm/nut on the threads, then turn it around until it pulled the bolt thru the sleeve until it bottomed out, then I adjusted the inside/tunnel arms, then I put another nut on the threads of the bolt and tightened it while holding the arms where I wanted them, I did this without making a hole in the tunnel no larger than the sleeve, sure it would have been easier to make a large hole in the tunnel and slide the flattened "S" arm thru it, but I did not want to make that large of a hole, the plate/sleeve has different length legs on the interior side.

Lucky for me the mechanism that controls the pump already had the arm in the middle of the dump bed assembly in line with the tunnel, I am the one that put an arm on the outside to lift/drop the bed, I had threaded bar with the end connections, so I used washers on the connections to eliminate slop, cut the threaded rod to the proper length and connected everything, it works great, but it will not get the stamp of approval until it continues to work properly, sorry I did not take any photos as I did not plan on doing this part, I just wanted the e-brakes to work properly.

So now if you have a load of gravel, sand, or something you can theoretically remove the back board on the bed and dump it as you ease the truck forward to spread whatever more easily. At least that’s how I’m understanding it.

Taterhead wrote: ↑Thu Jul 13, 2023 7:13 am So now if you have a load of gravel, sand, or something you can theoretically remove the back board on the bed and dump it as you ease the truck forward to spread whatever more easily. At least that’s how I’m understanding it.

I suppose I could do something like that if motivated, lift the rear board until the wanted gap was accomplished and then get in and tilt it up until gravel starts coming out and then drive forward and continue lifting until the gravel was gone.

For me it is more about safety, when lifting and dropping my right shoulder is very close to being hit, especially when dropping the bed, I put the lever to operate it a couple feet in under the bed, putting it there was more about it was an easy place, any closer to the side(easier to reach) I would have to make something more complicated, where it is I just added a longer arm to an existing arm that was out in the open, from that arm out the rod is protected by angle iron to help the dump assembly frame hold its shape, after completing the extended arm I thought "no one can see the arm" which I thought was a good thing, when lifting I have to reach way in there, and when it clears my shoulder I move to a more comfortable position which put it under the front corner of the bed, sometimes I used a broom handle to drop the bed, but raising the bed is different, it takes a firm grip to get it started, this surprised me when it worked from inside the cab, I thought I was going to have to slam the lever like I did when outside lifting it, it just has this spot where it resists moving any farther, I will deal further with it if I have to.

I only use the dump a few times a month anymore, when I used to clean tile roofs I would sometimes need to empty the bed 4 times a week as every tile roof would fill the truck bed, I shoveled it out by hand, I got this dump bed around 20 years too late, but having to shovel it in and out kept me fit, you just do not see older pressure washing guys anymore, it is too much work for them, I am only good for around 5 hours anymore myself, times are changing also, most guys that clean roofs now do it by hand with a wire brush and then treat it, it costs a lot to do it that way, what took me a day with a pressure washer takes them 2 or 3 days, they charge 3 or 4 times what I charged to clean a roof, it is also hard to get insurance for pressure washing roofs anymore, it is high risk for the insurance companies as most pressure washing guys are idiots, they do not have a clue what they are doing, I would never own a home with a tile roof within sight of a fir tree, and they will still eventually leak if they have valleys, comp roofs are the way to go.

On this truck I removed the left e-brake cable on the drivers side and got it moving again on this truck, now the e-brakes work properly again, I do not use this truck much anymore, but I want to keep it running/driving, I am cleaning my property up and using it to haul stuff away.

Taterhead, I did forget to mention I upgraded my lift lever for the bed to inside the cab, the outside lever is still there, but I use the inside lever most the time, the lever is just under my right knee on the tunnel, it took me some time to get it to work the way I wanted, if a nut falls off or something breaks it will not be an easy repair, as normal all my creations take several upgrades before I am happy, so far this one has not broken/fell apart yet.