The "Hulk": Ugly green truck to Juneau??

[712edf]

Yes my desire to do roadside repairs has passed. I can still gather up the gumption to fix something in my garage on my own time schedule, but when I travel I just want to get there. Without any headaches.
And yes vehicles & vehicle repair/maintenance have gotten way out of hand. Working people are barely surviving.

Bucky

[KRB64]

Thanks for this thread.
I don't even have the guts to drive to nearest gas station some times. Certainly not tow a camper hundreds of miles through elevation changes.

Glad nothing major was wrong.

Bucky

I've become the same way. As a teenager/young adult I'd jump in my '76 Duster and we'd head out anywhere, Florida, Texas etc. I'd drive my '62 CJ-3B to Red River Gorge or the Appalachian Mountains with college friends, once having to rebuild the carb in a gravel lot in a snow storm. Even went to Key West with a buddy in his '70 Ford crew cab with nary a care. Blew a brake line in GA and replaced it on the road.

Now I stress out over road trips unless we rent a car/van. I attribute it to knowing too much about how the vehicle works. My mind is constantly hearing every odd noise etc and over analyzing it. I imagine the worst because I now know what all could be wrong/go wrong. But that doesn't really make sense either because I had rebuilt the slant 6 in my Duster in the back yard and did a frame off on the 3B including rebuilding the 4 cylinder Hurricane. Maybe it's because now I see it all in the form of costs in terms of a tow, money, time from work/farm/family responsibilities etc. Back then it was just an adventure and I knew my parents had my back. IDK, guess I'll just live vicariously through Oldndctrucks now...

[oldndcctrucks]

Hey Bucky-

You know, it’s just a combination of faith in automotive technology reliability and faith in the probability that we would be able to overcome problems.

I belong to a military vehicle club (Inland Empire chapter of Military Vehicle Preservation Association); and we have gone on several convoys; it’s good to travel with a group for security, but it can be better to travel alone to not have travel conflicts.

Anyways, my wife and I hope to do it again, except traveling via ferry- it’s very expensive.

[712edf]

Thanks for this thread.
I don't even have the guts to drive to nearest gas station some times. Certainly not tow a camper hundreds of miles through elevation changes.

Glad nothing major was wrong.

Bucky

[oldndcctrucks]

Thanks!

Yep, it was common to have someone walk up and talk about the truck.

Yep, bad electrical. The puffs of smoke or steam threw me off and I took the safest course of action.

[KRB64]

Splendid pics! Did youall get much attention in the RV parks?

So was it not over heating then? Just a bad ground that made the gauge wonky???

[oldndcctrucks]

So, I have finally edited (for web) some pics to be posted here. They are only from when the Hulk was being used.
don't know that anyone here would be interested in other pics from the trip.

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Morning of first day... LET'S GO!!! (Beaumont, Calif.)

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Sequoia National Park on Highway of the Giants (2nd day).

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Seq. Nat. Park

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RV park near Clam Beach, CA, 2nd day

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Clam Beach, CA

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Clam Beach, CA

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Clam Beach, CA

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Hwy 101 in Oregon

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Hwy 101 in Oregon

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Dunes City, OR 3rd day

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Dunes City, OR

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Dunes City, OR campground 4th day morning

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Hwy 101 OR close to Portland, OR (Beverly Beach)

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In the big city! Portland, OR (from hotel room)

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Near White Salmon, WA (I think!). Columbia River to the right

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Along the Columbia River

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I like tunnels

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Near Wishram, WA (?) It was soon after this point that the truck was indicating overheating...

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John Day Dam on the Columbia

By this time, the temp gauge was swinging from normal to overheating. I had tried running without air
conditioning (103 degree outside temp, so quite uncomfortable) and then even with the heater on (really
bad) to no avail. I pulled off, found shade in the shadow of an abandoned building, and after cooling off
the engine a bit, pulled the thermostat; it was wide open. Leaving the t-stat out, closed it up, started the
engine, and puffs of white smoke or steam were coming out of the passenger side exhaust.

Seemed like a blown head gasket.

Drove across the hot, arid plains of Washington to just outside of Spokane (5 hours). Next day, drove into
town and after fixing a major brake failure on one of the near-new trailer axles, bought a 2019 RAM.

I arranged for the Hulk to be shipped near home and continued the trip.

I was satisfied with the performance of the Hulk up until the overheating indication, although as was pointed
out by several people on this thread, it was pretty under-powered.

I have since REPAIRED the Hulk: I found a broken-off ground wire (engine to body), a failed alternator volt-
age regulator, and both temperature and oil pressure sending units failed. I have driven it several hundred
miles commuting to work in similar temperatures with no problems. There has been no coolant in the oil, and
no more puffs of white smoke.

It bothers me that I couldn't do the whole trip with this truck, but that is the past. It DID pull a 3-ton trailer and
about 1,000 pounds of extra fuel, parts, tools, and people over 1,500 miles over some pretty steep grades,
so there is that.

THANK YOU to all of you who have posted helpful comments and support!!

-Ken

[oldndcctrucks]

Well....

As Bucky said, the Cummins swap has been beat to death....

BUT:

I have two nephews, brothers, who are pushing to give me (that's right, they don't want any money) a running take-out 1995 12-valve Cummins.

As anemic as my tired 318 is, I am really considering it, and doing research. I remember I said I didn't want one in order to keep everything simple and side-of-the-road repairable, but a running $8,000 engine for free?? Hard to say no.

Pictures still on the horizon!

I have deleted about 350 poor-quality pics of the approximately 1,450 pics + vids I took.

After sorting, I will choose a few to post.

I have to work 60 hours next week, so no progress soon.

-Ken

[KRB64]

Good deal!!!

[oldndcctrucks]

Thanks guys for all the comments!

we have made it to Juneau AK

will look forward to posting pics when I get back in a couple weeks

SURE WISH THE ‘73 HAD MADE IT

[KRB64]

I've not checked in for a while and it appears lots has happened!

Truck is looking good, real good. I like the seat cover you chose.

I've not gone back to look but do you know how many miles are on your motor?

The Cummins is basically a bolt in. They are simple, basic and reliable. The main draw back in my opinion is all that weight up front! Fine as long as you are on pavement but sans that you need a limited slip rear, else you are having to put it in 4x4 all the time. Dad and I have identical trucks except his is a stick with an open dif and he spins out in his yard. At least that's my experience with 1st Gens but then again we have grass and mud here, maybe in the desert you wouldn't have an issue. But, gravel can be a bugger too...

Yep, awaiting pics and stories!

[712edf]

To me Cummins swaps have been beat to death. If I were to take on another project it would likely be an 3/4 or 1 ton International Harvester 4x4 pick-up of the 69-75 vintage, something that's not seen everyday.

We are awaiting pictures of your trip.

Bucky

[PareosWC]

I have this affliction, and I'm sure a lot of us here have the same ailment- CONTENTMENT. I have never owned a diesel, don't really have a need for a diesel, and the price of diesel is a challenge. However, between my 230 flatheads and the 318 in my 98 Ram, they are adequate for what I need. But I want a diesel!:cool:

My current lust is for a vehicle that I have been using overseas since 2001- light skinned, bullet-proof, manual, relatively cheap for me to work on, and a solid 2.7 Diesel...
Manufacturer not important to name ;)

[oldndcctrucks]

Just a 5.7 Hemi Ram 1500 crew cab

I’ll probably sell it by the end of the year.

I have a nephew who has a running second gen Cummins he wants to give me to put into the old Dodge.

I might do that

[PareosWC]

Didja get a gasser or diesel?