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Some days are better than others.

PJL

PJL

Well-known member
Today started out as a quick trip to the tower with JimVt and Bruce. Wanted to get the cat (1988 LMC 1200) ready for winter rescue work and give it a shakedown before we needed it. I had the transmission fluid, diff oil changed and the new intercom system to try out.

All went well until the truck stopped going up hill in the ice. It wasn't actually stuck, just wasn't interested in going up hill anymore. Pulled the cat off the trailer and one quick winch pull and we were on the way again. Also had to change a trailer tire thanks to the knife sharp rock that was recently spread on the road.

Cat ran great until it didn't. Engine just shut off. Spins over really fast now. No compression. Distributor was turning though so I suspect the timing gears slipped a few teeth. It has the 300 cid Ford 6 in it.

By now the bad luck ran out. I was able to drive the trailer to the breakdown spot and using the winch we got it back on the trailer. Now a 9,000 lb winch drains a battery real quick. I had a helper tagging alongside with jumper cables leading from his truck to my rig. We also setup another winch pulley system off a Jeep with a 3 to advantage to help it up the ramps. Drove it back out and to the shop.

Hoping for an easy fix. The shop supervisor told me that the old straight sixes had a phenolic cam gear and they were prone to breaking. It's a non interference motor so the pistons and valves won't collide. This rig has just over 300 hours on it and is 28 years old.

I'm sure glad it died in an accessible spot. Dragging a dead cat off a mountain is very low on my list of fun things do.
 

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sometimes we get lucky with breakdowns .I felt guilty going on and taking the workers two up to the top but they had a job to do.
I had a scare in my snow trac. smoke was coming out of the engine bay. it turned out to be paint burning off my new muffler.

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I'm hoping for a quick fix, but I'm hoping to win the Powerball too.

The distributor turns but no compression. I'll know in a week.
 
I hot rodded a 300-6 in a 80' f-150 I had and I went to the aluminum timing gears it howled like a banshee, sounded like an open turbo spooling up but never crapped them fiber gears again.
 
Update. The mechanic went back to work on the cat. He had it in his head that the cab needed to come off. Not so.

They found a hairline crack in the fiber gear. It allowed the cam gear to move in relation to the cam. Good news is no broken parts to fish out of the oil pan.

They will change the water pump, thermostat, belts, hoses and have the radiator cleaned while it's apart.

The access was fairly easy once he pulled the winch off. The radiator and fan shroud easily came out as a unit. It comes out down and forward.

It's still on the trailer.
 

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I picked it up today. The shops had replaced the timing gears, installed a new water pump, thermostat, belts and hoses. Of course I needed to test it out right away. Drove it up to the to Snoqualmie Pass area with 2 friends of mine. We ran it about 2 hours. It ran like a top. Absolutely no issues this time. We even unstuck a minivan we found way up the road.
 
good to hear that it's running.
has a date been set for the mountain pd training?
 
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